ESL KidStuff's adverb action game

ESL KidStuff’s adverb game is basically a charades-style grammar drill for young English learners. One student gets an action, then secretly gets an adverb, and has to act the whole thing out so the class can guess it. That sounds tiny, but it solves a real teaching problem — adverbs are abstract on paper, especially for kids, and much easier to grasp when “slowly” or “angrily” becomes a body movement. The useful part is that ESL KidStuff doesn’t treat this as a one-off gimmick. It sits inside a broader adverbs lesson built around actions, songs, worksheets, and speaking practice. ### What is the game, exactly? The site calls it “Adverb action.” The teacher writes an activity on the board — one example given is “brush your teeth.” Then one student comes to the front, gets shown an adverb card like “slowly,” and acts out the phrase for everyone else. The rest of the class tries to guess the adverb. That’s the whole loop. It is simple on purpose. ### Why does that work for adverbs? Because adverbs of manner are easier to feel than define. A child may not remember a formal explanation like “an adverb modifies a verb,” but that same child will instantly see the difference between walking slowly, walking quickly, and walking happily. The game turns grammar into contrast. Kids are not memorizing a rule first — they are noticing how the action changes. ### What does ESL KidStuff pair it with? The game sits inside a full adverbs lesson plan for ESL kids. That lesson teaches students to modify verbs using adverbs and mixes in energetic activities, a song, and a worksheet. There is also a printable lesson-plan PDF that includes a related “Adverbs Charades” activity using two sets of slips — one for verbs and one for adverbs — so students combine the two live in class. ### Is it flashcard-based? Sort of, but not in a rigid way. The game description mentions showing the acting student a card with the adverb written on it. Elsewhere on the site, ESL KidStuff suggests slips of paper in boxes or hats for the same basic mechanic. So the essential tool is not a branded flashcard set. It is just a hidden prompt that lets one student know the target word while everyone else infers it from the performance. ### Why is the guessing part important? Because it forces comprehension from both sides. The actor has to express the adverb clearly enough to be understood. The class has to connect a movement style to the right word. That makes it more than a drama warm-up — it is receptive and productive language practice at the same time. ESL KidStuff uses the same logic in its worksheet page too, where it recommends “Adverb charades” with actions like run, jump, walk, dance, and skip. ### What age group is this really for? Young learners. ESL KidStuff is built around kids’ ESL lessons, and its adverbs materials are framed as elementary-friendly, energetic, and ready to teach. The examples are concrete daily actions rather than advanced sentence work, which is why the format fits primary classrooms and mixed-ability beginner groups especially well. ### Is this a grammar lesson or a speaking activity? It is both — and that is the point. A lot of grammar teaching starts with explanation and only later asks students to use the language. This flips the order. Students perform first, notice meaning in context, and then attach the label “adverb” to something they already understand physically. For kids, that is usually the stronger route. ### So what’s the real takeaway? The interesting thing here is not that ESL KidStuff has an adverb game. Plenty of sites do. The useful bit is the design choice: teach adverbs through visible action changes, keep the prep low, and plug the game into a larger lesson sequence so the vocabulary sticks.