Fillers, life-savers, warmers & coolers
August 2010
Fillers, life-savers, warmers &
coolers
Ray Parker – November, 2010
Further contributions to ray.parker@yahoo.co.uk
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Contents
Activity
Category*
Page
Introduction
Radiotherapy
Word combs
Crossword puzzles
Categories
20 questions
Alibi
“Open” scrabble
Implanted words
Call my bluff
Chinese translations
Treasure hunts
Pelmanism (memory)
Word searches
My Aunt’s cat….
The Rizla game
The Yes/no interlude
Classroom bingo
Hotel receptionist
Carroll’s quartets
Hangman
Five senses dictation
“Unjumbling” dialogues
Heads & tails
My Bonnie
Peter’s coloured balls
The right hand side of the board
Sentence auctions
Getting to know the teacher
Murder
Kim’s game
Storyboard
Crime & punishment
Find someone who ….
Back to the board
Laura’s conditional cards
Nick’s musical icebreaker
A word puzzle
3
4
5
6
13
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
27
29
30
32
33
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
49
50
52
53
54
56
59
60
64
65
66
67
Some useful websites
70
* explanations of these codes are in the introduction
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F
F
L-S
F
F
L-S
L-S
F
F
C
F/L-S
F
C
W
W
W
W
W
C
C
F
F
F
W
W
F
F
W
W
F
F
L-S
W
F
W&F
W
F
Fillers, life-savers, warmers & coolers
August 2010
Introduction
These notes are designed to provide a useful follow-up to the series of workshops that I
conducted in Italy at the end of February and beginning of March, 2006. The workshops
were entitled “Fillers & life-savers – anticipating the unexpected” and were intended to
provide teachers with and remind them of activities that could be used in one emergency
or another in the English language classroom. These resources are downloadable and
photocopiable. Where possible the sources of the various activities are acknowledged
but most are lost in the mists of time – any information about origins would be welcomed
and incorporated. The various activities were classified into four broad types:
1. Warmers (W in the index)
These are activities that may help to energise a class either at the beginning or in the
middle of a teaching session.
2. Fillers (F in the index)
Activities which serve to fill in an indeterminate amount of spare time, but which appear to
be planned and coherent.
3. Coolers (C in the index)
The opposite of a warmer – i.e. an activity which may help to calm an excited class down
– for example, before handing a class over to another teacher.
4. Life-savers (L-S in the index)
These are whole lessons which appear purposeful and planned but which can be
delivered with a minimum of preparation and intervention by the teacher.
As you try these activities out in your classes, if you find that the instructions need
modification or if you would like to contribute a modified or a different idea, please contact
me direct at my email address: ray.parker@yahoo.co.uk
If you are contributing an activity it would be very helpful if you could follow the format
used here.
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1. How many words can you make? (radiotherapy)
Level: all levels
Ages: all ages
Time: 20 minutes +
Materials: none
Purpose: vocabulary consolidation/communicative practice
Type: filler
Method:
Step one - the teacher writes a long word in the middle of an otherwise blank board - I
normally choose the word “radiotherapy” - hence the name of the activity.
Step two - the teacher explains that the class, as individuals, must write down all the
words of three or more letters that can come out of the word radiotherapy that they can
think of. The teacher announces that there will be a thirty second time limit.
Step three - the teacher rigorously imposes the time limit.
Step four - the teacher elicits from each individual the words they have thought of and
writes them up on the board.
Step five - (optional) the teacher awards a score for each word - typically one point for
each word that other people have also thought of; five points for any word no other
student has thought of.
Anticipated problems:
1. Large classes will produce an amazingly large number of words - the time limit must be rigorously
enforced to prevent the teacher being overwhelmed.
2. During step four the teacher is being presented with a lot of words with no supporting context - even
slight pronunciation faults will make this quite difficult for the teacher and the class may need to have
practised in advance spelling words out since this strategy will often need to be employed.
3. Step 4 can be very time-consuming.
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2. Word combs (relay race)
Level: all levels
Ages: originally devised for children - surprisingly successful with adults!
Time: 5 - 10 minutes (repeatable)
Materials: chalk/boardpens as appropriate
Purpose: vocabulary consolidation/writing & spelling practice
Type: filler
Method:
Step one - the teacher establishes two teams of, say 3 to 10 people
Step two - the teacher writes up a word on the board in the top left hand corner and then again in
the top right hand corner. It is the same word in the two corners and it can be any word at all but
it must be the same number of letters long as there are students in each team.
Step three - the teams line up on each side of the room, facing the board.
Step four - the first member of each team is given a board writer.
Step five - using the boardwriter both to write on the board and as a kind of baton in the relay race
that follows, each member of each team in turn runs to the front and writes downward, starting
from any one of the letters on the board the longest word he/she can think of.
Step five - as the baton passes from team member to team member they run out to the front and
add another word.
Step six - As soon as the first team has finished the race stops but the first to finish is not
necessarily the winner. The winner is the team which has produced the longest words and this is
determined simply by counting the number of letters on the board.
Anticipated problems:
1. Young learners may get over-excited by the race element of this activity.
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3. Crossword puzzles
Level: Intermediate +
Ages: teenagers upwards
Time 40 - 60 minutes
Materials 2 copies of crossword grid per student
Purpose: Communicative practice (+ vocabulary consolidation & writing skills)
Type: life-saver
Method:
There are, of course, many ways that crosswords and crossword-like activities can be
exploited in the language classroom but the following is a procedure which will generate a
lot of communicative activity.
Step one - the class is divided into small teams (say 6 per team)
Step two - each student is given a copy of the blank crossword grid.
Step three - using pencils (and rubbers!) each student tries to fill the grid with words.
Step four - the members of each team pool their efforts and agree on a single complete
version.
Step five - each team now devises clues which will produce the words on their grids and
writes them down.
Step six - lists of clues are exchanged between teams and fresh blank crossword puzzles
distributed.
Step seven - each student now tries to solve another team’s crossword puzzle.
Step eight - Each team checks the work of those who have been solving their clues.
Anticipated problems:
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1. Step three can be extraordinarily difficult. To make it easier, less challenging grid
formats can be employed. (see below)
2. Most students will need some help with formulating clues. Typical clues can include:
gap-fill clues (e.g. He _ _ _ _ _ _ a cold  caught)
anagrams (e.g. ectbuk  bucket)
opposites (e.g. what is the opposite of generous?  mean)
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Samples of crossword grids
August 2010
1. a challenging one:1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Clues across
2.
______________________________________________________________________
7.
______________________________________________________________________
8.
______________________________________________________________________
9.
______________________________________________________________________
12.
_____________________________________________________________________
13.
_____________________________________________________________________
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14.
_____________________________________________________________________
15.
_____________________________________________________________________
16.
_____________________________________________________________________
17.
_____________________________________________________________________
18.
_____________________________________________________________________
Clues down
1.
______________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________________________
5.
______________________________________________________________________
6.
______________________________________________________________________
10.
_____________________________________________________________________
11.
_____________________________________________________________________
Practical tip
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To make a grid like the above using Word for Windows follow this procedure.
1. Click on Table from the menu
2. Click on Insert Table from the Table menu
3. Specify the number of columns as 8 (more to make it tougher; fewer to make it easier)
4. Specify the number of rows as 8 (more to make it tougher; fewer to make it easier)
5. Click OK
6. Select (& highlight) whole table (click & drag the mouse)
7. Click on outside border & then inside border buttons in order to make the grid visible.
8. With whole table still selected (& thus highlighted) click on Table again.
9. Click on Cell Height & Width
10. Set width of column at 1.5 cms & click OK
11. Repeat steps 8 & 9 but now select the Row dialogue box
12. Set the At: box to 30pt & click OK
13. Click somewhere outside the grid to check on the screen that you have got the size
and shape of grid that you were aiming at.
14. One at a time select (with the mouse) the boxes you want to make black.
15. Click on Format.
16. Click on Borders and Shading.
17. Click on Shading.
18. Select Solid 100%.
19. Click OK.
20. Select next box & repeat steps 15 - 19.
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21. When you have finished blackening all the cells you want blackened, select the whole
grid again .
22. Click on Format
23. Click on Font
24. Select 8 in the size box.
25. Click OK.
26 Now type in the numbers in the top left hand corners of the appropriate cells.
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2. A less challenging grid:
1
August 2010
2
3
4
5
1.
______________________________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________________________
4.
______________________________________________________________________
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5.
______________________________________________________________________
Practical tip
To make a grid like the above using Word for Windows follow this procedure.
1. Click on Table from the menu
2. Click on Insert Table from the Table menu
3. Specify the number of columns as 14
4. Specify the number of rows as 15
5. Click OK
6. In successive horizontal and then vertical groups select (& thus highlight) the cells
you want to appear.
7. click on outside border & then inside border.
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 building up the shape you want to have.
9. Click on Format
10. Click on Font
11. Select 8 in the size box.
12. Click OK.
13. Now type in the numbers in the top left hand corners of the appropriate cells.
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4. Categories
Level: Elementary +
Ages : all ages
Time 20 minutes + (longer than you'd think!)
Materials board & boardpen/chalk
Purpose: vocabulary consolidation & extension
Type: cooler
Method:
Step one - write any four letter word downwards on the board thus
S
A
F
E
Step two - draw a grid around the word like this:
S
A
F
E
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Step three - Add appropriate labels to the columns ( e.g. vocabulary areas you have
recently explored with the class and that you wish to revise)
FOOD
PETS
TRANSPORT
CLOTHES
S
A
F
E
Step four - Ask the students to copy the grid into their workbooks or onto a piece of paper.
Step four - announce that they have, say, one minute to fill each box with a word belonging to the
category at the head of the column and beginning with the letter on the left. They should
produce something like this:
FOOD
S
salad
A
apple
F
fruit
E
eggs
PETS
TRANSPORT
CLOTHES
shirt
airplane
Step five - When the time limit is up, feedback and scoring can follow the pattern
established in the “radiotherapy” activity (Activity one, steps four and five.)
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Anticipated problems:
1. As was the case in the “radiotherapy” activity, the teacher can be exposed, during
feedback, to a lot of unsupported and uncontextualised vocabulary items. It may well be
sensible to link this activity with revision of spelling out skills.
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5. 20 questions
Level: Elementary +
Ages: all ages
Time 10-20 minutes
Materials: one slip of paper for each student with the name of a famous person on it.
Purpose: Practice of yes/no question forms
Type: filler
Method:
Step one - (before the lesson) The teacher writes out a series of slips of paper (one for each
student) with the name of someone sufficiently famous to be known to everyone in the group.
(There is a list of suggestions on page 28)
Step two - the slips are distributed to the students who must not tell anyone “who” they have got.
Step three - the teacher explains to the class that during the activity they must pretend to be the
person on their slip.
Step four - the teacher explains the rules:
1. Each student takes it in turn to pretend to be their “person”.
2. Everyone else asks questions in order to get information and guess the identity.
3. All the questions must be answerable with “yes” or “no”
4. The teacher will tally the questions on the board and after 20 questions will end the
activity and ask the mystery person to reveal their identity.
5. Optionally the teacher can “punish” errors in question formation by counting such
errors as 2 - 5 questions
Anticipated problems:
1. Students may not know all the answers to questions they are asked - the teacher must be
ready to intervene
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6. Alibi
Level: Intermediate +
Ages: All but children
Time: 30 - 40 minutes
Materials: none
Purpose: Practice of question forms & question tags
Type: life-saver
Method:
Step one - The teacher announces that the Prime Minister (or suitable substitute) visited the
Institution where the students are studying yesterday evening between 7.00 and 9.00 p.m. and
that there was an assassination attempt. The police suspect that two foreign students were
responsible and have even named the two people they suspect. The teacher then names two
members of the class and tells them they must leave the class for five minutes and establish
together a watertight alibi for the period concerned. The teacher warns them that when they
return they will be intensively questioned by the “police” - i.e. the rest of the class.
Step two - While the two suspects are out the teacher practices with the class question formation
and rehearses the kind of question they should ask the first suspect.
Step three - The teacher suggests that one of the best ways of tripping up the second suspect
and thus breaking the alibi will be to make misleading statements followed by question tags
instead of asking questions.
e.g. If the first suspect says that they went to a French restaurant, were
served
by a waiter, drank red wine with their meal, paid with a Visa card and
went home by bus etc., then the second suspect can be asked:
You went to an Italian restaurant, didn’t you?
