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Icebreakers & Warm-up activities

Activities compiled by Peace Ho

Pictures selected by Sophia Radlsbeck

Can you forget our TESOL course easily? We had good co-operation andwonderful lessons with Mr. Ray and Mrs. Heather. Therefore, I’d like to

share something with everybody, and I hope that everybody in our class

keeps this manual as a great memento.

Peace Ho

September 2005

TESOL COURSE




Contents Page

Part One: Icebreakers

Two Day Icebreaker …………………………………………. pg. 4

Kindergarten Icebreaker …………………………………………. pg. 5

Talk to me…this way …………………………………………. pg. 6

The Magic Wand …………………………………………. pg. 7

Finish the Sentence …………………………………………. pg. 8

Snowballs …………………………………………. pg.9

Hot Potato …………………………………………. pg.10

Marooned …………………………………………. pg.11

The Twister Game …………………………………………. pg.12

Part Two: Warm Ups

Splat! …………………………………………. pg.14

Who wants to be a millionaire?…………………………………………. pg.15

Plus 1, 2, 3 …………………………………………. pg.16A+ B = C …………………………………………. pg.16

20 Questions …………………………………………. pg.17

Quick Link …………………………………………. pg.18

How do you like your neighbor? …………………………………………. pg.18

Hangman …………………………………………. pg.19

Bobbity bop,bop,bop …………………………………………. pg.20

Baby-What time is it? …………………………………………. pg.20

Pantomime …………………………………………. pg.21

Bean Bag …………………………………………. pg.22Categories …………………………………………. pg.23

Here pussy,pussy …………………………………………. pg.24

Who is it? …………………………………………. pg.24

Cries of Animals …………………………………………. pg.25




Part 1: Icebreakers




Two day icebreaker

This is my ice-breaker for my summer lessons in 2000. The first day, I used a

deck of cards for my students to introduce themselves. On each student’sturn, he or she had to take a card from a deck of playing cards. (I left the

joker cards in).

The instructions: Use the value of the card to determine how many things

to say about you. If you pick the “ace”, say one thing; two, say two things;

a Jack is 11, Queen is 12, King is 13. If the student got the Joker card, he or

she could ask me questions instead.

The follow up activity: I took notes on everything that everybody said, and

then made up a crossword puzzle of student names. (To make it harder,

you could use other information about the student, such as place of work

or native country). They completed this crossword the next time that they

had class.

This was a nice way to remind people of who their class members are and

gave them material to start conversations (“Are you really from

Transylvania?”). The activity goes more quickly if students have name tags

on. I think it’s better if they have to ask each other for information.

Caveats: Be sure to spell students’ names correctly when doing the

crossword! (My sign-in attendance sheet was helpful here). Make sure thatthe clues you write about the students are accurate! Choose a boring

clue if you’re not so sure if something is true.




Kindergarten Ice Breaker – Physical Humour

I’ve found that the best ice breaker for kinder garten classes is a little bit of

“Three Stooges style” physical humour. Pretend you can’t open the doorwhen you arrive on the first day, trip over your chair, drop your books and

cards as often as possible. Lose your marker in plain sight, bump your

head on something…..

The kids will go nuts with laughter, they will relax, and you’ll have their

undivided attention. I’ve successfully used this in a class in Korea where ¾

of the class burst into tears when I walked in for the first time. (They had

never seen a foreigner).




Talk to me…. This way

This is a good activity to start the class. Before getting started, write

sentences on a post-it paper like “Ask me questions”, “Laugh at me”, “Be

angry at me”, “Disagree with me”, “Ignore me”, etc…. according to thenumber of students you’ve got. Stick the paper to the student’s back, so

he can’t see what is written. They must stand up and go around the class

and talk in pairs. They must act according to what’s written on their

partner’s back. If it says “Tell me lies”, they are supposed to tell lies. The

teacher can choose topics like holidays, dates, pets, etc. for them to talk

about. They need to change partners many times.

At the end they are supposed to tell how people acted while talking to

them, to see if they can guess what’s written on their post it paper.




Finish the sentence

Go around the room and have each person complete one of these

sentences (or something similar):

The best job I ever had was…

The worst project I ever worked on was…

The riskiest thing I ever did was…

This is a good technique for moving on to a new topic or subject. For

example, when starting a class and you want everyone to introduce

themselves, you can have them complete “I am in this class because…”

You can also move on to a new subject by asking a leading question. Forexample if you are instructing time management, “The one time I felt most

stressed because I did not have enough time has been …”




Snowballs!

