Icebreakers

===**ESL Icebreaker Activities for high school intermediate-language learners: s**=== (these activities originally found at [] )
 * Who am I?** is a super-fun game that most kids can relate to. Bring some Post-It notes to class and ask each student to write down the name of a famous person. Collect the Post-It notes and redistribute them among the classroom by putting a note on each student’s back or forehead. The game begins with a student asking yes-or-no questions about the name on his or her Post-It note.
 * Me Too** is a fun game that works well with small and large groups. Have everyone sit together in a circle. Everyone in the group gets 10 poker chips/pennies/paper clips etc. Start the game by saying something that you have done. //For example: I have gone skating.// Everyone who has gone skating throws one poker chip in the middle of the table and repeats the sentence. Go around the circle until everyone has had a chance to say something. Continue the game until someone runs out of poker chips.

//(vocabulary/spelling)//
The last letter of the word must be the first letter of the next word. You will need a ball, but a screwed up piece of paper is fine. The teacher throws the ball to one student and says a word, such as "dog". The student must reply with a word starting with "G," such as "girl". When answered, the ball is thrown back to the teacher and it is then thrown to the next student, who continues. The sequence may then be (for example): girl, look, king, go, octopus, student ... and so on. You can have the students throwing to each other. i.e., student A = "Cat," throw to student B = "Today," throw to student C = "Yes," etc. Please be warned, you may have some fastball pitchers in the class!

//Chinese Whispers//
Divide the class into even rows. The last member of each row (at the back of the class) is taken out of the classroom. A "key" letter, word or sentence (depending on level) is given. The students run back inside, and whisper the "key" to the next student in their row. It is whispered down through the row until the last member writes it on the board. The first student to write it on the board correctly wins the point for their team/row.

//Fast Words//
The class is arranged into rows. The first person in each row is given a piece of chalk. The blackboard is divided into sections. No more than six teams. The teacher calls a letter and the students must write as many words as they can beginning with that letter, in the allocated time. Their team-mates can call out hints, but be warned, this is very noisy. Next, the second member gets the chalk and goes to the board and the teacher calls out a new letter. The team with the most correct words is the winner.

Write occupations and emotions on slips of paper: one each per student. Have students draw papers from a hat (or two) and have them describe the emotion and the job on the papers WITHOUT using those words.
 * Oral Charades**

The rest of the class must guess the emotion and the occupation,

e.g. "Happy Postman," "Frustrated Teacher."etc

Heres a warm-up exercise to wake up a first or second class meeting. Have the students line up by alphabetically order. DON'T help them. DON'T organize it. Have the students ask each other their names and figure it out together (In English). Then you check it. Write the names on the board. Round Two, line up by Last name, alphabetically. Then check. Other variations. Line up by Birthday, Language, Distance from School, Size of family. Avoid obvious things like physical size, weight, hair color, etc...
 * Line up alphabetically**


 * Two truths and a Lie**

picture of a man descending toward a shark. With each incorrect guess, shark eats part of him. Variation of Hangman
 * Word shark**

This idea is for overseas teachers. We all are familiar with the idea of taking ESL students on field trips in the USA. Why not ask your EFL students to take YOU on a field trip? You can have the students work as a team or students can individually be responsible for a portion of the trip. his gives the students a chance to 'show off' their own town, and be the 'expert' on familiar territory. It also introduces you as the teacher, to places and facts in and about the town you are living in which you may never have otherwise looked at or realized.
 * Student-led field trip**

Objective To get students to think about and practice adjective-noun combinations. Level This game works well with all levels. Lower level students can make up simple sentences and higher level students more complex ones.
 * Inventing sentences using adjectives**

The Game The purpose of this game is to give students the chance to practice adjective-noun combinations. Begin by giving them a male or female first name. They must then invent a sentence similar to the following: Albert likes awful apes. Betty likes baby boys. Linda likes little limes. Richard likes roaring racecars. Wendy likes wiggling worms. The game should move fast, so you should be prepared with a list of names to fire at your students. You should go through the list ahead of time to make sure that you can think of matching adjective-noun combinations within the vocabulary range of your students. It is sometimes helpful to have a large list of alphabetized adjectives xeroxed off and ready to hand out, especially for lower level students. Following are names for every letter of the alphabet to get you started: Andy, Betty, Carmine, Daniel, Ed, Francis, Grover, Harry, Ingrid, John, Kris, Linda, Mark, Norman, Orville, Patty, Quentin, Rachel, Sam, Tom, Ursula, Victor, William, Xavier, Yolanda, Zelda.

