[i2i]

Well a new semester is just around the bend for some of us. so let's share some first day activities that you do with classes/students that you are unfamiliar with.

Here's mine:

i have 1 activity that i almost always use the first day of class. it's a great way to get to know your students and for them to get to know you.

First, i write 10 things about myself on the board. I write some easy ones like: 'Bob', '30', 'swimming', etc... And then i write some more obscure ones like: ,'Sage', 'Yes', '8/12/2005', etc...

Then i get the students to guess the question to the answer that is on the board. So they would ask:
whats your name?
how old are you?
whats your hobby?
whats your dog's name?
are you married?
when did you get married?

after they have figured out the question for each answer, it's their turn. they write down 3-5 things about themselves that maybe their classmates don't know. then they come up to the front of the class, i write their info on the board and the class guesses about the student.

its a great activity because you really get to know a lot about your students and they learn a bit about you. plus, its a lot of fun!

what do you do?

[little sage]

On the first day of class for classes of about 15 students or less, I like to play the familiar game "snowball sentence".

I ask the person sitting on my right to tell me their name and their hobby.
"Hi, I'm Lucy and I like skiing". Then I say, "This is Lucy and she likes skiing. I'm Karen and I like drawing". And we go around the room, each person introducing everyone who has spoken on their right. Usually I try to WOW them by naming everyone and their hobbies as the last person to take a turn, but sometimes that backfires Still, it's very fun.

To get people who have answered early to continue to participate, you can allow students to mime hints to others who are having trouble remembering.

As a follow up you can have students write down either 3-5 sentences following the pattern: "NAME likes HOBBY (ie. Karen like drawing. Lucy likes skiing, etc) or if you're that kind of teacher you can challenge them to remember as many as possible. Perhaps a prize for the winner is in order?

[cecille antenorcruz]

thanks for all the wonderful teaching techniques you've posted! Its such a great help to me. Please continue giving the surfers idea.Cecille Antenorcruz

[Manuela]

With children (8 - 12), even with true beginners I like teaching them how to introduce themselves : "I'm Mary"
" I'm Bill" then have them shake hands with me in turn and say "Nice to meet you" "Nice to meet you too". THe whole class helps out the children who are shy.
Then I teach them to clap hands, shake their shoulders, snap their fingers, shake their heads, shout OK, slap their knees, stretch their arms etc when they respond correctly to these orders I sing " If you're happy and you know it" and they just do the actions.
If there are books to hand out I also teach them
"Here you are" Thank you" "Not at all"
So by the end of the first hour they can introduce themselves, offer things,say thank you and respond politely to that and can understand a number of orders that get them familiarised with parts of their bodies.

I liked the two activities listed above in this thread, a lot. Have tried out the
the Snowball thing, didn't know it was called like this. It' s an activity that comes in handy for revising vocabulary learnt so far too.

[Bilingualdiva]

Cool... I've never heard of the Jeapordy warmer... will use it soon..
Here are some I use with my high school kids.. works for adults advance class as well.
I ask the students to think of an adjective that describes them using the first or last Initial of their first or last name.. (in case there are any Y's or Z's in there) then studetns volunteer to go around the room and name the person and their adjective
or
I ask students as they walk into the class to cut a piece of string... any length they choose.... once everyone has their piece of string I ask them to say as many things about themselves for every wrap around their little finger ( thumb if it is a big class)
or
I have an assortment of magazine pictures of houses and homes cut out.. as the students come into class I ask them to select a home they would like to live in... on the back of the picture is a number ( the numbers double the house made of straw is #2 and the mansion is #2) when all have pictures I ask them to turn the picture around and find their mate, they must then tell their mate why they chose the house they did and their info ...name age.. etc..... give five or ten minutes (depends on size of class) once they have done this using the number order 1-??? have the pairs introduce each other to the rest of the class....and tell why their partner pick the house they chose...

these are very successful.. it gives the class a feeling of trust and gets them speaking the language or if they are beginners they find ways of comminucating using body language or what ever little bit of the language they might know..
beware... I teach classes of 35 ...when they are this big it takes at least two days to complete the warm up..35 kids 42 minutes....if your teaching time is longer kudos.....

