Top 5 ESOL icebreakers | TEFL Ice Breakers to Get Classes Started Off on the Right Foot

Start off your semester right with an ESL icebreaker! These help the students get to know each other and you as well. I always use these ice breaker activities in the first couple of classes and I find that they really help set the tone for the rest of the semester. By starting your classes off with some ESOL icebreakers, you’re setting yourself up for a successful semester. Try out some of them for yourself and I'm sure that you'll see a difference in your English classes. These TEFL icebreaker activities and games are excellent tools to help your students learn English in a comfortable environment. ---------------------- Find even more TEFL ice breakers here: Check out: https://eslspeaking.org/top-10-esl-icebreakers/ ---------------------- Here are some more first lesson ideas for English teachers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuTHvTPX5R8 ---------------------- Want to find out more about ESL icebreakers? 39 ESL Icebreakers: For Teachers of Teenagers and Adults Who Want to Start their English Classes Off the Right Way: https://amzn.to/3ueaj6J https://www.facebook.com/eslspeaking #teachingenglishwithjackie #icebreaker #icebreakers #firstlesson -------------------- Even more icebreakers for ESL from @Kids English Theatre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBeCTCNzAfY ---------------------- Tags: esol icebreaker, esol icebreakers, esol ice breaker, esol ice breakers, esl icebreaker, esl icebreakers, esl ice breaker, esl ice breakers, esl icebreaker for adults, esl icebreakers for adults, esl first day Transcript: Today I'm going to give you my top five ESL icebreakers. Number one is the toilet paper icebreaker. You may have done this at some like work event or something like that before. You just bring a roll of toilet paper into class or you can bring candies but usually, I prefer wrapped candies if I'm gonna do this option. And then I tell students to take a certain number, say between like four and seven pieces of toilet paper or candies. The way it works is that for every piece of toilet paper or candy the person has, they have to tell one fact about themselves. To increase student interaction though, I do a little bit of a variation on that. So for each person that states a fact, for example maybe I have two brothers and one sister, one person in the group can use up one of their squares of toilet paper or candy to ask a follow-up question. Keep playing until everybody has used up all their pieces of paper. The second one is the expert. This is a speaking activity for higher-level students I guess. Ask students to write down three or four things that they know a lot about. It doesn't have to be something formal but it can be informal like how to cook delicious ramen noodles or how to make a fried egg, how to throw a baseball, anything like that. And then I put students into partners or groups of three and they have to talk to their partner about the things that are listed for maybe like three or four minutes. The next one is two truths and a lie. I get students to write down two things that are true and one thing that is false about themselves and then if I have a small class I'll play it together. And a bigger class, I'll get students to play in small groups to kind of increase student interaction though. I'll have a kind of a question period where the other students in the class can ask questions to the person to try to uncover which one is the lie. The next one is just a minute. I write a bunch of topics on the board like maybe family, hobbies, future dreams, and memories.I put students into groups of four and I get one student to scrunch up a paper ball and then toss the ball at the board. Whatever word that that ball hits, each number one in the group (I'll get them to know themselves one two three four), the number one will have to talk about that topic for one minute without stopping. As a way to increase interaction, I get the other three students in the group to each ask one follow-up question when the time is up. Then finally our last icebreaker activity is find someone who bingo game. I get students to write or to fill out a blank bingo grid and you can also just get them to draw some lines in their notebooks, a 5x5 grid. And then I have students write down things that they think other students in their class might answer yes to. For example, has a cat, has a dog, is from Busan, has a brother, has a sister, is 21 years old, has their own car. When everyone has filled out their boards, I get students to stand up with their bingo board and a pen and they have to circulate around the class asking questions to their classmates, with the goal to fill up their entire bingo board with people who answer yes to their questions. You can also do a variation, maybe one line might be appropriate or two lines. Timestamp: 0:00 Intro 0:09 Toiler paper icebreaker 1:15 The expert 1:57 2 truths and a lie 2:27 Just a minute 3:20 Find someone who bingo