Paper bags/secret object.

As well as the previous activity, this one is adequate either for groups where people know each other for years. Alternatively, it can suit groups that having met that very same year, have been doing a few presentation activities for the last few days and know a little bit about each other.

Everyone has to choose a personal object (or put a previously agreed number of them in a paper bag) and place it into the common box (not allowing anyone to see whose object/bag is it). Subsequently, we will pick them one-by-one and, altogether we will try to guess who the owner is.

Who is this?

Everybody (including the teacher) has to write three things about him or herself on a piece of paper. After that, we will pick the papers one-by-one, read them, and try to guess who wrote it. This activity is suitable for groups that already know each other.

True and false.

Everybody has to write three things about oneself, two of them have to be true and one them false. Once it is done, each person will be standing in front of everybody else and read them (or simply tell them). The others have to decide which things are true and which ones are false. I think it is a pretty good dynamic to help socializing and learning things about each other. On the other hand, I think it is an interesting activity for a second language class, as it encourages real communication between the students.

Hello my name is _____ and my ______ itches.

This is a nice dynamic that helps people introducing to each other as well as it helps socialization through physical contact. To start, everybody has to be standing up in a circle. Then, in turns, each person will be saying his or her name plus a part of their bodies that itches (e.g. hello, my name is Diego and my ear itches). After one round, each one will say the name of the person next to them, the part of the body that itches and scratch it (e.g. his name is Diego and his ear itches [while scratching it]). It might seem a bit dumb, but I found out (being one of the participants) that it really helps to break the barrier we all have towards people that we do not know, opening the gates to other kind of dynamics, activities or games that imply physical contact (besides being a good way to learn each other names).

SNOWBALLS

Using a paper ball (it can be made with something we have already used for a previous activity) we are going to engage on a presentation dynamic. Basically one person is going to ask a question previously arranged (e.g. could you tell us your name and where are you from?) and throw the ball to somebody else who will have to answer the questions and repeat the whole process asking somebody else. It is a good start, as it usually involves people standing, and moving a little bit which helps to create and active mood (in opposition to the one created by passive activities sitting on the desk from the first minute) that might be very helpful for the subsequent activities.

Books, movies and albums you will carry with you in the event of going to a desert island.

It is a good dynamic that my English teacher usually uses with new students, specially those who come for conversational classes. It provides with a topic that can be used for an hour or even longer, both in one-to-one classes and small groups. It has all the advantages of other first week/first contacts techniques as it provides the teacher with a valuable information on his or her students interests. In addition, it is very easy to adapt it to different ages and levels.

How does it work:
Ask each student to think of the three films, books and records that they will be carrying with them in the event of going to a desert island. For advanced students it will offer you a framework for conversation (either one-to-one with the teacher or working in pairs). If you have a beginners class it is a good chance to practice real communication in pairs. Just adapt the amount of information they have to transfer to their level and provide them with a little scaffolding for the beginning.

Poster with your name on it.

It is a classic resource, but when we used it in our class we did it adding further information (our favourite classic story, when we did it for ourselves) making it far more interesting. However, I believe it could be made even more interesting by adding even more items. For example, using a folded sheet's four corners, we could write (for children between 6 and 10 years of age): a game I like a lot, a game I don't like very much, a character (from books, stories, movies, TV, cartoons etc.) that I like a lot and a song I like. This way, not only do we help them to socialize with each other by showing each other their interest and personal likes and hobbies, but we find out about them ourselves (and have them right in front of our eyes to remind us of them).