Create a chain story
Before the lesson put up some summer pictures on the wall. The activity works best if the number of pictures
corresponds to the number of students. When the lesson starts play a piece of music and ask the pupils to walk
around. I would choose soothing music such as “the sound of waves, seagulls…” to put everybody into the mood. Stop
the music in a couple of minutes and each student needs to stand by the closest picture. Then they create a chain
story using the pictures. You could start with the student who’s closest to the door, for instance.
Let’s hunt
This activity is suitable for young learners. Bring some summer items, such as goggles, a swimming costume or suntan
lotion and before the lesson hide them in the classroom. If the weather is nice and you are allowed to take the students
outside, don’t miss the chance to play the game in fresh air. At the beginning of the class inform your students that
you’ve hidden a certain number of summer items. Set a time limit and let them hunt. Once all the items are found, ask
the students to explain what they are used for. Optionally, divide the learners into groups and ask them to write a short
summer poem using at least three of the objects.
My name is … and I like
This is an activity that I came across on Jackie Bolen’s website http://eslspeaking.org. He uses it as an Icebreaker but
it works fine with any new group of young learners. Sit in a circle and begin the activity by saying: My name is … and I
like… The student next to you repeats your sentence and adds their own. The activity continues until it gets back to
you and you have to repeat all the children’s names and what they like. Good luck!
Once I had to teach a big group of Japanese students whose names sounded so similar and also didn’t show me any
gender-indication… Anyway, it took me ages to remember their names but now I know that Sakura is not only a
beautiful female name but also means “cherry blossoms”. Believe it or not, two months later I was given a new group of
Arabic students and … you could guess the rest.
Have you ever had any problems trying to remember your students’ names?
Let’s create
If you have a new group of students why don’t you go the extra mile and introduce yourself by creating a short video
beforehand. I love using https://spark.adobe.com/ and you can design wonderful short videos by uploading your own
photos. Of course, you could write a caption as well. After you show your video to the students, ask them to use their
mobile phones to create their own video to introduce themselves.
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