This is a fun way to get students relaxed while at the same time getting to

know the students a little better. It also helps show them that learning (as

they’ll be learning about each other in this activity) can be lots of fun.

And it’s really easy:

1. Have the students write down at least 3 facts about themselves (or

as many as you want to have them write down).

2.

Instruct the students to crumple up the papers on which they have

just written their facts on.

3.

Then shock them by telling them that now, they get to have a one

minute “snowball” fight and let them stand up and throw the

crumpled fact papers at each other for a minute.

4. At the end of the minute, students grab whichever snowball is

closest to them. Reconvene the class and then you can either:a)

have the students read the facts on the snowball they have

and guess which student in the class the snowball belongs to

b)

or have the students read aloud the facts on the snowball

they have and whoever wrote those facts has to tell the class

it’s theirs, rather than having the students guess.



ATA TESOL College 10 Icebreakers & Warm-up Activities

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I’ve used this game as an ice breaker for 11th and 12th graders and they

LOVE it because it’s so completely different from what a teacher would

normally let them do (i.e., go wild for a minute) and it gets them relaxed

and laughing.

Hot potato!

Equipment: Potatoes or tennis balls, music

Description: Firstly you divide the class into groups of four or more. Then

give each group a potato. The activity works by passing the potato

clockwise around the group until the music stops. Once the music stops

the person left holding the potato stands up and is asked to do an action

i.e. cluck like a chicken!

Once they have done this task they can sit back down and the music

starts again, they continue passing the potato. The catch is that theperson who has been given the action must stand up and perform this

action every time they get hold of the potato.

The result is that you have a group all doing different actions while passing

a potato along to an up to date piece of music. This has never failed to

break the ice!




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Marooned

You are marooned on an island. What five items would you have brought

with you if you knew there was a chance that you might be stranded?

Instructions: Divide the class into teams. In their teams the group

members come up with their list of 5 items. Note that they are onlyallowed five items per team, not per person. (You can use a different

number, such as seven, depending upon size of each team.) You can

have them write their items on a flip chart and discuss and defend their

choices with the whole group.

This activity helps them to learn about other’s values and problem solving

styles and promotes teamwork.




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The Twister Game (Great for big groups of people)

This game is best to be played in a large group. Divide the people into

groups of 3. However, 1 or 2 people must not be in a group, they are

extras. In each group, 2 persons will stand and face each other while

holding each other hands. The 3rd person in the group will squat/kneel in

between the 2 people. So basically the 2 people who’re standing up are

called the “House”, while the person kneeling in between is a “Human”.

The host of the game can shout any 1 of the 3 commands at 1 time:

1.

Fire: Fire burns down the house. So people who are the “house”

must change partners to form new “houses” they cannot remain

being a “house” with their existing partners. The people who are“human” must not move. They must remain in their existing place so

that the people who are the “houses” can form new “houses” over

them.

2.

Flood: Flood causes humans to drown. Therefore, the “human” must

change to other “houses”. They cannot remain in the same existing

“house”. The people who are the “houses” do not move this time.

3.

Twister: Everybody has to change their position. For the people who

are the “houses”, they can either change partners, or they can

kneel down to become “humans” themselves. For the people who

are the “human”, they can either change to other “houses”, or theycan stand up and partner with someone to become a “house”.

When the host shouts any 1 of the commands, the 1 or 2 people who are

extras must move quickly so that can compete with the original players by

partnering up with someone to become “houses”, or by becoming

”humans” and occupying the “houses”.

Note: To enhance the excitement, the host shouldn’t wait too long to

shout another now command. Also the host can shout 2 or 3 new

commands continuously so that players will feel extra nervous when

changing position.




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Part 2: Warm-up activities




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Splat!

Here is a fun game for all.

The group stands in a circle, facing the middle, with one person in the

centre of the circle. The person in the middle then spins around, and

points to a person at random, shouting SPLAT! That person must then duck

down, and the two people either side must point at each other and shout

SPLAT!

If the first person doesn’t duck in time, they get “SPLATTED” and are out. If

they do, the last person to say SPLAT on either side is out.

Quite confusing at first, but good fun once you get the gang of it!!!




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Who wants to be a millionaire?

I used a modified version of the popular game show with an intermediate

adult class, but I’m sure it could be used with almost any level or age

group. The game was originally used as a wrap-up for lessons about

holidays.

Preparation: I made overheads of questions about holidays. I put about

ten questions on each page. Many of the questions were taken directlyfrom a book called “Talk about Trivia” by Irene Schoenburg, Addison-

Wesley. Each question had three possible answers.

