First Day
First Day
First Day
Starting a new academic year can be stressful, no matter how many years
youve been teaching. New students, new colleagues, new classroom, new
syllabus Its enough to make anyone stressed and anticipate the worst.
Last year, I bought a bunch of fantastic e-books from busyteacher.org and here
Ill share a couple of pages with u guys. Ive included some interesting tips and
activity ideas to help you get through your first day. I cant be there in the class
with you but hopefully this reading might help some of you.
Ive also included some of my favourite first day activities from teach-this.com.
I have done all of them through the years Ive been teaching and they really
work. Most were done right at the beginning, but also while I was covering a
new class or when starting a new track with a new class.
The possibilities are limitless!! Its in your hands. :)
To a fantastic new academic year together!
Cheers!
Joey
NB: If you liked the articles, Ill share the whole library via myiaup.coms teacher interface soon.
ENCOURAGE
STUDENTS TO GET
INVOLVED
FROM DAY ONE
FOOD
GAME-SHOW-STYLE
QUIZ GAME
JIGSAW PUZZLE
20 QUESTIONS
STUDENT
INTRODUCTIONS
AN ALL ABOUT ME
ACROSTIC
In this game, students will guess at information about their classmates based
on objects that person shares with the
class. As homework, each person should
gather two or three objects that represent something about them. It might be
something they love, something they
hate, something that evokes a certain
APPLES TO APPLES
Getting to Know You: Every Level Ice Breakers for the First Day
ICEBREAKERS ARE IMPORTANT IN
ANY CLASSROOM, AND EVEN MORE
SO IN YOUR ESL CLASSROOM.
Your students will be working together
for the rest of the semester, and the
sooner they get to know each other,
the more supportive and encouraging they can be. Some icebreakers,
though, are better for beginning students while others are best for advanced students. Here are some activities you can use with your students
no matter what level you are teaching.
20 QUESTIONS JAR
If you teach a class of internationals, this activity will help them get
to know where their classmates are
from. On a large map, have everyone put a small sticker where they
are from. Once everyone has marked
home, allow students to guess which
sticker belongs to each person in your
class.
WARM UP YOUR
INTERMEDIATE
STUDENTS
STUDENT BINGO
HELP YOURSELF
BACK TO SCHOOL:
HOW TO HELP YOUR
STUDENTS BOND
THINGS IN COMMON
BAG IT!
teach-this.com
The Name Game
Age/Level: Young learners
Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Players: 2 teams
teach-this.com
Teachers Question Time
Age/Level: Any
Time: 40 minutes
Players: Individual
Preparation: None
teach-this.com
My Life in Five Sentences
Age/Level: Elementary and above
Time: 20 minutes
Players: Pairs
Preparation: None
Aim: To practice sequence words and find out interesting information about a partner
This is a great ice-breaker activity to play with new students on the first day of class.
Procedure
Write five sentences on the board about interesting things you have done in your life.
Tell the students that the sentences on the board are things you have done in your life but the
order is wrong.
Ask the students to put the five sentences in the correct order using words that express
sequence, i.e. first, second, then, after that, finally.
The students can do this verbally or you can have them write the sentences.
Ask various students for their sequence until someone gives you the correct order.
Next, tell the students to write five sentences about interesting things they have done. Tell the
students to avoid writing sentences where the chronological order is obvious.
When they have finished, divide the students into pairs.
The students look at their partners sentences and try to put them in the right order using
sequence words.
If the order is wrong, the student tries again until they get it right.
You can make this ice-breaker more challenging by using more sentences, e.g. My life in ten
sentences.
When the students have finished, get feedback from around the class about any interesting
information students found out about their partner.
teach-this.com
Secrets
Age/Level: Elementary and above
Time: 25 minutes
Players: Individual
Preparation: None
Aim: To ask questions to determine who is telling the truth
This is a fun mystery game to play on the first day of class. This game motivates students to
ask questions. The students also get to find out interesting things about their classmates.
Procedure
Hand out a slip of paper to each student.
Tell the students to write their name on the paper.
Then, ask the students to write down a secret about themselves.
The secret could be anything, such as a hidden talent, a skill, accomplishment or a place
they have visited. However, it should be something that is unknown to anyone in the class.
Collect the slips. Read them and choose one slip that has an interesting secret.
Then, ask three students to stand up and go out of the classroom. One of the three students
must be the person who wrote the secret you have chosen.
Go out of the classroom with the students and explain to them that they must all claim to
have the secret.
Bring the three students back and sit them down in front of the class.
Tell the class the secret. The class then has to question the three students to determine
which two are lying and which one is telling the truth.
After about five minutes of questioning, the students vote on who is telling the truth and who
is lying.
Award points to the students who guess correctly and then play another round.
teach-this.com
Who am I?
Age/Level: Any
Time: 20 minutes
Players: 2 teams
Preparation: None
John
Blue
Yes, I can.
The beach
London
Football
10
11
12
13 years
10 years
183 cms
Honda
Yes, I am.