Getting to know your Ss

It is important to create a good rapport between the Ss and between the teacher and the Ss.
Learning a language can be quite stressful for some people. To help with this we need to create
a positive learning environment from day one, an environment in which people feel comfortable
contributing to the lesson and working together.

One way of doing this is to spend time at the beginning of the course doing activities that help the
Ss get to know each other and to get to know you. These activities are also useful for the
teacher to assess their Ss’ level of English and to begin to get an understanding of the different
personality types, backgrounds and intereSs of the Ss in the class.

Getting to know you activities (GTKY)

1. Invisible ball/ ball memory name game (All levels)

● Get Ss to stand in a circle
● S says their name then throws the ball. THe S that ‘catches’ the ball says their name and
throws the ball.
● Repeat this a few times.
● To get Ss to try and remember each other's names they throw the ball and say the name of
the person they are throwing the ball to.
● Repeat this a few times
● Go round the circle and as a group they try and say each person's name.

1b. Adjective +name ‘Clever Claire’ (Higher levels)

● As above but after one round of just saying their name ask Ss to say their name and and an
adjective that starts with the first letter of their name eg. Sensible Sarah. Then repeat stages
as above.

2. FInd something in common. (Pre-Int and above)

● Create a HO with two columns. One column has the title ‘name’ and the other column has the
title ‘ in common’. Add as many rows as you like.
● Before Ss do the activity, check Ss understand the concept of ‘in common’
● The activity involves Ss mingling, asking each other’s names and trying to find one thing in
common with each other. They write this information on the HO.
● Feedback- get some Ss to report back on what they discovered.
3. Find Someone who.............(Elem and above)
● Create a HO (as below) with about 10 statements

Find someone who...........

name

likes cats

has been to the USA

can drive

........

............

● When designing your HO consider the level of the Ss. At high levels anything goes but be
careful at lower levels as they need to be able to form the questions. In the example above it
wouldn't work for lower levels as there is a present perfect question needed.
● To set it up in class consider your instructions carefully. Check Ss understand they need to
make a question for each statement, e.g Do you like cats?
● When ready, get the Ss to stand up and mingle, asking and answering the questions. If they
find someone for which the statement is true, they write that person's name. Encourage Ss to
speak to everyone and not just one person.
● For feedback get Ss to stand in a circle and get them to tell you something they have
discovered. e.g Mehmet likes cats.

4. Star facts/ Hand facts (Late Elem and above)

● Draw a 6 pointed star on the board. In the centre write your name. In the points write one
word or number that represents something important to you e.g. Mexico, 1978, 2, 10, Emma,
India. ( variation- get Ss to draw around their hand- write word/date on each finger.)
● Get Ss to ask yes/no questions about the words and numbers to guess why they are
important to you, for example- 'Were you born in Mexico?' -No. ' Did you live in Mexico?'-yes.
● Get Ss to do the same and draw a star with their own facts. In pairs/ groups or as a mingle
get Ss to ask yes/no questions to each other.
● For feedback ask some Ss to report back about someone in the class.

5. 'Get in line!' (Elem and above)

● Ask the Ss to stand up and ask them to stand in line from the tallest to shortest.
● Explain that they need to stand in line again but this time in order of birthdays- the top of the
line will be the person whose birthday is the nearest to 1st January and the bottom of the line
will be the person whose birthday falls near 31st December.
● Elicit from Ss the question they need to ask each other to get in line- ' When's your birthday?'
● Once in line quickly get each st to say out loud their birthday to check everyone is in the right
place.
● Repeat the process using different ways to line up - 'who has lived in X the longest.' 'Who
lives nearest the school' 'Who has learned English the longest' Who has been to most
countries', who has the biggest feet etc.
6. Speaking corners (Late Elem and above)
● Get the Ss to stand up. Explain each corner of the room represents something e.g a type of
music - jazz, classical, pop, rock.
● When you clap your hands Ss need to move to the corner which best represents them e.g.
my favourite music is rock so I'd go to the rock corner.
● Once Ss have moved to their corner ask them to speak to a person in the same corner as
them about why they chose to stand there. A small chat about music tastes should ensue.
● After a few minutes stop the Ss. Get some quick feedback- ask a few Ss randomly what they
talked about.
● Repeat the process assigning different things to the corners e.g favourite season, favourite
type of film, favourite free time activity, favourite time of day etc..​.