This is a simple game that requires students to generate vocabulary in English. The class is asked to imagine that they are going on a picnic. Their job is to suggest things to bring along. The teacher says yes or no to each suggestion. What the students do not know is that the teacher says yes when a student suggests something whose first letter is the same as the first letter of the name of the student. The teacher says no if the first letter of the suggested object and the first letter of the name of the student do not match. For example: Alicia: I want to bring apples. Teacher: You can bring apples, Alicia. Alicia can bring apples. What do you want to bring, Marco? Marco: I want to bring a radio. Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring a radio. If students need a hint after a while you can interject something like: Maria: I want to bring bananas. Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring bananas. Why not ask Barbara to bring bananas? Usually someone figures out the game. Knowing the secret forces them to narrow their suggestions to words beginning with the same letter as their name. This activity is based on an activity by Annalisa Trapani.
 * THE PICNIC (For Intermediate to Advanced Level Students)**

The activity is easiest with simple nouns, though more advanced students can play it with any vocabulary. Method: Students are put into groups of 3 or 4; 1 student is the 'subject' and sits facing the others. Place a Post-It note on the forehead of the subject who then 'becomes' that item of vocabulary but, not being able to see the note, does not know what they are. To find out they must ask the other students in the group who can answer with reasonably helpful replies. The activity is best played with a class who know each other well. The teacher should be responsible for distributing the items of vocabulary as sometimes discretion should be shown in assigning vocabulary to students. It is a fun activity ideal for a few minutes at the end of a lesson.
 * Post-it note Game** Preparation: On several Post-It notes, write in large letters a single word of recently learned vocabulary.

**//Songs/Music Cloze//**
Songs are a good way to teach in an "Edutainment" way because they incorporate all the language skills: (1) Listening (to the song)

(2) Reading (following the lyrics to determine the words)

(3) Writing (filling in the blanks)

(4) Speaking (singing the song) (1) The song sheet is handed out to the students. (2) The teacher reads each word (at the bottom of the page) and the students repeat. This is done twice. (3) The tape is played twice in a row, with the students trying to fill in the blanks. (4) The students are invited to discuss it with their classmates for one minute. (5) The song is played again and students complete the missing words. (6) The teacher calls out the correct words. The students mark their papers themselves with a red pen, and record their scores. (7) The students with a perfect score receive a round of applause. (8) The song is played, one last time, with everybody singing. The same system is used. However, for the first playing the words are folded under, as shown on the song sheets. Only at the second listening, are the words revealed. You can have a lot of fun seeing what the students come up with, before they are allowed to see the correct words. Complete sentences are deleted (liquid paper?), so more words must be recognised. The words are folded under for the entire listening while the tape is played. Only after all the listenings are the correct words revealed. With a little experience, the teacher will easily be able to adjust to the level of difficulty required. The songs have been chosen for their pronunciation and because they are familiar to most students. Variety in the types of songs, for instance, rock, ballad and so forth, is supplied. The song sheets (lyrics) have been made for the lower levels, and need to be modified for higher levels. (Name:__)__ __**"Bus Stop" (1)**__
 * //Lower Level://**
 * //Medium Level://**
 * //Note://**
 * //Higher Level: ://**
 * //Sample Song://**

__(The Hollies) Bus Stop, wet day, she's there,__ __I say, please share my__ (1) Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, Love grows, under my umbrella All that summer we enjoyed __(2)__ __Wind and rain and shine__ __That umbrella, we employed it__ __By__ _(3) she was mine


 * Every morning I would see her waiting at the __(4)__**
 * __Sometimes she'd shop__**
 * __And she would show me what she__ __(5)__**
 * __All the people stared__**
 * __As if we were both quite insane__**
 * __Someday my name and her's are going__**
 * __To be the__ __(6)__**
 * __That's the way the whole thing__ (7)**
 * Silly, but it's _(8)**
 * A thinking of a sweet romance**
 * Begin and end with you.**
 * Came the sun the ice was melting**
 * No more sheltering ___(9)__**
 * _(10) to think that that umbrella led me to a vow.**

Your score__/10__ __--- Fold here, for the first listening at higher levels ---__ __now, stop, nice, August, true, bought, it, same, umbrella, started__
 * (** Chorus)

