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FIRST AID KIT OF

ICE BREAKERS

AND WARM-UPS

Pablo Mejía Maldonado Esp,

MSc.

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FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

Are activities or games carried out at the beginning of each class to motivate students so they can make good use of

the class time.

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1. Spark Ss’ curiosity and promote a comfortable, good, and positive atmosphere.

2. Reduce and lower anxiety and tension.3. Create a warm and active environment.4. Make a classroom a lively and interesting place.5. Activate Ss’ prior knowledge of the unit theme.6. Familiarize Ss with the topic of the story.7. Improve ability to produce the target language.8. Improve the ability to work cooperatively.

WHY ?

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Students’ common attitude:

1. Afraid to speak English2. Frustrated3. Lack of confidence4. Make fun of themselves

Avoid :

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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1. quick and easy to organize2. neither difficult nor easy3. short time4. motivating class openers

Features :

Tip: Remember that 'warm-ups' can be 'turn-offs' if they last too long. Your own judgment and preferences will determine whether such games provide a suitable or useful introduction.

STOP

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Each person is given a blank name tag. Explain to the group that corporations are recognized by a specific logo or symbol

(McDonalds arches, 3M, Apple Computer's Apple, etc.). They are given 2 minutes to draw their personal logo. This logo should reflect their personality, their interests, major or any thing they would like

other people to know about them. Then give the group time to mingle and see what each others logo looks like. When it looks like the entire group has mixed, instruct everybody with a similar logo to form a small group. You may be surprised at how many similarities

there are in your group.

LOGOS

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Each participant is asked to give his/her middle name and tell how or why that particular name was chosen for them. The facilitator should begin the process and if

appropriate, do it with a little bit of humor to encourage others to

share.

Da Ya really wanna know?

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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The object of this small group exercise is to get the group to quickly meet the other members. The facilitator calls out a color of the rainbow: - for example

Color Jacuzzi:

RED:Red typically is the stop/turn- off color - What is the thing (that they can disclose in public) that is really a turn off to you?

Orange is the motivation color - what motivates you?

Yellowis the inspiration or creativity color - what is the best idea you've ever had ?

Greenis the money color - what do you plan to do for money? what is the dumbest thing you have ever done for money?

Blue is the sky's limit color - what is your favorite fantasy about your future ?

Purpleis the color of royalty - if you were ruler of the universe for a day, what is the first thing you would do?

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Alternate these two words as

sentence beginnings in a 'round'.

The first person says: 'Fortunately ...

' (e.g. ' ... we won the lottery.'). The

second person says:

'Unfortunately ...' (e.g. '... no-one

could find the ticket.'). The third

person continues the story with a

'fortunately', the fourth with an

'unfortunately‘ ,and so on.

FORTUNATELY ... UNFORTUNATELY

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Set up interview pairings. The smaller person is A, the taller is B. A makes a personal statement (e.g. what s/he had for breakfast, what s/he wants for Christmas, why s/he came on the course) and B

asks 'why?'. A answers, B asks 'why?' etc. etc. It's easy for B! At a suitable point, swap roles and

restart.

WHY? WHY? WHY? (WWW)

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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The teacher provides visuals for the class . After showing a picture for one or two minutes, the teacher can ask the class to tell what they see in the picture, or to make up a story, or to list as many adjectives or adverbs as possible that can be used to describe the picture. Seeing the picture helps Ss to retell the story, and at the same time the T can see whether Ss understand correctly or not.

PICTURE TALKING

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Alien, Tiger, CowType Active activity that can be done anywhere.

Works on breaking the ice and getting everyone warmed up.

Group Size Any group size.

Equipment None

Objective To get everyone making the same creature.

Rules There are three things that the players can be.

1.Aliens: signified by making antennae with fingers and leaning into the circle saying "zeep zeep". 2.Tigers: signified by leaning into the circle with ferocious claws out and roaring. 3.Cows: signified by putting hands on the stomach with fingers out and mooing loudly. One person counts to 3 loudly. On 3, everyone commits themselves to one of the three options listed above. Keep repeating this cycle until everyone does the same one.

Variations Whichever being is in the minority, those people are knocked out of the circle and watch. Eg) If there are 6 aliens, 4 cows and 2 tigers. The 2 tigers are out and the next round starts. Add more types of beings.

Note Good luck on getting everyone to do the same being. You will probably need to be willing stop the game before it gets boring.

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Ss write sentences in which the first word begins with A, the second word begins with B, the third word begins with C, and so on.

START AT THE VERY BEGINNING

PUSHING PENCILS, TWISTING TONGUES

Ss write sentences in which all the words begin with the same letter.

LONGER THAN ALWAYS

Ss write sentences that begin with a one-letter word, followed by a two-letter word, and so on.

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

Have Ss use each letter of their personal or family name to begin a word in an English sentence; e.g.

THOMAS: Two horses of mine are sick.

REVERSE ACRONYMS

JUST CALL OUT MY NAME

Draw a diagram of a telephone dial. Have Ss create word or phrase phone numbers for business. Write only the type of business and the number on the board so the other Ss try to guess the words or phrases.

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

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Challenge Ss to create English sentences in which one letter or number represents an entire syllable or word because it is pronounced the same; e.g.

N-E-1 4 10-S ?

You are too cagey

U R 2 K-G

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

FIRST AID KIT FOR ICE BREAKERS AND WARM-UPS

Pablo Mejía Maldonado, Esp, MSc.PROJECTS

Proyectos de Desarrollo Social y EducativoServicios Educativos Integrados

Proyectos, Asesoría, Capacitación, Traducciones, Nivelación

classpro.ec@gmail.comhttp://linguisticsprojects.blogspot.com

(593) 0983 759 738Quito - Ecuador