[jenniferp]

ON my first day, of teaching grade 1 learners, I made a worksheet with an empty picture frame and got them to draw a self portrait. Underneath I'd written basic sentences, "My name is ..............." "I am ........ years old" " I live in ..............." "My teacher is ............"
They got to fill in the relevant information, (with lots of help from me) and draw their picture, (which they mostly love doing) and I managed to learn a bit about each of them (certainly helped with matching names to faces!). I put the pictures on the wall so we had a gallery for each class which helped them to feel it was going to be their space for the term.

xx

[stanley]

I am very keen to learn the children's names as fast as possible, but will only see each class once or twice a week. Any ideas for fun ways to learn names quickly? In England, I get children to wear name labels for the first few classes until I know them. I thought I might get my children here to make their own labels - anyone do this? I will also try the soft ball idea - say your own name, then the name of the person you're about to throw the ball to - this can be extended in many ways, eg, say your name and favourite food/country of origin before throwing the ball/toy.

[little sage]

Quote stanley

I am very keen to learn the children's names as fast as possible, but will only see each class once or twice a week. Any ideas for fun ways to learn names quickly? In England, I get children to wear name labels for the first few classes until I know them. I thought I might get my children here to make their own labels - anyone do this?

Yes, I always do name tags, even with adult classes (though I don't make the adults wear the tags).

I precut paper and fold it, teach the correct romanization of the letters (in Korea, it's the vowels that are killers) and have everyone write their name on the sheet and stand it on their desks. At the end of class for the first few lessons (OK, many lessons) I collect their tags and then use them when I call roll next lesson. I also group the tags into clusters of who sits together and that also gives me a way to remember who's who. With classes of 30+ that meet once a week, it takes some time.

For kids, I let them use colour and maybe draw something on the tag that they really like. Then I have a visual image to go with their name and their face. That helps me remember.

Karen

[little sage]

Hi, a question here.

Does anyone know a good activity for the first day of university age, very basic level composition class? I want to get a writing sample from the students to gauge their skill, but I don't want to be too boring and obvious.

What springs immediately to mind is "Write a few sentences to introduce yourself" or the very cliche "What I did on summer vacation". Can anyone either spruce up these themes or advise me on a more exciting activity?

Thanks in advance.

Karen

[Muriah]

Quote little sage

Yes, I always do name tags, even with adult classes (though I don't make the adults wear the tags).

I precut paper and fold it, teach the correct romanization of the letters (in Korea, it's the vowels that are killers) and have everyone write their name on the sheet and stand it on their desks. At the end of class for the first few lessons (OK, many lessons) I collect their tags and then use them when I call roll next lesson. I also group the tags into clusters of who sits together and that also gives me a way to remember who's who. With classes of 30+ that meet once a week, it takes some time.

For kids, I let them use colour and maybe draw something on the tag that they really like. Then I have a visual image to go with their name and their face. That helps me remember.

Karen

I used to have the kids write their names, but I found that especially with the little ones I couldn't read the card from the front of the classroom. I know it sacrifices the chance to have them practice the romanization, but I think it's more important to be able to reliably call them all by name. I print labels of their names off of the computer and let the kids decorate around it. And it works! I have over 400 regular students and I can call almost all of them by name even without the cards, now.

Since I've been at the same school for so long, the only new classes I ever have are incoming first years. I usually do simple games that they know already, like Janken Train, and a circle introduction activity where everyone says "My name is ..."

[nadyawisdom]

Hello,
I can recommend a little activity - to make a name necklace. You will need laminated squares of paper with all the necessary letters (approx. 4x4 cm, could be smaller). You can use coloured paper for the letters. It makes the necklace much nicer. At the top of the square with the letter make two holes with a hole puncture. Then use a piece of string to thread the letters through the holes, so that they make up the name of a child. You can do it during the lesson all together. Children can wear this necklace every lesson, so it is easier for you to remember their names!

