10 New Warmer Activities in English Class.

Warmers

A quick five-minute warmer activity can wake up tired students, get them speaking in English, activate knowledge/skills and provide a lead-in to the main activities. For a first lesson, or when covering for a colleague, warmers can be used to assess the students’ level so that a lesson can be adapted or developed accordingly. Whatever their purpose, warmers are an important solution to a ‘cold start’.

Here are ten easy activities for the business English classroom presented by PHIL WADE (A Cambridge examiner) in  English Teaching Professional Magazine

1.         An interesting agenda

Tell one student what activities will be in the next class and ask them to prepare an agenda, as if  for a business meeting, which they then read to start the lesson (they can add one item of their own). Another student can then conclude the lesson with a summary (like the minutes of  a meeting)

2.         Hit the right buttons

Start with a short, relevant podcast or video. This works better if  it involves something that affects the students’ company or job, such as a new law banning foreign investment. Then play devil’s advocate by agreeing with it and gradually eliciting arguments against.

3.         The experts

Pair up the students so each is with someone from a different profession. Ask them to explain their jobs briefly and then to give each other advice from their professional perspective.

4.         Loads of money

Tell the students you’ve come into £100,000 and you would like to invest it but are not sure how. Ask them for advice.

5.         Where are you going and how?

Explain that you want to become a CEO within ten years, but you don’t know how. Ask the students to plan your strategy.

6.         Expert interview

Choose a student to do a one-minute presentation and a question-and-answer session on the topic. Less knowledgeable students can be asked to research the topic beforehand.

7.         World’s worst/best

Ask the students to explain their worst or best career move or business decision.

8.         Moan and groan

Put the students in pairs to do a ‘boss and employee’ roleplay. The one playing the employee should behave as if  their partner were their real boss and tell them how they really feel about their job.

9.         Why are they better?

Find a market-share diagram of  any industry and ask the students to discuss why those with lower shares are in that position and how they can challenge the market leaders for top position.

10.     Promotion

Ask the students to decide in pairs which student should be promoted, based on their work in the previous lesson.

How To Play Categories Cards Game

Objective : The player who has the most sets of matching categories wins the game.

Instruction:

1.    The dealer shuffles the cards

2.     Each player starts with 4 cards

3.     Each player will take turns asking the other player a question according to the matching   category they want to get or collect. First asking for the category, and then more specific thing.

Example:

a.      PLAYER ONE has an octopus and a jellyfish card, both are in the same category “Animals in the Sea”. PLAYER ONE needs a seahorse and starfish in order to have a complete set.

b.      PLAYER ONE asks PLAYER THREE(or one of other players), “Do you have animals in the sea?”

i.        (+) if PLAYER THREE has the card, PLAYER THREE must say “yes, I have”. Then, PLAYER ONE can continue asking “Is it a seahorse?”. If PLAYER THREE has the card, PLAYER THREE must give it to PLAYER ONE. And PLAYER THREE  must take a new card from the pile.

If it is not a seahorse card, then PLAYER THREE  can keep the card.

ii.       (-) if PLAYER THREE Says “no”, then PLAYER ONE must wait until it is his/her turn again to ask.

4.       Once a player completes a set, the payer must take one new card from the pile.

5.       Players will continue to ask other players until all cards are finished to collect.

6.       The winner of the game is the player who collects the most complete set of categories.

VOCABULARIES TO USE:

1.      ASKING  A QUESTION

Question :

Do you + (verb) + (category card)

Is it a + (more specific thing)

·              Do you have Audio Equipment?

     Do you have a Radio? / Is it a Radio?

·             Do you have Animals in the Sea?

     Do you have Jellyfish? / Is it a Jellyfish?

2.      GIVING A RESPONSE

(+) Yes, I (verb) + (category or thing)

(+) Yes, it is a (thing)

·         Yes, I have Audio Equipment

  Yes, It is a radio

·         Yes, I have Animals in the Sea

  Yes, it is a jellyfish

(-) No, I don’t (verb) + (category or Thing)

(-) No, It is not + (thing)

·         No, I don’t have Audio Equipment

  No, it is not a radio

·         No, I don’t have Animals in the Sea.

