ESL Taboo Cards: Printable Vocabulary Activity

Are you looking for a stimulating and entertaining method to increase your vocabulary and communication abilities in English? Take a look our ESL taboo card games below!

ESL Taboo is a frequently played game that’s designed for teams of two or more players. The goal is to get your teammates to guess a particular word or phrase without uttering a series of taboo words or phrases that are closely linked to the target word. For instance, if the target word is “banana,” the taboo words could be “fruit,” “yellow,” and “peel.”

Using ESL taboo cards in your classroom is an excellent method to stimulate your students’ minds and broaden their vocabulary range. It’s also an ideal opportunity to develop communication skills like expressing ideas with clarity, actively listening to others, and providing feedback.

To play, split your class into teams and give each group a pack of taboo cards. One member of each team draws a card and attempts to get their teammates to guess the target word without using any of the taboo words or phrases. If their teammates guess correctly, the team earns a point. If they use a taboo word or phrase, the other team earns a point.

ESL taboo cards can be used to practice various topics and themes, such as food, travel, hobbies, and more. You can also generate your own cards based on your class’s specific needs and interests.

So why not add a dash of spice to your ESL classes with a game of Taboo? It’s an amusing, effective, and engaging way to improve your students’ English language abilities while having fun in the process. And who knows, you might even learn a few new words and phrases yourself.

Here are our favorite taboo games:

Science&Techology NEW!

Food

Health

Nature and Environment

Travel

Media

Business

Christmas

Other vocabulary activities:

ESL Vocabulary Quizzes and Games

ESL/EFL Vocabulary Activity: Travel Compound Nouns Dominoes

ESL Game Compound Nouns Dominoes: Town and Countryside

ESL Video Lesson Based on Netflix Docuseries “The Mind, Explained”

This ESL Netflix video lesson plan is based on “The Mind, Explained” docuseries that answers the questions about our brains. What is going on inside my head? How does memory work? Why do I dream?

The show has six episodes: Memory, Dreams, Anxiety, Mindfulness, Psychedelics. Each twenty-minute episode explains the mysteries of our brains in an engaging, fun way, with plenty of real-life examples, graphics, and experts. Students like this format, many of them already know Vox and their videos and each episode is the right length for a video lesson with warm-up questions, vocabulary, and after-video discussion.t

”The Mind, Explained.”

Download

The Mind, Explained” ESL Netflix Video Lesson (Anxiety) Students’ Worksheet

Warm-up Questions

  1. What are you afraid of?
  2. How do you relax when you feel stressed?
  3. What was the biggest challenge you overcame?

Discussion

  1. What are the symptoms of a panic attack?
  2. When in danger______________________________instinct kicks in. What does it mean and how does the body react?
  3. What fears and phobias are mentioned in the video?
  4. According to the video, what did people in the past do to relax?
  5. How do modern people relax?

Matching

Match the words 1-10 to their definitions a-j

  1. tingling
  2. blurry
  3. warthog
  4. wallowing
  5. vigilant
  6. dilate
  7. hallmark
  8. squinch
  9. culprit
  10.  rigorous
  1. an African wild pig
  2. someone who has done something wrong
  3. a typical characteristic or feature of a person or thing
  4. to press together the features of the face or the muscles of the body
  5. to have a feeling as if a lot of sharp points are being put quickly and lightly into your body
  6. extremely thorough and careful
  7. to become wider or further open
  8. difficult to see
  9. to lie or roll around slowly in deep, wet earth, sand, or water
  10. always being careful to notice things, especially possible danger

Other video lessons:

ESL Video Lesson Plan: Stand Up Comedy With Shayne Smith And The Prisoner of Azkaban

STANDUP VIDEO LESSON PLAN

WARM-UP QUESTIONS

  1. What do you think about people who have a lot of tattoos?

  2. Do you have any tattoos? If not what tattoo would you like to have?

  3. What do you think about body modifications? (piercing, implants, scarification)

  4. Have you ever got looks from strangers because of the way you dress?

  5. Do you ever judge people by their looks?

  6. What do you know about Harry Potter? What is Azkaban?

VIDEO

VOCABULARY

This is some of the vocabulary you are going to hear in the video. After watching the video, match the words and phrases with their definitions.

  1. to be on board

  2. assume

  3. interaction

  4. weird

  5. call it

  6. tank top

  7. judgment call

  8. white trash

  9. do time

  10. mess with someone

  11. impress

  1. think, or expect something is true

  2. poor white people

  3. a subjective decision

  4. spend time in prison

  5. to be a part of a team, to agree with something

  6. cause someone admire and respect you

  7. to treat someone in a bad, rude, or annoying way, or to start an argument with someone

  8. strange

  9. when two or more people or things communicate with each other

  10. a sleeveless shirt

  11. saying as it is

Download the printable PDF: ESL Video Lesson Plan: Standup

OTHER VIDEO LESSONS

TEDtalk Video ESL Lesson Plan: What Makes Something Go Viral
TEDtalk Video ESL Lesson Plan: How To Grow New Brain Cells.
ESL Conversation Lesson: Game Of Thrones And Traveling

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