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My Favourite EFL Classroom Warmers
Involving students from the first minute of a class can be a challenge. Here, Nadia Zehni shares three of her favourite classroom warmers.
I always find the first ten minutes of a lesson the most difficult - it’s vital
to capture students’ interest and involve them from the start. An effective
warmer could make the difference between an alert and participating class, and a
group of zombies who decide to catch up on the sleep they missed out on from
partying the night before... (This comes from my experience of teaching
teenagers on the holiday island of Malta!)
1. True / False
For a first lesson with a new group of students I usually use the True or False
warmer. First I make sure the class know the difference between true and false,
and can give me some examples of true and false statements. I then ask the class
to write three interesting sentences about themselves on a new sheet of paper.
Two sentences must be true and one must be false.
When they have finished writing their sentences, I ask the class to stand up and
move the desks out the way so that they can mingle. Each student must find a
partner, greet them and introduces themselves, say what country they are from,
and listen to their partner’s three sentences. They must then guess which is the
false statement. Once both students have attempted a guess, they move on to
another person in the class and repeat this process.
This works really well to break the ice in a group of students that don’t know
each other. It gives them an opportunity to introduce themselves, say what
country they are from, and share some interesting information about themselves.
I always participate in this warmer so that the students feel that they know
something about the teacher too. You can follow this activity by discussing
which sentences were the most original and which was the most interesting topic
that was brought up.
2. Guess the Famous Person
The following warm up works well to lead into a topic on celebrity or fame and
fortune. This exercise will require pictures of famous and recognisable
celebrities (one for each student). Make the students stand in a line with their
backs to you and stick a picture on their backs with some sticky tape. The aim
of this warmer is to ask people questions about their celebrity and help others
find out about theirs. The students will need to keep circling round, looking at
the pictures on each others backs and helping out until everyone has found out
who their mystery celebrity is. This works as particularly good practice for
forming yes / no questions, or as a follow on from a lesson learning how to
describe people.
3. Where in the world
This warmer works really well with an international group of students as they
will be able to contribute more varied information and will spark discussion
amongst themselves. Before students arrive I place a piece of paper with a name
of a continent on each table. When the students arrive I let them deliberate and
wonder about the continent. I then put the following headings up on the board:
food, clothes, famous people, drink, animals (and any others you may want to
add) I give them some time to brainstorm items to put under each heading for
their continent. This leads into some good discussion about differences between
countries, and stereotypes about countries within them.
These warmers should get the students to participate and lead in nicely from a
previous lesson or into the coming one. If they are successful it will set the
tone for the lesson and keep the students' interest more effectively.
Nadia Zehni has extensive experience teaching English as a Foreign Language in England, Malta and France. She is a regular contributor to EnglishForums.com, the world's busiest EFL community, which receives over 30,000 visits a day. It's an excellent resource for EFL teachers looking for information about grammar, phonetics, EFL jobs and teaching tips. English students on the other hand can learn English by posting questions and getting help from volunteer EFL teachers, as well as speaking with other learners. To benefit from this fantastic resource sign up for free at englishforums.com!
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comments
"These warm-ups are really great, because they are communicative. Also, they can
be easily modified according to a group one's teaches. I've already used
true/false and guess the famous person. I call the latter Find a Celebrity!"
Anonymous
"Nice activities. I agree with the author about the difficulties teachers
usually have when starting a topic. I like these warmers ideas and I think I
will put some into practise. These days in which the course is nearly finished,
pupils need to make double effort to concentrate. I think these kind of
activities can be helpful to grasp their attention."
Maria
"Greetings, I thank Nadia for her suggested activities. They are really
exhilarating and fantastic. Teachers should always adapt themselves to motivate
students and exholt them but what about the time allocated for the steps of the
class. Should they be repeated activities every class? Thanks a lot. Hamed
Hammad."
Hamed
"I think that this article is excellent. I can use these ideas in my class and
also make some activities. Thank you. Warmers are very important as we have to
involve them from the start."
Denise
"It's a great idea to use those warmers not only with children but also with
adolescents. I specifically liked "Where in the world" it makes students think
and give personal opinions. You discover interesting things about their
thoughts!!"
Leti
"Great advice for someone who is just starting on the path to becoming a tefl
teacher. I'm off next month to Greece for a year and need all the advice and
info I can get."
Donna
"I really need warmers as I am a new teacher. It can be really difficult to
attract the attention of an adolescent group especially when they are not
interested in English."
Anonymous