  No, it is not a jellyfish

Here is An Innovative New Category Cards Game

Hi guys, here is an innovative cards game that I invented to improve my students' vocabularies. It's very attractive game to play and all of my students really love to play it even in their free time in the class. It can be played by anyone in various levels of English. Besides improving vocabularies, the purpose of playing this is getting fun, fun, fun and fun.

I have 5 sets of cards, Animals, Things, Jobs, Transports and Activities. Each of them has 60 cards, 60 vocabularies. So, after playing this game  hopefully the students will be able to memorize the vocabularies without feeling bored. They will be happy to do it and never realize that they are actually learning vocabularies. 

This game is not very complicated to play. The teacher needs to give the explanation and demonstration before playing it and next, students only need some practices to learn this game.

Here is the instruction to play it.

Do you want to try it in your class? Here are some samples of my cards..

If you are interested to have it, you can call or message me at :

+62-857-3366-2728

or email me :

immawan76@yahoo.co.id

Animal Cards

Job Cards

Thing Cards

Transportation Cards

5 PLAYFUL ICEBREAKERS IN THE CLASS

1. FACT OR FICTION? (Getting to Know You?)
Ask everyone to write on a piece of paper THREE things about themselves which
may not be known to the others in the group. Two are true and one is not. Taking
turns they read out the three ‘facts’ about themselves and the rest of the group
votes which are true and false. There are always surprises. This simple activity is
always fun, and helps the group and leaders get to know more about each other.

2. MY NAME IS.....(Self Introduction)
Go around the group and ask each young person to state his/her name and attach
an adjective that not only describes a dominant characteristic, but also starts with
the same letter of his name e.g. generous Grahame, dynamic Dave. Write them
down and refer to them by this for the rest of the evening.

3. IF
Ask the group to sit in a circle. Write 20 'IF' questions on cards and place them
(question down) in the middle of the circle. The first person takes a card, reads it
out and gives their answer, comment or explanation. The card is returned to the
bottom of the pile before the next person takes their card.

This is a simple icebreaker to get young people talking and listening to others in
the group. Keep it moving and don't play for too long. Write your own additional
'IF' questions to add to the list.

1.  If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
2.  If I gave you $10,000, what would you spend it on?
3.  If you could watch your favourite movie now, what would it be?
4.  If you could talk to anyone in the world, who would it be?
5.  If you could wish one thing to come true this year, what would it be?
6.  If you could live in any period of history, when would it be?
7.  If you could change anything about yourself, what would you change?
8.  If you could be someone else, who would you be?
9.  If you could have any question answered, what would it be?
10. If you could watch your favourite TV show now, what would it be?
11. If you could have any kind of pet, what would you have?
12. If you could do your dream job 10 years from now, what would it be?
13. If you had to be allergic to something, what would it be?
14. If you sat down next to Jesus on a bus, what would you talk about?
15. If money and time was no object, what would you be doing right now?
16. If you had one day to live over again, what day would you pick?
17. If you could eat your favourite food now, what would it be?
18. If you could learn any skill, what would it be?
19. If you were sent to live on a space station for three months and only
allowed to bring three personal items with you, what would they be?
20. If you could buy a car right now, what would you buy?

4. TALL STORIES
The leader starts a story with a sentence that ends in SUDDENLY. The next person
then has to add to the story with his own sentence that ends in SUDDENLY.
Continue the story until everyone has contributed. The story becomes crazier as
each young person adds their sentence. Tape it and play it back. For example;
'Yesterday I went to the zoo and was passing the elephant enclosure when
SUDDENLY.....'

5. WORD LINKS
This is a word association game. Ask the group to sit in a circle. The first person
starts with any word they wish i.e. red. The next person repeats the first word and
adds another word which links to the first i.e. tomato. The next person repeats the
previous word and add another word link i.e. soup, and so on. To keep this
moving, only allow five seconds for each word link.

Taken from the book of "40 Icebreakers for Small Group".

What Is Icebreaker for?

Icebreakers can play an important role in helping young people integrate and
connect with one another in a group environment.

