1 First day icebreaker: personal information

“Getting to Know You” is a pretty obvious idea. It’s a personal information exercise and allows the teacher to assess the student’s abilities. The only trouble I’ve had with this exercise is matching the questions to the student’s level of ability. The questions below seem to me to be suitably generic and have worked flawlessly in any elementary class I’ve taught so far (Thai students, Chinese students).

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2 Brainstorming verbs and basic collocations: icebreaker for present simple and routines

This is another exercise that can be used with a variety of present simple exercises. I can be used to elicit language for making present simple questions or talking about routines. It helps to give the teacher a idea of the range of the students’ vocabulary. And it’s a useful way to get some vocabulary on the board for question writing activities.

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3 What do you do on Mondays ?: icebreaker for parts of the day/days of the week

This exercise is another great exercise for really elementary students that doesn’t demand too much of them. It’s a good way to get into teaching the days of the week and prepositions.

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4 Everyday brainstorm: icebreaker daily activities and routines

This brainstorm activity explores vocabulary associated with routines and time. I walk around the class asking students “What do you do everyday in the morning?” , “What do you do once a week?” etc. It’s a nice, friendly way to start a class.

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5 Circle of frequency: icebreaker for adverbs of frequency

Following on from the previous exercise, this icebreaker can be used used to introduce and familiarize students with verbs adverbs of frequency. You might ask students questions like “What do you sometimes eat at a department store?” or “What do you often do on weekends?”.

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6 Pictures icebreaker: icebreaker for present continuous, routines and daily activities

For me, activities using pictures are perhaps the most consistently successful of anything I do in the classroom. They can be used in so many ways. They force students to think and use their imaginations. And they are open to interpretation which can often lead to unexpected discoveries about meaning or culture or individual differences.

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Related Resources:

5 Elementary Conversational Expressions Exercises

5 First Day Activities for an ESL Class

10 Really! Elementary ESL classroom icebreakers

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

7 Shopping brainstorm word map: icebreaker for talking about shopping

Shopping is a pretty fundamental topic in elementary textbooks. And it’s pretty easy to get students engaged and bring out some vocabulary with the exercise below.

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8 Types of food: icebreaker for introducing the topic of food

The most elementary and successful icebreaker for introducing the topic of food.

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9 House and furniture: icebreaker for discussing where you live or describing your house

Some icebreakers are so simple you might feel a fool for not having thought of them before. I certainly have. Brainstorming things…furniture …items…adjectives ..etc that might be used for parts of the house. What a no-brainer! But I didn’t think of it for 30 years of teaching. Icebreakers like this are great for setting up question writing exercises. Once the board is full of vocabulary, you can give a couple example questions, “What kind of furniture do you have in your living room?/ Do you have a big bed?/ Do you have a microwave in your kitchen etc…..” and ask students to create their own questions around the vocabulary.

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10 Job/ Careers/ Work Brainstorm and Icebreaker

Another really straightforward and easy brainstorm is a jobs brainstorm. This works with pretty much any level as even the most elementary students can name jobs. A really, really easy way to start a class.

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Related Resources:

4  Picture-Based Present Continuous Tense Worksheets

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes