Warm-up Activities

Including a warm-up activity can set the tone for lessons, engage students, and help them relax. The following are easy
warm-ups that work well in language classes as well as in conversation lessons. The activities are intended to get
students immediately moving and involved, using their bodies and skills reflexively. They require from little to no
preparation and very few materials, if any. Many of these activities can work well as they are, or with a little adaptation,
for various contexts. There are notes for scaffolding for developing learners where appropriate, and options for
changing the activities to best suit your students.

1. Hot Potato
A class favorite! Students pass around one or two balls or “conversation cards” (cards with questions on each side)
while the teacher claps or plays music. Then, when the clapping or music stops, the students holding the balls or cubes
complete a task, such as listening to and answering a question, choosing and answering a question from the cube, or
choosing a question on the cube and asking a classmate. For large classes, add more balls or cubes to keep the whole
class engaged.
Scaffolding: If you’re using a ball, provide sentence frames on the board for students who might have trouble creating
their own questions.
Options: Create your own conversation cards.

2. Last Letter-First Letter

This warm-up gets students listening quickly to each other, thinking about spelling, and recalling words. One person
says a word. The next person says a word that starts with the same letter as the last letter of the previous word. For
example, if someone says “ball,” the next word would need to start with the letter L. The next student might say
“light,” and so on until the timer rings. If a student doesn’t have a new word because of uncertainty about how the
previous word is spelled, the student who said the word can spell it aloud. Also, other students can try to catch
classmates who say a word that begins with an incorrect letter and then ask that student to say another word. The
person holding the ball when the timer rings answers a question or does a task and then says a word to start the
activity again.
Scaffolding: Limit students to a previously studied vocabulary unit so that they are familiar with the words, or limit the
word choices to items in the room; the visibility of items will make it easier for them to think on their feet.

3. I’ve Never
Students sit in a circle with one chair for each student, except one student in the middle of the circle, who stands. That
student says something he or she has never done (e.g., “I have never ridden in a hot air balloon”). Any students who
have done the aforementioned thing must leave their chairs and find a new chair, including the original speaker. The
person left without a chair then becomes the speaker in the middle, and the game continues.
Scaffolding: Write sentence frames and provide several ideas on the board to help students who might have difficulty
coming up with something to say.
Options: The person in the middle can say something he or she can or cannot do, likes or dislikes, or wants or does not
want to do. The other students can move if they match or don’t match the person in the middle.

4. Simon Says
In this warm-up that even college students love, a leader announces various tasks for the class to do. If the leader
begins with the phrase “Simon Says,” the students need to do the task (e.g., “Simon says raise your right hand” or
“Simon says do jumping jacks”). Anyone who does a task when the leader omits “Simon Says,” however, must sit down.
The last student(s) left standing at the end of the allotted time wins.
5. Two Lines
This is a great activity for practicing small talk. Students stand in two parallel lines and talk with the person facing
them. When the timer rings, the student at the beginning of line A moves to the end of line A, the rest of line A shifts
down to fill the empty position at the beginning of line A, and then the students begin talking with the new person
facing them.
Scaffolding: Provide students with a specific topic to discuss that was covered in a previous unit.

6. Four Corners
Four Corners gets students moving and talking. Choose a meaning for each corner of the room and explain it to
students, and then have students go to the corner that best fits their opinion or answer. For example, if each corner
is designated as a different music genre, then the students would go to the corner that represents the genre they most
enjoy (or most dislike). Finally, students discuss related questions with the other people in their corner.

7. Brainstorming
To introduce a topic as well as highlight what students already know, announce a topic and students or groups list
related words or ideas. After the allotted time, each student (or group) shares their list with the class.
Options: Do this activity as a photo brainstorming for an easier alternative for students with limited vocabulary and a
fun way to incorporate technology into class. Announce a topic and students or groups surf online to find related
photos, which they share in a class group chat.

8. Rose, Bud, and Thorn

Take students beyond “How are you?” with this conversation starter. Pairs or small groups discuss something good
that happened recently (rose), something they are looking forward to (bud), and something unpleasant that happened
recently (thorn).

