ESL icebreakers that work online - 2

I recently had to fill three 90 minute classes with games and activities for an intermediate adult class. To break the ice and revise the grammar and skills they had previously learnt, I used these activities.

Introduction round

One of my most distinct memories of university was the dreaded introduction round. To come up with an interesting fact about myself always seemed impossible in the moment. So, I like to warm students up with a simple question that everyone knows the answer to.

For example:

"What’s your name, what are you doing after class today and what did you have for breakfast this morning?"

I like these questions because they practise three tenses and allow students to give more or less information, depending on their confidence and inspiration!

Penny for your thoughts

I stole this one from a business icebreaker resource for zoom calls. Start by explaining the idiom, e.g. 'a penny for your thoughts is an idiomatic way to ask someone what they're thinking about'. Explain that 'penny' means coin.

Then, have all the students find a coin. Have them search for the date. Ask them for something significant or interesting that happened to them in that year. If they were not yet born, have them think of a significant world event that may have impacted their life.

Would I lie to you?

This class had played two truths and a lie one too many times for it to be novel. So, here's a spin on it. I started by telling the students a 'fact' about me. I had them ask me questions to find out more information and then decide if I was telling the truth or lying.

I explained that we would do something similar as a group, but they had to complete another task first.

I asked them to go into pairs and tell their partner a true, strange story about their lives. I told them to ask questions, as they had done with my example. Have them write down this information.

Then, we returned from the breakout rooms to join the full class. I chose one person from each pair and had them flip a coin. Flip your coin. If it was heads, they had to tell their own story. If it was tails, they had to tell their partner's story but pretend it happened to them. The rest of the class had the opportunity to ask questions, then guess if it was the speaker's story or their partners'.

The potato game

This is a nice game to start a class with. Have the students think of creative things you can do with a potato. To be competitive, put them in teams and have them make the longest list they can of their ideas. The longest list wins. There's a bonus point for the most creative idea.

Alphabet stories

This is relatively self-explanatory. I usually just make a padlet with a prompt for a story. The students then have to continue the story, but every line must start with the next letter of the alphabet. They can work in groups for this if it's a large class, or you can do it together.

Guess the situation

For this game, you need to allocate the following situations to pairs. They must create a dialogue for the situation, but without saying the prohibited words. The rest of the class guesses the situation.

Easy level:

One person works in an ice-cream shop. The other is a customer who wants to buy an ice-cream.

    Prohibited words: ice-cream, cold, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry.

One person is a teacher. The other is a student who has forgotten their homework.

    Prohibited words: homework, class, student, teacher, forgot

One person is a customer in a restaurant. They don’t like their food and want to complain to the waiter.

    Prohibited words: food, meal, restaurant, like, waiter

One person is a customer getting a haircut. The other person is a hairdresser.

    Prohibited words: hair, cut, hairdresser, short, long

Harder level

One person is a famous actor having an interview on a TV talk show about their new movie.

Prohibited words: movie, film, acting, cinema, character

One person is a criminal accused of robbing a bank. They are being interviewed by a police detective.

Prohibited words: crime, bank, money, rob, steal

One person is a superhero who has saved the city from a monster. They are being interviewed by a journalist.

Prohibited words: superhero, monster, save, fight, help

One person has a broken arm. A doctor is asking them questions about it.

Prohibited words: arm, broken, doctor, hurt, accident

Desert island

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It is best done as a group discussion in breakout rooms.

What's the plot - movie balderdash

Find some obscure movies with unusual plots and interesting titles in English. Have the students guess the plot of the movie based on the title alone. They should send their guess to you in a direct message. Compile the guesses (along with the correct plot) in a document and have students vote on what they believe to be the true story.

Here are some ideas for movies and the correct plot:

The House with the Laughing Windows - This is an Italian horror movie about an artist who comes to a small village to paint a picture in a church.

The Men Who Stare at Goats - It is about men in the army with magic powers – they can kill a goat by looking at it.

The Lobster - A man looks for love. If he doesn’t find someone he loves in 45 days, he will become a lobster. 

Dude, where’s my car? - Two friends forget where their car is. They go an adventure to find it and meet some aliens.

Joe’s Apartment - Joe moves to a new house. When he arrives, he sees that it is the home of talking and singing cockroaches.

The Winged Serpent - A criminal discovers an Aztec god in New York that is eating people in the city.

And here is the example of my students' plot ideas for The Winged Serpent with the 'true' plot highlighted:

I hope these might be of use to other teachers in an online-icebreaker bind!