Icebreakers can also enhance
your teaching by helping to stimulate cooperation and participation. They can
provide positive momentum for small group study and discussion by:

•   Helping a new group get to know one another. 
•   Helping new members to integrate into a group. 
•   Helping young people feel comfortable together. 
•   Encouraging cooperation. 
•   Encouraging listening to others. 
•   Encouraging working together. 
•   Encouraging young people to break out of their cliques. 
•   Developing social skills. 
•   Building a rapport with leaders. 
•   Creating a good atmosphere for learning and participation. 

What should be prepared?

A 10 SECOND CHECK LIST! 

•   Be enthusiastic, whatever happens, be enthusiastic! 
•   Choose volunteers carefully and don't cause embarrassment. 
•   If something is not working move quickly on to the next activity. 
•   Timing is important. Don't flog them to death. Use only 2 or 3 icebreakers as a 20-30 minutes     introduction to your programme. Finish each icebreaker while young people are still enjoying it. 
•   Choose icebreakers appropriate for your age group. No group is the same and your understanding of what will and will not work with your group is a core youth work skill. 

taken from "40 Icebreakers for Small Groups" book.

Download English Materials for Speaking Activity, "Communicating Games for Beginner"

This book is a collection of 40 games for beginning students of English. It offers many things to use in your class such as photocopiable material for a wide variety of games, a language syllabus that matches the communicative abilities of beginner and young learners and the teacher's notes on how to play each game in the class and many others.

Click here to download

Sentences Chain, Memory Game.

Hi, sobat.. Kali ini kami ingin berbagi lagi sebuah ide bermain Game Bahasa Inggris yang bisa anda pakai di kelas anda. Game ini bernama "Sentences Chain". Game ini bertujuan untuk melatih anak dalam membuat kalimat dan melatih daya ingat anak. Sangat menarik bukan?

Nah, inilah langkah-langkahnya.

Game ini dimainkan secara individu, jadi anda tidak perlu membagi kelas menjadi kelompok.
Pertama, mintalah anak di barisan depan (anda bisa memulai dari sudut paling kanan atau kiri di kelas anda) untuk membuat sebuah kalimat sederhana dalam Bahasa Inggris. Kalimat ini bisa anda sesuaikan dengan materi yang sedang anda sampaikan. Misalnya, Simple Present Tense.

Katakanlah Siswa A membuat kalimat "I always get up at 5 O'clock". Kemudian, minta siswa di sebelahnya (siswa B) untuk mengulang kalimat siswa A lalu membuat kalimatnya sendiri. "He always gets up at 5 o'clock and I always take a bath".

Setelah itu, lanjutkan dengan siswa C yang duduk di sebelah siswa B, dengan perintah yang sama dia harus mengulangi kalimat siswa A dan B lalu membuat kalimatnya sendiri, "He always gets up at 5 o'clock, she always takes a bath and I usually eat bread"

Lanjutkan permainan ini sampai akhirnya seorang siswa tidak bisa mengingat lagi kalimat yang disampaikan oleh teman-temannya sebelumnya. Kemudian, hitunglah berapa kalimat yang bisa dihitung olehnya. Lalu, mulailah lagi permainan ini sampai semua siswa di kelas mengucapkan kalimat yang ia buat seendiri.

Siswa yang paling banyak mengingat kalimat adalah pemenangnya alias pemegang rekor. Pada pertemuan selanjutnya anda bisa mengulang lagi permainan ini dengan tema yang berbeda dan bersiaplah untuk mencari pemecah rekor selanjutnya..

Selamat mencoba!!

 

WHAT’S BEHIND YOU? (Memory Game)

Hi, guys...Here is an idea of playing a game for your English class. This game's purpose is to give your students a practice on describing something or someone. This game is very easy to play and it's also challenging. 

Well, these are the steps of playing the game:
Tell the class not to turn round. Ask them what they think is behind them. They might list other people in the class, furniture, pictures on the walls, etc. Ask for descriptions for the things they mention. The teacher may also ask what the learners can remember of the street outside the school, e.g.: 

Teacher : Think about the street outside the school. What can you remember? 
Student  : There are some trees... 
Teacher : Are there trees on both sides of the street? ... 

In a variation of this game, a student is asked to close his eyes and describe his neighbor’s appearance.