[Chris Patton]

Hi:

I'm a DoS in a language centre in Indonesia, and we do quite a lot of work with local schools. I've dealt with school classes a lot over the past few years.

The fact that they don't have a common language works in your favour. It means you won't have to deal with a great deal of background chatter in L1. If you do encounter it, you can always shift your seating plan around based on 1st languages.

Do you have any idea about class sizes? That will go a long way toward deciding what kind of icebreakers and warmers you can use.

As for introductions. I have two basic ones that I use in a lot of classes. For lower levels of proficiency, I list a lot of random, disconnected facts about myself on the board. I might write "UK" "coffee" "dogs" "photography" on the board. I then try and elicit the questions that those facts answer. So in the case I'm looking for "Which country are you from?" "What is your favourite drink?" "What animals do you like?" and "What is one of your hobbies?"

Another one, often used for higher levels of proficiency, also involves eliciting questions, but without the whiteboard clues. I call it P.O.W. (Prisoner of War) I tell them that the rules of combat indicate that I do not have to tell them anything about myself, but that I must answer their questions truthfully. Sometimes I add another rule that says if a question is asked incorrectly I am allowed to lie in my response. So if I hear "Where are you come from?" I usually answer "Mars" or something like thhat. When they catch the lie, they rephrase the question.

Remember to be positive and outgoing, and you'll have them eating out of your hand in no time!

Good luck.

Chris