Turn Fortune Cookies Into Your Secret ESL Teaching Weapon
Every language teacher faces the same challenge: how do you make grammar practice genuinely engaging? How do you get students talking without forcing awkward conversations about their weekend plans for the hundredth time?
The answer might be sitting in a takeout bag.
Fortune cookies offer something rare in language education: short, complete sentences with emotional resonance. Each slip of paper contains a grammatically correct phrase that students actually want to read, discuss, and remember. Unlike textbook exercises, fortunes feel personal—and that emotional connection is exactly what makes language stick.
Whether you teach English as a second language in a formal classroom or run casual conversation groups, these five activities will transform humble fortune messages into powerful learning tools. Best of all, you can generate unlimited fortunes tailored to your teaching needs.
Why Fortune Cookies Work for Language Learning
Before diving into specific activities, it helps to understand why fortune cookies are so effective for ESL instruction.
Short and memorable: Fortune messages typically contain 10-20 words—the perfect length for memorization and repetition. Students can hold entire sentences in working memory, making grammar patterns easier to internalize.
Complete grammatical structures: Unlike vocabulary flashcards, fortunes are full sentences demonstrating proper syntax, word order, and punctuation. Students absorb grammar naturally rather than studying rules in isolation.
Emotionally engaging: Fortune cookies carry an element of mystery and personal relevance. When students feel their fortune "speaks to them," they engage more deeply with the language.
Culturally interesting: Fortune cookies themselves are a cultural phenomenon—originating in America, often assumed to be Chinese, and now popular worldwide. This creates natural conversation starters about culture, assumptions, and traditions.
Low-pressure practice: Reading and discussing fortunes feels like play, not work. This reduces the anxiety that often blocks language acquisition, especially for shy or self-conscious learners.
Students engaged in classroom discussion, sharing ideas and collaborating on language learning activities
Now let's explore five activities that leverage these advantages.
Activity 1: Share Your Fortune (Icebreaker)
Best for: First day of class, new groups, mixed-level classrooms
Time: 15-20 minutes
Materials: One fortune per student (physical slips or digital fortunes)
How It Works
Distribution: Give each student a fortune cookie or have them generate one digitally. Ask them to read it silently first.
Vocabulary check: Students identify any unfamiliar words and look them up or ask for help.
Pair share: Students pair up and read their fortunes aloud to each other. Each listener must ask at least one follow-up question about the fortune.
Group discussion: In groups of four, students vote on which fortune is the most interesting, funniest, or most likely to come true.
Class share: Each group shares their winning fortune and explains why they chose it.
Why This Works
This activity accomplishes multiple goals simultaneously. Students practice pronunciation by reading aloud, develop listening skills by attending to partners, and engage in authentic conversation through follow-up questions. The voting element adds a game-like quality that motivates participation.
Differentiation Tips
Beginners: Pre-teach key vocabulary before distributing fortunes. Use simpler fortunes focused on concrete predictions like "You will meet a new friend."
Intermediate: Require students to explain their fortune in their own words before sharing.
Advanced: Challenge students to debate whether their fortune is good advice or not.
Teaching Tip: Keep a few extra fortunes on hand for students who get duplicates or particularly challenging messages. You can browse different fortune categories to find appropriate difficulty levels.
Activity 2: The Future Tense Challenge
Best for: Grammar-focused lessons, verb tense review, intermediate learners
Time: 25-30 minutes
Materials: 10-15 fortunes using "You will..." structure
How It Works
Fortune cookies famously predict the future, making them perfect for teaching the simple future tense. Here's how to structure the lesson:
Pattern recognition: Display five fortune cookies on the board, all starting with "You will..." Ask students what they notice about the sentence structure.
Grammar explanation: Briefly review the simple future tense formation: Subject + will + base verb.
Transformation practice: Give students fortune cards and ask them to transform the predictions:
Change to negative: "You will not find success..."
Change to question: "Will you find success...?"
Change the subject: "She will find success..."
