Are you looking for some activities to build rapport with your students that go beyond the traditional beginning of the year ice breakers? In this post, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite activities that can be done in the target language and help foster a sense of community in the classroom by allowing students to share information about themselves, get to know each other, and maybe even have a laugh along the way.
Introductions with Pronouns
I first shared in my Gender-Inclusive Language post that this year, when students introduced themselves in French and then learned how to say what another student’s name is, they provided both their name and their pronoun (il, elle, or iel) so as not to assume gender. Then, when they went to say what a classmate’s name was, they knew which pronoun to start with. This also reinforces the idea of providing one’s pronouns along with their name to avoid gender assumption. It set a nice tone for the year with regards to inclusivity and to be honest, students have been pretty respectful about using each others’ preferred pronouns.
Two Truths and a Lie
I can’t believe I never did this until this year! This has to be one of the most fun activities we’ve done as a class. First, to model the activity, I showed the students two truths and a lie about myself. They were things that students should know about me by this point in the year. Then, using the Socrative quick question feature, students voted for which statement they believed was the lie before I eventually revealed it. Then, each student gets a slip of paper and writes two truths and a lie about themselves in French. They could be statements about what activities they do, things they like or don’t like, pets or family members they have, etc. By this point in the year (end of March), students have enough vocabulary that they can write and understand a wide variety of statements. Students had a lot of fun trying to guess the lie on their classmates’ statements.
Positive Adjectives
I first blogged about positive adjectives here, and then again here when I shared how I did it virtually last year. Essentially, each student writes their name on a pieces of paper (or a PowerPoint slide) and students take turns writing compliments in French to that student. Last year, I had students also write their pronoun so students would know which adjective form to use on them. The students end up with a nice souvenir and mood booster that they can hang onto!
Card Talk
Card Talk is a no-prep, fun activity that Martina Bex came up with. She explains it in detail in this blog post. In summary, you ask the students a guiding question (such as what is their favorite activity or food) and the students draw their answer. The teacher shows the class the students’ responses and uses it to introduce new vocabulary and prompt a discussion. This can then be used for a variety of future activities. I have students draw their favorite food and use it to introduce some new vocabulary at the beginning of the food and meal-taking unit. When several students draw the same thing, I can circle back around and introduce words like “aussi” (also) and “Quelle coïncidence !” (What a coincidence!). Students generally enjoy having a moment in the spotlight during activities like this.
Speed Friending
Speed dating, or speed friending as I like to call it, is an activity that many teachers use to promote speaking. Two teachers I’ve learned about it from are Meghan Chance and the anonymous blogger Learning to Teach Also Teaching to Learn. Basically, students interview each other to find out who their ideal friend would be. What I have students do is fill in an interest inventory saying things they do and don’t do (this is sort of like a cheat sheet to help them speak during the interviews), then fill in the questions at the bottom with the same information from the top to ask their classmates. They put their classmates’ initials in the boxes and then check off if they answer the questions positively. I have students sit in twos, and after a few minutes of interviewing, they switch partners. We repeat this for as many rounds as we have time for. At the end of class students announce who their ideal friends are based on which classmate answered more of their questions positively.
Find Someone Who
“Find Someone Who” is a class activity teachers have been using for years as an icebreaker, but it can be used in the language classroom at just about any time of year if it helps promote use of the language function you are working on. Simply make up a bingo-like board of various activities (or maybe not activities…any facts like what pets or siblings they have will do) and have students go around the room asking their classmates if they like to do those activities or have done them. You can make it a game by having the first student to get bingo win a prize.
Describe Yourself
For this activity, give each student a piece of paper and have them write down their eye color, hair color, and two things (adjectives) they are, and one thing they are not. They can choose factual adjectives (that they are short or tall) or opinion-based adjectives (that they are nice or smart). Then read them all to the class and have them guess who is being described. This is another really amusing activity for the whole class.
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