You had white wine with your meal, didn’t you?
You paid in cash, didn’t you?
You were served by a waitress, weren’t you?
You went home by taxi, didn’t you?
etc.
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Anticipated problems:
August 2010
1. Classes can take this kind of role-play very seriously and it would, therefore, be wise to
select two suspects who are confident enough to stand up to some pretty robust
interrogation!
2. Teachers should think carefully about the instructions for this activity and how to
communicate them efficiently to the class - OHP?, handouts? as there are many things
that can go wrong. If it all goes right the amount of focused practice it generates repays
the investment in working out the instructions carefully.
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7. "Open" scrabble
Level: Elementary +
Ages: all ages
Time 40 minutes +
Materials: one scrabble set, board and boardmarker
Purpose: Vocabulary consolidation & extension
Type: filler/life-saver
Method:
Step one - The teacher organises the class into teams, each occupying one side of the
scrabble board. Numbers in each team will clearly depend on class size but more than
three begins to be a bit unwieldy.
Step two - All the letter tiles are placed face up around the board.
Step three - The normal rules of Scrabble now apply but of course the students can
choose from all or any of the displayed letters.
Step four - the teacher’s role is to adjudicate contested words and to do the scoring.
Anticipated problems:
1. It should be noted that Scrabble sets are language specific, and even language sets
with very similar consonants and vowels will not have the ideal distribution of letters for
playing in English.
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8. Implanted words
Level: Advanced
Ages: adults/teenagers
Time 15 - 20
Materials: slips of paper with unusual words written on them
Purpose: Spoken fluency & listening skills/vocabulary review
Type: cooler but can get competitive
Method:
Step one - (before the lesson) The teacher writes difficult (but recently seen in class)
words on slips of paper.
Step two - The teacher explains that, one at a time, each person must look at their word
and then immediately start talking and try to use their words in such a natural way that noone notices it. During this “speech” it is the job of the remaining students to listen
carefully and try to identify the implanted word.
Anticipated problems:
none
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9. "Call my bluff"
Level: Upper intermediate +
Ages: adults & teenagers
Time 20 - 30 minutes
Materials: as many monolingual dictionaries as there are learners in the class
slips of paper with very difficult words on them
Purpose: Dictionary practice and listening skills
Type: filler
Method:
Step one - (before the lesson) The teacher prepares as many slips of paper as there are students
in the class each with an extremely difficult word written on it.
Step two - The class is divided into (ideally) two teams of four.
Step three - each member of each team is given a slip of paper with an extremely difficult word
written on it.
Step four - they inform the rest of their team of the words they have.
Step five - the “owner” of each word looks it up in a dictionary and copies out the dictionary entry,
the other team members copy out an entry for an entirely different but plausible word - normally
the same word class.
Step five - When everyone in both teams has completed step five, the activity begins: the teacher
announces (and pronounces) the first word, each member of the team reads out their definition,
the opposing team must use their judgement and intuition to determine which of the first team are
lying and which one is telling the truth.
Step six - on to the next word - the teacher keeps score on the board.
Anticipated problems:
1. The instructions are a bit complicated and it may well be worth providing each participant with a
handout detailing the procedure.
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10. Chinese translations
Level: Elementary + (monolingual groups only)
Ages: all ages
Time 20 minutes +
Materials: some slips of paper with sentences written on them in English, a set of readers
at an appropriate level
Purpose: Development of translating skills
Type: cooler
Method:
Step one - (before the lesson) The teacher writes sentences on slips of paper.
sentences are designed to possibly give the learners some translating difficulties.
These
Step two - If necessary the teacher divides the class up into subgroups of, say, 12 students
(whatever the number it must be even)
Step three- The teacher gives the first slip(s) to the first student(s) who must not show it to their
colleagues but must translate it into the mother tongue of the class on another slip of paper.
Step four - He/she then passes the translation on to the next member of the team who must
translate it onto another slip of paper into English and pass this translation on to the next student.
Step five - this process continues with the sentence being translated into and out of the learners’
mother tongue until it reaches the last person in the group.
Step six - The teacher retrieves the original and final English versions and, on the board or by
dictating them elicits comparison and discussion - if possible points in the multiple translation
process where significant changes occurred should be identified and discussed.
N.B.
Significant changes in this activity are by no means always errors and the teacher must be
careful to praise really good translation as well as pointing out and correcting errors and
noting changes that make little or no difference.
Note: This can sometimes be a rather slow process and the purpose of the readers is to give
people something to do while they are waiting for their turn or have had their turn and are waiting
for the feedback stage. The activity can also be played as a “background activity” while
something else is going on.
Anticipated problems: none
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11. Treasure hunts
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Ages: all ages
Time 30 - 40 minutes
Materials: supplied by the students
Purpose: Practice in the realisations of the functions of asking & giving directions
Type: warmer/life-saver
Method:
Step one - The teacher asks the students to leave the classroom and go as far as they
want on the school premises and then hide something identifiable but of no value (e.g. an
old pencil) and then return to the classroom.
Step two - On their return they sit down and write out directions to go from the classroom
door to the hidden object.
Step three - They exchange written instructions and, following them, attempt to retrieve
the hidden objects
Anticipated problems:
1. permanently lost pencil stubs - the teacher clearly has to trouble shoot in such
circumstances.
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12. Pelmanism
Level: all levels
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 20 minutes
Materials: sheets of blank A4 paper, boardmarker
Purpose: Practice and revision in any part of the language which can be divided up into
pairs of items - E.g. phrasal verbs, collocations, prepositional phrases, translations etc.
etc.
Type: filler
Method:
Step one - The teacher pairs up the class and tells each student whether they are A or B
Step two -The teacher distributes a sheet of A4 to each student
Step three - The teacher then demonstrates the folding of the sheet (1. down the middle,
lengthwise and then into three equal parts) the class follow instructions and fold their
sheets.
Step four - the teacher unfolds his/her sheet and tears it up along the fold lines, the class
follow suit. Everyone should now have six identical squares of paper.
Step five - the teacher establishes (typically by elicitation) a binary group on the board e.g.
