Who Wants to Be Proficient? — ESL Vocabulary & Grammar Game

Inspired by the iconic ITV quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, hosted by Chris Tarrant from 1998 to 2014, this game challenges students to climb a CEFR vocabulary and grammar ladder from A1 Starter to C2 Champion — answering 18 questions, using four lifelines wisely, and banking safe floors along the way. It is part of a suite of free ESL vocabulary games at ESLe College.

How to play

Each question presents a vocabulary definition or a grammar challenge matched to the current rung of the ladder. Select your answer, lock it in, and wait for the result. Answer correctly to climb; answer wrongly and you fall back to the last safe floor you reached. Answer all 18 to become a C2 Champion.

The game mixes two question types in equal measure:

• Vocabulary — choose the best definition of a word drawn from the ESLe vocabulary database at your level
• Grammar — complete the gap-fill sentence, or identify and correct the highlighted mistake

The CEFR ladder

The 18-question ladder spans all six CEFR levels, with three questions at each level and a safe checkpoint at the start of every new level. Reach A2 safely, and even if you answer the next question wrong, you keep the A2 floor. The checkpoints are earned, not given — you must answer at least two of the three preceding questions correctly to bank each floor.

Four lifelines

Each student starts with four single-use lifelines. 50:50 and Phone a Friend are available from the first question. Ask the Audience and Ask the Teacher unlock at B1 — these lifelines require a higher level of critical thinking to interpret and are more useful once students have the vocabulary to engage with longer explanations.

• 50:50 — removes two wrong answers, leaving one correct and one wrong
• Phone a Friend — reveals an example sentence or a contextual clue
• Ask the Audience — shows a weighted bar chart of how the audience voted (unlocks at B1)
• Ask the Teacher — shows the full grammar explanation and a hint (unlocks at B1)

Two modes

Full Climb takes students from A1 to C2 across all six levels, with questions sorted easy to hard within each level group. This is the full show experience — a genuine measure of range across the CEFR.

Level Focus stays within a single chosen CEFR level for all 18 questions, with deeper coverage of that level's vocabulary and grammar. Ideal for targeted revision in the weeks before an exam.

Three play modes

Solo mode saves XP to the student dashboard — every correct answer builds their level.

Pairs mode is turn-based, alternating questions between two players with a live score on screen. A direct contest, question by question.

Whole Class mode is designed for the projector. The teacher drives, students confer, the class debates each lifeline — and the timer keeps everyone honest.

Vocabulary and grammar powered by your curriculum

All vocabulary questions are drawn from the ESLe College database, aligned to IGCSE ESL, Cambridge B2 First and IB English B. Grammar questions are taken from a reviewed bank of approved gap-fill and spot-the-mistake items built for the same examinations. Looking for more? Try Countdown, Blockbusters or Flashcards.

In memory of Chris Tarrant OBE (born 1946)

Chris Tarrant hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on ITV from its first episode on 4 September 1998 through to 2014 — over 500 episodes, 5 jackpot winners, and a tension he created and sustained like no one else on British television. The dramatic pause before the correct answer, the warmth toward every contestant, the phrase "Is that your final answer?" — these became part of the national conversation in a way that very few programmes ever achieve.

The heartbeat in this game, the ascending tension music, the way time slows before the answer is revealed — all of it is a tribute to what Chris and the production team built. This game exists because they made something that genuinely mattered to millions of people.