ESL/EFL Games or icebreakers... ::.:.:.::...:::..:::

 Hangman Game

Can you beat the Hangman?

In this game you have to guess the English word before you're hanged! For each word you can make 6 wrong guesses. After that, you'll be hanged by the neck.

Hangman is a game that can really help your vocabulary. Don't give up! Keep playing and you'll soon see that you really can beat the Hangman in the Hangman game!

Jumbled Words

The letters of each word are jumbled (all mixed up).

Can you put them in the right order?

Typing Test

How well can you type in English? This is a good way to improve your English. Here, you have to type as fast as possible. Well, that's not so difficult. The hard part is - you mustn't make mistakes! Let's see how you do! (By the way, professional typists can type at speeds of 70 words a minute, with no mistakes!)

1. Choose your level.
2. Press START!
3. Type the text that appears in Box A into Box B.
4. Press FINISH!

( before I forget, this can be very useful when you teach IT)

_____________________________________:::...::::::..:::____________________________________

True/False Cards

When introducing a new topic to class, distribute index cards to every student. On each of the cards a statement on the topic should be written: some true, some false. Students then must decide which statements are true and which are false, using whatever means they desire: their text, each other’s knowledge base, the Internet, etc. With this method, students get introduced to the topic and clarify any preconceived notions, correct or incorrect, they have on it while interacting with their peers and even doing a little research.

Who Would I Hire?

At the beginning of a unit about jobs and job skills, hand out pictures of people cut from magazines with short descriptions: for example, “Max is 28 and has a degree in business but no experience. He is hard working and organized.” Have students get in groups and create a business that they “run.” They can then look over their pictures of the job candidates and discuss who they would hire for their business and why.

This exercise provides not only valuable group discussion skills and practice with target vocabulary but also provides critical thinking skills as students make a judgment on the best job candidates.

Title Scrabble

Before beginning a reading, write its title on the board and play a modified game of “scrabble” with it: finding as many words within the title as possible. Even a simple title like “Reunion” yields “union,” “run,” and “rein,” etc. Students will also inevitably discuss the title itself, what it means, and what the reading is likely to be about.

In this way students are developing their vocabulary as well as preparing for the reading

Student Polling

To get the class’s opinion on a topic, select students to travel the room and poll others on their opinions and then report the results back. For example, on the topic of same-sex marriage, students can give opinions on whether or not it should be legalized. The job of “pollster” can rotate for a different topic until everyone has had a chance to poll.

This exercise gives students valuable speaking practice as well as primes the student for more in depth discussion on the topic.

Good Morning Warmer

It's a great game activity. It may be used as an ice-breaker or a "getting to know each other" speaking activity. The level in fact depends on you, because you may change the questions. It doesn't require a lot of preparation from you, but gives your students an opportunity to speak without being stressed. My students really loved playing the game.

PREPARATION
- At home prepare some questions or tasks, depending on your students’ level.
In less advanced groups the tasks should be as simple as these:
- smile at a person sitting opposite you,
- shake hands with your neighbors,
- pay a nice compliment to a third person sitting on your right,
- ask a question a second person sitting on your left,
- what is your friend like?,
- what do you do in your free time?,
- what is your favourite book about?,
etc.

In more advanced groups the tasks can be a bit more complicated:
- what was the happiest day of your life?,
- where would you go if you could go anywhere in the world?,
- what would you change if you were the headmaster of our school?,
etc.

Write each question or task on a separate strip of paper and put them all into a basket.

PROCEDURE
Ask your students to sit in a circle. Give them a basket with your questions/tasks, play music (it should be a fast piece of music). While the music is playing, they should be passing the basket to a person sitting on their right (so the basket is “wandering” around the circle). Stop the music – the person who is holding the basket should take one strip of paper and answer the question or do the task.
My students really like playing the game and they have great time learning English, getting to know one another and playing at the same time 

 

Criss-Cross

 
A favourite of mine is criss-cross. This only works if the students are in rows though. One column stands up and you ask questions. The first student to raise their hand can answer the question. If they get it right, they sit down. Continue until only one student is standing. The row that intersects with that student then stands up. Repeat until you are out of questions. If you aren't in rows, you can do with a box and ball. Put the questions in a box and have them pass the box and ball to music. When the music stops, the student with the box takes a question and asks it to the student with the ball. For higher level students you can let them make the questions themselves.

 

Qualities of a Good Student

Start the semester off with a writing assignment on what makes a good student. Have students write in class the first day on this topic. They may brainstorm ideas first with each other and teacher. Or they may do a quick write silently and then share their ideas with peers. Often they’re very surprised when their ideas are similar. The final essay on the topic can be due in a week.

With this method students are generating ideas at the beginning of term on how to succeed academically while practicing writing skills.

 

Polar Opposites

When introducing a new topic, such as language acquisition, present on the board two versions of the fact or theory, correct and incorrect: for example “It takes about one year to learn a second language fluently” and “It takes about five years to learn a second language fluently.” Have students discuss with peers and try to guess the correct version before presenting the correct one.

With this strategy, students are not only introduced to the topic but some common misconceptions on it it while practicing speaking skills.

 

More coming up soon ::..:::::..:::..:::..::::..::::..:::

Listening Activity #1

No Need to Go to Extremes to Lose Weight

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Shirley Griffith.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Today, we will talk about diet and weight loss. Exercise is important if you want to get in good shape. But experts say exercise alone is not enough if your goal is to lose weight.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: It is that time of year again. Warm weather has returned to earth’s northern hemisphere. Summer is a time when people of all ages feel like getting their swimwear and going to the nearest swimming pool or seashore.



APA man uses a smartphone to photograph and track his weight on a scale in his office in Pennsylvania

But first, there is that troublesome little thing called winter weight gain. Many of us gain weight because of inactivity during the winter.

Some people go to extremes to lose that extra weight before going to the beach. In the weight loss industry, there is never a lack of ideas about how to lose weight. Consider the "Sleeping Beauty diet," where you sleep your way to weight loss. You cannot eat if you are sleeping, or so the theory goes.

Then there is the tapeworm diet. The tapeworm is said to help people lose weight by eating the food that is stored in their stomach. But first you have to be willing to swallow the little creature. This may be more trouble than many people want.

Strange, new diets, treatments and exercise programs arrive on the market every day. Each one promises to help people lose weight and get a beach beautiful body. The weight loss industry takes in billions of dollars each year, and it is growing.

BOB DOUGHTY: One research company says the weight loss business will be worth more than five hundred eighty billion dollars worldwide by the year twenty fourteen. MarketsandMarkets also says the food and drink market represents the largest part of that growth. It is expected to reach more than three hundred fifty five billion dollars by twenty fourteen.

There is a seemingly endless supply of ideas about how to lose weight. There are low-carbohydrate diets and low-fat diets, diets that limit calories and ones that let you eat as much as you want. And, there are thousands of different kinds of diet pills and programs. So where does one begin? Which one is best?

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Experts say there is no single diet plan that works best for everyone. Many experts agree on one thing: that to lose weight, you must use or burn off more calories than you take in. When you eat more calories than your body needs, it stores that extra energy as fat.

Calories are a measure of energy in food. A pound of fat is equal to about four hundred fifty three grams or three thousand five hundred calories. To lose that fat in a week, you have to burn off at least that amount in calories or eat that much less. The best thing to do is to combine both ideas. Eat fewer calories and increase physical activity so that you burn off more.

America’s National Institutes of Health has suggested that women limit calories to no less than one thousand two hundred calories a day without medical supervision. It also says men should have no less than one thousand five hundred calories. Debate continues about the best way to fill those calorie requirements.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: For years, eating a diet low in fat was said to be the best way to lose weight. A low-fat diet is one in which less than thirty percent of a person’s daily calorie intake comes from fat.

