Warm-Up Ideas
Warm-up Ideas
Warm-ups help your learners put aside their daily distractions and focus on English. If they haven't used English all day, they may take a little while to shift into it. Warm-ups also encourage whole-group participation which can build a sense of community within the group.
Brainstorm (any level, individual or group)
Give a topic and ask learners to think of anything related to it. Write the responses for all to see, or ask a volunteer to do the writing. You can use this to elicit vocabulary related to your lesson.
Question of the Day (intermediate-advanced, individual or group)
Ask 1-2 simple questions and give learners 5 minutes to write their answers. Randomly choose a few people to share their answers with the group.
Yesterday (intermediate, group)
Have a learner stand in front of the group and make one statement about yesterday, such as "Yesterday I went shopping." Then let everyone else ask questions to learn more information, such as "Who did you go with?" "What did you buy?" "What time did you go?" etc. Try this with 1-2 different learners each day.
Describe the Picture (any level, group)
Show a picture and have learners take turns saying one descriptive thing about it. Beginners can make simple observations like "three cats" while advanced students can make up a story to go with the picture. They aren't allowed to repeat what someone else said, so they need to pay attention when each person speaks.
Criss-Cross (beginner-intermediate, large group)
Learners must be seated in organized rows at least 4x4. Have the front row of learners stand. Ask simple questions like "What day/time is it?" Learners raise their hands (or blurt out answers) and the first person to answer correctly may sit down. The last standing learner's line (front-to-back) must stand and the game continues until 3-4 rows/lines have played. You can use diagonal rows if the same person gets stuck standing each time. To end, ask a really simple question (e.g. "What's your name?") directly to the last student standing. Variation for small group: the whole group stands and may sit one by one as they raise their hands and answer questions.
Show & Tell (any level, individual or group)
A learner brings an item from home and talks about it in front of the group. Give learners enough advance notice to prepare and remind them again before their turn. Have a back up plan in case the learner forgets to bring an item. Beginners may only be able to share the name of an item and where they got it. Be sure to give beginners specific instructions about what information you want them to tell.
Sing a Song (intermediate-advanced, group)
If you're musically inclined, or even if you're not, songs can be a lively way to get everyone involved.
Mystery Object (advanced, group)
Bring an item that is so unusual that the learners are not likely to recognize what it is. Spend some time eliciting basic descriptions of the item and guesses about what it is and how it's used. If possible, pass the item around. This is an activity in observation and inference, so don't answer questions. Just write down descriptions and guesses until someone figures it out or you reveal the mystery.
Count Up!
This is a good activity for 6 to 10 people who have good cognitive abilities. The idea is for the group to count to 10. Here are the rules for 10 people in the group:
1. Someone in the group starts out by saying "one"
2. The next person (at random) says "two." This continues until all 10 numbers are counted.
3. Once a person says a number, they are out of the current game.
4. If two or more people yell out the same number, the group must re-start the game.
5. If there 3 or 4 seconds passes between numbers, the group has to start over.
6. The group cannot setup a pattern or signal someone to say a number. The same person cannot start the game each time. Participants take turn yelling out a number at random.
7. The group "wins" when they count from 1 to 10 successfully within the given rules.
8. If there are less than 10 participants, each person can say a number twice.
This is a lively game that is sure to induce laughter... and sometimes frustration if the group "don't get it." More than likely though, they will succeed, resulting a great "hurrah!"
Dollar or Pencil Jump
Size of group: 1 to 10
Equipment: a dollar bill or a pencil or a sheet of paper the size of a dollar.
Focus: Getting the groups attention! Have you had a group where you can't get their attention or that is disjointed? Try this challenge activity and warm up the group quickly.
Description: Lay down a dollar bill on the ground and challenge each person to jump over the bill length wise. What makes the jump difficult is that the person must hold onto their toes with their hands as they jump. They cannot let go of their toes as they jump. The individual who succeeds in jumping the bill collects the dollar.
Have You Ever?
Size: 5+
Equipment: None
Objective: Ice Breaker, energy burner, appropriate social interactions
Description: Procedure: Arrange group into a large circle with one person in the middle. The leader will prompt with the phrase Have you ever ? The person in the middle will finish the phrase. Example: Have you ever had candy bars for breakfast? Each of the people in the circle that has done what the person in the middle has said (had candy bars for breakfast) will quickly exchange places with someone else that has also done it. Whoever is left in the middle will finish the phrase the next
time. The game has no real end so you can play 2 or 20 times, it s up to you!
Research Game
Group Size: 10 to 100
Objective: Warm-up, to break group up into two teams, for fun
Description: Indicate to the group that you are conducting research to determine.... (make up something). Invite everyone in the group to the center of the room. Say, "If you are more like a Cadillac, go to the right of the room. If you are more like a Volkswagen, go the left of the room."
Once the group is separated, invite everyone to look around to see who has shared interests and to look across the room to see who has different thoughts. Have the group re-join in the center of the room and repeat the activity with two different items.
Winter------summer
Pen---------computer
Soap Opera--cartoons
Pizza-------steak
Racing Car--antique car
Book--------movie
Lucy--------Charlie Brown
Make up your own opposing pairs.
For groups that are not mobile, invite the group to stand or sit... raise hand or lower hand.
