Hi!!! I want to share with you what I did this year. I started working with my group in March, well into the school year, and like you, I didn ´t know them, or anything about them!!! but since I wanted to learn as much as I could about them, I "invented" a roll call activity, that according to them, I was the only teacher who ´d ever done that!! at first, it might have been a drag for them, but later I overheard a comment they made, while they were talking among themselves trying to guess what I was going to ask that day! The activity is very simple, instead of just calling out their name, and have them say "present" or "here"... I would post a question on the board. I ´d then call out the names of each ss and instead of answering in the typical way, they ´d have to answer the "question of the day". The questions were very simple, but this helped me a lot, because at the same time I got to know them better, it served as practice for whatever grammar structure was used in the question, vocabulary, etc. The rule was that they ´d have to answer in complete sentences.
Some ideas for the questions can be:
-what is your favorite color
-when was the last time you made someone happy
-think of something that can fit in a match box
-say something that you would NEVER put in your pocket
-what are your mom and dad ´s hobbies?
-what can you do on a rainy day
-what can you do without speaking
-what can you do without moving
-what places have you visited
-think of something that is "round" (you can change whatever shape)
etc, etc. as you can see, there is a lot of grammar and vocab practice in these "simple" questions, and they help you get to know your students, and at the same time have fun, since they ´ll be looking forware to "tomorrow ´s question"...you have to do this very quick, don ´t let ss take too much time answering. what I do is, if they don ´t answer quick enough, since this is for roll call, they ´ll be marked "absent"... of course this won ´t happen, since once they know the rules, they answer immediately.
hope you like this idea...
hugs!
- Mar