Over 600 Icebreakers & Games: Hundreds of ice breaker questions, team building games and warm-up activities for your small group or team:Amazon:Books Warm Ups And Time Fillers There are many reasons why you may need to use warmers and time fillers while working as an ESL teacher: to focus or bring energy to each class in the first ten minutes or soto break the ice with a new class of studentsto fill a small block of time when a lesson runs shorter than you plannedto replace a lesson that students can't grasp or are bored withto have on hand for emergencies such as broken audio-visual equipment or photocopiersto use when you get parachuted in as a last-minute stand-in for another teacher Some teachers use short games and activities on a daily basis, and others use them only when the need arises. Print out some of these warmers, activities, worksheets and even jokes, and place them in a special file or notebook to keep with you at all times. You never know when you might need to pull something fun and new out of your teaching hat!
The Middle School Counselor: Icebreakers How do you get the conversation started? Sometimes when you are working with groups, you need a little kick start for a conversation. I use some old fashioned icebreaker questions, but have given them a new look. We have used the stones several ways. One way is to just pass around the can and each student takes a stone, reads his or her question, and everyone takes a turn as we go around the table.Another way is to have each student take a stone and put it on the table in front of them.
Top 20 Fillers Fillers | Lateral Thinking Puzzles There are times when you're class is going wrong or a colleague is ill and you've been asked to cover, you have no plan, no materials and a textbook that is boring your students to tears... These fillers require no preparation and no equipment beyond a whiteboard, markers and some paper. We present the ESL Lesson First Aid Kit! 1. This is a great way to reinforce fluency in any subject from a very simple, my name is... 2. 3. (In nearly every class, somebody will fool you by saying 3 true things or 3 false things.) 4. If you don't know the rules of Charades, check this Website. 5. Give students a phrase to whisper around the class and see it change as it goes around. To make the game more competitive for larger classes you can get 2 or 3 teams and see which version comes out the best. 6. All I was left with was a red umbrella Green balloons are the secret to happiness I’d tell my friends, but I doubt even they’d believe me! 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
Spider Web Discussions as a Formative Assessment | Laur Educational Consulting Several years ago, I began implementing more classroom opportunities for my students to practice their verbal communication skills. Having access to unlimited technology had allowed me to support their online and written communication skills, but I still saw a lack of both oral and listening skills on the part of my juniors and seniors. There are several methodologies that I have tried with great success, but at the request of one of my good friend’s and colleagues, John McCarthy, I’m writing this detailed description on how to conduct my twist on the Harkness Discussion. Early on in my consulting career, I was introduced to the Harkness Discussion, by a teacher who attended one of my trainings and taught AP Literature. To start a discussion, place students in a circle, but don’t assign students a specific seat. The next step, is to write the names of the students on a pre-made large circle that you have drawn on either chart paper or on letter size paper attached to a clip board.
It’s time to move: Energy breaks for the language classroom (by Marc Helgesen) Human beings are not designed to sit still all day. Thousands of years ago, on the plains of the Serengeti in Africa, people walked 10-20 kilometers every day (Medina, 2014). It has only been in the past century or two that people moved to cities. Later we started going everywhere in cars and trains. As teachers, we often stand and move around. And it pays off in the classroom. Something people might find surprising, brain science shows that exercise correlates with increased scores on seeming unrelated subjects like math and science (Ratey and Hagerman, 2010). For some time, I’ve been experimenting with “energy breaks” – short bits of physical activity in my classes. One simple example is “5 right here, right now.” I’ve made seven short PowerPoint presentations. The PowerPoint’s are on my website. While you are there, you might want to check on some of the other handouts on various topics. I hope you and your students are moved. For additional reading on this topic: