Ready, Set, Go: How to Turn Any Language Activity Into a Game for Children

Without a doubt, time really flies when students are having fun. There can be moments when one minute they’re laughing, focused, and helping each other—and the next, someone looks at the clock and exclaims,

“WHAT? Only 5 minutes left?!”
 “Noo! I still have three more sentences!”

As teachers, we can’t help but smile (and maybe even ask if they need more time).

Moments like this show how learning and playing go hand in hand. Students are engaged socially, cognitively, and emotionally, and learning happens both intentionally and without them even realizing it.

One of the best ways to capture these “in-the-zone” moments is through gamification. Sometimes it’s as simple as adding points, small challenges, time constraints, or a bit of friendly competition, and knowing how these additional elements would help enhance the learning experience.

It is important to highlight that we don’t have to turn every activity into a game, or the game can lose its game (pun intended). But, when used intentionally for a specific purpose, gamification can turn ordinary activities into motivating, memorable experiences, helping students enjoy the process of language development on a regular basis.

In this blog, I’ll share three fun ways to gamify language activities by breaking up the phrase Ready, Set, Go and using each word as three categories. These categories represent functional types of games designed to build language accuracy, complexity, and fluency.

Ready: To Review, Revise, and Reflect

Are your students ready to review?

The Ready category helps transform any worksheets or tasks related to revision, reflection, or consolidation prior to learning. Unlike a stage in a lesson, these activities can be changed into a game any time students need to reinforce accuracy. Think of these games as tools students use to check their knowledge before moving on to more complex or fluency-focused activities.  In terms of engagement, these activities help students recall and apply what they have learned. Emotionally, they may experience small wins that build confidence, and small interactions like checking answers with a partner can boost motivation.  Here is an example of how to transform your worksheets into a continuous game with a simple scoring system.

Example: The Progress Table

Have students create a progress table with the following headings:

Date | Activity | Language Focus | Score

The scoring system can be introduced step-by-step, for example:

• • Present it as a friendly competition where students earn points for completing activities accurately.
  • Offer small prizes or certificates for milestones to celebrate achievement (optional).
  • Emphasize that the main goal is tracking progress and self-improvement, not just winning, to keep it positive and encouraging.
  • Include music (lively or calm) to create a game-like experience.

The page number column also turns the table into a practical study tool, allowing students to revisit exercises and strengthen their revision routines.

If you haven’t read it already, “Great Classroom Games: Teacher Picks from Around the World” (Part 1) and (Part 2) contain many examples to help students review their vocabulary through creating point systems with puzzles, card games, and board games—excellent ideas for language learning materials.

Set: To Build on What They Know

Are your students set to complete a challenge?

The Set category transforms group activities into team challenges or friendly competitions. Its aim is to encourage students to expand and experiment with language. Think of it more like the preparation phase of a race: Students apply what they know in new contexts, either against or alongside other competitors.

This is where collaboration and strategic thinking come into play, so more time is needed for these activities. The focus is on complexity—using longer sentences, a variety of vocabulary, and/or more challenging structures to perform at their best. To show an example, let’s use a common group activity and transform it into a team challenge.

Example Activity: Story-Building Relay

Students take turns adding sentences to a collaborative story. The goal is to use new vocabulary or targeted grammar structures.

1. 1. Introduce a scenario.
   2. Divide students into groups and let them create a team name.
   3. Write the points system on the board, for example:
      • +1 point for correctly structured sentences,
      • +2 points for using bonus vocabulary,
      • +3 points for a sentence that creatively links multiple ideas
      • Optional bonuses
   4. Give students a clear timeframe (e.g., 15–20 minutes).
   5. Add music to create a lively, game-like atmosphere.
   6. Optional wild cards: Announce specific sentence types or grammar rules for extra points.

This is an example of how group work can be transformed into games to encourage more complex language use in context while promoting teamwork and strategic thinking.  

Go: To Shift Learning to Using

Can your students go for it?

Finally, the Go category is perfect for any activity when you want to develop your students’ fluency. These language-based activities or exercises are transformed into quick game challenges, where the focus is on using language smoothly and confidently. Existing handouts or activities could include word searches, sentence/paragraph writing, vocabulary or reading challenges, and more. This is where students would race to apply what they’ve learned under time pressure.

In addition to time limits, you can enhance these activities with additional game-like elements, such as:

• • Buttons or buzzers to signal readiness or completion
  • Movement markers or stations to guide tasks
  • Leaderboards to track top-performing teams
  • Music or sound cues to create energy and transitions
  • Cards or tokens for completed work
  • Traffic lights or colored signals to indicate when time is running out

Each time you engage your students in the Go category, pay attention to how they respond to different game elements—they can create familiarity or new challenges each time. 

And just like that, time flies without even noticing. These three categories are one of the many ways you can transform existing classroom resources into games that target accuracy, complexity, or fluency—or even a combination of all three.

Try out different combinations, explore new ideas, and remember: Ready, Set, Go!  

Happy Teaching and Learning!