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. For new groups, see the list of ice breakers further down.

 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.
Variation for individual: take turns with the teacher.
 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.

Ice Breakers
 Name Bingo (beginner, large group)
Hand out a blank grid with enough squares for the number of people in your class.
The grid should have the same number of squares across and down. Give the
students a few minutes to circulate through the class and get everyone's name
written on a square. Depending on the number of blank squares left over, you can
have them write their own name on a square, or your name, or give them one 'free'
square. When everyone is seated again, have each person give a short self-
introduction. You can draw names randomly or go in seating order. With each
introduction, that student's name square may be marked on everyone's grid, as in
Bingo. Give a prize to the first 2-3 students to cross off a row.
 Name Crossword (any level, group)
Write your name across or down on the board being sure not to crowd the letters.
Students take turns coming to the board, saying their name, and writing it across
or down, overlapping one letter that is already on the board. It's usually best if you
allow students to volunteer to come up rather than calling on them in case a letter
in their name isn't on the board yet, although the last few students may need
encouragement if they're shy.
 Similarities (beginner-intermediate, group)
Give each person one or more colored shapes cut from construction paper. They
need to find another person with a similar color, shape, or number of shapes and
form pairs. Then they interview each other to find 1-2 similarities they have, such
as working on a farm or having two children or being from Asia. They can share
their findings with the class if there is time.
 Pair Interviews (intermediate-advanced, group)
Pairs interview each other, using specified questions for intermediates and open
format for advanced students. Then they take turns introducing their partner to the
whole class. Be sensitive to privacy when asking for personal information.
 Snowball Fight (any literate level, group)
Give learners a piece of white paper and ask them to write down their name,
country of origin, and some trivial fact of your choice (such as a favorite fruit).
Have everyone wad the pages into 'snowballs' and toss them around for a few
minutes. On your signal, everyone should unwrap a snowball, find the person who
wrote it, and ask 1-2 more trivial facts. Write the questions on the board so the
students can refer to them. Remember that each learner will need to ask one
person the questions and be asked questions by a third person, so leave enough
time. Variation for small groups: learners can take turns introducing the person
they interviewed.

 Mystery Identities (any literate level, group)

Write the names of famous people or places (or use animals or fruits for a
simplified version) onto 3x5 cards. Attach a card to each learner's back. Give
them time to mingle and ask each other questions to try to figure out their tagged
identities. This is usually limited to yes/no questions, although beginners might be
allowed to ask any question they can. Be at least 90% sure that the learners have
heard of the items on the cards and especially the ones you place on their own
backs.
 Idea #1: Questions and Answers. Write two or three
questions on the board, preferably related to the topic.
However, for classes that meet regularly, you may also
use this as an opportunity to include target language
from the previous lesson. Read the questions aloud and
check comprehension. Students then find a partner to
discuss these questions for the length of the warm up.
As no pair of students should finish talking early, this
means that everyone will need to ask follow-up
questions to generate a conversation.

Idea#2: How Many People Can You Talk To? Write two
questions on the board. Students then find a partner to
ask and answer each question. After both questions
have been covered by both students, each finds a new
partner. They then repeat the process. By talking to
many people many times on the same topics, answers
will show improved accuracy and fluency.

Idea #3: Speculation. This idea can be used with just

about any grammar point. Although you may use a
picture from a magazine or a website for students to talk
about, I prefer to have students speculate about me or
other teachers. For example, if the grammar point for the
lesson were on the past tense, students could discuss
and write ideas to answer the following question: "What
did your teacher do this weekend?" Students can
generate realistic ideas for your weekend, or even
completely off the wall ones. This activity works well
with many different grammar points.

Idea #4: Find Someone Who... Write five questions on

the board, all of which are yes/no questions. Even
better, if time allows, create three sets of handouts with
five different yes/no questions on each handout.
 Students find a partner, ask/answer one question, and
then find another partner. They want to find people who
will answer "yes" to the questions, as the activity is
called "Find Someone Who..." A "yes" means they can
check off that question, and then ask other questions on
the handout.

