3 Easy and Engaging ESL Warm up Activities

(for grade 9 and above)

Have you ever come to your class all energetic and enthusiastic and found your students all lazy and indolent? 

Don't worry. This is a common issue teachers usually encounter in their classes. 

Still, when students do some warm activities, they refresh their energy and become more ready to receive new information. It's just the matter of how to make these ACTIVITIES EASY, QUICK AND FUN enough so that you don't exert themselves so much and reboot their brains at the same time. Here are 3 examples of ESL Warm up activities for English classes:

1) Raise red and blue cards up 

1. Distribute red and blue cards. The red one has "Yes" word written on, and the blue one has "No" word written on.  

2. Ask them "Never Have I" questions. You can create your own, or use internet that has many prepared questions. This link has many funny and interesting questions that can be of use for you: https://www.mantelligence.com/-have-i-ever-questions-clean/never

3. They close their eyes while answering the questions to focus only on themselves, then they open them and find their peers who share with them the same cards' colors.

• Why have you ever questions: they are entertaining and engaging questions that most people generally face in real life.

• Why cards not hands: colors are attention-grabbing. Besides, students have to be more concentrated when they have to choose which color to raise each time a question is asked. 

2) Raise one or two arms (yes, arms!)

1. It's a simple FACT OR MYTH GUESSING GAME. Ask your students questions and if they guess it's true, they raise two hand; if they guess it's false, they raise one hand. 

2. Prepare a couple of questions that include a mix of fun "facts" and "myths". 

3. Use this link for useful fun facts: https://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/riddles/jokes/fun-facts-and-trivia/index.htm

4. Use this link for useful fun myths: https://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/common-mythconceptions/
   

• Why a guessing game: it is easy. It's also fun because most of students won't know the real answers, so it doesn't depend on intelligence or being good at any skill. 

• Why raising arms: it needs a little more physical effort than just raising hands, so students will be more attentive. Plus, raising one and even two arms will look a bit funny and will cause some laughters in your class. 

3) Agree or disagree with clapping

1. Ask questions by turn. 

2. Students who agree clap their hands one time, and who don't clap two times. 

3. No discussions about why someone chooses to agree or disagree. Everyone has the right to think freely. 

4. Here are some examples of the questions:

- Playing a game is fun only when you win. 

- Decisions that people make quickly are always wrong.

- Summer is the best season of the year.

- Pizza is the best food in the world.

- Letters are better than e-mail. 

- It's ok to lie sometimes. 

- Luck has nothing to do with success.

- Other similar statements are available on

https://www.kimstudies.com/agree-or-disagree.html

• Why clapping: it stimulates concentration and engagement. 

• Why agree or disagree sentences: they are friendly controversial sentences that can generate fun discussions in your class. 

Highlights of these 3 activities: 

• Easy, quick and fun. 

• Take little time for preparation before class. 

• Don't depend on academic excellence. 

• Don't depend on having specific skills.

Challenges of these 3 activities: 

• It's advisable to play these games with students who are familiar with each other. 

• They are not recommended to use in the first class of the course. 

• They are not recommended to use in a class where the teacher hasn't known their students yet. 
  

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