Monday 23 November 2015

2 Simple Ice-breakers To Start A Lesson

Last week I tried out two new ice-breakers at the very beginning of the lesson, and it worked well in both Elementary groups. To make long story short, here they are:

1) Alphabet Race. Write all the alphabet letters in a list form. Divide students into 2-3 teams. Set the timer for 2-3-5 minutes. The task can vary:
- write 1 word starting with each letter of the alphabet
- write two words starting with each letter of the alphabet: one adj. and one noun - I used this one
- write adjecives (verbs/noun) starting with each letter of the alphabet
- write words connected with topic "____" starting with each letter of the alphabet
When checking as a whole class activity, give plus for every correctly written word. The winner is the group who got the most number of pluses.

2) Word Chain: Level Advanced.

  • Divide students into 2-3 teams.
  • Give each team a had-out with the following grid:

NOUNS     5-LETTER WORDS    ADJECTIVES
_______     __________________   _____________
_______     __________________   _____________
_______     __________________   _____________

  • Explain the rules. Words in this task should be written as in a word chain: last letter of a previous word becomes the first letter of the following.
  • Exmaple: chair (noun) -- round (5-letter word) -- dangerous (adj.) -- stairs (nouns) -- etc. Set the timer for 3-5-7 minutes.
  • Check as a whole class activity and award pluses/stars for every correctly written word. The winner is the team with the biggest score.


Hope your kids will enjoy it as well :)
Have a great lesson ;)