Unit 5 Icebreakers: Introduce Partner & Tic Tac Toe PDF

**INTRODUCE YOUR PARTNER** Where are you from? Who is your best friend? Aye you married? Do you have children? Why are you on this course? What\'s your favourite type of food? What do you love and hate about learning? **Introduce your partner explained** This classic ice breaker is great fo...

**INTRODUCE YOUR PARTNER** Where are you from? Who is your best friend? Aye you married? Do you have children? Why are you on this course? What\'s your favourite type of food? What do you love and hate about learning? **Introduce your partner explained** This classic ice breaker is great for the first day of a new course and is particularly appropriate for adult learners. Essentially students work in pairs and get to know their partner then present the information to the rest of the class. The good thing about it is that it gets students to ask slightly more interesting questions such as 'who is your best friend?' rather than the mundane 'where do you live?'/'when's your birthday?'. You could also encourage students to ask for more information and even leave a space for them to invent a couple of their own questions. This ice breaker can also be adapted for children, where they draw a humorous picture of their partner in the box and you put it up on the classroom wall to help the students remember each other's names. **By introducing a partner instead of themselves students are also able to practice the ever-important third person forms of the verb (most third person verbs in the present end in '--s' e.g. I live (1st person), he lives (3rd person).** Equally, having to memorise the information to present to the class allows them to really interact with their partner rather than just going through the motions and immediately forgetting their partner's responses! This particular version is most appropriate to classes at pre-intermediate+ levels but the questions can be adapted to suit any class. **\ Teacher Tic Tac Toe** In this game the teacher draws a noughts and crosses board and writes a word or number in each. The information in each square is an answer to a particular question, for example you could write '3' in one of the squares as the answer to the question 'how many brothers do you have?' Students work in two teams, choose a square and try to guess the question it corresponds to. Whichever team gets three in a row wins. This is a great activity for the first day when the students already know each other but you are teaching them for the first time as it allows them to relax and get to know you in a fun and interesting way. All the information should answer questions about you so you can make it as personal as you like and level appropriate. For higher levels it's good to throw in some 'trick' answers if possible, I knew an English teacher who used to always write 'gin' in one of the squares and everyone would assume the question was 'What's your favourite drink?' The real question was actually 'What's the name of your first pet?' **As well as being a fun game which can induce some friendly rivalry between teams, this game is also great for practising word order in questions and for higher levels you can decide to only give the teams a point if they ask the correct, and grammatically correct, question.** Teacher **Mingle / Find someone who\...**  **Mingle / Find someone who\... explained** ['Find Someone Who...'] This activity is perfect as a warmer for a conversation lesson or as an ice breaker for higher levels as it gets students to talk to as many people in the room as possible. The aim of the game is to find one person who has done each of the items on the handout and get some more information about each. The questions can be adapted to fit in with a particular theme or can be left random for use on the first day. An element of competition can be added by making the activity into a 'first person to finish wins' and can get students to really launch themselves into the task without having time to feel nervous. They also have to practise question formation by transforming the statements on the worksheet into appropriate inquiries. Which of these questions would be appropriate for an elementary level 'Introduce Your Partner' activity? Drag and drop the ones you would use. Suitable **3. How old are you?** **1. What is your favourite colour?** **6. Where are you from?** **7. When is your birthday?** Not suitable **2. How long have you been studying English?** **4. What\'s your favourite thing about the country you live in?** **5. What do you find most difficult about learning English: speaking, reading, writing or listening?** **Unit 5: Icebreakers: Questions** Top of Form Ice breakers are useful for\... (tick all that apply) A. making the students feel at ease B. allowing you to relax and let the students take charge C. building a rapport with the class D. encouraging interaction Top of Form In the 'Introduce Your Partner' ice breaker, what grammar point do students practice? A. question formation B. third person verb forms Top of Form What follow-up would be appropriate to this 'Find Someone Who...' question? 'Find someone who has been to China': A. find out if they like travelling B. find out when they went and who with C. find out if they have been on another holiday this year D. find out if they speak an Asian language Top of Form The \'Teacher Tic Tac Toe\' game should include answers to questions about the teacher. T/F? True False