Quick Link
Size of Group: 10 to ?
Focus: energizer, socialization, fun
Description: As the group leader shouts out "get into groups of fours," everyone quickly joins in a group of four. At any time, even before the group of four is formed, the leader shouts out another instruction. Examples: everyone with same color shoes, everyone with same color eyes, groups of five, people born in the same month, people with same Zodiac sign, form a letter Z with groups of 3 people.
Pass the Face
Size: 5-15
Objective: get the group relaxed and allow them to feel ""silly"" with each other
Description: This game is just like the game ""telephone"" but instead of passing a word or phrase around you pass a facial expression. Get the group in a circle. Have everyone close their eyes except the person who wants to pass the ""face"". The passer will tap the shoulder of the person next to her, that person will open his eyes to receive the face. He will then tap the shoulder of the person next to him and pass the face along. Once you have passed the face you may keep your eyes open to watch it move around the group. At the end, the original passer receives the face from the last person in the group and then shows what the original face was! This game ALWAYS gets people laughing!
Newspaper in a Bag
Equipment: bag filled with newspapers.
Objective: To stimulate imagination, curiosity and improvisation and to help break ice in group
Description: Bag is passed around group. They can guess what’s inside. Before its revealed they are told that they may think that its something very boring, however their challenge is to make it into something exciting. Group leader can begin. Newspaper can be crumpled, torn folded etc and transformed into something such as a hat. Participants can mime the new item and others in the group guess.
Modified Simon Says
Size: 8-12
Equipment: None
Objective: Group members learn the importance of paying attention when given instructions.
Description: Members sit in a circle. One member is selected to be the listener. A peer gives them instructions of something silly to do or say and the member follows the directions. Then another peer gives a direction to follow. The group member then completes the first instruction and then the second instruction. This continues until the member is unable to remember which direction is next. Then another member is selected and so on.
Relaxation Warm-Up
Size: 2-8
Equipment: assortment of lotions, massagers (vibrating, hand-held, wooden, etc.), relaxing music
Objective: Lotion massage/sensory experience to help individuals become relaxed and focused prior to participating in a structured group.
Description: Working with the disabled population, I find many times that when entering into a therapy session, they are quite hyper-sensitive and unfocused. I find that these individuals need time to sit and relax and become focused so that they can successfully participate in a program. Prior to the structured activity, whether it be music, dance, etc., having individuals sit in a circle and experiment with a variety of lotions and/or massagers for relaxation. Working 1:1 with individuals giving them lotion to hands and arms while explaining to them what they will soon be doing with the upcoming activity. I find this relaxation/sensory period help individuals, especially the disabled, to become more focused and ready to participate in an activity as opposed to just jumping into movement, instrument play, etc. This activity can also be used as a closing to any session, allowing individuals to cool down and relax before leaving.
Circle Massage
Focus: relaxation, touch, trust
Description: Have the group form a circle and face one direction. Instruct each person to place their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. Each person then gives the person in front of them a shoulder massage. Feedback to the massage giver (such as "that's perfect") is encouraged. After a few minutes, the group does an about-face so that they are now massaging the shoulders of the person who just gave them a massage.
This can be a lead up activity to discussions on relaxation, touch, and/or trust. This can also be an end-of-group activity
THREE THINGS
This is a family favorite. It also teaches connection making skills and can assist with the transfer of learning.
First the 'family' version:
1. The child comes up with three things (real or abstract) that they want in their story e.g. 'Father Christmas', 'me' and 'a huge present'. You instantly tell a story with these three things in it.
2. Each child (approximately 3!) comes up with a 'thing' that really challenges the story-teller e.g. 'the dirt in my finger-nail', 'spending £100 million in a minute' and 'a really, really, really funny ending'. You do your best! But when children get this 'clever' it's definitely time to turn the tables (and let them enjoy story-telling)...
3. You come up with 3 'things' for the child (or children) to tell you a story about.
Now the 'professional' version:
1. Ask each individual to choose three different 'things' from the course that they want to remember ('things' they valued directly, or 'things' they valued indirectly because of what they learned as a result). Ask each individual to describe these three different things to a partner in a way that brings out similarities or connections.
2. Ask each individual to choose one high(ish) point from the course and one low(ish) point from the course and then to imagine a situation six months ahead when they are facing a problem and have a 'flashback' to the course. Ask each individual to tell a story (to the group or to a partner) which brings these three 'things' together into one story. A more challenging variation is to ask each person to write a 'future problem' on a piece of paper and put the 'problem' into a hat.
Each person in turn, draws a (random) problem and incorporates it into a story with the high and low points they have already chosen.
Find the lie
Materials
• small pieces of paper, one for each student
Procedure
1. Give each student a small piece of paper.
2. Tell them to write three pieces of information about themselves on the
piece of paper. Two of these bits of information must be true, one is a lie.
- My name is Sophal (True)
- I am married (False)
- I visited Japan in 1999 (True)
3. Tell the students to stand up and to hold their pieces of paper in front of
them.
4. They should walk around the classroom, read the information about
people and see if they can guess which statement is a lie.
Name circle
Materials: none
Procedure
1. Get all the students to stand in a large circle.
2. Each student must say his or her name clearly.
3. One student points to another student, calls out his name and the two