Idea #5: Charades. Write actions on slips of paper before

the class. Place students in small groups and give each
student one slip of paper. They must act out the action
on the paper without speaking, and their group must
guess the answer. You can focus on just vocabulary, so
students will answer: "play soccer" or "eat" or "watch
TV." You can plug the verb into a sentence, such as:
"You (verb) last weekend, didn't you?" Continue for five
or ten minutes so that everyone in the group has had a
chance to act out the action.

10 Great Warm Up Activities For The Classroom

Warm up strategies for our classroom are an excellent teaching tool! We all
know that starting the lesson with a good hook activity sets us up for a better chance of
success. It captivates the students and draws them into the lesson - giving us the
opportunity to "do our thing"! Below I have put together a few warm ups that my MAT
professor Dr Cynthia Alby gave us as students - thanks Cynthia!

The Evocative
This is done by giving the students an evocative quotation, photo, scenario or song. Then
ask a question that requires the group or learning team to think it through and give you
their best answer.

You'd be suprised at what people can come up with, and more so, how wrong they can
often be. The evocative warm up strategy helps you, the teacher to understand any
misconceptions or preconceptions that the students may have about the subject. Knowing
what the students preconceptions are tells us where they are now and gives us an idea of
how we can get them where we want them to be.

Most importantly, in my opinion, it lets you know how to target the lesson, after all, it
makes no sense to teach them what they are already know (unless you are deliberately
using repetition) - they would just get bored.
Data Manipulation
"A picture is worth a thousand words", so with this strategy we ask the students to draw a
diagram of what they currently understand about the subject or concept. The artist in
them may come to light, or like me, you might just get the best of my stick figures! Either
way, you are able to determine any preconceptions or misconceptions that students may
have as well as who has them. The best part is that it gets the students interested enough
in the subject - giving you, the teacher a great launching pad to begin the lesson.

Pre-Quiz
A quiz (even if it's ungraded) always gets the attention of students. To make it more
interesting, it can be done through sign language, with as a picture on construction paper,
with white boards or even through poetry or rapping! Whatever it takes to get them
involved and interested and of course, learning and reading!This, like the previous
strategies, highlights any preconceptions or misconceptions that students may have, helps
us target our teaching to a level that will keep them interested and most importantly it can
get them interested.

Wordsplash

I use this one pretty often as it doubles up as a vocabulary builder. Students are
given a list of words relating to the the topic that you about to teach and asked to guess
how these words relate to the topic at hand. Try to choose words that they have never
heard of to get them thinking! I remember Cynthia illustrated this by giving us words that
related to bead making (a hobby of hers). Needless to say that we were totally clueless
but intrigued. We also developed an interest in bead making for a little while - the very
focus of this warm up.

Simulation
Some people learn by doing - and that is what simulation is all about. Speaking of bead
making, Cynthia came equipped to that class with blow torch, goggles, etc. While she
was wise enough not to let us experiment with the bead making process, she was kind
enough to demonstrate it. In her own words, simulation is a great lab for skills.

If simulations might be too dangerous or even inappropriate for the classroom, role
playing might be a fun way to use this strategy. This warm up targets several different
learning styles

Guessing Game
This is like "Ask the Audience" in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, only if you have
some objects you can hold them up and ask what they might be used for, or what the next
course of action would be, or even where the items may belong in the process of bead
making. There is nothing better than seeing the hands fly up or hearing multiple voices
calling out the answers to your questions. Again, it gets students interested and lets you,
the teacher know how much they know (or don't know). Sometimes it can be quite
humorous!
Opinionnaire

Much like a pre-quiz, this is an assessment of how students think about a certain
subject. This can really bring out any misconceptions! I used this in a finance class and it
was amazing that the students perception of the banking system was totally false and
definitely unrealistic. The good thing, however was that we were able to correct the
misconceptions only after we knew that they existed and the opinionnaire was a great
way to find this out.

Free Association
This is when the teacher calls out a word or a phrase and the students can either call out a
word or sign the word that first comes to mind. For example in a health class a teacher
may call out "fast food" and the students may call out orsign "McDonalds". This strategy
stimulates the students to think about the topic in question and generates interest among
the students. In other words, it works both as a warm up and a hook!

Likert Scale Line Up

I found this warm up activity useful when I taught the last class of the day. I would get
everyone moving and the focus would be on lining students up based on how strongly
they agree or disagree with a statement or subject. Usually the more controversial the
subject, the more enthusiastic the response. Also, it would get students discussing the
subject, as they would need to know to what extent their classmates agree or disagree. A
great way to start a lesson!

