Two Favourite Icebreakers for New Classes

At the beginning of term or starting a new class can be rather worrisome for both teachers and students. However, I was happy to contribute my favourite ice breaker with Twinkl a few weeks ago, which included some ideas from other English language teachers. I hope that you find the ideas there useful. However, in this post, I am sharing two favourite icebreakers for new classes.

1. Student Name Cards

The first favourite icebreaker that I use for new classes is to get learners to create their own student name cards. I am terrible at names, and this is more so when I have large classes of students. To get around this, I get learners to create their own student name cards which they can then bring to each class and display to all until I (as well as some others) get better at recalling each person’s name.

I hand out a piece of A4 paper to each student and ask them to fold it in half length ways, while also demonstrating to the class. Next, students write their name on the folded paper.  Do not worry if students make any mistakes, such as writing their name but then it being upside down, but hand out another piece of paper for them to continue. The main focus is for students (and teacher) to relax and have fun initially.

The next step is to ask students to draw four things that are important for them on each corner of the name card. Students can be as creative as they wish, but give them around five to ten minutes to complete this. Once students have finished, get them to mingle with each other, introducing themselves and encouraging them to ask potential follow up questions. After giving students enough time to mingle with all, get them sitting back down and then get them to introduce their partner to the rest of the class as well as something interesting about whom they are introducing.

2. Know Your Students

I believe that all teachers should learn as much as possible about before they enter the classroom. This should allow teachers to get to learn about their students and so get to know your students. If you have a new class, I like to share an online Student Survey to all new students and this gives me ample opportunity to learn more about anything that is unique about them.

Some common questions included in the Student Survey could be: ‘What is something that you enjoy doing in your free-time?’, ‘Have you ever met a famous person?’, etc. What you really want to do is find out as much as possible – not just about their language ability or reason for studying – about the students themselves.

Once students have completed the Student Survey, I then personalise a “Find Somebody Who …” task based upon the results of the aforementioned survey. So, if a student has mentioned that they have met a famous person, I would include this in the worksheet. If a student has a unique talent or hobby, I would also incorporate this too. It is probable that students may not know each other, but getting students to share their experiences to the class will ensure a relaxed environment conducive to learning English. Students will obviously be interested in their teacher, so try to include anything unique about yourself into the “Find Somebody Who …” worksheet. Personally, I am happy to share about my musical achievements to the students and it is always nice to include yourself into the activity.

Finally, a possible extension of this is where you can create a quiz for the class to see how much they can remember about each other: “Who has met a famous person?”, “Which student has never travelled abroad?”, etc. You will have all this information available through the online Student Survey and would be easy to create an engaging and relaxing activity for all students to feel comfortable at the beginning of the term or during first classes.

Final Thoughts

You may find some of my favourite get to know you activities in the following post, but feel free to share some of your preferable first lesson activities with new students in the comments.