Getting to Know You ESL Activities, Games and Icebreakers

ESL Getting to Know You Game - Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice In this intriguing getting to know you game, students discover secrets about their classmates by asking yes/no questions. First, students write secrets about themselves on cards. Each secret can be an interesting fact or something unique that is unknown to the rest of the class. Students then fold up their cards and put them in a box. Next, each student takes one card from the box and silently reads the secret on the card. After that, students form a yes/no question about the secret on their card to find out who wrote it. Students then go around the class asking one another their questions to find out whose secret they have. When a student finds the right person, they write their name on the card, keep it, and take another card from the box. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Afterwards, students report back to the class on the secrets they found out. show less

ESL First Day of Class Activity - Writing and Speaking: Writing, Asking and Answering Questions, Sentence Completion, Writing Sentences, Presenting - Pair Work In this useful first day of class speaking activity, students write 'get to know you' questions to ask a new classmate and then interview them and use the information to introduce them to the class. First, students read five interview questions and create five more 'getting to know you' questions of their own to ask a partner. In pairs, students then take turns asking their partner the questions and noting down the answers. Next, students use their partner's answers to complete an introductory text, writing five more sentences of their own. Lastly, students introduce their partner to the class by reading the text aloud. As the other students listen, they write down questions they want to ask the student being introduced. Students then ask these questions at the end of each introduction. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice In this free getting to know you speaking activity, students conduct a survey to get to know their classmates and find out information about them. First, students go around the class asking questions with 'Do you...?' or 'Are you...?' in order to complete statements on the worksheet. When a student finds a classmate who answers 'yes' to a question, they complete the corresponding sentence with their name and ask a follow-up question to gain more information, noting down the response. If a classmate replies 'no', the student asks a different question or moves on to speak to another student. Afterwards, students give feedback to the class on what they found out. show less

ESL First Day of Class Activity - Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Reading a Text, Presenting - Pair Work Here is a productive first day of class speaking activity to help students get to know each other. In the activity, students complete an introductory text by writing 'getting to know you' questions and asking them to a classmate. First, students read an introductory text and complete the ten questions they need to ask to complete the text. Students then pair up with someone they don't know very well and take turns asking the questions to their partner, completing the text with their answers. Finally, students introduce their partner to the class by reading the text aloud. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Comparing - Pair and Group Work In this insightful getting to know you questions activity, students interview each other and share personal information to find people who would make compatible flatmates. In pairs, students take turns interviewing their partner, noting down their answers next to the 'get to know you' questions. Students then compare their answers with their partner and decide if they would make good flatmates or not. Next, each pair joins with another pair. Students then take turns sharing their partner's answers with the group to see if they would be compatible with any other students. Afterwards, there is a class feedback session to find out who would make compatible flatmates. show less

ESL Icebreaker Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In this engaging getting to know you speaking activity, students practice asking for details to questions and making conversation. First, in two groups, students write short answers to questions in numbered boxes. Students then pair up with someone from the other group and give them their answers. Next, students take turns asking their partner questions to find out more details about their answers using the language provided, building a short conversation about each topic. Finally, students share what they found out about their partner with the class. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Questions Game - Speaking: Forming Questions from Prompts - Group Work In this free getting to know you questions game, students race to make questions from answers given by other students. First, students read their question cards and complete sentences with answers that are true for them. Students then take turns picking a card from their pile and reading the answer on the card to the group, e.g. 'In the future, I want to travel the world.' The other students then race to say the 'getting to know you' question that they think corresponds to the answer. The first student to say the question written on the reader's card wins and keeps the card, e.g. 'What do you want to do in the future?' The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. As an extension, students read the questions on the cards they won and each group member answers the question in turn. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Activity - Speaking: Writing,Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Communicative Practice In this getting to know you speaking activity, students try to find things they have in common with their classmates by asking and answering 'getting to know you' questions. First, students read personal information topics and write a Wh question to elicit the answer for each one. Students then write the answer to each question in a box underneath. Next, students find out who they have things in common with by going around the class and asking the questions to one another. When a classmate replies with the same answer they have written, the two students write one another's name down and move on to speak to someone else. When the students have finished, they give feedback to the class on the things they have in common with each other. show less

ESL Get to Know You Game - Speaking: Guessing, Writing, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Pair Work In this light-hearted icebreaker game, students guess information about a partner and then form questions to ask them to find out the truth. Assign each student with a partner from the other group. Students then read statements on their worksheet and indicate whether they think they are true or not for their partner. Next, students write down the questions they need to ask their partner to find out the truth. Students then pair up with their assigned partner and take turns asking each other their questions. For each correct guess, students put a tick. Students also ask follow-up questions to find out more details. The student with the most correct guesses wins the game. show less