[CMarine]

Quote stanley

I am very keen to learn the children's names as fast as possible, but will only see each class once or twice a week. Any ideas for fun ways to learn names quickly? In England, I get children to wear name labels for the first few classes until I know them. I thought I might get my children here to make their own labels - anyone do this? I will also try the soft ball idea - say your own name, then the name of the person you're about to throw the ball to - this can be extended in many ways, eg, say your name and favourite food/country of origin before throwing the ball/toy.

Something you might try is taking pictures of everyone the first day, and attaching them to a folders that you use everyday in class and at home (dialouge journal for example) then on the second day, have the students find the folder with their picture an write their names on them. Now, everytime you pass out the folders, or read the journals (or what ever) you get a refresher.

[alawton]

That is a good idea. Between the Spanish and ESL classes I teach each semester I have many students. It takes me a while to remember all of their names. Adults can sometimes be more offended if you forget their names. During the first week of class I walk around with my class roster. I ask questions pertaining to what we are learning. I'll choose a name that I am unfamiliar with to answer the question. Eventually the names stick!

[jlg53]

I taught in China for several years and at my last school had 64 grade 1 students.
First, I had the Ss. write their English names on desk cards (many Ss. did not have English names) - send note home to parents etc.

Then I took a picture of each S. holding their name card.

I used the pictures to learn their names, but also for parent interviews - when you have 4 Tom's ....

While I was taking the Ss. pictures, the class was drawing a picture of themselves and printing their English name on a sheet which went up on the classroom wall.

[sidewalker]

One of my favourite activities for older, more advanced learners is to give each student a bunch of cards with different opinions on. If the opinion matches the student's own then they hang on to the card. If they don't agree with it then they must get rid of it by finding a student who does share that opinion and giving them the card. Usually, you get lots of interesting sharing of opinions and students get to know each other a little.

At the end of the class, go around the group and see what opinion cards each student is holding. Lots more discussions will probably spark up along the way.


There's a set of opinion cards on my website which you can download and print.

[Pix]

I like to play an interviewing game. Before class, make up a list of characteristics that students are likely to have such as "I live in a house" or "I am an only child". Then add in a few unusual ones such as "I have a pet turtle" or "I have broken more than two bones in my body". Of course, you have to make your statements relevant to your students' level. Then, give each student a sheet and have them walk around the class trying to find classmates who fit the characteristic. The first person to find someone to fit all of the characteristics wins, or get a bonus or whatever you want to do to reward the winner. If it turns out that you cannot fill in all of the characteristics, then you can see who gets the most. Another twist would be that the students cannot put anyone's name on there more than one time.

Here's a post of the first lesson of the term.

[simplyesl]

I use this one for children with at least decent English 7+.

It's called sausage. Any question that you, or the students, ask must be answered with 'sausage' as the subject.

For example:
What's your name?
My name is sausage.

This activity always brings a laugh. Try and get your students to think of the best questions that they can.

[livinginkorea]

I always use a sponge ball and get the students into a circle (depends on the class size, bigger classes can stay in their seat or break into a few circles if you have space) and then throw the ball around. Have some easy target language for them to practice for example, since it's the first day, "I'm John. What's your name?" Then change it to include the last person's name, "His/her name is _______, my name is John. What's your name?" You can make it more and more interesting by introducing more sponge balls or by having one person to remember all the other names.

It's very simple and never fails for break the ice with the students.

[simplyesl]

Hahaha, I just got a beach ball from my school to use in the classroom. The kids go absolutely nuts playing volleysentence. NUTS!

[Eric]

Quote simplyesl

Hahaha, I just got a beach ball from my school to use in the classroom. The kids go absolutely nuts playing volleysentence. NUTS!

How do you play?