__**Let It Be (Lennon, McCartney)**__ __When I__ (1) myself in times of trouble Mother Mary (2) to me Speaking _(3) of wisdom, let it be. And in my ___(4) of darkness__ __She__ __(5)__ ___(6) right in front of me__ ___(7) words of wisdom, let it be.__ __Let it be, let it be.__ _(8) words of wisdom, let it be And when the broken hearted ___(9)__ ___(10) in the world agree,__ __There__ _(11)be an answer, let it be. For though they may be_(12) there is Still a chance that they will ___(13)__ __There will be an__ ___(14), let it be.__ __Let it be, let it be. Yeah__ __There will be an answer, let it be.__ __And when the night is__ _(15), There is still a (16) that shines on me, Shine on until (17), let it be. I wake up to the sound of __(18)__ __Mother Mary comes to__ __(19)__ __Speaking words of__ _(20), let it be. Let it be, let it be. There will be an answer, let it be. Let it be, let it be, Whisper words of wisdom, let it be Your score_/20 --- fold line - will, wisdom, see, Whisper, hour, light, me, parted, speaking words,

tomorrow, answer, living, standing, comes, music, cloudy, people, is, find

Edutainment- there's 100 pages of material
==== that you can use to lighten your teaching load and brighten your classroom, ====

==== and more importantly, make your English teaching more effective. No preparation required, all materials ready to photocopy ! ==== (all of above activities found at [] )  **LizardLick** · [| My Wikis] · · [|My Account] · Help · [|Sign Out] · home [|Edit]
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All Pages
 * 1) home
 * 2) Aim in Reading
 * 3) Class Schedule
 * 4) Evaluation and Grading
 * 5) Readers

Navigation Options [|edit navigation] Y - 1. Mary MET Johnny Depp? OR - 2. Mary MET Johnny Depp or ROBBED Johnny Depp? N - 3. Did Mary ROB Johnny Depp? I - 4. WHAT did Mary do?
 * || Structure: Mary _MET_ Johnny Depp. __ (Subject - Verb - Complement)
 * || Structure: Mary _MET_ Johnny Depp. __ (Subject - Verb - Complement)
 * || Structure: Mary _MET_ Johnny Depp. __ (Subject - Verb - Complement)

Add a detail by asking one of the following questions: With whom... ? What color... ? How many... ? What kind... ? Where... ? How...? What size... ? What brand... ? Where... ? When... ? What time... ? Why... ? (must have previous language skills)

[] Really good worksheets, handouts, activities, etc = = Reading strategies
 * Pre-Reading Strategies**
 * A. Preview vocabulary**
 * B. Prompt background**
 * knowledge**
 * C. Make predictions**


 * While you read…/**
 * A. Establish meaning**
 * B. Make connections**
 * C. Elicit engagement**
 * D. Teach grammar**


 * Comprehension Strategies**
 * • Vocabulary meaning**
 * – ID key words**
 * – Make note of unknown**
 * vocabulary.**
 * • ID main ideas**
 * • ID Basic events**

Activities for more advanced students: Connections • Do you personally identify with any of the characters or events? • Listen to this phrase: Which scene from the story is this from? Does this phrase remind you of any other stories. – Describe a scenario in which you would could use that phrase.

• What if a different character said ___? Would you interpret it the same? • What if you or your mom, friend, etc. said it?

• Creative and intuitive reasoning – What do you think will happen next? – What do you WANT to happen? – How should it take place?

• Personal application – If you were Character ‘A’, what would you… – If you were in the same situation, what would you…

• Side conversations – Main character and a distant friend or relative – Secondary character and a distant friend – Add an imaginary character to story – A letter to: • A counselor • a classmate • friend

= = =Foundation Week: FOC High School English (primero, segundo y tercero de bachillerato)=

===**ESL Icebreaker Activities for high school intermediate-language learners: 12+ years**=== (these activities originally found at [] )
 * Who am I?** is a super-fun game that most kids can relate to. Bring some Post-It notes to class and ask each student to write down the name of a famous person. Collect the Post-It notes and redistribute them among the classroom by putting a note on each student’s back or forehead. The game begins with a student asking yes-or-no questions about the name on his or her Post-It note.
 * Me Too** is a fun game that works well with small and large groups. Have everyone sit together in a circle. Everyone in the group gets 10 poker chips/pennies/paper clips etc. Start the game by saying something that you have done. //For example: I have gone skating.// Everyone who has gone skating throws one poker chip in the middle of the table and repeats the sentence. Go around the circle until everyone has had a chance to say something. Continue the game until someone runs out of poker chips.

//(vocabulary/spelling)//
The last letter of the word must be the first letter of the next word. You will need a ball, but a screwed up piece of paper is fine. The teacher throws the ball to one student and says a word, such as "dog". The student must reply with a word starting with "G," such as "girl". When answered, the ball is thrown back to the teacher and it is then thrown to the next student, who continues. The sequence may then be (for example): girl, look, king, go, octopus, student ... and so on. You can have the students throwing to each other. i.e., student A = "Cat," throw to student B = "Today," throw to student C = "Yes," etc. Please be warned, you may have some fastball pitchers in the class!

