Ice breakers are a great way to get students moving, interacting and build confidence. They are a fantastic way to get to know your students, and can be used year round! Here are a few good ones for the beginning of the school year. Best of all...they are FUN!
Make sure the ice breaker you choose is level-appropriate, and allow students the right to pass. Sometimes observing and absorbing is just as important as taking part. As your students become more comfortable in your classroom, they will begin to take part more readily. Find Someone Who... This activity gets students up and moving around and asking their classmates questions. Create a list of traits, such as someone who has a birthday in July, someone who owns a cat, someone who has traveled abroad, etc. Then, have the students mingle with one another to find someone who fits each category. They can write down the names of their classmates next to each one to keep track of who fits which trait. If you add the rule that they can only use someone’s name for one category/trait, it will ensure that they get to speak with each of their classmates instead of simply talking to the one person who meets all the requirements. Would You Rather…? In this game, students think about two scenarios and choose the one they would rather do. The “Would you rather…?” questions (a variety of which can be found online), can range from goofy to serious, such as:
Two Truths and a Lie One student thinks of three statements about herself that she will share with the class. Two are true and one is a lie. For example, the student may say something like, “I have five dogs, I’ve lived in three countries, and I’m a ballet dancer.” Then, the other students must guess which statement is a lie and if they can, explain why they think so. At the end, the student will reveal whether the others guessed correctly or incorrectly. The teacher can start by demonstrating the game as a good getting-to-know-the-teacher activity! Show and Tell Ask your student(s) to bring a meaningful object to class and share the story behind it with you and/or their classmates. If your student is a beginner, you can have them describe their object instead. E.g., “It is purple. It is big.” If you only have one student, consider asking them to bring in two or three objects total. To get students comfortable with speaking and sharing, demonstrate the activity with an object of your own first. *Activities borrowed from the Bridge Universe: bridge.edu/tefl/blog/esl-icebreakers/
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