Fun and easy-to-use back to school activities
1) Learn your students’ names
New class, new faces, new names – a mess. This back to school activity has saved me multiple times. You can learn 30 new names in minutes, kids have fun and they painlessly learn new adjectives. Start by explaining how difficult it is for teachers to learn students’ names and that you need their help. At the end of the activity let them test you- they will be thrilled. Students need to introduce themselves by an adjective that starts with the same letter as their first name. You start by giving an example: My name is Al, so I am Artistic Al. The first student has to repeat your name after you – You are Artistic Al, and add their own – I am Hilarious Hannah. The second student repeats the previous names and adds their own, and so on. At the end of the round, ask the first student(who had the easiest task) to say all the names backward. Finally, say all their names quickly(with or without the adjectives). Congrats, you’ve learned your new students’ names!
2) Oh, really?
Put the students in pairs and tell them they will have a conversation. The first student has to start with a short sentence, like this:
Student 1: I play tennis.
The other student responds: Oh, really?, and adds extra information( a word or a phrase).
So it should be like this: Oh, really? I play tennis every day.
Student 1 continues: Oh, really? I play tennis every day with Serena Williams.
Student 2 responds: Oh, really? I play tennis every day with Serena Williams in Monaco.
Student 1 responds: Oh, really? I play tennis every day with Serena Williams in Monaco while feeding dolphins.
And so on. Can they keep up?
The student who will form the longest grammatically correct (and at least a little bit coherent) answer wins.
3) Questionnaire
Have your students write a questionnaire. Chose a subject(summer holiday, school, hobbies, general personality questions) or let them decide. After that, students circulate the classroom and ask their questions. They should talk to 4-5 people. When they finish, ask them to share any interesting answers, it usually leads to lively discussions.
Unfinished sentences ESL speaking activity is great for revising grammar, as a warm-up or a conversation starter.
It can be used with groups of various sizes as well as in one to one classes.
4) Unfinished sentences
Unfinished sentences ESL speaking activity is great for revising grammar, as a warm-up or a conversation starter. It’s a perfect back to school activity.
It can be used with groups of various sizes as well as in one to one classes.
Finish the sentence. Tell your story.
1. I was very surprised when__________________________________________________.
2. What I value most about my friends is_____________________________________.
3. I really regret_______________________________________________________________.
4. One of my favourite childhood memories is_______________________________.
5. I could never_______________________________________________________________
5) Find someone who
You can easily find tons of these worksheets online or just put together a couple of ideas.
Find somebody
-who doesn’t like chocolate.
-who is vegan.
-who has a tattoo.
-who speaks more than 2 languages.
-who’s never flown before.
-who wants to be famous.
-who has a special talent.
6) Vocabulary race
This is probably more suitable for younger kids. Put them into two teams, divide the board into two sections, give them a topic and let them run a relay with the marker to write as many words on the topic they know.
7) Get physical- Gordian knot
This activity doesn’t involve any language practice but it is great for kids who don’t know each other, to break the ice and create a positive atmosphere. It also shows you how the students communicate, who is a natural leader and how they deal with problems, so it’s quite useful.
You need an even number of students for this. The students stand in a tight circle. Tell them to close their eyes. Then they put their left hand in front of them and try to grab any free hand they can find. Eyes still closed. Repeat the same with the right hand. Eyes open. They should be intertwined – hence the Gordian knot. Without letting any hand go, they should untangle the knot and form a circle. Sometimes there are two or three smaller circles when they grabbed a hand right next to them. That’s ok, they will work it out after a couple of attempts.
8) Conversation questions
This speaking activity contains 50 ESL conversation questions for teenagers and adult learners. (16+, B1+). It is best for small groups or as a pair-work.
9) One minute talk
This is a very simple, no-prep activity. In pairs, students give each other a topic to talk about and they have to talk uninterrupted for a minute. It is more difficult than it sounds, especially with dry topics such as door, socks, or air. If your students lack imagination, you can use these ideas: One Minute Talk Cards.
10) What do they have in common?
This is mostly an activity you can use with new students, but it can be also used in larger classes where the students don’t know each other that well. Put students who don’t know (or don’t know well) each other into pairs and tell them to find out 3-5 things they have in common and 1-2 things they don’t have in common. Let them talk to more people. After that, discuss with the whole class what surprising or interesting things they’ve found out about their classmates.
11) Online quizzes
If your students like technology, you can use some fun interactive activities. You can find a list of 10 great sites here: 10 Websites To Make Your Lessons More Engaging And Fun.
12) Hypothetical questions
These conversation questions are more suitable for more advanced students as the questions are hypothetical, so it requires a knowledge of conditionals and a certain level of creativity. These can be also used for online classes.
Click here.
13) Vocabulary: taboo
A timeless classic! If you have time, you can make your own, if not try these:
Media/Entertainment Taboo Cards,
Travel/Holiday Vocabulary Cards
Health Taboo Cards
Food Taboo Cards.
14) Get them to know each other
A timer, fifteen questions and a lot of fun. A classroom appropriate variation of speed dating. Arrange the desks so that two students sit at one desk facing each other. Give each a set of “speed dating” questions. You can download a set here. Set a timer for a couple of minutes, and when the time’s up one student moves and another sits in their place.
15) Mini presentations
ESL conversation topics for intermediate and upper intermediate students. You can use the slideshow and share your screen on Zoom or other app when teaching online. Just click on the full screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow.
Click here.
More ideas for back to school activities
