Following up on yesterday’s Top 5 online games for learning – today I offer my Top 5 that are more “traditional”.

By that I mean they are more controlled and less authentic. Quizzes, Q and A trivia, mix and match, multiple choice – you get the idea. Still, if done well, they can be really effective learning tools or even assessment tools. They are meant to be used by students at home or in a language lab but can also be used in a classroom with a large monitor/screen. (and you’ll see a lot of great apps like these games – coming to mobile technology! A few have started and I’ll review shortly. )

Forthcoming – The Top 5 TV style games for language learning.

So here it goes…..

#1 British Council’s: Beat the clock. Great quizzes. Very traditional but they get number one for the sheer quantity and shortness (so users get feedback).

#2 Spelling Bee. This is for L1 learners but works also for second language learners. A listening cloze and then students must put in the correct word. Multiple levels. Great audio

#3 Free Rice and better for lower levels, Aid to Children. Vocabulary quizzes that adapt content to how well you do. Get answers right, get higher leveled words. Get answers wrong, get tested with lower level words. Plus – donate food to the needy with every correct answer!

#4 ELLLO games. Excellent listening material with photos. A lot of their stuff is a little hard to navigate and dense but the games listening quizzes are wonderful works of art. Great for students.

#5 Spiderman. I had to include this here! It is addictive and along with a smiliar Letter Rip just take learning to a new level of “game”.

Honorable Mentions: Tutpup. EnglishCentral Learn Quizzes. Quizlet Flashcard games. (click a set and then click the games underneath the main window.

I’ve made it a kind of obsessive quest to catalog games on EFL Classroom. Use our GAMES page for a start. But also, the ARCADE and the GOAL GAMES.  Others there too – try our Learning Lab!