Suggested First Class Activities
The following are activities that can be used in your first class
You may need to adapt the activities to suit the level of your learners and the time you have available. You can use one activity or a number of activities. You are free to use additional / other activities.
In common
Ask students to sit in pairs. Tell them to find 5 things they have in common and 3 things they don�t have in common. Re-group students and have them repeat the activity with another partner and/or have students report their findings. Be sure to follow with open-class feedback.
Tell me about me
Bring some things to class that have information about you (your passport, your latest plane or train ticket, a book you like, pictures of your loved ones, etc.). Display these things and ask students to work together to build an idea of what you are like as a person. Students do this orally. Feed back in open-class. Do the same in pairs or groups. The students can use the contents of their wallets or handbags as prompts.
A good way to learn English is �
Give students some sentences related to this topic. Tell them they can agree, disagree or change the sentences. Encourage students to discuss the statements in pairs or small groups ensuring student talking time (STT) is maximised. Below are some examples. You can add your own. This can lead to a class discussion about how to learn a language as well as past experiences of language learning.
A good way to learn English is�
� in class with a professional English teacher.
� in a coffee shop with a native speaker of English who isn�t a teacher.
� living in a country where people speak English.
� doing business in English.
� watching films and TV in English.
� repeating what the teacher says in English.
� keeping a notebook of new words.
� doing English homework (writing and reading) very often.
� having lots of tests in class to help us remember.
� using a bilingual dictionary all the time.
� reading in English.
� speaking in English with other students in the class.
Alternatively, you can choose another topic that you think your students would find engaging.
Variations on the Name Whip
The Name Whip is a quick activity for everyone to get to know each other�s names. One person starts by saying �My name is ��. The next person continues, naming the first person and then themselves, �His name is �, my name is �� and so on until the last person has to name everybody. You can vary this by adding more information at the end. Here are some ideas:
� My name is Maria and I like �
� My names is Carlos, when I was a child they called me Carlitos (nicknames)
� My name is James and I am � (job)
� My name is Pawel and I am � (dream job)
T-shirt
You will need to prepare your own �T-shirt� to demonstrate the task. Each student prepares a T-shirt (A4 piece of paper) with 3 drawings and 2 numbers related to their likes, dislikes and personal information. Students mix and mingle to ask questions to establish what the pictures and numbers represent.
Talk when the music stops
Find some lively music. Divide students into two groups (of the same size if possible). The students form two concentric circles. When the music starts, the outer circle moves clockwise whilst the inner circle moves counter-clockwise. When the teacher stops the music, students also stop and face a partner in the other circle. The teacher displays or calls out a topic and the students discuss the topic until the music starts again. Possible topics: weather, hobbies, family, pets, holidays, English lessons, etc. Alternatively, the teacher can set the topics before he/she plays the music to give the students some thinking time before they have to speak.
All the words I know
Give the students 2-5 minutes to write down all the words they can think of connected to a particular topic (e.g. travel, food, etc.). They should do this individually. When the time is up, put the students in pairs. Students take it in turns to define each word on their list so their partner can guess it - they can also draw a picture or use mime/gestures. If, when their partner has guessed it, they both have the same word on their list, they should both cross it off. The winner is the partner with the most original words and you can conduct whole class feedback on these.
Categories
Divide the students into teams, each with a �runner�. The runner comes to the teacher�s desk and reads the category on the card, e.g.:
o 5 ways to wake someone up
o 5 animals you can see on a farm
o 7 things to do in your city
o 8 things you can read
o 7 things that come in pairs
o 6 reasons for speaking to a stranger
o 8 things that keep you warm
The runner returns to the group to tell them what the category is. The group must then brainstorm the list. The first group to finish shouts �stop� and the other teams must put their pens down.
The circle game
Divide the class into groups and ask them to form circles with their chairs (with a small class you can do this as a whole class activity). Ask students to stand up. Remove one chair from each circle so there is now one chair fewer than the number of students in each circle. There are two simple rules. The students cannot sit in the same as they were sitting before and they are not allowed to push or run. One student is chosen to stand in the middle of the circle (or the teacher could do this) and he/she starts things off by saying, for example, �Everyone wearing glasses, change places�. All the students wearing glasses now have to try and sit in another chair. The person in the middle (if it�s not the teacher) also tries to sit down. There will always be one person left standing and he or she gives the next instruction.