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A
VERBS
B
NOUNS
to make
to reach
to take
to catch
to tell
to do
the bed
a conclusion
a photograph
a cold
lies
your homework
Step six - as each pair is established on the board, the A’s in the class should write down
the word(s) appearing in the A column on one square of paper and the B’s should do the
same for the B column.
Step seven - At the end of steps five and six each student should have six squares of
paper with half a collocation written on each.
Step eight - The pairs of students now combine their squares and place them face down
scattered over the desk in front of them.
Step nine - in turn they pick up and publicly turn over two squares. If they don’t combine
to form one of the target collocations they replace them face down on the desk. If, by
chance (at this early stage) they do combine, the student keeps them and tries again.
Step ten - as the activity progresses, students must try to remember where particular
words or phrases are so that they can pick up and keep pairs.
Step eleven - the player with the largest number of matching pairs is the winner.
Note: The larger the number of pieces of paper the more challenging the activity
becomes.
Anticipated problems:
None
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Variations
August 2010
The activity can be made considerably more challenging by folding and tearing the
paper into 8 or 10 pieces.
In addition to collocations, many other parts of the language come in pairs and can be
practised in this way – for example:






Phrasal verbs
Infinitives and past forms of irregular verbs
Opposites
Translations
Hyponyms & superordinates (e.g. bed & furniture)
Etc.
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13. Word searches
Level: all levels
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 20 minutes
Materials: prepared word search grids - one for each student, OHT with the results
Purpose: Practice and revision of recently studied vocabulary
Type: cooler
Method:
Step 0ne - (before the lesson) Prepare the grid. The framework can be made using
the Table facility on Word for Windows as detailed in section 3 (crossword puzzles page 7) but in the example on the next page there are 11 cells each way. Alternatively
a perfectly good framework can be made with a ruler and biro!
Step two - Fill in, say, ten words in the grid randomly placed and interlocking where
convenient
Step three - fill in the remainder of the cells with fragments of words from the lexical set
being revised. Of course, you can make this more manageable for low level learners if
you list the target words at the bottom of the page.
Step four - if you are preparing on a word processor, colour the target words and run off
an OHT for later feedback purposes. If you are doing it by hand, make the OHT in a
similar way.
Step five - distribute the completed grids and allow individuals five minutes to find the
words.
Step six - invite the students to pair up and share what they have found
Step seven - Conduct a short feedback session using the OHP.
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A Word search example
This word search contains ten words associated with the language awareness content
of typical TESOL courses. They are hidden horizontally, vertically and diagonally.
Ring or highlight the words you can find. After five minutes, compare your results with
those of a neighbour.
M
O
R
P
P
A
O
N
O
M
A
E
F
R
E
M
P
A
I
E
P
T
C
T
I
M
O
D
A
L
V
F
E
T
S
O
P
R
E
F
I
X
U
P
A
M
O
D
P
I
B
F
I
N
O
D
I
A
C
H
R
O
N
I
C
P
V
E
R
P
E
R
E
P
O
T
E
E
N
O
V
M
I
T
I
S
I
R
R
S
E
M
E
A
N
T
I
O
A
B
F
C
P
R
O
N
O
U
N
T
I
E
L
D
P
R
E
P
O
S
O
I
D
E
T
E
R
M
I
N
E
R
Anticipated problems:
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None
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August 2010
14. My Aunt's cat …..
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Ages: all ages
Time 5 – 10 minutes
Materials: none
Purpose: A bit of fun and activation of a random set of vocabulary, revision of the
sequence of the alphabet, conditioned choice between "a" & "an".
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – The teacher presents the sentence – "My Aunt's cat is an active cat",
generates practice in the pronunciation of the sentence and then writes it up as a marker
sentence on the board. It's worth highlighting and drilling the connected speech
phenomena in this sentence.
Step two - The class then take it in turns to repeat the sentence, replacing the adjective
with another starting with the next letter in the alphabet – i.e. bellicose, crafty etc. etc.
Anticipated problems:
1. Some letters present problems for most classes – for example, xenophobic and
xylophone-playing may be a bit far-fetched as descriptions of cats for most classes.
Teachers may prefer to skip certain letters!
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*
August 2010
15. The “Rizla” game
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Ages: all ages
Time 5 – 10 minutes
Materials: some post-it notes
Purpose: practice in question forms and general revision
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – The teacher prepares a series of labels on post-it notes, as many labels as
there are people in the class. Each label has the name of a well known person. There
is a suitable list on the next page but teachers will need to modify it to suit the general
knowledge of their particular classes.
Step two – (Read step three) The teacher drills and rehearses with the class the kind
of questions they will need.
Step three - The class then mingles and each person tries to find out “who they are” by
asking questions.
Anticipated problems:
1. None – except gaps in general knowledge.
“Rizla” is (or was) the name of a company that manufactures cigarette papers
for people who like to roll their own cigarettes. Some resourceful teacher
realized that these could be used for this activity long before post-it note
pads were invented. The name, like the object, has stuck!
*
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Some well-known people
George W. Bush
Queen Elizabeth II
Beethoven
Maradonna
Madonna
Michael Jackson
Ray Parker (all right, seriously – your own name!)
Marylin Munroe
Albert Einstein
Sylvester Stallone
Sir Paul McCartney
Pele
Lady Diana
Yasser Arafat
Julius Caesar
Dante
Silvio Berlusconi
Pablo Picasso
Mother Teresa
Christopher Columbus
John Lennon
Nelson Mandela
Winston Churchill
William Shakespeare
David Beckham
Leonardo da Vinci
Mozart
Karl Marx
Sigmund Freud
Gandhi
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16. The Yes/no Interlude
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Ages: all ages
Time 5 – 10 minutes
Materials: a watch with a second hand
Purpose: fluency practice
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – The teacher selects one “victim” at a time to sit at the front of the class.
Step two – the teacher appoints a time-keeper and makes sure they have a watch or a
mobile phone with a facility for counting a minute.
Step three – The teacher explains the purpose of the activity. The “victim” is to answer
all the questions they are asked without using the words “yes” or “no”. They must try to
survive the ordeal for 60 seconds. (few people manage it). (At this stage, a
demonstration is a good idea.)
