Top 3 Websites That Make ESL Teaching Easier
Gimkit, Blooket and Wordwall can make an ESL lesson more engaging in minutes—but only if the game supports the learning rather than becoming the lesson itself.
Online teaching tools can save preparation time, bring energy into the classroom and give students valuable repetition. The challenge is knowing when to use them, what to practise and what students should do once the game ends.
Below, we look at three popular ESL teaching websites and how to turn each one into meaningful language practice—not just five minutes of clicking, shouting and leaderboard drama.
What you’ll learn
- How to use Gimkit for repetition and competitive review
- How Blooket can make vocabulary and grammar practice more engaging
- How Wordwall can create quick, flexible ESL activities
- How to connect digital games to your lesson aims
- How to turn screen-based activities into real speaking practice
1. Gimkit: Turn Repetition Into a Challenge
Gimkit is a game-based learning platform where students answer questions, earn in-game currency and compete through different game modes. For ESL teachers, its biggest strength is repetition.
Vocabulary, irregular verbs, spelling, sentence correction, definitions and exam language can all be reviewed repeatedly without the activity feeling like a traditional worksheet.
Imagine your class has just studied the past simple. Instead of asking students to complete another page of isolated exercises, you can build a Gimkit review around questions such as “What is the past tense of go?” or ask them to identify the correct sentence from several options.
The important part is timing. Gimkit works best after students have already met and practised the target language. It should reinforce learning rather than introduce completely new language from zero.
A stronger Gimkit lesson flow
Start by teaching the target language clearly. Give students guided practice, then use Gimkit to review what they have learned. Afterwards, revisit difficult questions and move students into a speaking task using the same vocabulary or grammar.
For example, after reviewing travel phrases, students could complete a hotel role-play in pairs and use at least five expressions from the game.
Games should not replace speaking. Games should prepare students for speaking.
2. Blooket: Add Energy to Vocabulary and Grammar Review
Blooket is another highly engaging review tool, particularly popular with younger learners and teenagers—although adult students can become surprisingly competitive too.
It works well for vocabulary quizzes, grammar checks, warm-ups, previous-lesson reviews and quick end-of-class assessments. The key is making sure every question connects directly to your lesson objective.
If students are practising comparatives, review comparatives. If the lesson is about restaurant English, use restaurant phrases. Random questions may create entertainment, but focused questions create useful retrieval practice.
Don’t let the questions disappear too quickly
One of the easiest mistakes is letting students race through the entire game without discussing why an answer is correct. When a challenging question appears, pause.
Ask students to explain the answer, identify the mistake in an incorrect option, create another example sentence or ask a partner a question using the target word.
The game creates energy. The follow-up creates language.
3. Wordwall: Fast, Flexible Activities for ESL Lessons
Wordwall is especially useful when you need an activity quickly. Teachers can create matching tasks, quizzes, random wheels, group sorting activities, word searches and sentence-ordering exercises.
That flexibility makes it useful for vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, sentence structure, speaking prompts and lesson review.
You might match jobs with definitions, practise prepositions through multiple-choice questions or ask students to reorder words into a grammatically correct sentence.
The random wheel is also a simple way to generate speaking practice. Add questions such as “What did you eat yesterday?” or “What will you do this weekend?”, spin the wheel and let students respond in pairs or teams.
Use Wordwall without giving every student a device
Wordwall does not have to mean individual screen time. Display an activity at the front of the room and ask teams to discuss their answer before choosing.
This is particularly useful when Wi-Fi is unreliable, students do not all have devices or you simply want more teacher control. Giving teams ten seconds to discuss first also creates valuable language before they reveal an answer.
Which ESL Teaching Tool Should You Choose?
- Use Gimkit when students need repetition and competitive review.
- Use Blooket when your lesson needs energy, quizzes and focused vocabulary or grammar revision.
- Use Wordwall when you need a quick, flexible activity for warm-ups, review or speaking.
Want to use classroom tools with more confidence?
Great ESL teaching is not about collecting more websites. It is about knowing how to choose the right activity, connect it to a clear learning aim and turn it into meaningful student communication.
Inspire’s practical TESOL training helps you build real classroom confidence and become an internationally certified ESL teacher. Explore Inspire’s in-class TESOL training.
Three Questions to Ask Before Using Any ESL Game
Before opening any teaching website, ask yourself three simple questions:
- What language are students practising?
- How does this activity connect to the lesson aim?
- What will students do with the language after the game?
That final question is particularly important. Once the game finishes, students should do something productive with the language: create a dialogue, make a sentence, ask a question, explain an answer, correct a mistake or complete a role-play.
Good Technology Still Needs Good Teaching
Gimkit, Blooket and Wordwall can all make ESL teaching easier, but none of them can replace a well-planned lesson. The website is simply a tool. The teacher decides why it is being used and what learning happens around it.
Effective ESL teachers understand how activities fit into a wider lesson sequence. They know when students need explanation, when they need controlled practice, when repetition will help and when it is time to move into genuine communication.
That judgement develops through practical training and classroom experience. A strong TESOL course should help you do more than collect activity ideas—it should help you understand how to manage a class, plan purposeful lessons, give clear instructions, adapt activities and create opportunities for students to actually use English.
This is the focus of Inspire Training & Development: practical TESOL training that helps you build real classroom confidence and become an internationally certified ESL teacher.
Final Thoughts
For your next lesson, choose just one of these tools. Use Gimkit, Blooket or Wordwall—but do not stop at the game.
Connect the activity to your lesson objective, review what students found difficult and finish with a speaking task that requires them to use the same language. That small change can turn a fun digital activity into a meaningful ESL learning experience.
Build the Skills to Teach ESL With Confidence
Teaching tools can make lessons more engaging. Knowing how to use them effectively is what makes the difference.
With Inspire’s practical in-class TESOL training, you can develop real teaching skills, gain classroom confidence and work towards becoming an internationally certified ESL teacher.