9. Explain the Connection

Distribute five noun/verb cards to each student. Then, announce an adjective. Students hold up one card that fits the
adjective and then explain the connection between their cards and the adjective. For example, if the adjective is tasty,
then any students with cards related to foods or drinks might hold up those cards (only one card per student) and
explain why they think their particular food or drink best fits tasty. If a student doesn’t have an appropriate card, he
or she waits until the next round. The student who gives the most convincing argument wins the round.
Scaffolding: Limit the words on the cards and the adjectives to a previously studied vocabulary unit so that students
are familiar with the words. Use very specific adjectives to limit available answers (e.g., sour or yellow) and aid students
in finding appropriate words.
Options: To shorten the time and add some excitement, limit the amount of students who can explain their cards each
round (e.g., the first three students who hold up their cards) or change the activity to a race where the first student to
hold up an appropriate card and explain the connection wins the round. This could also be done in groups rather than
as a whole class to allow more students to speak at one time. The groups would play independently from each other
with the group members taking turns being the judge who determines the best argument.

10. Matching Cards

This warm-up is a fun way to pair or group students. Give each student a word or number card. Then, the students
mingle to find the student(s) with cards that match theirs in some way, such as the same word or number, a synonym
or antonym, or a definition.
Options: After finding their match, the pairs or groups discuss a set of questions or a specific topic.
11. Guess the Word
Individual
This is a long-time favorite of my students that gets students thinking quickly, defining words, using alternative ways
of expressing ideas, listening to each other, and recalling words. Prepare a stack of word cards. Each round, a student
tries to get his or her teammates to say as many of the words on the cards as possible before the timer rings. Finally,
the team with the most correctly guessed words wins.
Circle
Distribute five word cards to each student. Students stand in a circle and the first student holds a ball and describes
the word on one of his/her cards. When someone says the word, the student passes the ball to the person on his right
who then describes one of his/her words. This continues until a timer rings and the person holding the ball answers a
question. You can do this activity as a whole class or in small groups to get more students talking.
Matching
For a noncompetitive alternative or a group “race against the time,” try this matching activity. Distribute five word
cards to each student. The first student describes a word on one of his or her cards. Everyone looks at their cards to
see if they have a word that fits the description. If someone thinks he or she has a matching card, he or she says the
word. If no match is immediately made, the speaking student should continue to add more information and eventually
give hints (e.g., the first letter or the number of letters) until someone says the correct word. When the correct word
is found, the teacher takes the pair of cards and the person who matched the card then describes one of his or her
words. The game continues until all the pairs have been found or the time limit ends.
Scaffolding: Limit the words to a recently studied vocabulary unit so that the students are familiar with the words.
Provide a word list to aid students in guessing. Add key words or a short description to each word card to help students
accurately describe the words on their cards.

12. I Spy
One student describes something visible in the classroom and the other students guess what it is.

13. Twenty Questions

A student thinks of a person, place, or thing and announces the category. Then, the students ask 20 yes/no questions
to determine the answer. If time allows, students can keep asking as many questions as necessary.
Scaffolding: Provide sentence frames for questions, or provide descriptive vocabulary or categories to help students
think of characteristics questions.

14. Voice Exercises

Singing
To warm-up students’ voices and emphasize intonation, lead students in singing short sentences, such as “What shall
we do-oo to-day,” “What shall we say-ay to-day,” and “How are you do-ing to-day.” Each syllable progressively rises
in pitch until “do,” “say,” and “do,” respectively, and then lowers back down. The teacher models each sentence and
the students repeat.
Chants
As with singing, model each line and have the students repeat. To add variety, assign parts to different sections of the
class. For example, the right side of the class says the odd-numbered lines and the left side says the even-numbered
lines. These could be actual chants or the lyrics from jingles or choruses.
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Warm-up activities are essential to ease students into class, enhance student attention and focus, and decrease
student anxiety before diving into the core lesson material. These warm-up activities can provide a great start to
implementing warm-up activities in class or useful additions to bring variety to your current warm-up activity roster.