Step three - As each person fails or succeeds another takes their place.
Step four – If the teacher feels students can do it, they should take over the role of
question master.
Anticipated problems:
1. None.
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17. Classroom bingo
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Ages: all ages
Time 5 – 10 minutes
Materials: none really, though a generous teacher might like to give each student a sheet
of A4
Purpose: familiar vocabulary practice
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – The teacher instructs the class to each make a blank “bingo card” with say eight squares – like
this:
Step two – the teacher instructs the class, working individually, to look around the room and write the names
of eight objects they can see – one in each box. As they are doing this, the teacher similarly makes as long
a list as possible of visible objects for use when s/he becomes the “bingo caller”.
Step three – The teacher calls out the objects and the first student to cross out all the words on their card
shouts out “bingo” and is the winner.
Anticipated problems: It might be a good idea to have a bar of chocolate for a prize.
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18. Hotel receptionist
Level: Intermediate +
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 15 minutes
Materials: slips of paper with prompts on them
Purpose: fluency practice
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – The teacher prepares slips of paper with problems written on them – one for each
member of the class. (there are some samples on the next page. Some may not be suitable for
your classes.
Step two – the teacher forms the class into groups of six and distributes the slips. Students must
not show each other the slips.
Step three – The teacher explains the scenario. I.e. they are all guests at a hotel where there
has been a sudden outbreak of laryngitis. They have all lost their voices except the receptionists,
who live outside the hotel and have not been affected.
Step three - In each group of six, two people are to be the receptionists.
Step four – students take it in turns to mime their problem to the receptionists – the receptionists
can, of course, speak and prompt the guest, check their guesses etc.
Step five – as each “guest” gets their message across, they replace one of the receptionists.
Anticipated problems:
1. Despite being a mime activity, this can get quite noisy!
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Prompts for hotel receptionist activity
1. You went on your balcony this morning. Unfortunately you sneezed and your
false teeth flew out and landed in the deep end of the swimming pool six floors
below. You can’t swim.
2. You woke up this morning and found a complete stranger in the bed next to you.
It’s a man. He’s very fat and smells strongly of alcohol. He’s still there now
……snoring!
3. Your wedding ring has fallen down the drain of your shower.
4. The remote control of your television doesn’t work and you can’t switch the
television off.
5. A large bird has flown into your room.
refusing to leave.
It has eaten your breakfast and is
6. It’s very hot today but the air-conditioning in your room is blowing out hot air.
None of the windows will open.
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19. Carroll’s Quartets
Level: Intermediate +
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 15 minutes
Materials: board & boardmarker
Purpose: intellectual challenge
Type: cooler
Method:
Step one – The teacher writes two unrelated four letter words – one at the top and one at the
bottom of the board
Step two – the challenge is to transform one the top word into the bottom in steps – each step
must be one letter different from the word above and must be a real word.
Example challenge
WORD
HINT
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One example solution
August 2010
WORD
CORD
CORE
TORE
TONE
HONE
LONE
LINE
LINT
HINT
Anticipated problems:
1. Some of these may be very difficult – dictionary use can be encouraged and the
challenge set for homework or to occupy a break etc.
A more learner-centred version (involving dictionary practice)
Step one – The teacher asks each member of the class, privately, to write down a four letter word.
Step two – With the help of dictionaries they now produce a list of words with each word being
one letter different from the word before.
Step three – When they have reached a word with no letters in common with the starting word,
they copy their starting and finishing words onto another piece of paper and exchange with a
partner.
Step four – as step two above.
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20. Hangman
Level: All
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 15 minutes
Materials: board & boardmarker
Purpose: vocabulary review
Type: calmer but can get competitive
Method:
Everyone already knows this game but just in case…………
Step one – The teacher writes the letters of the alphabet at the top of the board. If appropriate
this might be an opportunity to revise the names of the letters – possibly using Adrian Underhill’s
techniques (see Sound Foundations)
Step two – the teacher or one of the students selects a word (for example “basket”) and
represents it on the board with as many lines as there are letters in the word. Thus:
_
_
_
_
_
_
Step three – the (remaining) students should then be encouraged to guess possible letters in the
word.
As they guess letters the letter should be crossed off at the top and inserted on the appropriate
line if successful. If not successful, one line of the gallows should be drawn.
Step four – if the students are unlucky the gallows should eventually look like this:
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August 2010
this allows for ten wrong guesses – if you want more, you can always add a face
this allows three more wrong guesses.

Anticipated problems:
1. You may find the whole concept a bit too gruesome – in which case the traditional
hanging man – and therefore the name of the game – can, of course, be changed
for any other line drawing.
Tip: Keeping a running record of vocabulary which has come up during a lesson (e.g. in a
dedicated column on the right hand side of the board) is a good source for this and other
end-of-lesson fillers. It’s also valuable for next-lesson review procedures.
Another tip: Many teachers find a quick burst of hangman a neat way of introducing the
topic of a lesson.
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21. Five senses dictation
Level: All
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 15 minutes
Materials: board & boardmarker
Purpose: generating communicative interaction
Type: filler
Method:
Step one – draw a diagram on the board like this:
And ask the class to copy it onto a piece of paper
Step two – elicit from the class the names of the five senses and write them into the diagram as
headings instructing the class to copy them.
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vision
taste
August 2010
touch
hearing
smell
Step three – tell the class you are going to dictate a number of words quite quickly and that they
have to write them in whatever they consider to be the most appropriate column. Reassure them
that this is not a test and there is no “correct” answer – you expect everyone to be different.
Step four – dictate a list of, say 20 words quite quickly so that the class don’t agonise about
placement for ever. Here is a possible list:
1. whiskey
8. grammar
2. yellow
9. cheese
3. pillow
10. cat
4. rain
11. Brad Pitt
5. the name of the town 12. coffee
where you are
6. your name
13. sunshine
7. Mozart
14. train
15. England
16. wine
17. fish and chips
18. trousers
19. mountains
20. football
Step five – put the class into pairs to discuss and explain to each other their placements.
Step six – re-pair the class and repeat step five.
Anticipated problems:
This activity seems to generate a strong compulsion to explain the reasons for placing
things in particular columns and it can prove difficult to stop the discussion.
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22. “Unjumbling” dialogues
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 15 – 20 minutes
Materials: dialogue cut up into strips
Purpose: pronunciation practice
Type: filler
Method:
Step one – the teacher prepares or selects a dialogue and cuts it into strips. There should be as many lines
as there are students in the class but of course large classes can be divided into manageable groups – say
12 people in each. They should leave their desks and stand in an area large enough for them to move
around easily.
Step two – each student is given a random strip of the dialogue and they have 30 seconds to memorise it
and then return it to the teacher. They must not show it to anyone else.
Step three – they now have as long as they need to tell each other their line and form up in sequence.
Step four – they should then sit down again and, in turn, dictate their lines to the whole group.
Step five – when the dictation is finished they should compare their dictations with the original (I always use
an OHP for this but it can, of course be pre-written on the board, covered and revealed at this stage.
Step six – a brief class discussion about any deviations from the original – i.e. do changes make no
difference, improve the dialogue or spoil it?
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Sample dialogue
Hi Mary
Hi Teresa – how are you?
Not too bad, thanks. And you?
Fine. What are you up to tonight?
Nothing special. Why?
I was thinking of going to see a film.
Great! Count me in. How about cocktails first?
Oh – bit of a problem – I’ve got to take Jack.
Oh no! Not your brother! You know he gets bored.
Yes, but I’m kind of baby-sitting.
Well I suppose that if we have to take him we have to.
Good, that’s settled, then. We’ll pick you up at seven.
OK – Don’t forget to bring some money!
Of course not! I know you never have any!
Anticipated problems: None
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August 2010
23. Heads & tails
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 15 – 20 minutes
Materials: strips of paper with a “head” or a “tail” on them
Purpose: pronunciation practice
Type: filler
Method:
Step one – the teacher prepares a series of two line dialogues and cuts them into single
lines – there should be one line for each student. If there is an odd number of students
two should be given the same line.
Step two – students then mingle and have to find their “partner”
Step three – they sit down with their partner as soon as they have linked up.
Step four – when the pairing is complete they should say their mini-conversations in order
for the teacher to check that they have found the right person.
Step five – a brief class discussion about the contexts, locations, probable speakers in
each mini-conversation
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Sample mini-conversations
This won’t hurt a bit.
That’s what you say!
(Dentist and patient)
Can you cover my next class?
Not another headache, surely?
(Two teachers)
Is this seat free?
Sure - help yourself.
(strangers on a train)
Does your dog bite?
No – he’s really friendly.
(strangers in a park)
Are you hungry?
No – I had a huge breakfast.
(friends at lunchtime)
Anticipated problems: None
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August 2010
24. My Bonnie
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 5 – 10 minutes
Materials: none
Purpose: a bit of fun
Type: warmer
I first witnessed this activity some years ago at an NLP conference in Edinburgh
conducted by Jane Revell (to whom thanks – I’ve used it on many occasions since)
Method:
Step one – the teacher divides the class down the middle of the room into two groups.
Step two – the teacher tells the class they are going to sing a song – “My Bonnie”
Step three – if the song is unfamiliar to the students they should rehearse it once with the
teacher.
Step four – the teacher instructs the group on the right to stand up and the group on the
left to be ready to stand up.
Step five – the teacher explains that every time they reach a “b” in the song, anyone who
is standing must sit down and anyone who is sitting down must stand up.
Step six – sing the song together and enjoy the chaos!
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The words of My Bonnie
August 2010
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
Oh! Bring back my Bonnie to me.
Bring back,
Bring back
Oh! Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me.
Bring back,
Bring back
Oh! Bring back my Bonnie to me.
(My Bonnie probably means my darling)
Anticipated problems: Not an activity for the inhibited or the faint-hearted but second
to none as a warmer.
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25 Peter’s coloured balls
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 5 – 10 minutes
Materials: three coloured balls
Purpose: a bit of fun and an opportunity for newly-formed groups to get to know each
others’ names
Type: warmer
I was introduced to this activity by Peter Scaratt who at that time was making the transition from a
successful career in mainstream primary teaching to TESOL.
Using a ball for name games is something of a commonplace in TESOL methodology but this
technique adds a fresh dimension to the standard activity.
Method:
Step one – the teacher gets the class standing in a circle and checks names round the group.
Step two – the group throw a ball randomly to each other and as each person catches the ball they announce
their name.
Step three – the teacher interrupts the activity and asks the thrower now to announce the name of the person
who is to receive the ball.
Step four – the teacher interrupts the activity again to give fresh instructions. The receiver is now to say
Hello red ball (or whatever colour it is) as they receive the ball then name the next receiver then say goodbye
red all as they throw it.
Step five – as soon as a decent rhythm has built up, the teacher quietly introduces a green ball somewhere in
the circle and the activity continues with both balls
Step six as soon as a decent rhythm has built up, the teacher quietly introduces a blue ball somewhere in the
circle and the activity continues with all three balls
Anticipated problems: At first sight this might not look like an appropriate activity for teenagers
but it has proved surprisingly acceptable to all age groups. Typically it ends in chaos with balls
bouncing around the room.
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26 The right hand side of the board
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 5 – 10 minutes
Materials: white or blackboard and accumulated vocabulary
Purpose: recycling vocabulary
Type: filler
Most of these activities are designed to require few or no additional resources. This one exploits
resources in the form of vocabulary which naturally accumulate during a typical lesson.
Method:
Step one – the teacher draws a line down the right hand side of the board at the beginning of the
lesson.
Step two – as the lesson progresses the teacher records new vocabulary or “newish” vocabulary
that has been focused on, in the column on the right hand side of the board.
Step three – the teacher exploits this resource in a number of possible ways at the end of the
lesson. For example:
Step four – the teacher quickly rubs out alternate letters and tests the students ability in writing
and/or orally to reconstruct them.
Step five – the teacher replaces the words with anagrams and does the same as in step four.
Step six – the teacher selects the longest word from the column and plays “radiotherapy” with it
(see page 4)
Step seven etc. etc. i.e. there are endless ways of exploiting and thus reviewing a set of
vocabulary items – the key to the process is getting into the habit of collecting them routinely and
systematically every lesson.
