Warmers (or Fillers)
Warmers (a.k.a. Fillers) are 5- or 10-minute activities to use at the start of lessons, to get students used to using English again and/or while you're still waiting for some of the class to arrive. You can also use them if you run out of material before the scheduled end of a lesson.
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Simple Vocabulary Warmers
As I've mentioned elsewhere on this site, if you don't want the students to forget vocabulary that you teach them, you need to find ways to recycle the vocabulary at least once or twice after the lesson in which you first taught it.
The file below suggests a number of simple activities that you can use or adapt for the recycling of vocabulary items.
The file below suggests a number of simple activities that you can use or adapt for the recycling of vocabulary items.
| vocab_warmers.doc |
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Jumbled Sentences
Word order is difficult in English and all students struggle with it. A good warmer is to put students into pairs and give them some jumbled sentences to unscramble. Then in open class elicit the answers, correcting where necessary.
At very low levels you might use simple sentences, such as:
come by school to I car / tomorrow you going where are / morning she every breakfast has / always homework he his night does at /
At higher levels you can use longer, more complicated sentences, such as:
comes she speak with soon if her I'll / could before left anything he'd say I / the Houston hot in humid summer is and always /
Notes:
- Introduce the activity by writing one jumbled sentence on the board and helping the students to unscramble it.
- Remind students that every English sentence has to start with a capital letter and end with some kind of punctuation mark.
Defining Words
Students at all levels absolutely love this activity!
Sit one student in front of the whiteboard and facing the class. Write a word on the board. The other students have to help the student at the front to guess what word is on the board. They do this by giving clues but they obviously can't use the word itself. So, for example, if the word is "zebra," they say things like "It's an animal," "It lives in Africa," "It is black and white".
With higher level classes, you can use any word you think the students should know. With lower levels, you may use words that you have recently covered in lessons.
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Guessing from Shapes
This activity works well at all levels.
Draw a wiggly line on the board and ask students what they think it is. As they don't know for sure, insist that they start their guesses with "Maybe it's ..." or "I think it's ..."
Then draw several more shapes on the board and have students in pairs discuss what they think the shapes are. Then in open class elicit their guesses, helping them to correct any language mistakes they may make.
Note:
The "shapes.pdf" file below shows some of the shapes that I use.
| shapes.pdf |
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Vocabulary Anagrams
It's really important to regularly recycle vocabulary items that students learn in lessons. One way I do this is to write 5 or 6 previously-studied words on the whiteboard as anagrams (i.e., with the letters of each word jumbled up). The students work in pairs to unscramble the words. Then I elicit the answers in open class and do some oral practice of any of the words that the students are finding difficult to pronounce.
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Dictation
Old-fashioned? Maybe. But most students love them. And they're a good way to recycle recently-learned words while also practicing intensive listening and spelling.
I prepare a very short text. (The exact length depends on the level of the students.) In class, the students just listen while I read the text once at normal speed. I then read each phrase once, pausing after it to give the students time to write. After this, I have the students work in pairs to help each other with any words they may have missed. Finally, in open class, I elicit the text and write it on the whiteboard.
Notes:
I think it's important to read the complete text straight through at the beginning, so that students hear the whole context.
I emphasize to my students that they will then hear each phrase only once. They usually complain about this the first couple of times I do dictations but then they stop complaining and start listening really carefully.
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Odd Word Out
This activity works well in pairs. It can be useful for recycling vocabulary as well as for free speaking practice.
The students cooperate to decide which word in each group is different from the others and why. They will usually choose the obvious answers. On the attached example, these will probably be: dog, rulers, cat, coat, women.
I then tell them that my choices are: lamp, notebook, sleep, sunny, child. In groups of 3-4, the students try to work out why I choose those words.
Answers:
1. A lamp doesn’t have four legs
2. Notebook is the only word that doesn’t have six letters.
3. Sleep is the only word that doesn’t contain the letter “a”.
4. Sunny has two syllables; the other words have one.
5. Child is the only word that doesn’t tell the person’s gender.
The students cooperate to decide which word in each group is different from the others and why. They will usually choose the obvious answers. On the attached example, these will probably be: dog, rulers, cat, coat, women.
I then tell them that my choices are: lamp, notebook, sleep, sunny, child. In groups of 3-4, the students try to work out why I choose those words.
Answers:
1. A lamp doesn’t have four legs
2. Notebook is the only word that doesn’t have six letters.
3. Sleep is the only word that doesn’t contain the letter “a”.
4. Sunny has two syllables; the other words have one.
5. Child is the only word that doesn’t tell the person’s gender.
| odd_word_out.pdf |
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