Ice breaker Speaking Activity
Do you want to help your students remember each other’s names (and you too)? Here’s a simple activity for learning names. It’s challenging, a little bit competitive and quite effective at breaking the ice too!
The best part? This name game icebreaker for adults works equally well with kids. In fact, almost any class could try it out.
How to Do the Name Game Icebreaker
Skills: Speaking/ Listening
Time: 10-15 minutes
Level: Beginner-Advanced
Materials Required: Nothing
Age: Children-Adults
A way that you can get your students to remember names (and you too!) is to do this simple ice breaker speaking activity.
Go around the class, and have students say, “My name is ______and I like _______.” The next student repeats the previous ones, and adds their own.
It goes on until it finally gets to you and you can impress the students with your memorization abilities! It works best for smaller classes of less than 10.
For more advanced students, you can choose something more difficult than “I like,” such as “My name is _________ and last weekend, I __________.” Besides remembering names, you can also use this activity to work on regular/irregular verbs.
Useful for Teaching Basic Grammar or Vocabulary Too
You can always use this memory circle kind of activity for helping students practice new grammar points, or remembering vocabulary words.
For example, if you just did a unit about animals, you could have each student choose an animal and go around the circle saying, “I like tigers, he likes elephants, and she likes cats.”
This also covers subject-verb agreement (I like, she likes).
As you can see, it works much better for beginner students than higher-level ones. However, if you’re using it for a name game icebreaker, it’ll work for any level.
Need More Ideas for the ESL Classroom?
Do you feel like you’re stuck in a rut and you need some more solid ideas for your English classroom? Did you find this ice breaker name game for kids useful?
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Name Game Introduction Activity
Check out this video below for another idea for learning names on the first day of class with your ESL/EFL students:
More Ideas for ESL Icebreakers
Did you like this icebreaker name game? Then you’re going to love this book filled with similar activities!
Get your courses started off on the right foot with some engaging, interesting and fun ESL icebreakers. They’ll help your students get to know each other and you get to know them.
I find that using some icebreakers at the beginning of the course sets it up for success for the following weeks and months. Sounds great, right? It is. A class or two of icebreakers can certainly make a big difference in terms of the atmosphere for the rest of them.
If you need some ideas, then you’ll want to check out this book on Amazon: 39 ESL Icebreakers. There are dozens of activities and games to choose from.
The book is available in both print and digital formats. Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office as a handy reference tool. Or, the digital version on your phone or tablet for lesson planning at your favourite coffee shop. It really is that easy.
Each activity starts off with a brief overview so that you can see, at a quick glance whether or not it’ll work for you. Then, you’ll find detailed, step-by-step instructions for how to prep for the activity and then what to actually do with your students. Finally, don’t forget to read the teaching tips that will help you avoid some of the most common mistakes for each specific activity.
Sounds like some ESL awesome? Is it exactly what you need for your upcoming classes? Learn more about 39 ESL Icebreakers for Teenagers and adults on Amazon:
—>39 ESL Icebreakers for Teenagers and Adults<—
Have your Say about this Ice Breaker Speaking Activity!
What’s your favourite way to help your students remember each other’s names? Do you have a favourite ice breaker name game? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.
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