WARM-UPS

WARM-UP 1

Name of the Activity: Hangman Headlines

Material: bb

Ss’ Level: any

Source: Educationalworld. July,2007.< href="http://www.educationalworld.com/" target="_blank">www.educationalworld.com>

Procedure: The class is divided in 2 teams. The T puts a headline from the news (or TB) on the board, replacing each letter with a small flat line. The Ss then play hangman in the usual way , and the groups compete with each other. The team that reveals the headline firsts gets more points. Then both teams have to imagine/or think of the possible story behind the line. As a next step, the T leads a class discussion on the possible topic of the piece of news.

This activity could serve to introduce any subject such as accidents, disasters ) eg. Themes of worldwide interest ) for later presentation of specific structures and/or vocabulary.

WARM UP 2

Name of Game: “I’m a mime”

Material: A bag with cards with words for activating lexis, or a bag with cards containing sentences to activate grammar (depending on what the T wants to activate).

Note: only one bag will be used according to the aim of the warm-up: to activate/review either vocabulary or grammar.

Student’s level: any

Procedure: The T will divide the class into two teams: boys and girls, blue team or red team, a or b, etc. One member of either team will go to the front and pick up a card from the bag. She or he will have to mime the word or sentence and the rest of her/his team will have to guess to score a point.

Note: in the case the aim is grammar activation, the T will make clear that they have to formulate the sentences, and the mime can make use of the bb only for pronouns and only using pictures.

WARM-UP 3

Name of the game: The Balloon Game

Materials: balloons, strips of paper

Ss’ Level: any

Aims:

• To energise students and foster cooperation / team spirit.
• To channel energy positively.
• The sentences are chosen to either revise a language area like word order or to set a task or question for the students to focus on a new topic/language area.

Procedure:

• For a class of 30 students get 6 balloons.
• Cut up questions or sentences – taking into account their language level, for example:

Peter has regularly played tennis on Wednesdays.

If you won the lottery, how would you spend the money?

• Stuff the cut up bits of paper into each balloon (this is not difficult) and blow them up and tie them securely.
• Explain the activity clearly to the students.
• Divide class into 6 groups of 5 students.
• Each groups chooses a runner.
• When the teacher says GO the runner runs up to their balloon, which is on the floor at the front of the classroom (with as much space made around it as possible).
• They must burst the balloon without using their hands or feet and pick up the pieces of paper inside.
• They return to their group and together must put the sentences(s)/ question(s) in the right order.
• The group who finishes first are the winners.
• If they have produced questions, the next step is to work together to answer then questions or discuss them.

Source: One Stop English. 16/08/07. http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?catid=59492&docid=146812

WARM-UP 4

Name of the Activity: HOT SEAT

Source: Teaching English. August 18^th 2007. <http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/speaktry/hotseat.shtml>

Material: bb

SS’ level: any

Procedure:

• The teacher split the class into different teams (two is best, but if it is a large class, any number could be used).
• The students sit facing the board.
• Then two empty chairs - one for each team – are placed at the front of the class, facing the team members. These chairs are the 'hot seats'
• Then one member from each team sits in his/her team hot seat, so they are facing their team-mates and have their back to the board.
• The teacher writes a word on the board.
• The aim of the game is for the students in the teams to describe that word, using synonyms, antonyms, definitions, explanations, examples etc. to their team mate who is in the hot seat - that person can't see the word!
• The student in the hot seat listens to their team mates and tries to guess the word.
• The first hot seat student to say the word wins a point for their team.
• Then two different students sit in the hot seats.
• The teacher writes the next word on the blackboard.

This activity can be adapted to different class sizes. If there are many teams, perhaps some teams wait to play. Or if the team sizes are large, the number of tem members doing the describing can be restricted.