TEFL World Wiki: Ice Breakers for New Students

Reflect on the first day of attending a new class. It can be any class and any grade – elementary, junior high, high school, even college. You’ll probably remember the new faces, new teacher, new everything. More likely than not, the teacher facilitated some kind of ice breaker to have all the students mingle and get to know each other better. By the end of the class, some students have already found their best friends for the academic season, and more importantly, teachers have a better idea of the students’ social and academic prowess.

Ice breakers used in an ESL classroom range in content, purpose, style, and creativity. Some activities are solely created to entertain the students, while others are already subtly teaching some linguistic aspects of English without the students’ knowledge. You may be thinking that ice breakers are all about having fun and will be a piece of cake to facilitate on the first day with little to no prior preparation. After all, how hard can it be to motivate students to meet each other and have fun while doing so? Well this is true to some extent. Ice breakers are meant to ease tensions among student-student and teacher-student interactions, so it should definitely be light hearted. But it should also be informative and goal-driven. You can only make a first impression once, so adequate preparation is crucial to have a smooth ice breaker that the students will remember for a long time. If there are any gaps or hiccups in the activity flow, students may feel like it is not useful or a waste of time. As a new teacher, there are many important factors to consider before choosing which ice breaker to use for the first day. How many students do you expect to show up? What is the fluency level of the students? What should the students learn from this activity: new vocabulary, forming complete sentences, asking questions? How much class time will the ice breaker take? Do I need any extra materials or props?

There are 3 specific steps that you can take to make sure the ice breaker goes as planned. First: Explain the rules in detail so that the students can easily perform the task. Remember to use simple language and speak clearly. Second: Demonstrate an example for the class. Choose a student to help you reenact the ice breaker rules. Third: Be the first person to start the ice breaker. Students will likely imitate what you do and feel less nervous. Encourage students to speak and participate by providing positive comments.

TEFL World Wiki offers several different kinds of ice breakers, including Brief Reminders, Guess Who, Sherlock Holmes, Trading Places, and Truth and Lies. Students must ask each other questions and guess about each other’s lives to find out more details to share with the class.

I would like to share a fun ice breaker that can be adapted to different levels and themes. This activity works best for smaller groups of students, since it involves a good deal of memory. The goal is to have every student add on to what the previous person says, and continue the chain until the last person repeats what everyone has shared. Let’s take the theme of favorite foods as an example. Teacher: My name is Sally, and my favorite food is pizza. How about you? Student 1: Your name is Sally, and your favorite food is pizza. My name is Tina, and my favorite food is sushi. Student 2: Your name is Sally, and your favorite food is pizza. Her name is Tina, and her favorite food is sushi. My name is Ben, and my favorite food is chicken. Student 3: Your name is Sally, and your favorite food is pizza. Her name is Tina, and her favorite food is sushi. His name is Ben, and his favorite food is chicken. My name is Paul, and my favorite food is steak. … and so on… By the end of the drill, everyone will know each other’s favorite food! Other themes relating to ‘favorites’ include: color, animals, movie/TV shows, books, ideal job, music, sports, hobby, author, biggest fear, etc. The more creative and wild the theme/content is for the ice breaker you choose, the more memorable the activity will be for everyone!