Change the time marker: "You will find success tomorrow/next year/soon..."
Fortune creation: Students write their own "You will..." fortunes for classmates, using verbs from a provided list.
Fortune exchange: Students exchange their created fortunes and practice reading them aloud.
Grammar Extensions
Once students master basic transformations, introduce related structures:
Going to: "You're going to discover something amazing" (planned or certain future)
Present continuous for future: "You're meeting someone special soon" (arranged future)
First conditional: "If you work hard, you will succeed" (conditional prediction)
Sample Fortune Transformations
| Original Fortune | Negative | Question | Different Subject |
|-----------------|----------|----------|-------------------|
| You will find love | You will not find love | Will you find love? | They will find love |
| You will travel far | You will not travel far | Will you travel far? | He will travel far |
| You will learn something new | You will not learn something new | Will you learn something new? | We will learn something new |
This table format helps visual learners see the patterns clearly.
Teacher at whiteboard explaining grammar concepts to attentive students in a classroom setting
Activity 3: Story Expansion Workshop
Best for: Creative writing practice, developing fluency, advanced learners
Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: One fortune per student, writing materials
How It Works
Fortune cookies deliver wisdom in compressed form—usually just one sentence. This activity challenges students to expand that single sentence into a complete narrative.
Fortune selection: Each student receives or chooses a fortune. For best results, use fortunes with narrative potential like "An unexpected visitor will bring good news" or "Your patience will be rewarded soon."
Story planning (5 minutes): Students answer planning questions:
Who is the main character?
When and where does this story take place?
What happens before the fortune comes true?
How does the fortune come true?
What happens afterward?
First draft (15-20 minutes): Students write a short story (150-250 words) where the fortune serves as either the opening line, the climax, or the final sentence.
Peer review (10 minutes): Partners exchange stories and provide feedback using a simple rubric:
Is the connection to the fortune clear?
Are the details interesting?
Are there any grammar errors?
Sharing (optional): Volunteers read their stories aloud while classmates guess which fortune inspired each story.
Writing Prompts to Inspire
Help struggling students with these starter prompts:
"The fortune said I would meet a stranger who would change my life. I didn't believe it until..."
"Everyone laughed when I showed them my fortune cookie message. But three days later..."
"I almost threw the fortune away. Looking back now, I wish I had paid more attention to those words..."
Assessment Criteria
| Criteria | Beginning (1) | Developing (2) | Proficient (3) |
|----------|---------------|----------------|----------------|
| Fortune connection | Fortune barely mentioned | Fortune included but not central | Fortune drives the narrative |
| Story structure | Missing beginning/middle/end | All parts present but weak transitions | Clear structure with smooth transitions |
| Language use | Frequent errors impede understanding | Some errors but meaning clear | Minor errors, varied vocabulary |
| Creativity | Predictable or generic plot | Some original elements | Surprising, engaging, memorable |
Creative writing notebook with pen, capturing the essence of story expansion and writing workshops
Activity 4: Roleplay Integration Challenge
Best for: Speaking practice, spontaneous language use, intermediate to advanced learners
Time: 20-30 minutes
Materials: Fortune cards, situation cards
How It Works
This activity combines the unpredictability of fortune cookies with roleplay scenarios, forcing students to think creatively while using English spontaneously.
Setup: Create situation cards describing common scenarios:
At a job interview
Meeting your partner's parents for the first time
Ordering at a restaurant
Asking for directions
Complaining about a product
Making a doctor's appointment
Double draw: Each pair of students draws one situation card and two fortune cards.
The challenge: Students must act out the scenario while naturally incorporating both fortune messages into their dialogue. The fortune doesn't have to make perfect sense—the goal is creative language use.
Performance: Pairs perform for the class (or small groups). Observers try to identify which two fortunes were used.
Reflection: After each performance, discuss which fortune was easier to incorporate and why. What strategies did students use to make the fortunes fit?
Example Scenario
Situation: Job interview Fortunes: "Patience is a virtue that carries great rewards" and "A surprise is waiting around the corner"
Sample dialogue:
Interviewer: So, tell me about a challenge you faced at your last job.
