Unexpected Extra Time Fillers for ESL Classrooms
- 1. EASY ICE-BREAKERS with POST-IT NOTES Activitiy 1 Activity Name: Hidden Treasure Activity Type: Whole Class Teacher writes several ice-breaker questions on the sticky side of post-it notes and stick them to the board. Each student takes turns choosing one sticky note and answering the question on the back. He then choses another student to answer the same question. Activity 2 Activity Name: Two Truths And A Lie Activity Type: Group-Work Teacher gives each student 3 post-it notes. On 2 post-it notes students write something true about themselves. On the third post-it note they write something false. As group of 4 or 5, students try to guess which statement is the truth and which one is the lie. Activity 3 Activity Name: Question Mixer Activity Type: Pair-Work or Group-Work or Whole Class Teacher writes the names of celebrities on sticky notes. (In the number of students in class so eveyone has one sticky note.) Teacher sticks a note to each student’s back. Students ask their friends yes/no or wh- questions until they have figured out who is on their back. (Teacher can limit the question types as Yes/No to make the activity more challenging.) Example Questions: “What do I do?”, “Am I a singer?”, “Where do I live?”, “Where do I work?”, etc. TIME FILLER GAMES Activity 1 Activity Name: 20 Questions Activity Type: Whole Class One of the students choses an object. The rest of the class takes turns asking Yes/No questions to determine what the object is. After 20 questions, if the class hasn’t guessed the object the student who choses the object wins.
- 2. Activity 2 Activity Name: Communal Story Activity Type: Whole Class Students sit in a circle. Student 1 starts a story with “Once upon a time”. Each student adds one (or more) sentence to the story. Story continues around the circle and finishes with “And they lived happily ever after.”. Activity 3 Activity Name: Pronunciation Memory Game Activity Type: Group Work or Whole Class Teacher cuts the papers and puts them face down on a desk. One student takes turn and opens two papers. If these papers are homophones, student takes the set. Each set of cards means 10 points. If two papers aren’t homophones, student puts the papers face down annd another student takes the turn. At the end of the game, student who has the most points wins. Extra Homophones: I. male – mail II. hair – hare III. stair – stare IV. dear – deer V. waist – waste VI. plain – plane VII. buy – bye VIII. hi – high IX. hour – our X. made – maid XI. tail – tale XII. weak – week XIII. wear – where XIV. whether – weather XV. sail – sale XVI. sea – see XVII. too – two XVIII. road – rode XIX. meet – meat
- 3. ate Sally ate a sandwich. eight There are eight chairs in the room. knew I knew the answer but I didn’t say. new I have a new car. hear I hear with my ears. here Here it is! son Dad helped his son to read. sun The sun shines brightly. write I can write in English. right That’s correct. You’re right! know I don’t know the answer. no No! You can’t be serious. eye You’re my apple of eye. I I love you. knight The knight rode his horse. night The moon comes out at night. board Students looked at the board. bored Students are bored in the class. hole There is a hole in the ceiling. whole He ate the whole fish. knows He knows the answer. nose My nose gets red when I get cold. read I’ve read this book twice. red My car is red.
- 4. Activity 4 Activity Name: Disappearing Text Activity Type: Group Work Teacher seperates the classroom in two groups. Teacher writes a sentence on the board. Optionally, teacher has a PowerPoint prepared. The entire class stand and read aloud what is on the board. Teacher erases one word or phrase at a time and one student from one group repeats the sentence in its entire form. Groups take turns. Students can decide the order in their group or they can take turns randomly. Anyone who makes an error must sit down, until there is one student or group left standing. Activity 5 Activity Name: Similar Keyword Race Activity Type: Group Work Teacher divides students into groups. Each group needs one notepad and one pencil. Teacher writes a keyword on the board. As soon as the teacher says “Start!”, students try to write as many words related to the keyword. Teacher gives about 5 minutes for the task. When the time is up, one student from each group comes up in front of the board and reads them aloud. The group which has more related words wins the game.