This term I am opening up English Class with a full period of Icebreakers for each of my second grade classes (first grade gets the usual introduction lesson since they are new to the school and my class). The purpose of these games is to get everyone comfortable, get to know each other and to ease the students back into English class after their long break. Here are the ones that I use which work pretty well:


1. Toilet Paper Game - Hand out two rolls of toilet paper and have the students rip off as much or as little as they like, don't tell them why. Once all the students have their paper, tell them to count their pieces and keep it on the table where you can see it. Ask if anyone has ten or more pieces (I usually give a little reward to these guys at the end for their big effort). Explain that this is an introduction game and for every piece of toilet paper you have, you must say one sentence about yourself. Give an example with yourself, using 6 or so pieces. Try to make them do the sentences on the spot, as opposed to writing it out on the toilet paper. Go around the class and have each student introduce themselves, helping where need to find more points to talk about. I tend to write a small list on the board of topics such as favorites, family, don't likes etc.

2. Line Up - Teacher has students arrange themselves in a line according to the criteria given.  Students compete in teams, I usually do two, to be the first to successfully complete the task, ie their line must be in perfect order. Topics: height, birth month, alphabetical, shoe size, length of hair etc. To increase the difficulty, you can get them to make their line without speaking, so they have to use body language or signs.

3. Categories - Ask everyone to stand up and walk around; explain that you will announce a category and that students should then quickly organise themselves into smaller groups, based on the category to which they belong.  Once everyone is organised into their groups, ask each group to identify itself.
Sample categories: *Which hand do you write with? *What is your favourite season? *How many siblings do you have? *What is your favourite color? *Do you like coffee or tea better? Do you prefer sweet or salty snacks?  Do you like to eat kimchi? Do you write with your right or left hand? What is your favourite fruit/school subject…?

4. Human Taco - Stick labeled note card (with taco ingredient) on the back of everyone’s shirt.  (i.e. the word “meat” printed on a note card) Have each player mingle around asking yes/no questions to find out the taco ingredient that is on their back.  Explain the correct order of ingredients in a Human Taco: shell, meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa and then give the start command, “I’m hungry!  Let’s eat!”  Each individual must find out which ingredient they are and then find enough to form a complete Human Taco. More info can be found here: http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,5122.0.html

5. 2 Truths, 1 Lie – Students list 2 truths and 1 lie about themselves.  Class is divided into groups and other students must guess which statement is false.

6. Animal Pyramid Bingo – Before class begins draw a large pyramid on the board. Draw lines across it, creating 6 levels in the pyramid. From the top to bottom, fill in each level like so:
Why? Chicken – bock bock (top)
How? Sheep – baaaa
Where? Pig – oink oink
When? Horse – neigh
What? Cow – moooo
Who? Duck – quack quack (bottom)
At the beginning of the game everyone starts on the bottom level and is therefore a duck. The goal of the game is to rise through the levels of the pyramid to the top level, chicken. You move up by making the animal noise of your level to find another person who is the same level/animal as you. Once you find your animal partner, you take turns asking each other the appropriate question i.e. a pig would ask a “where” question. Once both of the partners asks the other a “wh” question (and get an answer), they play rock scissors paper to determine the winner. The winner of RSP moves up a level in the pyramid and becomes the new animal, while the loser moves down a level (except in the case of the duck, who remains at the lowest level). Once a student reaches the Chicken level, they should go to the Teacher, for the final round of questions and RSP. If the student wins the RSP match against the teacher, they are the champion and could be given a small prize (candy or sticker or clas money, etc). You can play this game with different sets of target language/grammar – in this case, question words. You can also play to either the first person to reach chicken or until several students have reached chicken. This game takes a bit to explain to the students but once they get it, they have a lot of fun and, warning, it can get quite rowdy! I find it really helpful to breaking down barriers of shyness since they all have to act silly with the animal noises. Stress that it is essential to move around the room, mingling with all their classmates, and to make their animal sound, in order to find a partner.

More ice breaker ideas:
http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,4496.0.html

http://www.icebreakers.ws/

http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?Ice:Breakers

Google search, “Icebreakers” or “ESL Icebreakers”

Brilliant, will be using the toilet paper one on Monday!

Excellent post here!  Instead of using a ''knife"  I use a "bomb" with a real squishy ball.  We all stand in a circle and play it the same way.  Still haven't figured out how not to have the same two or three keep throwing it back and forth to each other..but eventually some one miss throws or drops it I suppose.
Also, the animal pyramid looks awesome!  I'm going to do that one next week.  Why not milk these first few weeks with lots of icebreakers? :)

This worked great! especially the toilet paper game!

What exactly can you do with HS kids who have an elementary level of English for Icebreakers?  I ask because it is not as simple as just doing the same thing as elementary kids as High School kids don't seem enthusiastic about song and dance...Thanks!

The toilet paper game is going to be great. I am working at a high school with all boys, and I imagine they are going to try and take a lot of pieces lol thinking they are being funny. Boy will they be in for a surprise haha :)

Here is a sheet I hand out the first day of class so we can all get to know each other.

I've used the toilet paper ice breaker with high school students back in the states, and it's a great game ~ I really like the human taco idea, too.  I'm definitely going to use some of these at the beginning of next semester, thanks for sharing!

Great suggestions, I'm going to try I like/don't like' with mine this week!

Best thread so far for a newbie to find. I like the Catagorys because it's easy and quick and can go on as long as needed. Thanks a load!