This, That, These, Those Games – Fun ESL Activities for Demonstratives
Teaching demonstrative pronouns? Here are two fun activities you can use in lessons about this, that, these, and those. Both are hidden picture games in which students guess the word and then make a sentence, such as “This is a cat” or “Those are apples.” These games are perfect for kids and beginner ESL learners and require no preparation. Just play the videos below in class.
This / That Game
This game is designed to practice the questions “What’s this?” and “What’s that?” Students see a picture hidden behind colored shapes, which gradually disappear to reveal the image. As soon as they recognize the object, they can guess and answer using the target language.
How to Play
Play the video and pause when the picture is partly revealed. Ask students, “What’s this?” or “What’s that?” to encourage them to answer in full sentences, e.g., “It’s a pencil.” To reinforce the concept of distance, stand close to the screen when it’s “What’s this?” and step back or point from afar when it’s “What’s that?” Elicit answers, such as “This is a cat” or “That is a tree.”
Tip: Extend this activity by pausing the video and having students quickly draw what they think the object is. After a minute, ask them to hold up their drawings and answer using the target structure, e.g., “It’s an eraser.”
These / Those Game
After learning this and that, students typically move on to these and those to talk about plural nouns that are close or far away. This These / Those Game helps learners practice by guessing hidden pictures and making sentences like “These are apples” or “Those are cars.”
How to Play
Play the video and pause when the picture is partly revealed. Ask students, “What are these?” or “What are those?” to prompt full-sentence answers like “These are bananas” or “Those are mountains.” To reinforce the concept of distance, stand close to the screen when it’s “What are these?” and step back or point from afar when it’s “What are those?”
Tip: After the game, point to real objects around the classroom. Ask “What are these?” for items near you and “What are those?” for items farther away. This helps students connect the target language to their surroundings.
What’s This? What’s That? Telepathy Game
This third game is a fun “Telepathy Game” that reviews the demonstrative pronouns this and that with a fun twist. Students must try to read the teacher’s mind to find the answer.
How to Play
In each round, students will be asked either “What’s this?” or “What’s that?” and will be presented with two possible answers. For example: It’s a pencil. / It’s an eraser. Students must choose one and write it down. Pause the video to give them time to write. Once everyone has written their answers, press play to reveal the correct one. Students earn one point for each correct answer, with a maximum of 10 points.
There’s no way to know the correct answer. It’s purely a game of luck. However, to make it more fun, you can pretend to “send” the answer to students using telepathy. Students love pretending they can “read minds,” so play along by acting like you’re transmitting the answer with your telepathy powers.
More Demonstrative Pronoun Teaching Resources
I hope your students enjoy these games. For extra practice, use these This, That, These, Those Worksheets. Or, check out our This That Lesson Plan for a complete step-by-step lesson on demonstrative pronouns.