Throughout the Connectivity Teacher’s Edition and Lesson Planner, the teacher’s notes provide focused warm-up activities for each unit. As a supplement to those suggestions, the list below provides you with some quick, general, game-like activities that can be used at the beginning of class. These activities: • help students transition from their first-language environment to an English-speaking one. • accommodate latecomers to class (and motivate students to be on time). • add some fun to the start of class. Warm-ups recycle language studied in one or more previous units. They don’t require any extra materials or special equipment. Warm-ups should take only 2–3 minutes of class time. You may want to use an egg timer or the timer on your phone, or ask a learner to be the timekeeper. To avoid any unknown language, be sure to adapt these activities to align with the level of your class. This is especially important for the lower levels.
Foundations and Levels 1-3
CATEGORY CIRCLE Write a category on the board (for example: fruit). Ask the class to stand in a circle. Moving clockwise around the circle, have students name an object in that category (e.g., banana, apple, orange, pineapple). if students can’t think of an object, they can say pass.
I SEE SOMETHING Write on the board: A: I see something [color]. B: Is it ? in pairs, Student A completes the statement with the color of an object in the classroom, and Student B guesses which object Student A sees. For example: A: I see something red. B: Is it Maria’s backpack? A: Yes! When Student B guesses correctly, students swap roles and repeat the activity.
MEMORY CHALLENGE Project or write a list of 10–15 related words on the board (for example: mother, father, parents, sister, brother, siblings, daughter, son, children, grandparents, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, cousin). Give students thirty seconds to look at the list. Then cover up the list and ask students to write down as many of the words as they can remember. After one minute, call time. Show the list again. Have students check their work.
THE BIG THREE
On the board, write: Describe three ways to . Fill in the blank with a verb. Read the sentence aloud. Give students thirty seconds to come up with their answers in small groups. For example: T: Describe three ways to travel. Ss: Plane, bus, car. T: Describe three ways to greet someone. Ss: A handshake, a hug, a wave. Repeat 2–3 times.
x xii CATCH THE TAXI Think of a word. On the board, draw the number of blanks equivalent to the number of letters in the word. For example, the word website would have seven blanks. Have students take turns guessing the word one letter at a time. If a student guesses a letter which is part of the word, fill in the appropriate blank(s) with that letter. If the letter is not part of the word, draw one part of a car on the board: two circles for the wheels, a horizontal line to join them, a curved line for the car shape, doors with handles, windows, lights, “TAXI” symbol at the top, and a driver sitting inside. The class wins if students guess the word before the complete taxi car is drawn.
SURPRISE ENDING Write the beginning of a story on the board. For example: You hear a loud banging noise in the other room. You open the door and find . . . Give students one minute to finish the story individually and then share their endings in small groups. (For example: You open the door and find a gorilla jumping on the bed! You open the door and find grandma listening to rock music!)
WHERE AM I? In pairs, students take turns imagining a place and describing what they see, smell, and hear. From this information, their partner guesses where they are. For example, A: I see sand. I smell salt. I hear waves. B: You are at the beach!
SIMILARITIES In small groups, students ask each other questions to find three things they have in common. For example: What kind of music do you like? Time permitting, groups share their findings with the class. For example: We all like pop music.
THREE WISHES Tell students they have been granted three wishes but must decide what they want in the next 60 seconds or their wishes will not come true. Explain that they cannot wish for more wishes. Give students one minute to write down three ideas, and then share their wishes in small groups. (for example: I wish for a new car. I wish for no more pollution.)
THIS IS ME Write on the board: I believe . . . , I love . . . , I wish . . . Have students use these sentences starters to write statements that are true for them and take turns sharing them in small groups (for example: I believe that success takes hard work. I love playing the guitar. I wish I could fly.). Additional ideas for verbs are appreciate, dream, hope, don’t know, like, dislike.
