Beginners Icebreakers

1. Paper Airplane You

This fun writing icebreaker works well with students that are at least at an upper-
beginning level. To start, the students write three to five facts about themselves on a
piece of paper. Then they put their creativity to work by folding that paper into a paper
airplane. (If you aren’t sure how to make an airplane that flies, check out this article on
creating the best paper airplanes.) On your count, everyone flies their planes toward the
middle of the room. Then students pick up a plane that landed near them. Students take
turns reading the facts written on the plane and trying to guess whose it was. Let the
class help if individuals get stuck. If you like, you can tailor the facts students write to
what you’re studying. For example, if you’re doing a sports unit, have students write
three sports they like. If you’re studying travel, they could write three places they would
like to go.

2. Name Acrostics
This is a fun ice-breaker which I learned from a colleague in Poland and is an extension
of My Name Is… Depending on the level of the class and to facilitate the activity,
brainstorm adjectives of personality and appearance and write them on the board.
Introduce yourself and then using the different letters of your name, use adjectives to
describe yourself. For example, “My name’s Alex and I’m Amusing, Likeable, Excitable
and eXtrovert (x is a tricky one!). Give your students some thinking time and once
everyone is ready, students go around the class introducing themselves and then
repeating the names of the other students and their adjectives. For example, “My
name’s Daniel and I’m Dynamic, Amazing, Nocturnal, Intelligent, Engaging and
Likeable. His name is Alex and he’s…” Of course, this is harder for the students towards
the end, but in my experience, the other students are always happy to help out and
there’s always lots of laughter. As a follow up you can get students to make posters of
their names and their corresponding adjectives which can be put on the walls.

2a. Time bomb name game

This is a fun, quick activity for students to remember each other’s name. Ask your class
to form a circle and say their name. Then, throw a tennis ball to one of your students.
They have two seconds to say someone else’s name and throw the ball to them before
it “explodes”, and they are out of the game. Continue until only one student remains.

3. The Ball Pit

This is a fun activity which is based on this YouTube clip called Take a Seat, Make a
Friend, and which works brilliantly as an icebreaker in the ELT classroom. It’s worth
watching the video first to help give students an idea of how it works. Give each student
3 or 4 pieces of paper and ask them to write one question or an instruction on each one,
reminding them to use their imagination a little – we don’t want boring questions like
where are you from? after all. Once they’ve written a question, ask them to scrunch it up
and throw it into the middle of the classroom – the ball pit. When everyone has finished
there should be plenty of questions in the ball pit. As the teacher, it’s also worthwhile
putting some pre-prepared questions into the ball pit. Ask students to come into the
middle of the room, put them into pairs and tell them to take turns picking a ‘ball’ from
the pit and then answering that question, before inviting their partner’s own response.
Once they’ve answered the question tell them to throw the ‘ball’ back into the pit for
someone else to find. Switch the pairs around every few minutes, ensuring that students
get to speak to as many people as possible. Conduct class feedback, asking students to
report any interesting things they learned about their new classmates. I’ve also seen this
activity done as a ‘snowball fight’, where students throw the balls at each other around
the class and answer any which land close to them.

4. Concentric Circle Conversations

As well as helping students find out about each other, this is an interactive and
kinesthetic icebreaker which can really help energize the classroom and break down
any nervousness in the classroom. Organize your students into two circles – an inner
one facing outwards and an outer one facing inwards – making sure everyone is facing
someone. Tell them they have to find out what they have in common with each other in
the time allowed (teacher choice), by asking questions. For example, What kind of
music do you like? What sport do you like/play? When the time is up, rotate the circles
as you like (e.g. ask the inner circle to move 2 places clockwise and the outer circle 5
places anti-clockwise) and ask them to tell their new partner about what they have in
common with their first partner. If the new partner also has that in common with them,
they should say so. Repeat the process as many times as you like, depending on the
time available. Conduct class feedback, asking each student to tell the class what they
have in common with other classmates.

5. Two Truths One Lie

Think of two true things about yourself and one lie. (For example, I got a scuba diving
license when I was 15, I have been to Tanzania, My parents own a pizza restaurant)
Students must ask you questions to find out which one is the lie. (For example: Where
did you get certified? Where did you last go diving? What is the capital of Tanzania?
Etc.) You can limit the number of questions or put a time limit on asking questions or
simply have them ask questions until they think they know the lie. Finally, the students
then make their guesses and you tell them if they are right or not. Now move on to let
your students try it out. You can put them into pairs or groups and have them take turns
questioning each other.

6. Deserted Island
Put students in pairs or groups. Tell the group that they will be trapped on an island for
one year and cannot leave. They can take 5 things with them. On the island: 
freshwater, monkeys, coconut trees and fish in the surrounding waters They must tell
the class the 5 things they decided to bring and what the importance of each is.
7. This or that
In this activity, students move to a particular side of the room to represent their opinions
on a certain topic. To make this icebreaker work, “yes/no”, “true/false”, or “would you
rather X or Y” questions are best. (A quick Google search will reveal dozens of sites
with icebreaker questions to use or adapt.) Examples are:
 True or false (teacher indicates the sides of the room that correspond to each
answer): I had breakfast this morning.
 Would you rather be invisible for a day or be able to fly for a day?
 Yes or no: Do you speak more than 
 three languages?

Icebreaker Question: https://icebreakerideas.com/icebreaker-questions-biggest-list-

ever/#Silly_Icebreaker_Questions

 Fun classes with many games as long as they behave and are ready to learn