//Chinese Whispers//
Divide the class into even rows. The last member of each row (at the back of the class) is taken out of the classroom. A "key" letter, word or sentence (depending on level) is given. The students run back inside, and whisper the "key" to the next student in their row. It is whispered down through the row until the last member writes it on the board. The first student to write it on the board correctly wins the point for their team/row.

//Fast Words//
The class is arranged into rows. The first person in each row is given a piece of chalk. The blackboard is divided into sections. No more than six teams. The teacher calls a letter and the students must write as many words as they can beginning with that letter, in the allocated time. Their team-mates can call out hints, but be warned, this is very noisy. Next, the second member gets the chalk and goes to the board and the teacher calls out a new letter. The team with the most correct words is the winner.

Write occupations and emotions on slips of paper: one each per student. Have students draw papers from a hat (or two) and have them describe the emotion and the job on the papers WITHOUT using those words.
 * Oral Charades**

The rest of the class must guess the emotion and the occupation,

e.g. "Happy Postman," "Frustrated Teacher."etc

Heres a warm-up exercise to wake up a first or second class meeting. Have the students line up by alphabetically order. DON'T help them. DON'T organize it. Have the students ask each other their names and figure it out together (In English). Then you check it. Write the names on the board. Round Two, line up by Last name, alphabetically. Then check. Other variations. Line up by Birthday, Language, Distance from School, Size of family. Avoid obvious things like physical size, weight, hair color, etc...
 * Line up alphabetically**


 * Two truths and a Lie**

picture of a man descending toward a shark. With each incorrect guess, shark eats part of him. Variation of Hangman
 * Word shark**

This idea is for overseas teachers. We all are familiar with the idea of taking ESL students on field trips in the USA. Why not ask your EFL students to take YOU on a field trip? You can have the students work as a team or students can individually be responsible for a portion of the trip. his gives the students a chance to 'show off' their own town, and be the 'expert' on familiar territory. It also introduces you as the teacher, to places and facts in and about the town you are living in which you may never have otherwise looked at or realized.
 * Student-led field trip**

Objective To get students to think about and practice adjective-noun combinations. Level This game works well with all levels. Lower level students can make up simple sentences and higher level students more complex ones.
 * Inventing sentences using adjectives**

The Game The purpose of this game is to give students the chance to practice adjective-noun combinations. Begin by giving them a male or female first name. They must then invent a sentence similar to the following: Albert likes awful apes. Betty likes baby boys. Linda likes little limes. Richard likes roaring racecars. Wendy likes wiggling worms. The game should move fast, so you should be prepared with a list of names to fire at your students. You should go through the list ahead of time to make sure that you can think of matching adjective-noun combinations within the vocabulary range of your students. It is sometimes helpful to have a large list of alphabetized adjectives xeroxed off and ready to hand out, especially for lower level students. Following are names for every letter of the alphabet to get you started: Andy, Betty, Carmine, Daniel, Ed, Francis, Grover, Harry, Ingrid, John, Kris, Linda, Mark, Norman, Orville, Patty, Quentin, Rachel, Sam, Tom, Ursula, Victor, William, Xavier, Yolanda, Zelda.

This is a simple game that requires students to generate vocabulary in English. The class is asked to imagine that they are going on a picnic. Their job is to suggest things to bring along. The teacher says yes or no to each suggestion. What the students do not know is that the teacher says yes when a student suggests something whose first letter is the same as the first letter of the name of the student. The teacher says no if the first letter of the suggested object and the first letter of the name of the student do not match. For example: Alicia: I want to bring apples. Teacher: You can bring apples, Alicia. Alicia can bring apples. What do you want to bring, Marco? Marco: I want to bring a radio. Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring a radio. If students need a hint after a while you can interject something like: Maria: I want to bring bananas. Teacher: Sorry, you cannot bring bananas. Why not ask Barbara to bring bananas? Usually someone figures out the game. Knowing the secret forces them to narrow their suggestions to words beginning with the same letter as their name. This activity is based on an activity by Annalisa Trapani.
 * THE PICNIC (For Intermediate to Advanced Level Students)**

The activity is easiest with simple nouns, though more advanced students can play it with any vocabulary. Method: Students are put into groups of 3 or 4; 1 student is the 'subject' and sits facing the others. Place a Post-It note on the forehead of the subject who then 'becomes' that item of vocabulary but, not being able to see the note, does not know what they are. To find out they must ask the other students in the group who can answer with reasonably helpful replies. The activity is best played with a class who know each other well. The teacher should be responsible for distributing the items of vocabulary as sometimes discretion should be shown in assigning vocabulary to students. It is a fun activity ideal for a few minutes at the end of a lesson.
 * Post-it note Game** Preparation: On several Post-It notes, write in large letters a single word of recently learned vocabulary.

