Ice Breakers

Induction ice-breakers
1. Would You Rather… ?

In this game, students think about two scenarios and choose the one they would rather
do. The “Would you rather… ?” questions (a variety of which can be found online), can
range from goofy to serious, such as:
 Would you rather be poor and happy or rich and unhappy?

 Would you rather have a missing finger or an extra toe?
 Would you rather find your soulmate or find a billion dollars (and never find your
soulmate)?
 Would you rather eat your favorite meal for every meal for the rest of your life or
never be able to eat your favorite meal again?
 Would you rather speak all languages fluently or be able to speak to animals?
 Would you rather lose your wallet or lose your keys?
You can play this as a whole class or put students in groups and give them a stack of
cards with questions, and they take turns asking each other. Either way, following up by
asking “Why or why not?” can lead to some fun discussions.
 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: You can simply ask your
student(s) the questions or you can have your own stack of cards in front of you
and draw a card for each student, reading it aloud to the class. Alternatively, you
can have student(s) write down their own questions before class and come
prepared to ask you or their classmates.
2. Two Truths and a Lie

This can be a good ESL icebreaker for the very first class or as a warm-up later on.
One student thinks of three statements about himself/herself that they will share with the
class. Two are true and one is a lie. For example, the student may say something like, “I
have five dogs, I’ve lived in three countries, and I’m a ballet dancer.” Then, the other
students must guess which statement is a lie and if they can, explain why they think so.
At the end, the student will reveal whether the others guessed correctly or incorrectly.
If used on the first day, the teacher can start by demonstrating the game as a good
getting-to-know-the-teacher activity!
 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Teachers can easily play
this game in a virtual setting by having everyone take turns making statements.
Students can either raise their hand when they want to guess which statement is
the lie or they can type their guess into the chat box.
Check out these ESL warm-ups for students of all ages.
3. Positive, Negative, Crazy

Write a discussion topic on the board (for example, food, pets, social media, or dating)
and then start passing a ball or “hot potato” from student to student. As students pass
the hot potato around, they must stop when they hear you say the words positive,
negative, or crazy.
When you say, “positive,” the student holding the potato must stop and make a positive
statement about the topic. For example, If the topic is food, their statement might be “My
favorite restaurant is Ichiban Sushi.”
If you say “negative,” they must make a negative statement about the topic, e.g., “I’ve
never eaten Chinese food!”
And, if you say, “crazy,” the sentence they create can be anything they like, such as,
“One time I ate a whole pizza myself!”
 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Instead of passing around

a ball, you can assign each student a number and then roll a die (either physical
or virtual) to see who has to make the next statement. I.e., if the die lands on six,
then the student assigned to the number six has to make the positive, negative,
or crazy statement.
4. Continue the Story

In this creative game, first think of several half-sentences and write each one on the top
of its own piece of paper. The half-sentences should be written so that students can
easily finish them to start a story, such as:
 As soon as I woke up…

 Ana was walking to school when suddenly…
 The teacher came into class with a…
Alternatively, put these examples on the board and then have students each think of a
half-sentence and write it on a piece of paper. Then, collect the papers and mix them up.
Students will then work in groups (or you can do this as a whole class). A group is given
a paper with a half-sentence at the top and the first person in the group must read the
half-sentence out loud, then finish it with whatever they like to continue the story (they
will write it down and say it aloud). Next, the student passes the paper to his or her right
and writes another sentence to continue the story.
When everyone has had a chance to contribute to the story, a representative of each
group can read the completed story to the class. Not only can the stories be very funny,
but this icebreaker gets students used to being more spontaneous with English.
 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Skip the paper and,
instead, simply verbally tell the student(s) the half-sentence they’ll be working
with. Alternatively, have students prepare a half-sentence before class and then
assign the prompts to one another. You could also have them email the
sentences to you prior to class, and you could assign them to the other students
in class.
5. The Hot Seat

This ESL icebreaker is a fun vocabulary guessing game.
Put a chair at the front of the room with its back facing the board; this is the hot seat, and
a student volunteer must sit here. Then, write a word on the board (for beginners, tell
them the category or theme of words, such as jobs or food – ideally vocabulary they are
already studying). Then, the other students try to prompt the hot-seater into guessing
what the word is by describing it without saying the actual word (fun with famous people
too!).
For example, if you’ve told your beginner class the category is fruit and the word on the
board is pineapple, the students can say things like:
 It’s a big fruit.

 It grows in tropical places.
 It’s yellow inside.
 It has spines.
With guessing games like this one, students are really enthusiastic about trying to get
their peers to guess correctly and win the game. The desire to guess takes over, and
formerly reserved students forget that they were ever afraid to speak up in English.
 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Choose a student to be

the guesser (in the “virtual” hot seat). Then, have them close their eyes as you
hold a whiteboard up to the camera with the word written on it. Once the other
students have seen the word, hide the whiteboard and have students take turns
describing the word to the student who is guessing. Alternatively, if your online
software allows it, you could type the word in and send it via chatbox to the
students who aren’t guessing.
6. Open-Ended Questions
Have students each write down an open-ended question on a piece of paper. The
questions could be something like “What is your favorite holiday?” or “What kind of
movies do you like?”
Students then either fold their papers or crumple them up into balls and drop them in a
box as you pass it around. Then, go around the room and have students take turns
drawing a paper from the box and answering the question. (Just be sure that students
answer questions from their classmates, returning their own papers if they accidentally
draw them.)
Ask follow-up questions if time allows.
You can easily tweak this activity for smaller classrooms with fewer students by having
them each write three questions that have to be answered. You can also impose a
speaking time limit, so students know how long they need to talk.
 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Have students come to

class prepared with one or two open-ended questions. They can take turns
asking their classmates their questions, or you could ask the students to submit
their questions to you ahead of class and you can ask the questions yourself.
7. One Beep (For Maths)

This is a very simple ESL icebreaker that works well for any age and is a great way to
practice English numbers.
Traditionally, students alternate between saying a number and the word “beep” as they
go around the room counting. For example, the first student would say, “one,” the
second would say, “beep,” the third would say, “three,” the fourth would say, “beep,” and
so on.
However, you can make this game as complex as you want, such as choosing to insert
“beep” for odd or even numbers, on numbers divisible by three, etc. You could also bring
it to the next level by creating other sounds or words they have to say for certain
numbers. For example, every number divisible by three must be replaced by “beep,” and
every odd number must be replaced by “boop.” For numbers that fall into both
categories, you must say both (“beep boop”).
Be creative and establish the rules based on your students’ level.

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Induction ice-breakers

1. Would You Rather… ?

 Would you rather be poor and happy or rich and unhappy?

2. Two Truths and a Lie

3. Positive, Negative, Crazy

 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Instead of passing around

4. Continue the Story

 As soon as I woke up…

5. The Hot Seat

 It’s a big fruit.

 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Choose a student to be

Ask follow-up questions if time allows.

 How to adapt this activity to the virtual classroom: Have students come to

7. One Beep (For Maths)

Be creative and establish the rules based on your students’ level.

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