Audience: ESL or EFL teachers at all levels

You probably do an icebreaker on the first day of class. They’re great for getting to know your students and helping them to get to know each other. An exciting getting-to-know-you game is also a fun way to start off the class. But a bad icebreaker can devolve into the students chatting all through class or revealing more than they intended about themselves. Here are five simple tips to help your icebreaker go well.

1. Keep It Simple

Students are stressed out on the first day of class. They’re absorbing a lot of new information and thinking about their workload for the term. They’re also feeling out you and your teaching style. Some students may have trouble understanding your speech at first, so an overly complicated activity is only going to add to the stress. If your students need to choose their favorite 18th century novel, look up the color of their shirt on a chart, and then plot the position of the stars with a sextant, you might need to simplify the activity.

Unless your students are very advanced, an icebreaker should focus on concrete, immediate, and personal information, such as where they are from or who the tallest student in the class is. Students shouldn’t have to think too hard about what they’re going to say. A simple icebreaker should also have a minimum of steps. Most take the basic three-step form: Ask, Answer, Report. Finally, each step should be short and clear so that it can be easily understood, and easily written on the board.

2. Keep It Moving

As with any activity, set time limits. Many icebreakers involve students talking in pairs or small groups. That can lead to some small talk, which is a great way to get them bonding. But if you let them, your students will probably chat all class long rather than moving on to work. And it’s not a bad idea to leave them with something to talk about outside of class, too. One of my best first days ended with all the students going out to lunch together to continue their small talk from the opening activity.

3. Keep It Respectful

Students reveal personal information in getting-to-know-you activities. Make sure that other students are respectful. Shut down any disrespectful comments, whether intentional or accidental, quickly to show that your class is a safe place. Actually, icebreakers are a good chance to teach students what is appropriate to say about other people or share about themselves. I remember a Russian student proudly announcing that her partner looked very healthy because she had gained a lot of weight. She had no idea why anyone would be upset that they gained weight!

4. Keep It for Day Two?

Some teachers prefer to do the ice breakers and team builders on the second day. Instead, they use the first day to do testing or jump into the content of the class right away. If you are doing testing, the first day is probably the best day for it (although you can probably fit in a quick icebreaker, too). If you start teaching from day one, students walk away feeling they have accomplished something.

5. Keep Doing Them

Students will continue to get to know you and each other throughout the year. Their lives will change, as will their interests and expectations from the class. So don’t limit your use of getting-to-know-you activities to the beginning of the academic year. Pull out an icebreaker every now and again and keep the rapport going.

Walton Burns is a teacher and award-winning materials writer from Connecticut who began his career teaching in the South Pacific and then moved to Kazakhstan. He is the chair of the Materials Writers Interest Section, and his latest book is 50 Activities for the First Day of School.