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SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL VOLUME 1 ISSUE 7


UIF-2022: 8.2 | ISSN: 2181-3337

IMPORTANCE OF ICE BREAKING ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH


Kasimova Guljakhon Makhmudovna
Docent, English language teaching methodology department
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7223440
Abstract. This article is mainly aimed to explain the concept of ice breakers. In the
English language teaching process, every teaching phase is paramount for the achievement of its
goals. At the beginning of the classes, the teachers might bring an ice breaker. In this article, ice
breaker is considered a crucial component in EFL classes. Considering the prominence of ice
breakers, the researcher regards the importance of a literature study about ice breakers,
especially in English language class. The ice breakers are jumbled sentences, correcting
mistakes, English songs, storytelling activities, and English humor.
Keywords: Ice breakers, English language class, EFL context, motivation.
ВАЖНОСТЬ ЛЕДОКОЛЬНЫХ МЕРОПРИЯТИЙ В ОБУЧЕНИИ АНГЛИЙСКОМУ
ЯЗЫКУ
Аннотация. Данная статья в основном направлена на объяснение концепции
ледоколов. В процессе обучения английскому языку каждый этап обучения имеет
первостепенное значение для достижения поставленных целей. В начале занятий учителя
могут принести ледокол. В этой статье ледокол считается ключевым компонентом в
классах EFL. Учитывая известность ледоколов, исследователь считает важным
изучение литературы о ледоколах, особенно на уроках английского языка. Ледоколы —
это перемешанные предложения, исправление ошибок, английские песни, рассказывание
историй и английский юмор.
Ключевые слова: ледоколы, урок английского языка, контекст английского языка,
мотивация.

INTRODUCTION
Learning activity is an activity that must be followed by all students and teachers, with
the aim of achieve the success of educational goals. The success of learning depends on an
effective learning process in the classroom. Effectiveness of learning behavior is influenced by
four things, namely
 the existence of motivation;
 attention and knowing the goals;
 efforts;
 evaluation of the use of results.
Based on Bornstein (1987), Budiawan (2008), motivation is a form of encourage from the
inside (inner drive), and also encouragement that can move a person to do certain activities.
Therefore, motivation to learn English is influenced by many things, one of which is a learning
process that is not conducive and does not vary. So that the learning process becomes bored and
decreases the motivation of students to improve their English skills.
Every English teacher is always encouraged to prepare every learning activity carefully
since a well-prepared activity helps the students to achieve the learning objectives. One of the
proposed teaching activity to implement is ice breakers. Ice-breaking activities are generally
used at the beginning of the class. According to Astuti et al., (2020), an ice breaker is an effort to
break or melt the rigid atmosphere that is like ice to become more relaxing and comfortable.
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SCIENCE AND INNOVATION
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL VOLUME 1 ISSUE 7
UIF-2022: 8.2 | ISSN: 2181-3337

Panggua (2016) points out that ice breaker can be interpreted as breaking the ice, and the ice here
might refer to many situations. Simply put, an ice breaker is a kind of activity done by the
teachers to create comfortable teaching and learning process, and it can be carried out through
many activities.
METHOD AND METHODOLOGY
We consider that ice breaking activities are the main way of improving motivation and
making the learning process effective.
The term “ice breaker” comes from two foreign words, namely ice which means ice has
a rigid, cold, and hard nature, while the breaker means solving. Meaning literally an ice-breaker
is an "ice breaker". So, an ice breaker can be interpreted as attempts to break or melt the
atmosphere that is rigid as ice to become more comfortable flowing and relaxing.
An ice breaker commonly only lasts a few minutes at the beginning of the class, but it
might bring plenty of advantages to the students. Astuti et al., (2020) state that ice breaker
derives from two foreign vocabularies called ice (a rigid, cold, and hard nature), and the breaker
(overcoming). Indeed, an ice breaker is an effort to break or melt the rigid atmosphere that is like
ice to become more relaxing and comfortable. Ice-breaking can be carried out in assorted
activities like a short story, a game, and guessing, and an ice-breaking activity is normally
managed in 5 until 15 minutes. Panggua, (2016) points out that ice breaker can be interpreted as
breaking the ice, and the ice here might refer to many situations. Hutasoit & Tambunan (2018)
mention that an ice-breaking activity might help the teachers to create the successful exchange of
thoughts by creating more comfortable situation for the students, so they are going to participate
more in conversation. An ice breaker, in short, is a learning activity used to create comfortable
teaching and learning process. In this study, ice-breaking is a type of activity used at the
beginning of the class, and it is used to make the students ready to join the class and lead to the
topic that is going to be learned.
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Ice breaking is an activity that can be used to solve the tension and saturation of students
in learning, so that the class becomes fun and more conducive before entering into core
activities. The conducive situation will be more effective to help students achieve learning goals
compared to a tense situation. Ice breaking can do in various activity, such as game, short story,
and guessing. This activity is usually done in time 5 until 15 minutes.
There are several benefits of doing ice breaking activities, including the ones eliminate
boredom, stress, anxiety, and fatigue because they can get out while from the routine of the
lesson by doing free and cheerful activities, also other benefits such as:
 Train creative thinking and broad students,
 Develop and optimize the brain and creativity of students,
 Train students to interact in groups and work together in a team,
 Train systematic and creative thinking to solve problems,
 Increase self-confidence,
 Practice determining strategies carefully,
 Train creativity with limited material,
 Practice concentration,
 Dare to act and not be afraid of being wrong,
 Gluing tenuous interpersonal relationships,
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SCIENCE AND INNOVATION
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL VOLUME 1 ISSUE 7
UIF-2022: 8.2 | ISSN: 2181-3337