**//Songs/Music Cloze//**
Songs are a good way to teach in an "Edutainment" way because they incorporate all the language skills: (1) Listening (to the song)

(2) Reading (following the lyrics to determine the words)

(3) Writing (filling in the blanks)

(4) Speaking (singing the song) (1) The song sheet is handed out to the students. (2) The teacher reads each word (at the bottom of the page) and the students repeat. This is done twice. (3) The tape is played twice in a row, with the students trying to fill in the blanks. (4) The students are invited to discuss it with their classmates for one minute. (5) The song is played again and students complete the missing words. (6) The teacher calls out the correct words. The students mark their papers themselves with a red pen, and record their scores. (7) The students with a perfect score receive a round of applause. (8) The song is played, one last time, with everybody singing. The same system is used. However, for the first playing the words are folded under, as shown on the song sheets. Only at the second listening, are the words revealed. You can have a lot of fun seeing what the students come up with, before they are allowed to see the correct words. Complete sentences are deleted (liquid paper?), so more words must be recognised. The words are folded under for the entire listening while the tape is played. Only after all the listenings are the correct words revealed. With a little experience, the teacher will easily be able to adjust to the level of difficulty required. The songs have been chosen for their pronunciation and because they are familiar to most students. Variety in the types of songs, for instance, rock, ballad and so forth, is supplied. The song sheets (lyrics) have been made for the lower levels, and need to be modified for higher levels. (Name:__)__ __**"Bus Stop" (1)**__
 * //Lower Level://**
 * //Medium Level://**
 * //Note://**
 * //Higher Level: ://**
 * //Sample Song://**

__(The Hollies) Bus Stop, wet day, she's there,__ __I say, please share my__ (1) Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, Love grows, under my umbrella All that summer we enjoyed __(2)__ __Wind and rain and shine__ __That umbrella, we employed it__ __By__ _(3) she was mine


 * Every morning I would see her waiting at the __(4)__**
 * __Sometimes she'd shop__**
 * __And she would show me what she__ __(5)__**
 * __All the people stared__**
 * __As if we were both quite insane__**
 * __Someday my name and her's are going__**
 * __To be the__ __(6)__**
 * __That's the way the whole thing__ (7)**
 * Silly, but it's _(8)**
 * A thinking of a sweet romance**
 * Begin and end with you.**
 * Came the sun the ice was melting**
 * No more sheltering ___(9)__**
 * _(10) to think that that umbrella led me to a vow.**

Your score__/10__ __--- Fold here, for the first listening at higher levels ---__ __now, stop, nice, August, true, bought, it, same, umbrella, started__
 * (** Chorus)

__**Let It Be (Lennon, McCartney)**__ __When I__ (1) myself in times of trouble Mother Mary (2) to me Speaking _(3) of wisdom, let it be. And in my ___(4) of darkness__ __She__ __(5)__ ___(6) right in front of me__ ___(7) words of wisdom, let it be.__ __Let it be, let it be.__ _(8) words of wisdom, let it be And when the broken hearted ___(9)__ ___(10) in the world agree,__ __There__ _(11)be an answer, let it be. For though they may be_(12) there is Still a chance that they will ___(13)__ __There will be an__ ___(14), let it be.__ __Let it be, let it be. Yeah__ __There will be an answer, let it be.__ __And when the night is__ _(15), There is still a (16) that shines on me, Shine on until (17), let it be. I wake up to the sound of __(18)__ __Mother Mary comes to__ __(19)__ __Speaking words of__ _(20), let it be. Let it be, let it be. There will be an answer, let it be. Let it be, let it be, Whisper words of wisdom, let it be Your score_/20 --- fold line - will, wisdom, see, Whisper, hour, light, me, parted, speaking words,

tomorrow, answer, living, standing, comes, music, cloudy, people, is, find

Edutainment- there's 100 pages of material
==== that you can use to lighten your teaching load and brighten your classroom, ====

==== and more importantly, make your English teaching more effective. No preparation required, all materials ready to photocopy ! ==== (all of above activities found at [] ) ||  || Contributions to http://englishadventurefoc.wikispaces.com/ are licensed under a [|Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License]. Portions not contributed by visitors are Copyright 2011 Tangient LLC. ||
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 * Help · About · Blog · [|Pricing] · Privacy · Terms · [|**Support**] · [|**Upgrade**]