Welcome to the start of a fresh new term! You may be welcoming new teachers and teaching staff in your school, new pupils and embracing lots of new challenges.
Many schools will also be welcoming pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL) and helping them settle alongside learning English.
Here are a few ideas for activities to help the whole school community embrace the new start, form new friendships and connections and be ready for learning. These are ‘cog rated’ according to the language load needed for each activity.
- Pupils take it in turns to mime something that they like to do, for the rest of the class to guess
- Question sweets. Pupils take turns choosing coloured sweets from a bag. Each colour represents a question. For example, What is your favourite TV programme, or favourite dinner? Questions can be written or presented as pictures.
- Last one standing. Pupils all stand up. The teacher asks a series of questions, starting “stay standing if.”. Who is the last pupil standing? Make this activity easier by using picture prompts (e.g. a cat, a sister, liking apples, playing football)
- Discover something new. Pair pupils with someone they don’t know well and ask them to find out something they didn’t know before
- Skittles. Place questions on skittles (words or pictures). Pupils take it in turns to knock down the skittles and answer the questions
- Pupils introduce themselves by saying their name, and then a word, beginning with the same letter as their name, which describes something they like doing or is important to them. For example, “I’m James and I like jogging”
- Two truths and a lie. Pupils take it in turns to say three things about themselves: 2 must be true, one must be untrue. Pupils have to work out which one is the lie!
Share this article