A fun guessing game about jobs and occupations vocabulary.

Job Vocabulary Guessing Game for ESL Class

Use this job vocabulary game at the start of your lesson to introduce the topic and engage students right away. Perfect for beginner ESL classes, this activity activates students’ existing knowledge of job names and prepares them to learn more. It works well in lessons teaching expressions such as “What does he/she do?” – “He’s a doctor” and “What do you want to be?” – “I want to be a pilot.” Students see a picture of a job hidden behind colored shapes, and as the shapes disappear, they must guess the job using the target language. Play the game below.

Jobs Vocabulary Game – How to Use in Class

Play the video for your class to start the activity. There are 10 pictures of different jobs hidden behind colored shapes. As the shapes slowly disappear, the image of the job is revealed. Students must guess the job and answer using the target language from your lesson, such as “He’s a firefighter” or “She’s a chef.”

This activity can be easily adapted and differentiated for different levels in the following ways:

  • Young learners / beginners – Have students call out the job names to guess. Pause the video and have them repeat the job name a few times for pronunciation practice.
  • High beginner students – After guessing the job name, pause the video and ask questions such as “What does he do?”, “What does your father do?”, or “Do you want to be a pilot?”.
  • Higher-level students – After each job is revealed, have students discuss with a partner what the job involves, what qualifications are needed, and whether they would like to do that job in the future.

Jobs and Occupations Teaching Resources

All Activity Videos