5 Improv Theater Games You Can Try Today With Your Language Learners

When I signed up for an improv theater class, I never thought of combining my passion for theater with my passion for teaching languages. But once I applied improv-inspired conversation games in the classroom, everything changed — my students’ energy, creativity, and motivation soared.

You may think, “I’m not an actor. I’m an educator. I can’t do improv.” I’ll admit I was skeptical, too, walking into my first improv class. While I had done theater and stand-up comedy before, creating dialogue on the spot — and in my second language — was intimidating. But I quickly learned improv is for everyone willing to unleash their creativity and have fun.

My experience with improv was so great that I decided to share it with other educators at ACTFL. I presented an academic session titled “Yes And: Unlocking Creative Teaching Strategies with Improv Theater,” the response was overwhelmingly positive. Teachers from all over the nation were excited to try improv-inspired conversation games in their own classrooms. They were confident that it would help their students learn languages in a more fun and engaging way.

5 Conversation Games for Your Language Learners

Ready to unleash the power of improv with your students?

Incorporating improv-inspired conversation games into your world language or English language learner classroom fosters creativity and confidence in students. These conversation games also help develop effective interpersonal skills, regardless of the language being taught. Improv creates an engaging and dynamic learning environment where students can actively apply linguistic knowledge in real-time scenarios.

Your students may be hesitant at first. They have to be open to the possibility of things getting a bit silly. But trust me, they’ll be laughing and learning in no time.

Here are my top 5 improv-inspired conversation games I have used with language learners adaptable to your target language and students’ needs:

1. ONE WORD STORY

Students take turns adding one word at a time to build a collaborative story, creating unexpected twists and hilarious turns. Imagine a story written one word at a time by a group of friends who don’t know where it’s going!

Level

Novice Mid to Advanced High

ACTFL Standards

Presentational communication

Proficiency Benchmarks

I can present on very familiar and everyday topics using a mixture of practiced or memorized words, phrases and simple sentences.

How to Play

Gather a group of up to six students and establish a starting point for your story.

The first student says a single word to begin the story, and each subsequent participant adds one word to continue the narrative. The goal is to create a cohesive and entertaining story as you go around the group, with each person contributing only one word at a time.

2. MIND MELD

This is a word association game played by two or more people. Students go through rounds of saying words at the same time until they finally say the same word, achieving a moment of perfect “mind meld.”

Level

Novice Low to Advanced High

ACTFL Standards

Interpersonal communication

Proficiency Benchmarks

I can provide information by answering a few simple questions on very familiar topics, using practiced or memorized words and phrases, with the help of gestures or visuals.

How to Play

Get two volunteers; they will face each other before the class. Give them five seconds to think of any random word; then, they say their word on the count of three.

For the next round, keep the same two participants or swap one out with a different student, and choose one of the words from the previous round as the prompt for this round’s words. The challenge is finding a creative and quick connection between the words. The game continues with new word pairs, fostering communication and creativity among participants.

3. GIBBERISH INTERPRETER

In this game, two students speak gibberish, and another student acts as the interpreter, translating made-up words and conveying the speakers’ message to the audience.

Level

Intermediate Mid to Advanced High

ACTFL Standards

Presentational and interpretive communication

Proficiency Benchmarks

• I can state my viewpoint about familiar topics and give some reasons to support it, using sentences and series of connected sentences.
• I can identify the main idea and key information in short straightforward conversations.

How to Play

Select three students to come to the front. Two students have a dynamic conversation with each other in nonsensical language or gibberish, while the third student interprets their “gibberish” into the target language. The goal is to create a humorous and engaging dialogue where the interpreter must improvise and attribute meaning to the imaginary language spoken by their partner.

4. TWO-HEADED INTERVIEW

In this game, two students play a single expert with two heads. They answer interview questions in unison or alternating words, creating comedic chaos while revealing their outlandish expertise.

Level

Novice-High to Advanced High

ACTFL Standards

Interpersonal communication

Proficiency Benchmarks

I can express, ask about, and react to preferences, feelings, or opinions on familiar topics, using simple sentences most of the time and asking questions to keep the conversation on topic.

How to Play

Two students stand together, side by side, facing the class. They become a single character with two heads. Each student can use their outside arm but not the arms next to each other.

The class collaboratively decides on a scenario for the interview. This could be a job interview, a talk show, a news interview, or any other situation.

The challenge is for both participants to work together to respond to questions from their classmates and create a coherent narrative. They take turns speaking, and when one participant begins a sentence, the other can seamlessly finish it or continue the thought.

5. HALF-LIFE

The goal of this game is to improvise a scene and then repeat it in increasingly shorter times, highlighting the essential elements and refining the story with each iteration.

Level

Novice-Mid to Advanced High

ACTFL Standards

Interpersonal communication

Proficiency Benchmarks

I can express basic needs related to familiar and everyday activities using a mixture of practiced or memorized words, phrases, simple sentences, and questions.

How to Play

Invite four students to the front of the class. Ask the rest of the students for characters (who), an activity (what), and a setting (where) to start the scene. Then, students begin acting out the scene based on the suggestion. They should aim for a natural and engaging performance, incorporating dialogue, action, and emotional responses. Tell the students you will time them; at exactly two minutes, you will stop them.

After improvising for two minutes, tell them to redo the same scene in half the time (one minute). Repeat the scene at thirty seconds, then after fifteen seconds, then seven, then three. This will force them to refine their choices, prioritize key moments, and communicate effectively under pressure. When focus starts to waiver, switch the students in front of the class.

Want to learn more on how to use improv in your classroom?

See the full blog post here.