FREE FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS IN NORTHERN ITALY
Classroom games that get your whole class talking.
Speaking games for big groups. No prep and no student phones: they run on your school’s iPads or tablets, and the screen guides the class through every round.
98%
of 409 students said they’d like more activities like this
4.5 / 5
average rating for “engaging”
40+
groups have already played the Trading Game
Why free? Here’s the deal.
These games aren’t prototypes. The Trading Game alone has been played by more than 40 groups of students across northern Italy, and 98% of the students we surveyed asked for more. Until now, they’ve only been run by our own teachers.
Now I want to see them in your hands. The free version is set up so any English teacher can run it with their class, and your feedback tells us how to make that even smoother. Your students get a truly engaging, fun lesson they’ll be telling their parents about, and they’ll be pestering you for another chance to play. We get to know teachers who care about getting their students talking.
There are no school forms and no one to ask for permission: you sign up as a teacher, not as a school. We also run paid projects, and we’ll tell you about them once. We won’t chase you.
William Kingdom, founder of Smarter English
The games
Each one is a full lesson built around real speaking. To win, students have to negotiate, persuade and explain, in English.
Play a whole game in one 50-minute lesson, or spread it across the term as a treat: the game saves where you left off, so the class can pick it up again whenever they’ve earned it. Or start a fresh game with a new class.
Trading Game
How many of your students dream of making their first million?
Armed with a crystal ball and a crash course in market forces, teams get glimpses of the future and race to cash in before their rivals do. Every trade means predicting what happens next and persuading teammates it’s the smart move. And it all happens in English: a word of Italian will cost them dearly.
A2 and up · Predictions with “going to”, agreeing and disagreeing
Pandemic
Could your class save the world?
Four outbreaks are spreading, and only a team of specialists can stop them. Each student has skills the others need, so the team has to share what they know, argue for priorities and agree a plan before time runs out. Hesitate, and the virus wins.
A2 and up · 1st conditional, prioritising, agreeing a plan
Desert Island
Who in your class would survive?
Shipwrecked with ten days until rescue, every student plays a castaway with talents and flaws. Build a fire, find shelter, ration the food, and decide who does what. Teammates keep each other honest: anyone caught slipping into Italian puts the whole camp at risk.
A2 and up · Modals of ability and possibility (can, could, might), prioritising
Truth Seekers
Can your students spot a liar?
One player is hiding the truth. Everyone else has to listen closely, ask sharp questions and catch the slip that gives them away, while the liar keeps their story straight under pressure. It’s the game students keep asking to play “just one more round”.
Any level · Question forms, listening for detail; adapts to any topic or grammar point
What’s in it for you
A class that wants to speak
Even the quiet ones talk when there’s a deal to close or a liar to catch.
A lesson they’ll remember you for
Students leave the room still arguing about who won, and ask when they can play again.
Something up your sleeve
The game saves where you stopped. Bring it out for the last lesson before the holidays, a Friday afternoon or a class that’s earned a reward, and they’ll carry on right where they left off.
And honestly? It’s fun to teach
An hour with an excited, engaged class is a good hour for you too.
How it works
Play it yourself
Join a free online lesson as a student. Team up with teachers from across northern Italy, play the game, then find out how to run it.
Get your teacher account
We set up your account and send you a one-page lesson plan. [Students join on school iPads or tablets with a code on the board.]
Try it with your class
The screen tells the class what to do each round. You press Next and listen to them talk. Afterwards, tell us how it went.
An hour in English, just for you
Every game hour is also a relaxed hour of English with other teachers: no marking, no students, no one assessing you. A different game each month, and a certificate of attendance each time.
Love it, but rather not run it yourself?
We’ll bring it to your class. Book a lettorato visit, or go all in with a full immersion week: five days of games like these, run by a team of native-speaker teachers. We can even give you a ready-made project description to take to your department.
Play the Trading Game with us, free
One hour online, in English, with teachers from across northern Italy. Pick a date and we’ll send you the link.
- Free, no commitment
- Your teacher account and lesson plan afterwards
- Certificate of attendance (if that is important to you)
[Sign-up form here: first name, surname, school email, school, session date, privacy consent checkbox linking to https://smarter-english.com/PrivacyPolicy2026.pdf, button “Save my place”]