Learn English with English, baby!

Join for FREE!

Social_nav_masthead_logged_in

English Forums

Use our English forums to learn English. The message boards are great for English questions and English answers. The more you contribute, the more all members can practice English!

:  

Teacher Talk

Warm Up Exercises?

sammy33

United States

Hi, I am a new student TEFL teacher just starting out. Can anyone suggest some 5-15 minutes warm up exercises for the start of the day either beginner or intermediate level. Smile 

Thank you!

04:05 PM Jul 09 2009 |

The iTEP® test

  • Schedule an iTEP® test and take the official English Practice Test.

    Take Now >

MichaelK

United States

Code-breaking
Use a simple substitution code (A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. or A=26, B=25, C=24, etc.) Use the code to write your students a simple message, like ‘English is fun!’, and then have groups or pairs race to decode it.

I sometimes write new words from the previous lesson(s) on small cards and hand them out to the students. They then have to explain the word without saying any part of it. It´s a nice kind of "vocab check" and the students seem to like it.

05:15 PM Jul 09 2009 |

gkisseberth

Germany

Something similar to MichaelK's suggestion:

 

I do a game called "hot seat" after we've covered a lot of new vocabulary. (I've seen it called other names, too)

Ss are divded into two teams (one on each side of the room) and one member of the team sits with their back to the board or to the teacher and facing the rest of the class (the hot seat)

 

The teacher writes a recently learned word or phrase on the board so the two hot set students can't see and their team has to be the first to make their teammate say the word or phrase. They can (and will) talk all at once, so it can be rather noisy, but very energetic. Set rules at the beginning of the game (no L1, no spelling of words, or "starts with..", "rhymes with…" etc)

 

It's easy to use with any level, and students seem to enjoy it.  

04:19 AM Jul 12 2009 |

sammy33

United States

These are really fun ideas. I can't wait to try them out. Thank you, guys!

05:56 PM Jul 13 2009 |

MichaelK

United States

I also like asking students about their weekends and let them talk about what they did and what they feel about it. It's an easy exercise for most students. When doing it in a regular basis, they seem to come prepared with new vocabulary to use!

09:18 PM Jul 20 2009 |

gkisseberth

Germany

good idea, Michael. If they know beforehand they will have to descirbe their weekend, they might be encouraged to discover some new vocabulary on their own. 

10:31 PM Jul 20 2009 |

mcbush

mcbush

Turkey

These are perfect suggestions. This is my first year,too. Your teaching english voc. methods will be very useful for me. Thank u guys Smile

 

06:11 PM Dec 28 2009 |

michealsmith898

Pakistan

5-15 minutes warm up exercises for TEFL teacher:

Lesson plan was:
-circle song (that they know and like)
-a quick revision of colors,
-"if you're happy" song (also a revision)
-some new vocabulary about body parts
-head and shoulders, knees and toes
-a drawing on the blackboard game  First group (10 kids 5 to 6)
I had placed the blackboard in the class ccna certification and as they got there, they started drawing and I had a hard time getting their attention to start lesson, and some of them ignored me and did other things the whole time, like getting some toys and books out and erasing the blackboard while I was drawing, because they wanted to draw themselves…

06:20 AM Dec 30 2009 |

mcbush

mcbush

Turkey

I have some difficulties about preparing my students to speaking English exercises. I tried to find enjoyable topics which they will like, but still they insist on speaking Turkish. I don't know what to do? Could u help me please?

06:49 PM Jan 01 2010 |

MONY----

MONY----

Egypt

teaching not an easy career anyway specially forien languages teaching..

I prefer dealling with kids under 10 years I can attract their attention and

i do have fun with them

they love flash cards and physial excercises like painting vocalubary shapes

08:32 PM Jan 22 2010 |

brahimberrabah

Algeria

flash a key ord from the prvious lesson and ask pupils to write sentences using  the given word

11:46 AM Jan 30 2010 |