7. Two Truths and one lie (Late Elem and above)

● On the board write 3 statements. 2 truths and one lie about you.
● Explain to Ss that they need to find out which statement is the lie
● (optional-Give Ss time to work in pairs to think of questions they want to ask you)
● Field the Ss’ questions and answer ( trying to persuade them that they are all true)
● Let the Ss try and guess which is the lie. Tell them the answer.
● Ss write two truths and one lie about themselves .
● Put Ss into groups to guess each other's lies.
● Feedback- get some Ss to report back on what they discovered.

8.​ ​A minute of questions (late Elem and above)

● To demo the activity explain to Ss they have one minute to fire as many questions at you.
Explain they can ask any question to find out anything they want to know. You, however,
won't answer any of the questions immediately.
● After one minute or so of questions respond to any of the questions you can remember or
want to respond to!
● Put Ss into groups of 3 and 4. Taking it in turns, one person in the group listens to the
questions and after a minute responds.
● For feedback get a few Ss to report back on what they have learned about someone in the
class.

9. Hunt the teacher (only works on CELTA when you have more than one teacher!) (All levels)
● Before class get each of your colleagues to write a small paragraph about themselves.
Consider the level. For low levels keep it simple for higher levels make it more interesting.
● You should have 6 paragraphs-including your own- Before class write a HO- a series of
true/false statements based on these paragraphs
● Give the Ss the HO with the true/false statements and in pairs they read the statements and
try and guess the answer.
● Stick the paragraphs around the room on the walls.
● Ask Ss to get up and read the paragraphs to discover if the statements on the HO are true or
false.
● For feedback check the answers with the Ss​.
10. Speed networking (late Elem and above)
● Get Ss to stand in two lines facing each other ( or two circles)
● Teacher calls out a topic e.g family or a question e.g ‘ Why do you want to learn English’
● Ss talk for one minute about the topic or question to the person opposite them.
● After one minute the teacher stops the Ss and asks the Ss in one line to take one step to the
left or right. The Ss should now be opposite a new partner.
● Teacher calls out a new topic/question and repeats process as above
● Feedback- get Ss to report back on what they can remember

12. Who am I? ( Late Elem and above)

● Hand Ss some strips of paper (as many as you want)
● Ss write one statement about themselves on each strip of paper.
● Collect the strips and put them into a box/bag.
● Teacher or Ss pulls a statement out. Reads it and the Ss guess who wrote it.
● (if you have a big class you may want to create groups for this- if you do, then make sure
when you collect up the strips you keep the strips separated into the correct groups)

Possible first class activities for beginner Ss:

It is more difficult to do GTKY activities for beginners as their level of English limits what they
can say about themselves. Some activities you could consider doing in the first lesson are:

1. The invisible ball name game (as above)

2. ‘Pleased to meet you’ mingle

On WB draw two stick figures and two word bubbles
Elicit/teach and the following dialogue into the word bubbles
‘​Hello, I’m Sarah.’
‘Hello, I’m John.’
‘Pleased to meet you’
‘Pleased to meet you too’

Demo and model the dialogue. Get Ss to repeat a few times.

When Ss are ready, get the Ss mingling saying the dialogue to introduce themselves,
shaking hands (if appropriate)

3. Basic information exchange

Prepare a HO with some gapped sentences e.g NAME______ I live in _________, I am
_______years old, I have ____ sisters and ____ brothers. I like _______
I have _____ children. I ______ married etc.

Do an example of the activity on the WB completing the sentences on the WB so the

sentences are true for you (teacher) While doing this you can check Ss understand the
sentences and elicit possible answers for the gaps.
Give Ss the HO. Let them complete the sentences.
Group the Ss and get them to share their information with each other.
4. Cognates​ ( these are English words that are similar in the Ss’ first language) Common
cognates are taxi, telephone, television, police, ambulance, doctor etc. Prepare flash
cards and elicit from Ss the word. Drill for pronunciation then write words up on WB.
Teaching cognates can be a confidence- building exercise for beginners as they realise
they already know some words in English.

5. Alphabet​; Introduce Ss to the alphabet- use plenty of repetition to try and get Ss to
memorise the letters. Slowly erasing the letters from the WB can help with this.

6. Hangman​- to practise the alphabet. Play hangman. You can recycle the cognates from
activity 4.

7. Boardrace​. Get the Ss into two teams/ queues facing the WB. The game is for the first
Ss in each team to race to the board and answer a question. When they have finished
they go to the back of the line and it is the turn of the next two Ss. You can recycle any
vocabulary seen in the lesson. You can post the flashcards on the WB. Teacher says the
word and Ss have to run and touch the correct picture. An alternative is the teacher shows
the flashcard and the Ss race to write the correct word. This is good for spelling practice.