The rules: The class is divided into two teams. One team begins by

volunteer ing the first person to sit in the “hot seat”, which was placed

between the two teams. The first question and multiple-choice answers

are revealed. The teacher reads them to the players.

The player in the chair has as much time as he/she needs to answer. The

teammates may tell the “hot seat” player what they believe the correct

answer is. Eventually the player must choose one “final answer” to submit.

If the answer is correct, the team receives a point. If the answer is not

correct, no points are given. In either case, the other team sends a person

to the “hot seat” next. It should go back and forth like this until the

questions, or the students, are exhausted. Each team member should

have opportunities to sit in the “hot seat”.

At the end of the game, the team with the most points may be given

some sort of real or silly prize. I made a giant cheque for a million dollars

signed by me. (The game was a tie, so I gave each team half of the

cheque!)

These rules keep everyone involved. Being able to rely on teammates for

answers also relieves individual pressure to get a question right.

Other ideas: I used this with trivia about American holidays. I imagine it

could also be used with other content areas, or even grammar,

depending on the level of the students.




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Plus one, two, three

The first student says “Yesterday I went to the store and I bought

[something].” The next person adds to the first by saying “Yesterday I went

to the store and I bought [something] and [something else]. Keep it simple

for the lower levels. For higher levels any student can add up to threeindividual items at a time.

A + B = C

Students are given two letters of the alphabet and they must come up

with words that include both of those letters. If the letters were “l” and “l”

for example, the student would say “T” plus “L” =…” and then finish with a

word like “towel”. The next person then has to do the same in a shortamount of time. Keep going around the class until someone stumbles. The

letters can be used in order or reversed, and the word can be any length,

but must be one single word. Words cannot be said twice in one game.




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20 Questions

Here is an old favorite I play very often with my high school students. The

students have to guess what thing the person is thinking of by asking him

or her 20 yes/no questions. If no one guesses the answer after 20 tries, the

answer is revealed. A “yes” answer earns the questioner another chance

to ask, a “no” passes the asking on to the next player.

Maybe your students are advanced enough to ask appropriate questions

on their own, in my case to facilitate my weak ones I hand out a print I

made with examples of questions. The first question on my print is, “Are

you animal?/vegetable?/mineral?. Then below that I have written three

categories of questions: animal, vegetable and mineral. Under the animal

heading my first question is “Are you human?” Then I have written

questions like, “Are you famous?” “Are you in this school?” “Are you a

man/woman?” “Are you Japanese?” In case the animal is not human I

have, “Can I eat you?” “Can I ride you?” “Are you bigger than a _____?”

etc.

Under the vegetable heading I wrote questions like “Can I eat you?” “Are

you delicious?” “Are you in Japan?” etc. And finally under the mineral

headline I wrote, “Are you metal/ plastic/ stone/ wood?” “Are you

[blue]?” “Do I have you?” “Are you in the classroom?” “Can I see you?”

By using the print my students get a feel for asking questions in English and

I have found many no longer need to refer to the paper.

I hope you have good luck playing this great word game.




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Quick Link

Size of Group: 10 to?

Focus: energizer, socialization, fun

Description: As the group leader shouts out “get into groups of fours”,

everyone quickly joins a group of four. At any time, even before the groupof four is formed, the leader shouts out another instruction.

Examples: everyone with the same colour shoes, everyone with the same

colour eyes, group of five people born in the same month, people with

the same Zodiac sign, form a letter Z with a group of 3 people.

Expected Outcome: group cohesion, laughter and feelings

How do you like your neighbour?

Equipment: A circle of chairs for all involved except for one person.

Description: One person stands in the middle of the circle of chairs and

announces “I like my neighbour who”…. eg. …is wearing sneakers … has

brown hair, etc. Everyone who fits the statement must move (run) to

another chair.

The object is for the person in the middle to find an empty chair. This is alot of fun and can be played for a long time. Remember to use your

imagination.




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Hangman

All ages, all classes, all levels…

This is basically a hangman variation, using a full sentence.

Instructions: Put the empty spaces of all words in the sentence on the

blackboard. Divide the class into two or more teams, and explain that

they have to first guess and later on deduce the words that make up the

sentence. In turns, they can say individual letters, and get as many pointsas there are letters of that type in the whole sentence, or they can

venture a guess at one complete word. If they get it right, the total

number of letters in the word) even previously entered individual letters in

that word) gives them the number of points they get for that turn, AND

they get ONE extra turn (either a letter or a word), and then it’s the other

team’s turn.

