First day activities

Whether you like it or not, it´s time to go back to school! Here comes my personal favourite first day activity I have used over the years. I hope you will find it as useful and fun to teach as I´ve had!

Levels: Can be adapted for all levels

Aimed at: Young learners/young adults/adults

Aims: To encourage students to get to know one another in a memorable way /To review tenses, adjectives followed by prepositions/To practise reading/To encourage speaking in the context of first time meetings

Time: +/- 45 minutes

Materials: 1 sheet of A4 paper for each student/coloured pencils (for young learners)/Blu- tack

Procedure:

1. Distribute one A4 paper for each student. Write your name on the board and have students write their names in the middle of the A4 paper. Start drawing lines, as in the spider chart, and write up whatever structure you find appropriate for students´ level.

I usually start with “is” and ask the group to finish it for me. They tend to be extremely nice and finish it with flattering words!;-D Choose one word you find relevant and write it on the board, e.g. Kasia is amazing/Kasia is having a lot of fun!

Have students copy the structure from the board and finish it with their own ideas about themselves. Explain at this point that it doesn´t necessarily need to be true and encourage the group to use humour. +/- 10 minutes

2. Continue filling up the board with different structures and ask the students to do the same on their A4 papers. Pause after each structure and make sure everybody has finished. Some students might need more time than others to come up with ideas. Ask those who have finished to help out! At the end of this part everyone in the class should have something similar to this (completed):

+/- 20 minutes

3. Collect the A4 papers from the students and place them around the room (use Blu-Tack to stick them to walls/board/door/windows etc.) Ask the students to walk around the room and read their classmates´ papers. Explain that the objective here is to try to remember as many interesting details about their classmates as they can.+/-10 minutes

4. Have students work in groups and tell one another what they have learned about their classmates. Have a brief class feedback.+/- 10 minutes

What are your favourite first day of school activities? I would love to hear from you!

Happy creating!