Warm up activities

What Can You Do with a ...?

This is an engaging activity that can be used as a warm-up before class.

With Noha El-Sebai

Educator prep: None

Student prep: None

Synchronous

Video conferencing

Duration: 5-30 mins

Activity purpose

This engaging activity can be used as a warm-up before class. It is also particularly useful for language learners to help them recycle learned vocabulary, and enhance speaking skills in a light and humorous way.

Useful for

Warming up, helping students to feel more comfortable during class, bringing some fun into class. It is also useful for teaching how to use images and using items from the learners’ environment to express ideas using simple slides and items.

Preparation

In face-to-face classes, the teacher uses a box filled with items or pictures. In online teaching, the teacher needs to create some slides with images in advance. The teacher can also encourage students to create slides for each other. In addition, students could bring items from their environment and show them to their colleagues in face-to-face or online classes.

Instructions

In face to face classes:

The teacher prepares a box filled with pictures or items.
The student should delve his/her hand and pick a picture or an item, and show what he/she picked to the rest of the class.
In a minute, the student has to think of all the uses, including unconventional ones for a common object like a banana. For example: eat it, increase the potassium level in the blood, using as a pincushion for sewing, use as a paperweight. The more creative the better!

In online classes:

The teacher designs around 10 slides (depending on the number of the students in the class), each slides should include an image.
During the class, the teacher shares the slides with the students one slide at a time.
The students (individually or in teams) are given a minute to think about the possible and creative uses of the item in the slide.
The students take turns to share their ideas.

Duration

Variable prep and duration time depending on the number of students.

Adaptations and examples

For teaching languages, this activity could be developed according to the students’ level of proficiency, the students could create a short story on the (picture/ item/ slide) that includes sequence, verb tenses, and connectors.