Warm Up Activities For English Clubs

20 Questions One person thinks of an object (person, place, or thing). Everyone takes turns asking yes/no questions until someone can guess correctly (or until 2 questions are aske!). "he !ifficult part is that you cannot ask #$h# questions% Example& '()E*''+E. ,oes it talk- )o. ,oes it make life easier- )o. ,o you eat it- .es. (s it something you $oul! eat for !inner- )o. Etc... (f someone makes a mistake in forming the question, other club members can help turn it into a proper question. Can't Say Yes or o (n this game everyone is given a certain number of coins or squares of paper (about / ). Everyone moves aroun! the room starting conversations an! asking each other questions. "he only rule is that you cannot say the $or!s .E0 or )O. (f you acci!entally say one of these $or!s, you have to give a coin or square to the person $ho you sai! it to. "ry to trick each other by asking questions that you $oul! almost al$ays ans$er $ith a yes or no. "hink of other $ays to trick your frien!s. 0ometimes asking t$o quick questions in a ro$ $orks $ell. (Especially tag questions& *re you ne$ here- "his is your first time in *merica, isn1t it-). "his game is a great $ay to practise using small talk an! to a!! variety to your vocabulary. (t also makes everyone laugh. Fact or Fiction (n this game, one person tells a short story about themselves or someone they kno$ or hear! about. 2sually it is something funny or cra3y. (t can be a true story, or something ma!e up. Example& 4osh tells a story about his 2ncle +eo $ho sleeps in the nu!e. One !ay 2ncle +eo $as sleep$alking an! he $ent outsi!e an! took his !og for a $alk. "he ne5t !oor neighbour $as coming home late from $ork an! sa$ him% 0he calle! the police an! he got arreste! for being nake! in public. Everyone aroun! the room has to say $hether they think 4osh1s story is fact (true) or fiction (ma!e up). 4osh reveals the truth $hen everyone has guesse!. 6embers can take turns telling a story. Chain Fairytale "his is a fun $riting $arm7up. Everyone has a piece of paper an! $rites the first sentence or t$o to start a fairytale (not one that alrea!y e5ists). Example& Once upon a time there $as a frog that ha! no legs. 8e $ante! to get marrie!, but there $ere no female legless frogs in the lan!. *fter one minute the lea!er $ill say #09(":8#. *t this time the $riters have to put !o$n their pens an! pass the papers. "hey cannot finish their sentences. "hen, the ne5t $riters $ill continue the story. *fter about ten minutes you $ill have as many silly stories to rea! as you have club members. "he lea!er shoul! $arn the $riters that they $ill soon have to $rap7up the story !uring the last t$o minutes so that each story has a conclusion. ;ea! all of the stories out lou! for a goo! laugh. .ou can e5ten! this activity by trying to e!it each other1s $riting an! spelling errors. !ra" the #icture (n this activity members split up into pairs or small groups. One person looks at a scene from a maga3ine or book (the lea!er shoul! cut out enough pictures, or bring in enough maga3ines for the club). "he other person has a pencil an! a blank piece of paper. "he person $ith the picture $ill try to !escribe everything he sees to the !ra$er. "his is goo! practice for using prepositions of place. 9hen the !escriber is finishe!, compare the !ra$ings to the real thing% 9hose is the closest to the originalCategories <or this game, one person thinks of a category, such as 6O=(E0. (n a circle, everyone must take a turn thinking of a 6ovie title (in English of course). (f someone takes too long to give an ans$er (the lea!er shoul! count to five) then that person is out an! a ne$ category begins. (f someone gives an ans$er that !oesn1t make sense or is incorrect, he is also out of the game. <or e5ample, if the category is =E>E"*?+E0 an! someone says #banana# that person is out. "he game continues until only one person is left% Who am $% (n this game, the lea!er prepares car!s $ith famous people1s names on them. "he lea!er tapes one car! on the back of each member. "hen everyone preten!s they are at a party an! asks each other questions to fin! out their o$n i!entities. 9hen someone guesses their o$n name correctly, the name7tag gets tape! to their front an! they continue to chat $ith the party guests until everyone is $earing the nametag on the front. &eopar'y (n this game, $hich is base! on the famous gamesho$ 4eopar!y, everyone $rites !o$n ten ans$ers to questions about themselves. *fter $riting !o$n the ans$ers, people have to form pairs or small groups an! try to fin! out $hat the questions are. Example& (ans$er @ purple) #9hat is your favorite colour-# #?lue.# #9hat colour !o you hate-# #>reen.# #9hat colour is your un!er$ear-# #'urple%# .ou can stop at three guesses if you $ant, or keep going until someone in the club can guess the question. (ot Seat (n this game, the club is split up into t$o teams. One member from each team sits facing the group. "he lea!er hol!s up a $or! (or $rites it on the boar! if you are in a classroom) for all of the team members to see e5cept for the t$o players in the hot seats. "he teams must try to get the person in the hot seat to guess the $or! or phrase. "he first person to guess correctly gets to stan! up an! a ne$ member from their team takes the hot seat. "he person on the other team has to remain in the hot seat until she gets an ans$er first. .ou can keep score or just play for fun. "his game can also be playe! in pairs. One pair member closes their eyes $hile the lea!er sho$s the $or! to the other pair members. "he first pair to get the $or! right gets a point. Warning! "his is a lou! game because people ten! to get e5cite! an! yell% )ro*en +elephone "his is a listening an! pronunciation activity that al$ays gets people laughing. "he lea!er first must think of a sentence or phrase an! $hisper it to the person besi!e her. "hat person $ill then $hisper $hat she hear! to the ne5t person. Each person can only say, #:an you please repeat that-# one time. 9hen the message reaches the en! of the chain that person must speak out lou!. Oftentimes the message $ill be completely !ifferent $hen it reaches the en!. "ry to fin! out $here the chain broke% (n a big group you can sen! the message t$o $ays an! fin! out $hich team comes closest to the real message. (* famous e5ample is the army message that starte! as #0en! reinforcements, $e1re going to a!vance# an! en!e! as #0en! three an! fourpence, $e1re going to a !ance.#) 8ere are some more E0+ activities.