ESL First Day of Class Activity - Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions, Writing Sentences, Presenting - Pair Work In this first day of class icebreaker activity, students create 'getting to know you' questions to ask a partner, interview them and use the information to introduce them to the class. First, students complete 'getting to know you' questions they would like to ask their partner. Students then take turns asking and answering the questions with their partner, writing their answers in sentence form under each question and asking follow-up questions to gain more information. Finally, students introduce their partner to the class using the information they found out. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Activity - Speaking: Asking Questions from Prompts, Explaining, Guided Discussion - Pair Work In this interesting getting to know you speaking activity, students ask questions and develop short conversations in order to get to know a partner. Students begin by writing short answers to prompts in shapes in a random order. Next, students give the shapes to their partner. Students then take turns asking their partner why they wrote the information in the shapes, e.g. 'Why did you write Spain in shape number 2?' Their partner then explains their answer, e.g. 'I wrote Spain because I went there on my last holiday.' Next, the student asks follow-up questions to gain more information, and the two students develop a short conversation about the topic. Afterwards, students report back to the class on the most interesting things they found out about their partner. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Board Game - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice - Pair and Group Work In this engaging getting to know you board game, students practice asking questions and making true statements with 'both of us' or 'neither of us' about things they have in common with a partner. In two teams of two, students take turns picking up a card and reading the task on the card to the whole group, e.g. 'Find a food that neither you nor your partner like eating.' Students in both teams then talk with their partner and ask questions to find something they have in common, according to the task, e.g. 'What food do you dislike eating?' The first team to create a grammatically correct and true sentence with both of us or neither of us rolls the dice and moves their counter along the board accordingly, e.g. 'Neither of us likes eating shellfish.' If a team makes a grammar mistake or creates a sentence that appears untrue, the other team can steal the win by creating a correct sentence of their own. The first team to reach the finish wins the game. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Board Game - Speaking: Impromptu Speech, Asking Questions, Free Practice - Group Work This fun getting to know you board game can be used as an icebreaker activity on the first day of class to help students talk about themselves and become acquainted with one another. Students take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. When a student lands on a square, they talk about the 'getting to know you' topic on the square for 30 seconds without stopping. When the student has finished talking, the other students each ask one follow-up question. If the student stops talking before the 30 seconds are up, they go back two squares. The first student to reach the finish wins the game. show less

ESL First Day of Class Activity - Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Sentence Completion, Guided Discussion Here is an enjoyable getting to know you speaking activity for the first day of class to help students find out interesting information about one another. First, students read incomplete statements and write the questions they need to ask in order to complete them. Students then go around the class asking each question to a different classmate and completing the statement with their answer, e.g. 'Sophia's earliest memory is feeding ducks in the park.' Next, in small groups, students share what they found out about each other and discuss their answers. Finally, students tell the class any interesting or surprising information they found out. show less

ESL Icebreaker Game - Speaking: True or False, Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work In this free icebreaker game, students give true and false personal information and their classmates ask questions to help them decide if the information is true or false. First, students complete ten personal information statements. Five statements must be true and five must be false. Students indicate which statement is which by putting a tick for true or a cross for false in a chart. In groups of four, students then take turns reading their ten statements to the group. As the students listen to each statement, they ask questions to help them decide if the reader is lying or telling the truth. Students then decide if the statement is true or false by marking their guess with a tick or cross. Afterwards, students reveal which statements were true and which were false. Students score one point for each correct guess. The student with the most points wins the game. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Guided Discussion - Group Work This memorable getting to know you activity can be used as an icebreaker on the first day of class. In groups, students take turns picking up an alphabet card and reading the corresponding topic and 'getting to know you' question. Next, the student tells the group the topic and asks the question to the other students who each answer in turn. The students then briefly discuss the topic. The next student then picks up a card, and so on. Afterwards, groups share any interesting information they found out with the class. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work Here is a creative getting to know you activity to help students get to know a classmate and practice dependent prepositions at the same time. First, in two groups, students underline the correct preposition and complete each sentence with three words or short phrases so that it is true for them, e.g. 'I'm good at swimming, tennis, and drawing.' Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking questions relevant to their sentences to see if they have something in common, e.g. 'Are you good at swimming?' If they have that thing in common, the student circles the word. If not, the student asks the same question again with the next word or phrase they wrote down, e.g. 'Are you good at tennis?' If, after asking three questions, the student hasn't found something in common, they cross out the sentence, and it is the other person's turn to ask a question. Afterwards, students refer to their findings and complete sentences about the things they have in common, skipping the sentences for which they didn't find anything. Lastly, students share their findings with the class. show less

ESL Getting to Know You Game - Speaking: Impromptu Speech, Fluency Practice - Group Work In this rewarding getting to know you game, students talk about various topics for one minute to help them get to know each other and improve fluency. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and talking about the topic on the card continuously for one minute. If a student manages to talk for one minute, they score a point. However, if the student hesitates too often, repeats information or stops talking before the time is up, they don't score anything. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less