Ice-breakers

• Line-up according to... (the first letter of your first name/family name, the distance to your home, number of siblings, birthday etc.)
  BUT "no talking"!!
  No resources needed.
  
• What do we have in common?
  Divide into smaller groups.
  Give a few minutes to find 5-6 things that everyone in this group has similar/same. (Could be written down on a paper, or not.)
  
• Where do you stand? 
  Point to different sides of classroom (window-door, left-right) or put paper signs on the wall or board, and ask the students to choose...:
  - Do you like more...  winter or summer?
  - Are you... a Morning person or Night person? ...Cat person or Dog person?
  - Would you rather be... in a cinema or on the beach?
  People will stand far along the left hand side or on the far end of the right hand side.
  If they are neutral, they will stand in the middle.
  Possible to continue with discussions, why do you think so etc.
  No equipment needed.
  Or if there is focus on vocabulary in a language class, pictures/flashcards could be used and the learners then use the words when explaining.
  

More ice-breakers available here 

Picture-speaking

Use pictures, pupils choose a partner, when the pictures appear they need to have a dialogue of 1 min as the characters in the picture.

Speaking in groups- important notes for teachers!

Assign roles:
- time-keeper- certain amount of time for each to speak
- language watch- checks that English is used
- leader- checks that everyone can speak
- ... (any other role: praising others...)

Spider-web speaking

Needed: A roll of string
Takes about 30-50 sec per person.
People-pupils standing in a circle, the teacher helps to spread-divide the string across the circle here and there, people holding the string a web appears.
Then the person holding the roll of string starts speaking (any topic can be used) as long as reaching another person.
Sometimes some "crawling" and "climbing" needs to be done to get the string going... :)

Attention game with numbers

Played in a circle
Numbers are counted one by one so that three numbers increasingly and then the same numbers down again, then starting with the next one:
1 2 3  3 2 1   2 3 4  4 3 2    3 4 5  5 4 3    4 5 6  6 5 4   5 6 7  7 6 5   6 7 8  8 7 6   7 8 9  9 8 7   ...

Might be very confusing but needs a lot of attention and sense of rhythm :)
Presented to us by Ülle from Tallinn, Estonia at the IPC drama course. Many thanks!

My Bonnie is Over the Ocean

My Bonnie is over the ocean
My Bonnie is over the sea
My Bonnie is 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!

A simple song, at every  B letter in the song learners should either stand up or sit down.
Should be possible to start and finish sitting.

Do you know Missis Jones? -A good attention game for the warm-up

Sitting in a circle.
Tell your partner on the left: "Do you know Missis Jones?"
Partner: "Yes, I do."
You: "You know, she's dead."
Partner: "Oh, really? How did she die?"
You: "Like this... (show /mime how she might have died)

Partner continues to the next person on the left- same dialogue.
Now- first the previous way of dying in shown, and then another is added.

Goes on in a row.
The last one should be able to mime all the ways that were shown by the group mates.

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Sitting in a circle. Lines are said with a rhythm like a chant.
One starts : (name) stole the cookie from the cookie jar!
- Who? Me?
(all together) Yes! You!
-Not me!
(all together) Then who?
(the person, who was blamed, calls another name)
(all together) : (name) stole the cookie from the cookie jar!

A multi-tasked person :)

Attention, reaction and coordination game with some oral language included.
Work in groups of 4.
- one person asks simple questions (Are you a girl? Do you like ice-cream? What colour is your hair? ...)
- the other one does movements, gestures
- the third asks simple maths (2+2 is...? )
- the fourth one tries to copy the movements and answer both questions as quickly as possible
Then the players change and it is done again.
NOT EASY, BUT FUN!!!

A SHIP- Warm-up game, focusing and attention

"A SHIP" 

* different parts of the room are named as sides of a ship:
- "bows"- the front 

- "stern"- the back

- "ports" - left side

- "starboard"- right side 

* when the leader of the game says a word, certain activities must me mimed

- "Captain is coming!"- raise your hand to your head as if saluting 

- "Rub the deck!"- make it as if cleaning the floor intensively 

- "Man over the board!"- right arm under the left leg and hold your nose as if diving for a somebody

* the last one acting out what is told should leave the game

Lulalulaluuu-song with clapping and tapping

An Austrian song with clapping and tapping :)
Warm-up, concentration and coordination game for focusing and tune-up with everyone together.

Attention and concentration games- Wizz-Hey-Ping

The game could be played for warm-up and getting people focused and concentrated.
Not much of a language used in the activity itself, but also the comments and helping phrases could be in the foreign language.
Attention- very emotional!

Instructions: 

• standing in the circle, 
• acting like passing a ball over to your neighbour with hands movement, saying Wizz! as fast as possible
• then someone can so to say pass it back saying Hey! and raising both of your arms to this neighbour's direction, and the ball-passing goes the other way back
• then it is also possible to pass it over to the person standing opposite you in the circle by pointing with a finger, having a clear eye-contact and saying Ping!