Amir Baharvand

Session 1

Icebreaker

1. BINGO!
BINGO! is a kind of get-to-know icebreaker for the beginning of a
class.
You need pens or pencils and photocopies of BINGO! tables for
each student. On the paper teacher should draw a table of at
least 5x5 with some clues on each. These could be describing
color of eyes, an experience of a foreign journey or a
dangerous experience and etc. Distributing the papers among
students, they are requested to move around, asking each other
questions which hovers around the topics in each box. If the
information in the box matches the person, they write down the
name of the person. The game takes about 10 minutes and the
first pupil who completes the table in across, down or cross is the
winner. At the end, each student talks about his or her classmates
and the information gathered. If no one achieves the BINGO!,
students sit back and tell the class about the tips they jotted
down.
Students should be fostered to use a variety of tenses and
vocabulary which evaluates both grammar and lexical resources.
Clue 1
Name

Clue 2
Name

Clue 3
Name

Clue 4
Name

Clue 5
Name

Table 1: BINGO! sample table

Clue
21
Name
Clue
22
Name
Clue
23
Name
Clue
24
Name
Clue
25
Name

Amir Baharvand

Session 1

Icebreaker

Variations:
Evaluate students by asking questions from the facts shared.
For instance, Who is the only child?
Students are asked to write a paragraph describing their
classmates based on the facts shared using suitable
cohesion devices, tenses and etc.
2. Lifetime
Lifetime is also another get-to-know icebreaker. In this game all
the students are requested to draw a diagram with peaks and
troughs, so that they can illustrate momentous events of their life.
All each student needs is a pen or pencil, a paper and some
creativity. On the points, everything including numbers, drawings,
acronyms and etc. can be written. As an illustration, they can
draw an infant or write 1987 as the year they were born. The
picture below demonstrates a lifetime.

Picture 2: A Lifetime diagram

After drawing, divide the pupils into groups of two, whereas you
ask them to guess the information about their peer based on the
drawn lifetime. At last, students can report the class what they
have gotten to know about their classmate lifetime events.
As to abovementioned technique both grammar and lexical
resources of students are assessed.

Amir Baharvand

Session 1

Icebreaker

3. Four Corners
In this icebreaker technique each student is asked to divide a
paper into 4 parts either by folding or by drawing two
perpendicular lines. As lifetime, every student should write the
information which describes him or her the best in each of the
four boxes. The tips can be the same as the aforementioned
lifetime icebreaker technique. Pupils are divided in groups of
two and play Guess and Say game to get as much information
as possible. Finally, they are supposed to share them with the rest
of the class.