Anticipated problems: None
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27 Sentence auctions
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 15 – 20 minutes
Materials: white or blackboard a selection of sentences
Purpose: communicative practice and/or error correction
Type: filler
Method:
Step one – a selection of sentences are displayed or distributed to the students.
Step two – in pairs they must discuss the likelihood of the sentences being true or the quality of
the sentences in terms of their accuracy.
Step three – the teacher elicits the key word auction and displays it on the centre of the board.
Step four – initially pairwork and then whole class brainstorming of vocabulary associated with
auctions.
Step five – the teacher announces that class will hold an auction – each member of the class has
£/$/€100 but they can work in pairs/small groups and thus pool their resources.
Step six – the teacher conducts the auction and records purchasers and prices on the board
Step seven – after the auction the teacher discusses with the class who has managed to get a
bargain and who has ended up with a rip-off
Anticipated problems: None
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Sample sentences for a sentence auction
August 2010
“Facts” about Ray Parker
1. He’s 63
2. He has a dog called Pepsi
3. He has done 3 bungee jumps
4. He loves washing up
5. He’s married with 1 daughter
6. He plays tennis at weekends
7. He went to school with Paul
McCartney
8. He used to sail a dinghy
9. He’s writing a grammar book
10. He’s Scottish
N.B. for a correction-focussed activity sentences (some accurate, some not) can be
selected from the written work produced by a class.
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28 Getting to know the teacher
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 20 – 25 minutes
Materials: white or blackboard and a selection of sentences
Purpose: practice of question formation (& indirect questions)
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – a selection of sentences about the teacher are displayed or distributed to the students.
Step two – individually they must try to devise the questions that would have produced the
displayed sentences as answers.
Step three – the teacher elicits the questions from the class correcting and drilling as necessary
before writing them up on the board.
Step four – the teacher sets up pairwork for students to ask and answer the same or similar
questions to each other in order to introduce their partner to the class and the teacher.
Step five – the teacher invites students to introduce their partners.
Step six – the activity can easily be extended to practice indirect questions by introducing phrases
such as “Could you tell me ….” “I wonder if you’d mind telling us ……” etc. etc.
Anticipated problems: None
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29 Murder
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 5 - 10 minutes
Materials: none
Purpose: ice-breaking
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – the students are arranged standing in a circle of, say, 10 or 12. More than one group
in the case of larger classes.
Step two – they are instructed to stare at their own feet.
Step three – as the teacher says “one, two, three, up”, they look up and make eye contact with
one other member of the group.
Step four – if, by chance the person they are looking at is looking directly back at them they are
both deemed to have murdered each other and must leave the circle.
Step five – the teacher then says “down again” and the process then recycles until only two are
left.
Anticipated problems: None
Comment: This is an odd activity, which involves very little in the way of language. It does,
however, seem to work in that groups, particularly groups who are new to each other, seem to
find it reduces the tension of those first classes.
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30 Kim’s game
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 20 – 25 minutes
Materials: OHP or alternative
Purpose: prepositional phrases of position/existential “there”
Type: filler
Method:
Step one – the teacher displays on the OHP or in some other way a group of pictures of objects
for 30 seconds.
Step two – After switching off the OHP or hiding the picture in some other way, the teacher ask
the class individually to remember as many objects as they can.
Step three – the teacher then puts the class into pairs to try to produce as complete a list as
possible – at this stage they should be told how many objects there were.
Step four – the teacher then draws a large oblong on the board and elicits/drills prepositional
phrases for describing positions – e.g.



In the top right-hand corner
At the top
On the left (-hand side)
Step five – the teacher then asks the students, back in their pairs, to go through their lists and
note the precise position of each object as far as they can remember.
Anticipated problems: None
On the next page there is a template for copying on to an OHT.
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31 Storyboard
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 20 – 25 minutes
Materials: OHP or white/blackboard
Purpose: exploitation of discourse intuition
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – the teacher displays a skeleton text
Step two – the class guess the content of the text
Step three – as students make good guesses the words are written on to the developing text
Step four – the teacher puts in multiple occurrences of words which occur more than once
Step five – the teacher “sells” letters or, in emergency, whole words to help the class along.
Anticipated problems: None
This technique can be used for any short predictable text such as a commercial letter, poem, song
lyric or can be used to review texts previously studied. It is based on the classic CALL program
of the same name.
Preparation
If using an OHP it is sensible to remember that you need large writing and therefore a short text.
The text should be written out and the acetate can be prepared by putting a blank acetate over the
text and underlining all the words with a permanent OHP pen. Punctuation can optionally be
included. The writing in should then be done with a water-soluble OHP pen so that after the
lesson the acetate can be rinsed and re-used. The next pages contain sample materials.
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A Fairy
Story
Once
upon
there
was
princess
a
a
who
fantastic
her
August 2010
f a t h e r,
time
beautiful
lived
castle
with
the
K i n g.
Although
she
was
beautiful
she
was
s a d.
She
with
a
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was
common
m e c h a n i c!
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in a
in
very
love
car
Fillers, life-savers, warmers & coolers
A fairy
story
Once
upon
there
was
princess
a
a
who
fantastic
her
August 2010
f a t h e r,
time
beautiful
lived
castle
with
the
K i n g.
Although
she
was
beautiful
she
was
s a d.
She
was
with
a
common
m e c h a n i c!
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in -
in
very
love
car
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August 2010
32 Crime & Punishment
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 30 - 40 minutes
Materials: OHP or white/blackboard, dictionaries
Purpose: communicative interaction, vocabulary development, dictionary practice
Type: life-saver
Method:
Step one – the teacher writes the headings “crime” & “punishment” on the board.
Step two – the class is divided into two halves (smaller groups if necessary)
Step three – one half has to appoint a note-keeper and brainstorm crimes using dictionaries if
necessary. The other group has to do the same with punishments.
Step four – the groups transfer their findings to the board under the two headings
Step five – the teacher checks understanding, corrects spellings and drills pronunciation of the
accumulated vocabulary.
Step six – the class is divided into pairs – one student from each of the original groups and they
must now discuss what they feel is an appropriate punishment for each of the crimes.
Step six – full class discussion of the topic
Step seven – further exploitation of the vocabulary (see “radiotherapy”, categories and the right
hand side of the board)
Anticipated problems: None
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33 Find someone who …..
