Ideas for first classes

Interview Icebreaker Lesson Procedure
1. Teacher briefly introduces him or herself by name and asks pairs of students to brainstorm three to four questions that they'd like to ask the teacher.
2. Teacher selects or asks for two students, preferably outgoing and with strong English, to come to the front of the class.
3. Teacher tells the class that they are to imagine that volunteerone and two are the teacher. The rest of the class must ask their questions to the two volunteers, who must predict what the teacher might say. For example: a student asks volunteer one, "Where are you from?" The volunteer mustn't state where he or she is from, but where he or she thinks the teacher is from: "I'm from Hollywood." This part of the lesson usually generates the most laughter. The nextquestion goes to volunteer two. The two alternate fielding questions until the activity is over.
4. Teacher must record all questions and answers, writing quickly, while students continue interrogating the volunteers.
5. When students run out of questions, teacher asks the class if they'd like to know the real answers to their questions. Were the volunteers correct or not?
6. When theysay yes, the teacher repeats all the questions, then states his or her genuine answers. Students may ask follow-up questions.
It helps if the teacher has a sense of humor, but the teacher still needs to draw the line if an inappropriate question is asked. If the class has difficulty thinking of questions or is simply a quiet group, the teacher can divide students into teams and motivate themwith competition. Afterward, the team with the most questions answered correctly by the volunteers wins a prize.
Lesson Benefits
* Teacher can evaluate the students' overall level of English, particularly their ability to form questions.
* No planning is required.
* Teacher develops rapport with students and creates an comfortable classroom atmosphere, open for discussion.
Because theclass works together to create questions and make predictions, they're more interested in hearing the real answers than if the teacher simply states facts. In turn, students are more eager to share their own information.
At higher intermediate levels the students should be asked the above questions as well as
* why do their friends like them?
* what do they want to do in the future?* what do they want to learn in class?
This allows the students to provide more thoughtful answers and show just how good their English skill is. If an ESL student does badly the teacher must be ready to provide help or prompts to keep the student from becoming too embarrassed.

Introduction Games
There are a myriad of introduction games to get to know students and to get them talking. Verysimple ones, such as introducing yourself and telling an interest, with the next person repeating the information and adding theirs, works well with lower level learners. A variation of this is to toss a ball, or other small object, back and forth, with the person catching providing the information.
Interview games are sometimes better for students too shy to speak in front of groups. Prepare alist of questions, such as "Who can play piano?", "Who can say 'good morning' in German?", and "Who has one brother?", and have students walk around and interview each other to gather the information. A variation of this is to put the questions on a Bingo board. If students shyly stand waiting to be approached, take them to other students and walk them through an interview. The teacher should alsoparticipate. This is a chance for you to get to know you students.
An activity that works well with classes that have been together for several months is Timeline. A timeline is a graph that notes important events, such as birth, school graduations, moving from one town to another, and marriage, and the dates they occurred on. Feel free to include less serious moments such as "my first kiss"....