 Train to respect others,


 Strengthen self-concept,
 Train the soul of leadership,
 Practice being scientific,
 Practice making decisions and actions.
There are several considerations for teachers using icebreakers during a lesson so as to
keep time management:
 What do you want to achieve with an icebreaker? Do you want to set the tone for the
learning community or lead into course content in engaging ways?
 Think of your population in choosing or designing an activity. This includes group size,
demographics, levels of knowledge, extent to which they know each other, reasons for
being in your class, and more. For example, larger classes might need a simple activity
and new classes may require a low-risk activity.
 Think through the activity ahead of time and adapt it accordingly. Will the space you
have suffice? Do you have all needed supplies? Would the activity lead to issues of
confidentiality? Does the activity accommodate varying abilities?
 Icebreakers do not always go exactly as planned. Flexibility and willingness to learn
are part of building a positive and open learning community.
In implementing ice breakers, every teacher has to consider several aspects such as
student level, student interest, learning objective, time, and others. According to Witkowski in
Farwati et al., (2018), there are several principles in applying ice breakers. They are as follows:
1. Goals: An ice breaker must be matched with teaching goals.
2. Participants: Participants’ age and skills must be considered as the significant aspects.
3. Time Allocation: 20 minutes is the normal time of an ice breaker.
4. Control: The teachers must control the implementation of ice breakers since ice- breaking
activities are fun and short activities employed to liven up and to relax the situation.
One of the suggested ways of doing ice-breaking activity is jumbled sentences. According
to Ur & Wright (1993), the teachers may write jumbled sentences on the board or dictate them.
In online learning, the teachers may use PowerPoint as the replacement of the board. After the
teachers provide the jumbled sentences, the students need to arrange the words into good
sentences. Another ice breaker suggested by Ur & Wright (1993) is correcting mistakes. In this
way, the teachers provide some incorrect sentences and ask their students to correct the
sentences. The next ice breaker likely used in teaching grammar is fun teaching media like
English songs. Ur & Wright (1993) recommended some versions of employing English songs in
EFL classes, and across those versions, there are two feasible ways of teaching grammar. The
first is asking the students to listen to an English song while filling in the blanks. The second
version is giving the students complete lyrics of an English song. Then, the teachers ask the
students to listen to it while finding out the inadequate parts in the lyrics.
CONCLUSION
An ice breaker is a significant element in EFL classes. Employing ice breakers may affect
the process of teaching and learning positively especially the learning process of a problematic
component like grammar. That is why the teachers as learning facilitators might take ice-
breaking activities as a possible attempt to overcome the problems. This article suggests several
theories related to the usage of icebreaking activities in English language classes and
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SCIENCE AND INNOVATION
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL VOLUME 1 ISSUE 7
UIF-2022: 8.2 | ISSN: 2181-3337

recommends some ice breakers that are feasible to implement. They are jumbled sentences,
correcting mistakes, English songs, storytelling activities, and English humor.

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