Candidate: Well, there was a project that took much longer than expected. I learned that patience is a virtue that carries great rewards. We finally launched successfully.
Interviewer: Interesting. Why do you want to work here?
Candidate: Honestly, I feel like a surprise is waiting around the corner in my career. Your company seems like the perfect place to discover that next opportunity.
Difficulty Levels
Easier: Students know their fortunes in advance and can plan
Medium: Students draw fortunes just before performing
Harder: Students draw one fortune at the start and receive the second mid-conversation
Activity 5: Cross-Cultural Fortune Discussion
Best for: Conversation practice, cultural awareness, all levels
Time: 25-35 minutes
Materials: Fortune examples from different perspectives
How It Works
Fortune cookies exist at the intersection of multiple cultures—invented in America, associated with Chinese restaurants, now global. This activity uses that complexity to spark meaningful discussions.
History hook: Share the surprising origin of fortune cookies (they likely originated in Japanese-American bakeries in California, not China). Ask students if this surprises them and why.
Cultural equivalents: In small groups, students discuss:
Does your culture have similar traditions of fortune-telling or receiving random wisdom?
What do people in your country think about predictions and luck?
Would fortune cookies work in restaurants in your home country? Why or why not?
Fortune analysis: Give each group three fortunes to analyze:
What values do these fortunes reflect? (hard work, patience, kindness, individual success)
Would this advice make sense in your culture?
How might you change this fortune to fit your cultural context?
Create cultural fortunes: Students write fortunes that reflect values from their own cultures. Share and explain to the class.
Discussion synthesis: As a class, discuss what students learned about American culture through fortune cookie messages—and what others learned about their classmates' cultures.
Discussion Questions by Level
Beginner:
Do you like fortune cookies? Why or why not?
What is your favorite type of fortune?
Do you believe predictions can come true?
Intermediate:
How do fortune cookie messages compare to advice from family?
Why do you think fortune cookies became popular in America?
Would you be disappointed to get a fortune that seems negative?
Advanced:
What do fortune cookie messages reveal about American values?
How does the fortune cookie phenomenon relate to cultural appropriation?
Why do humans seek meaning in random messages?
Diverse multicultural students collaborating in a classroom, representing cross-cultural learning and discussion
Tips for Teachers: Making Fortune Activities Work
Classroom Management
Have extras ready: Some students will get duplicate fortunes or challenging vocabulary. Keep backup options available.
Time warnings: Creative activities can run long. Give five-minute and one-minute warnings.
Participation tracking: During pair work, circulate and note which students need additional support.
Differentiation Strategies
For mixed-level classes:
Partner stronger students with those who need support
Provide vocabulary lists for challenging fortunes
Offer sentence starters for open-ended responses
Allow written responses as an alternative to speaking
For heritage speakers:
Challenge them to explain cultural context to classmates
Ask them to translate fortunes into their heritage language and back
Have them evaluate whether translations capture the original meaning
Digital Integration
If you teach online or want to reduce paper waste, our AI fortune generator lets you create unlimited fortunes on demand. You can even customize themes to match your lesson topics—choose inspirational messages for motivation-focused lessons or explore different categories for variety.
Assessment Ideas
Fortune cookie activities provide natural assessment opportunities:
Participation grades: Track engagement during pair and group work
Written artifacts: Collect story expansions or created fortunes
Recording: Have students record roleplay performances for speaking assessment
Exit tickets: Ask students to write about what they learned or which activity they enjoyed most
Start Using Fortunes in Your Classroom Today
Fortune cookies transform routine language practice into memorable learning experiences. The combination of short, complete sentences with emotional engagement makes them ideal for ESL instruction at any level.
The activities in this guide barely scratch the surface of possibilities. Once you start thinking about fortune cookies as teaching tools, you'll discover countless ways to integrate them into vocabulary lessons, grammar reviews, pronunciation practice, and cultural discussions.