Notes: I’ve found that if you let them continue until they make a mistake; it

takes too long for the other team to get their turn. When all the words are

completed, the game finishes. Be careful to differentiate between letters

that have been entered as individual letters during a team’s turn, and

letters that are entered as part of a word, because in that case there

could still be more of that kind of letter in the rest of the sentence.

This not only practices spelling, as hangman does, but also syntax, tenses

etc., as students will start speculating on what type of word can go in the

empty spaces once they have some information to work with.




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Boppity bop bop bop

Equipment: None

Description: Get the group to stand in a circle. Everyone remains standing

and there is one person in the middle. The person in the middle will go to

someone and point saying “zip” or “zap”. Zip means left and Zap means

right. When the person in the middle says “Zip” the person to whom they

are pointing must say the name of the person on their left before the

person in the middle says “Boppity bop bop bop”. If the person who is inthe circle cannot do this, then they change places with the person who is

“it” in the middle.

This activity is great with older kids (14-19yrs)

Baby! What time is it?!

When teaching basic time-telling skills I devised this game. It’s good for

beginners/children, but wears out after one or two uses, yet is quite

effective and fun.

Draw two blank clock faces on your white/black board and divide the

class evenly (or even into thirds, etc.). Have one student from each group

come to the board and have them race to draw the big and little hands

properly when you tell them the time. This is a great way to install the

concepts of quarter to and after, half past, five of, almost, on-the-dot,

straight up, noon/midnight etc. Prizes aren’t necessary if you can drum

some team spirit, but chocolate never hurts for the winners.




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Bean Bag

This exercise demonstrates to the children how important it is to project

their voices.

Place three bean bags in front of a row of children. One about 10 feet

away from them – the second about 20 feet away, the third about 35-40

feet away (this can obviously be changed to suit the physical

environment of the class).

1. Ask each child to look directly at the first bean bag, say their name

and the name of their favorite animal.

2.

Instruct him to say the exact same things to the second bean bag

3.

Would he speak with the same volume? Of course not – the

“person” is further away 4.

When asked to address the third bean bag, he obviously should be

projecting his voice as loud as he can.

After all the class has addressed the bean bags, let them know were really

acting in a play just then – reaching the first three rows, the middle rows,

and the back rows of the theatre!




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Categories

Students are given five categories (animals, fruits & vegetables, person’s

name, work-related words, countries) and one letter of the alphabet (s, b,w, r, and m). In a limited period of time, they must come up with as many

examples of each category that start with that letter. When the first letter

is done, check everyone’s answers. If the student has a word that no one

else has, that student gets a point. Then move on to the next letter.




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Here Pussy Pussy

Equipment: None

Description: Get the group to sit in a circle. Put a random number in a

bowl or something of that sort. Get each individual to pick a number. The

one with number 1 goes in the middle of the circle, and gets down on

his/her all fours and acts like a cat. The person with the number 2 then has

to tap the person on the head and say “here pussy pussy” without smiling

or laughing. It’s up to the group to decide whether the person should go

into the middle.

I have played this game a few times with various groups. It is always a

good laugh especially with a group just starting up.

Who is it?

Equipment: NoneDescription: A chosen “guesser” goes out room. A leader is then picked

from the group. Whatever the leader does the group must copy. When

the “guesser” enters, they must try and see who the leader is by trying to

work out who is starting the new actions off (tell the group not to all look

at the leader as it makes it harder). This is a really fun game and is good to

keep a small group occupied for short time.




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Cries of animals

The game is filled with laughter and fun with the intention of forming the

participants into groups of 4 – 10.

Preparation: Before one could conduct this game, he or she needs to

write the names of animals (cow, cat, pig, etc.) on to pieces of paper or

card.

Once the group is ready to play, distribute these written slips of paper to

all. Let the participants not show their slip to another person as this needs

to be top secret. Then tell the group to make the sound of the animal that

they have on the slip and form a family of the same animal (in one corner

of the room) The group carefully listens to the similar sounds from the

others. In this way, it would be easy to form the participants into groups.



ATA TESOL College 26 Icebreakers & Warm p Acti ities

Bibliography

www.berkeleyprep.org/lower/fourth/writing/warm_up_activities.htrm

www.classroomtools.com/warm-ups.htm

www.eslcafe.com

www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txwarmup.htm

http://www.classroomtools.com/warm-ups.htm

http://www.eslcafe.com/

http://www.eslcafe.com/

http://www.classroomtools.com/warm-ups.htm

peace ho warm up book

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