One of the most powerful ways to build confidence, fluency and motivation in the MFL classroom is through purposful games. I believe that well-chosen, low-prep activities can transform the energy of a lesson while driving serious progress in retrieval, phonics, grammar and spontaneous use of the target language.

Below is a bumper list of 30+ tried-and-tested MFL games you can use across key stages. They work brilliantly in German, French, Spanish and beyond.

⭐ Retrieval & Memory Games

1. Kim’s Game

A classic. Display around nine target words randomly on the board. Give pupils 30 seconds to memorise them. Hide the words and students recreate the layout on mini-whiteboards. Increase the number to raise challenge. Brilliant for retrieval, memory training and healthy competition.

2. Simon Says (Jacques a dit / Simon sagt)

Use commands in the TL. Great for imperatives, listening and high engagement.

3. Backwards Reading

Write a sentence on the board and ask students to read it backwards fluently. Helps them slow down, notice detail and improve decoding.

4. Sound/Vocab Chain

One student says a vocab item; the next must say a new one beginning with the last letter/sound of the previous word. Great for phonics and thinking on their feet.

5. Faulty Echo

Read aloud a series of words or sentences. Students repeat but ONLY if you read it correctly. Introduce sneaky mistakes to encourage focused listening.

🎲 Vocabulary & Phonics Games

6. Karamba!

Write vocab on lollipop sticks: English on one side, TL on the other. Students work in teams, pulling out sticks and saying the translation on the hidden side. Correct: keep the stick and go again. Incorrect: put it back. Pull a Karamba stick? Return all sticks! Fantastic for repetition, phonics and anticipation. (idea Elaine Gelder)

7. Bingo

Use numbers, vocab sets or sentence starters. Students must listen carefully to win. I also practise it in TL first - SSC, then in English, students have to find the matching in TL and cross out if they have the number of the sentence.

8. Hangman

A great spelling and phonics warm-up. You can swap the scaffold (e.g., parachute, rocket blast-off) to keep it fresh.

9. Scrabble / Word Builder

Give students a set of letters to create as many TL words as possible. Award bonus points for tricky phonemes or longer words.

10. Twist and Speak

Ask students to stand back to back with their partner - one facing the board, one facing away. A German sentence and its English translation will appear. The student facing the board says the German aloud; the other gives the English meaning without looking. If correct, they twist to swap roles and move to the next sentence. Challenge them to work as fast as they can!

📖 Reading-Focused Games

11. Dice Reading

Put six sentences on the board. Students roll a dice to decide which sentence to read. Extension: roll again and translate TL → English or English → TL. Perfect for structure drilling.

12. Reading Train

Students work in groups of four:

• Pupil 1 reads sentence 1

• Pupil 2 reads sentences 1 + 2

• Pupil 3 reads 1 + 2 + 3…and so on. Time each group and let others try to beat the total. Great for fluency and confidence.

13. Snake Reading

Each student reads one sentence before “passing” to the next student. If someone hesitates or mispronounces, they get support from their partner or the teacher.

14. Blockbuster

Create a grid of letters. Students answer questions or translate items beginning with those letters to make a path across the board.

🎤 Speaking Games

15. Hot Seat

One student sits facing away from the board while others give clues (in TL!) to help them guess the missing word or phrase.

16. Soft Toy Game

Throw a soft toy from one student to another. Whoever catches must answer a question or use a given structure.

17. James Bond Game

Ask one student to leave the room - they are James Bond. The class chooses a spy and an action. When James Bond returns, the class chants the vocabulary and only changes to the next word when the spy performs the action. James Bond must work out who the spy is - with three guesses!

18. Guessing Game

One student thinks of a vocab item; others ask yes/no questions in the TL to work it out. Another version could be: The teacher secretly chooses and writes one sentence from the list on the MWB. Students take turns guessing by putting their hand up and reading/saying a sentence aloud. Keep going until someone identifies the correct one!

19. Bob Up

Ask students to split into two groups and give each person a number. When the teacher calls a number, the student with that number must bob up and be the first to read the sentence aloud in the target language. For a bonus point, they can also give the English translation. (idea from Jake Hunton)

✏️ Sentence-Building & Grammar Games

20. Trapdoor

Give several versions of a sentence. Students choose their secret versions and partner must guess. Great for repeated production and noticing patterns.

21. Sentence Stealers

Give groups a list of complex sentences. When a student uses one correctly in speaking, they “steal” it for points. (idea G. Conti)

22. Box Game

The teacher asks questions on the topic students have been studying. They need to answer correctly to claim a space in the grid. Once all spaces are full, they answer correctly to choose which space they take. After 5 minutes, the four students left in the grid are the winners!

23. Twister (Grammar Edition)

Adapt classic Twister: each circle contains a word category or ending. Students create sentences based on the colours they touch.

🚀 Movement & Whole-Class Games

24. Treasure Hunt

Hide words or sentences around the room. Students search, decode and record answers.

25. Shopping Trolley

Start with “In meinem Einkaufswagen habe ich…” Each student adds an item, repeating all previous ones. Fantastic for memory and fun.

26. Battleships

Still a favourite. Students use coordinates to form TL sentences and “sink” each other’s squares.

27. Tic-Tac-Toe / Noughts and Crosses

Each square contains a TL question or task. To place their X or O, students must answer correctly.

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🔁 Interaction & Retrieval Games

28. Quiz Quiz Trade

Each student holds a small card with a TL sentence on one side and the English on the other.

1. Students pair up, read aloud and translate.

2. They swap cards.

3. They find a new partner. Rapid repetition, lots of reading aloud and low stakes.

29. Box Guess

Hide an object, word, sentence under cups/boxes. Students use TL to name it or translate it or if it is a question to answer it.

30. Kim’s Extended Memory

Add pictures, synonyms or endings to boost complexity. Students reconstruct the lot.

31. Sentence Scramble

Students race to reorder words to form correct TL sentences.

32. The Guess Game (TL Version)

Write a sentence frame; students fill in with their own idea. Others guess which one belongs to who.

33. Line Bingo

Ask students to draw four lines on their paper strip to create five boxes. They should write one vocabulary item in each box. When a word on either end of their strip is called out, they may rip it off. The winner is the first to have all five words called!

34. Snakes and Ladders

Two players compete with a referee holding the answer sheet. The youngest player starts and translates the sentence into German. If correct, they move their counter one space.

If incorrect, they stay put, and the referee reads the correct answer for them to remember.

The first player to reach the end wins!

35. Connect 4

Students Connect 4 by answering 4 questions correctly in a row, this task could be scaffolded or provide a challenge by allowing students answer in a short (or even scripted) or extended response based on student's proficiency.

Final Thoughts

I believe that games are not an add-on, they’re powerful pedagogical tools. They foster retrieval, collaboration, phonics awareness, automaticity and, most importantly, joy. What ever language you teach, these 30+ activities can bring high-impact, low-prep sparkle into any lesson.

Please, comment and share your favourite classroom games.