Looking for a way to break the ice with a new class? Be it a physical classroom or virtual classroom, ELTA has you covered with easy to conduct icebreaker games that will get you and your new students past the first awkward interactions. Here are five icebreaker games that you can use in a physical classroom:

Introductions

A simple icebreaker activity to start of the list is ‘Introductions’. This can be used during the first day of class and is super easy to conduct. Simply split your class into pairs and hand each pair a list of questions to interview each other with. This activity is useful as students won’t feel the pressure of having to introduce themselves to the entire class all at once and it will save you the teacher a ton of time which would otherwise be used for individual introductions.

Would You Rather…?

My personal favourite icebreaker to use is ‘Would You Rather…?’. Students are posed with two options and must pick one. They must then state the reason why they chose the option. This can be played with the entire classroom or the class can be divided into groups where students take turns asking and answering the questions.  You can find plenty of interesting ‘Would You Rather…?’ questions online. Check out some examples below:

• Would you rather be half your height or double your weight?
• Would you rather have the ability to see 10 minutes into the future or 150 years into the future?

Would I Lie to You?

Another personal favourite of mine is ‘Would I Lie to You?’. Another simple game that will get your students active and invested in the class and their fellow students. Simply ask the class to write down two truths and a lie. Then take turns asking the students to come up and read out their three stories. The class will then be free to interrogate the student to try and figure out which story is the lie. The class must then vote on which story is the false one.

ESL icebreakers are a fantastic way to boost morale and get your students invested in your classes. These Icebreakers have the added bonus of being easily adaptable for offline as well as online classes. There are tons of other Icebreakers games that we will cover in the future so make sure to bookmark our page for more great ESL Icebreakers. Comment down below if you enjoyed this article and let us know if you have any other recommendations for Icebreakers!