Chalk Talk
This is my all time favorite warm up. It is extremely easy to do and more to the point, the
focus is on the students! We start off by writing a word or a phrase on the board. The next
step is to have a student co-ordinate his or her colleagues as they walk up to the board.
They can either come up in small groups or individually to write on the board anything
related to the word or phrase in question. It gets the students thinking and you can use
their own ideas to launch the lesson. An excellent hook!

So there you have it! Ten great ways to warm up your students and tickle their
imagination. Have fun using them - I certainly do...

ZIG ZAG ZOP

1. Everyone sits in a circle. One student starts by saying ZIG and looks at
another student.
2. That student now says ZAG while looking at another student.
 3. Now the third student says ZOP while looking at another student and
pointing to them with a fully extended arm. Only ZOP has the arm motion.
If a student does not move their arm on ZOP he/she must sit down.
4. For an advanced version – speed it up. If a student hesitates he/she is
out.

BALL TOSS

Requires a soft ball or a bean bag that is easy to catch.

1. Ask students to stand in a circle and one at a time toss the ball to each
other.
2. They can choose the order, but everyone should receive the ball only
once.
3. The last person should throw the ball back to the person who began the
tossing.
4. Time them and see if they can do it faster each time.
5. Try to break your “speed” record.
6. This game stresses teamwork and concentration.

SILENT LINE UP

1. Ask students to silently line up from the youngest to the oldest.

2. They should not use any words, but come up with other ways to figure out
everyone’s ages, i.e. hand signs.
3. If many students are the same age, they will need to figure out how to find
out birthdays – also silently.

PIG DRAWING/ PARTNER MATCH-UP

Requires paper and pencil.

1. Say “When I tell you to begin, I want you to draw a pig. You have 30
seconds – GO”
2. Time them for 30 seconds and then ask them to put their pencils down.
3. Ask them to look around the room at all the drawings and then partner-up
with a person who has drawn their pig in a similar way.

PARTNER INTRODUCTIONS

1. With your partner spend three minutes talking to each other to find 3
things that you have in common. Talk fast.
 2. Time them for three minutes. (They may come up with food, books,
activities they both like, sports they both play or they may have the same
number of brothers or sisters, etc)
3. When the time is up have them introduce each other to the rest of the
class and include the things they had in common.

At the end, you may also observe the things the whole class had in common or
were very similar.

GAMES TO PLAY WITH GROUPS OF STUDENTS

RING GAME

Requires a large circle of rope and a ring.

1. Students form a circle sitting on the floor/ground.

2. Each student puts both hands on a large circle of rope.
3. One student stands in the middle.
4. The goal of the game is for the students in the circle to pass the ring
(passed through the rope) around the circle using their hands and a
rhythm so that the person in the center doesn’t see where the ring is.
5. Students can get a rhythm going by counting “1..2, 1..2” “oooh, aaah” or
“School is cool”
6. As they are chanting, their hands come together on one word and go out
on the other and they are passing the ring around the whole time.
7. Students should all practice this.
8. Choose one student to go to the center and watch carefully. After a little
while say “stop” and the person in the middle tries to guess who has the
ring.
9. They should have several tries.
10. At any point a new person can go to the middle.

SPOONS CARD GAME

You need a deck of cards and some spoons (plastics will do fine).

1. Students sit on the floor to play.

2. Deal 4 cards to each person.
3. Put enough spoons for each person in the center of the circle – MINUS
ONE
4. Everyone in the circle wants to collect four of a kind.
5. The dealer takes a card from the top of the remaining deck and decides
whether or not to keep it.
6. If the dealer wants to keep the card…they choose another card from their
hand to pass to the left.
7. The person to the right passes their unwanted card to the person to their
left (all the way around the circle)
8. The dealer continues to draw from the deck and pass on unwanted cards
until someone gets four of a kind.
9. As soon as someone has four of a kind, they take a spoon (in a very
unsuspecting way) from the center of the circle.
10. When the rest of the group notices a spoon is gone…everyone grabs a
spoon…the person who does not get a spoon gets an “S.”
11. If a person gets all the letters in the word “SPOONS” they lose the game.