Dean Ornish developed one of the most popular low fat diets after years of research on ways to control heart disease. His dietary ideas were first published in the medical journal The Lancet in nineteen ninety. The Ornish diet plan became more popular in nineteen ninety-three with the release of his book “Eat More, Weigh Less.”

Dr. Ornish studied the effects of carbohydrates – one of the most important sources of energy for the body. He found that carbohydrates were not to blame for making people fat. Instead, he said, fat makes people fat. He noted that a baked potato is not high in fat, but it becomes fatty when people add sour cream and butter to it.

Dr. Ornish’s diet plan limits daily calories from fat to less than ten percent, with little to no saturated fat or cholesterol. He also suggested that people get seventy to seventy-five percent of their calories from complex carbohydrates, and fifteen to twenty percent from proteins.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Like other low-fat diets, the Ornish plan suggests that people eat diets high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans and other legumes. The plan advises people to avoid all meat and meat products, and to stay away from oils, nuts and seeds. It does not limit the number of calories people eat. But, eating the foods suggested by the diet plan would reduce the number of calories.

The Ornish diet has proved to be effective for many people. However, critics say it lets dieters eat too many carbohydrates while setting restrictions on calories from fat. They also say the changes required in eating habits may be too extreme for many people to follow.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Unlike the Ornish diet, low carbohydrate diets limit foods that are high in carbohydrates. These diets advise people to avoid things like white flour, pasta, rice, potatoes and foods high in sugar. Instead they suggest that people eat foods that are high in proteins and fats. These include foods like meat, fish, chicken, eggs, cheese and nuts.

The Atkins diet is one of the most popular of these diets. It suggests that people eat fewer than twenty grams of carbohydrates a day. This amount is slowly increased to between forty and one hundred grams of carbohydrates a day to keep the weight off.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Both weight loss plans have been carefully studied over the years. But no one plan has come out as a clear winner. Three years ago, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine found low-carb diets to be the best at providing the most weight loss. The study was led by researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Ben Gurion University in Israel.

The researchers studied more than three hundred obese patients who followed one of three diet plans. These included a low-fat diet, a low-carb diet and a Mediterranean diet, which is made up of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, olive oil and nuts.

BOB DOUGHTY: A similar study published a year later looked at more than eight hundred dieters. The study found that low fat diets and high fat diets were equally successful at providing and maintaining weight loss over a two year period.

The researchers concluded that the most important thing for any diet is that people stick with it. And you must burn more calories than you take in no matter what you eat.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Some people are unable to lose weight through diet and exercise, no matter how hard they try. Others are just not willing to put in the effort. Many of these people choose to have surgical operations to reach their weight loss goals.

One kind of weight loss surgery reduces the size of the stomach. This is done by separating the stomach into two parts, including a very small section at the top. People who have had this operation are forced to eat smaller amounts of food because their top stomach fills up much faster.

Research suggests that most people lose about half of their overweight pounds in the first year after surgery. However, a large number of people regain the weight in three to five years.

BOB DOUGHTY: A new report suggests similar results for another popular weight loss surgery. Liposuction has been widely used since the nineteen seventies to improve the body’s appearance. It improves body shape by removing fat from certain parts of the body. The most common areas are the stomach, waist, hips, thighs, neck and arms. The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery says liposuction is the most popular form of cosmetic surgery worldwide.

Recently, researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine found that the effects of the surgery may not be long-lasting. They said people who have liposuction usually experience weight gain within one year after the surgery. And the fat that comes back reappears in a new area of the body, most noticeably the shoulders, arms and upper abdomen. The researchers say this is one more reason to try to prevent obesity before it happens.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written and produced by June Simms. I’m Shirley Griffith.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Join us next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

(to download the MP3 audio go to the following link: http://www.voanews.com/templates/mediaDisplay.html?mediaPath=http://www.voanews.com/MediaAssets2/learningenglish/dalet/se-sin-2647-weight-loss-06jul11.Mp3&mediaContentID=124974589)

Take from VOAnews.com