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 15 minutes
Materials: handouts
Purpose: practice of a target structure/ice-breaking/practice of question formation
Type: warmer
Method:
Step one – the teacher distributes a prepared “find someone who…” sheet or more than
one if circumstances permit.
Step two – the teacher reviews and drills the necessary question forms
Step three – the class mingle and try to find people who can answer the questions
positively
Step four – the teacher elicits a little random feedback
Anticipated problems: None
Sample “find someone who….’s) (focused on the present perfect & simple past) on next
page. N.B. this technique can easily be adapted to focus on other target language.
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A
Perfect forms
Find someone who......
has been to.....
America
India
Singapore
Venice
Granada
Dublin
Prague
Argentina
Pakistan
Name
Have you ever been to .......?
Yes, I have.
No, I haven’t.
When did you go to ......?
I went there in ........./last .........../ .......years ago
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When did they go?
Fillers, life-savers, warmers & coolers
August 2010
Perfect forms
B
Find someone who......
has eaten/drunk
whiskey
snake
octopus
raw fish
a kiwi fruit
cheese made from goat’s
milk
caviare
champagne
lobster
Name
Have you ever eaten/drunk?
Yes, I have.
No, I haven’t.
When did you (last) try it?
I tried it in ........./last .........../ .......years ago
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When did they last try it?
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August 2010
34 Back to the board (vocabulary review)
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 10 - 15 minutes
Materials: white/blackboard
Purpose: to review and consolidate recently taught vocabulary
Type: filler
Method:
Step one – students close text books and notebooks
Step two – the teacher cleans the board
Step three – students in pairs are given 3 minutes to brainstorm and note down all the new words
they can recall from that lesson/day/week
Step four – (optional) re-pair and repeat step three.
Step five – whole class mode – brainstorm product of pairwork via teacher onto the board or
alternatively invite them all out to write their words up.
Step six - once step five is completed the teacher can use her/his judgment to decide which
ones to re-focus on for review of pronunciation/spelling/meaning
Step seven – one student is brought out to the front of the class and must sit with her/his back to
the board.
Step eight – the teacher silently points at one word.
Step nine – the class must then describe, define, give the word class etc. – everything but saying
the word so that the student at the front can guess which word the teacher has pointed at.
Step ten – when successful the student nominates a replacement student and back to stage
seven
Anticipated problems: None
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35 Laura’s “Conditional cards”
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 5 - 10 minutes
Materials: a standard pack of playing cards
Purpose: to activate,review and consolidate 1st conditionals
Type: warmer/filler
Laura Martins Campos is an English Language Teacher from Santos, Brazil.
Method:
Step one – prepare a pack of cards by removing unnecessary cards. You need 4 of each
number and as many sets of four as there are students in the class. (If you’ve got more than 13
students, you’ll need more than one set of cards)
Step two – shuffle this modified pack
Step three – distribute 4 cards to each student
Step four – explain that the object of the game is to swap cards one at a time until you have four
of the same number – the first to finish is the winner.
Step five – explain that they must use the sentence “If you give me a ………, I’ll give you a
……….” and drill it.
Step six - demonstrate with a strong student
Step seven – the class should stand and mingle – and away they go!
Variations
I saw Laura use this activity as a warmer but it would also serve as an excellent practice activity –
there are probably a couple of million other ways that a pack of cards can be used in class – all
contributions will be attributed!
Anticipated problems: There is a severe danger that students will want to do it again!
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36 Nick’s musical icebreaker
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 25 minutes
Materials: CD player & CD’s or computer with decent sound system
Purpose: To break the ice in a different way with new classes
Type: warmer
Nick Perkins is Pearson Longman’s Academic Development Manager for Latin America
Method:
Step one – the teacher prepares 30 second excerpts from their top 5 songs or pieces of
music and downloads them without gaps and then prepares for display a list of the names
of the pieces, artists, possibly dates if known.
Step two – the teacher plays the music to the class
Step three – the teacher then displays the details and briefly explains why each piece is
so important to him/her
Step four – the teacher then invites the class individually to list their top 3 and write two or
three sentences explaining their choices
Step five – pairwork follows with each class member telling their partner what their list
contains and the reasons for the choices
Step six - a very learner-centred follow-up is to invite the class – say, once a week – to
take turns to start a class by preparing and delivering steps one to three
Anticipated problems: None – other than the obvious that some age groups can
sometimes be scathing about each others’ taste in music so strict rules relating to respect
and tolerance may need to be established and enforced
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37 A word puzzle
Level: All levels
Ages: all ages
Time 5 minutes
Materials: OHT or alternative display medium
Purpose: To amuse
Type: filler/cooler
Method:
Step one – the teacher displays the list of words on the next page (currently set out as an
OHT template).
Step two – the instructions are in the display. It can, of course, usefully be done in pairs
Step three – the teacher stops the agony or congratulates anyone who has managed it.
Solution: If you take the first letter of each word and put it at the end of the word, then
read it backwards, it is still the original word. See page 69.
Anticipated problems: None – other than the obvious that some age groups can
sometimes be scathing about each others’ taste in music so strict rules relating to respect
and tolerance may need to be established and enforced
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What do the following words
have in common?
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1.
Banana
2.
Dresser
3.
Grammar
4.
Potato
5.
Revive
6.
Uneven
7.
Assess
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August 2010
What do the following
words have in common?
1. ananaB
2. resserD
3. rammarG
4. otatoP
5. eviveR
6. nevenU
7. ssessA
Websites for various classroom activities
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http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com
teachers can use this website to make
up puzzles, such as crosswords and
wordsearches, and print them out for
their students
http://www.teflgames.com/games.html
this website offers a number of games
which teachers can print out and use
with their classes
http://www.tefl.net/lessonplans/activities.
htm
another website with lots of activities for
teachers to print out and use
http://www.esllounge.com/board_gamesindex3.shtml
this website has board games to
download and adjust to suit your own
class
http://www.onestopenglish.com/tefl_esl_
warmers/index.htm
lots of games that can be used as
warmer (or cooler) activities
http://www.world-english.org
lots of free online games and quizzes for
students to practise English at home
http://www.english-at-home.com
free online grammar games for students
to use at home
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