Ice breaker

An activity to help students to get to know each other. Ideal for new classes / student groups.

This is a resource for mixed ability groups. It can act as an ice breaker and will help students ot think about word choice and context. It is useful in writing sessions.

This can be played by 4 or more players. If you have more than 8, you may want to print out the “things” cards twice.

Level
Level 2
Level 1
Entry Level 3
Entry Level 2
English
Functional English - writing
Apply grammar

This is a combination of speaking & listening, note taking & writing, that I have used successfully as an ice breaker with new groups. It involves learners talking to several people and finding out about their food likes & dislikes (plus allergies, religious considerations etc) before planning a menu for a dinner party. The menu must be acceptable to all the guests! Finally each learner produces their menu presented in a conventional style.

Level
Entry Level 3
English
Functional English - writing
Functional English - speaking, listening & communicating
General literacy / English
Context
Catering Food Nutrition
Art Film Media Music Radio TV

A mingling exercise to get students talking to one another. Great as an induction activity for new classes or for ESOL learners to practise speaking and listening.

Level
Level 1
Entry Level 3
Entry Level 2
English
Functional English - speaking, listening & communicating
Adult Literacy: Speaking & Listening
ESOL
General ESOL

Page 1: 8 maths questions relating to olympic torch
Page 2: Picture quiz: who is carrying the torch?
Page 3: Picture quiz: famous UK landmarks.
Page 4: UK cities – anagrams
Page 5: Answers

  • Quizzes on pages 2 and 3 make good ice breakers and can also be used for SL&C discussion prompts.
Level
Level 1
English
Adult Literacy: Speaking & Listening
Maths
Functional Maths - numbers and the number system
Functional Maths - measures, shape & space
General numeracy / maths
Functional Maths
General
Generic resources for literacy, numeracy and beyond
Context
Sport and fitness

A set of cards to cut out and ideally put in plastic balls or a jazzy box. Aimed at E2- E3 Functional Skills learners as an ice breaker, introductory lesson or for revision. Students need to work out the question and identify the maths skills they are using to answer it. Best printed onto card.
Questions are aimed to appeal to young adult students – e.g. clubbing, Facebook, food, mobiles, etc.
Questions cover the 4 operations, money, time, shapes and more.
26 cards. Includes Functional Maths mapping chart.

Level
Entry Level 3
Entry Level 2
Maths
Functional Maths - numbers and the number system
Functional Maths - measures, shape & space
General numeracy / maths

This task was originally used for Functional Skills although it can be applied just as effectively to literacy sessions. The task aims to encourage learners to work in small groups to discuss what each phrase really means and therefore explore the different interpretations that other people have of them. Also makes a good ice breaker. Includes proverb cards, answer sheet and worksheet.

Level
Level 1
Entry Level 3
English
Adult Literacy: Engage in Discussion
Functional English - speaking, listening & communicating

This is a fabulous board game created as a fun and gentle introduction to L1-2 Functional ICT (or other ICT type classes). It also makes a good ice breaker at the beginning of term. Best printed onto A3 and laminated.

There is also an extra bonus ‘Quiz makers’ game available online (link available on the answer sheet).

Level
Level 2
Level 1
ICT
Functional Skills ICT: Using ICT
General ICT resources

Find out and record everyone’s favorites from a diverse list of foods. Use as an icebreaker in any Entry Level literacy, numeracy, Functional Skills or ESOL lesson.

Also ties in well with lessons on diversity, healthy eating, collecting data, making / taking simple surveys, tallies, counting, asking questions, etc.

Mapped to Functional Maths and SfL adult numeracy, Functional English (speaking, listening and communication) and SfL adult literacy.

Level
Entry Level 1
Entry Level 2
Entry Level 3
English
SLlr/L1.6
SLc/E2.3
SLc/E2.2
AL SLc/E1.3
Functional English - speaking, listening & communicating
Maths
HD1/E3.3
HD1/E2.4
HD1/E1.1
Functional Maths - numbers and the number system
Functional Maths - handling information and data
Context
Catering Food Nutrition

A wonderful kinaesthetic card matching game designed to help learners remember when to use capital letters.

The game comprises 52 picture cards (26 proper nouns, 26 common nouns) and [img_assist|nid=4758|title=|desc=|link=popup|align=left|width=100|height=58]26 double ended upper-lowercase dominoes. It not only reinforces knowledge of capital letters but also is a good speaking and listening activity. Learners often debate what or who the picture is and where it needs to go.

Level
Level 1
Entry Level 3
Entry Level 2
English
Functional English - writing
Ws/L1.3
Ws/E3.4
Ws/E2.3

Lovely set of speaking, listening and discussion resources for the start of term in E1 ESOL classes. Covers taking part in social conversation; listening and responding to requests for personal information; accepting and declining offers / invitations (e.g. Would you like a sandwich?), and much more.
Includes question cards, would you like cards, food cards and a do-you-like questionnaire / ice breaker.
Full mapped and with detailed teaching ideas.

Level
Entry Level 1
ESOL
ESOL Sd/E1.1a Take part in social interaction
ESOL Sc/E1.4b Give personal information
ESOL Sc/E1.3b Ask for information
ESOL Sc/E1.3a  Ask for personal details
ESOL Lr/E1.5b Take part in social conversation
ESOL Lr/E1.4b Recognise different question words
ESOL Lr/E1.4a Listen and respond to requests for personal information
ESOL Lr/E1.2e Listen & extract key information