Creating Animated Video Icebreakers

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I remember the first time I saw a Common Craft video. I realized how powerful it could be in the classroom, and I used them in class many times. I even tried to make some on my own, but I soon realized that I didn`t have the artistic skills or the time necessary for such a project. Last week, during an EVO session, I came across PowToon, which is a tool to make awesome animated videos with just some clicks. The tool also offers  the possibility to edit as much as you like, but I decided to keep it simple and not spend too much time.  I showed what I created to a group of teachers, and the response was fantastic. They also realized the impact such videos could have in their classrooms.  However, some kept coming to me to help them figure out how to put their videos together. I really enjoy teaching people how to use new tools, so I decided to make a tutorial to help out. I hope it`s useful.

Ice Breakers are an effective way of starting a new term or school year. These interactive and fun activities help people to get to know each other and lead teachers into the lesson itself. When an ice breaker is well-designed and facilitated, it can really help get things off to a great start. I made a 321 animated introduction for all levels I teach, but I`ll explore them differently. Here are some suggestions on how to explore your introduction, but I am sure there are many other creative ways that I have not thought off.

• Show students the introduction and ask them what they can remember about you.
• Ask students to write down everything they have in common with you.
• Ask student to google  you to find out more and share.
• Tell students they should make a  321 introduction about themselves to share with the group - they could make a digital poster, record a video, or draw.

Ice Breakers Going Mobile

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Second Conditionals

Movie scene
Intermediate
warmer
Second conditionals

Have you seen this movie?
Would you like to?
What is it about?
What`s the worst thing that can happen to a person when someone breaks up with them?

1. If someone you cared a lot for broke up with you, what would you do to put yourself together soon? Make a list of at least 3 suggestions.

If someone I cared for broke up with me I`d...

2. Watch this scene and check if the character did any of the things you mentioned.



3. What would you do if you were in his shoes? Would you leave? Would you stay? Would you make a scene?

My Ice-breaker This Semester

• Any proficiency level
• Teens; Adults
• Ice-breaker
• Getting to Know

I prepared an introduction about me using animoto.



Showed students a wordle to make guesses about me:

Asked students to make a similar wordcloud (on a name card) To inform me about them. Check a tutorial on how to capture an image with JING here.

Next class I'll put all their words on a wordle wordcloud and share what I have learned with the rest of the group.

First Day of Class Activities

Open publication - Free publishing - More esl

Spanish Apartment- Movie Activity - Cultural Differences

In my experience it is hard to overestimate the importance of building a sense of community in our languge groups. Warming students and ourselves up for a language lesson enhances learning because it gives the individuals in class some time to interact and connect. Teachers and students alike need to tune in into both the target language and being in their groups, accepting differences and respecting opinions. I usually feel like I have to devote time to designing and gathering interesting activities to help the magic happen, but I have to confess that it's easy to fail. An activity might sound great in paper, but prove to be not so effective or interactive. This semester I'm planning to use a movie scene. As I was watching the movie The Spanish Apartment, I noticed that there's a scene in which the characters are trying to get to know a prospective roomate when they realize that the questions they have on their list are a little, let's say... odd. I thought about two activities to explore this funny scene in class.

Questions to Ourselves

Level Lower intermediate to advanced

Materials Sheets of paper, DVD or VCR, board

1 - Tell your students they will watch a segment from a movie called Spanish Apartment. Introduce the scene, purpose, characters, and other relevant information to activate learners' prior knowledge.
Tell class that a group of students from different countries is trying to get to know a prospective roomate. Ask: What kind of questions will they ask?
2 - Play the scene and ask students if any of the questions they thought of were asked. Ask students to describe the scene.
3- Ask students to think about a sport, hobby or outside interest they have and write twenty questions adressed to themselves. Write the questions on the board and vote for the best ones.
4- You could either have Meaningful Chairs or simply have pairs asking and answering the questions.

Tell Me About

Level Lower intermediate to advanced

Materials Sheets of paper, DVD or VCR, board

1 - Tell your students they will watch a segment from a movie called Spanish Apartment. Introduce the scene, purpose, characters, and other relevant information to activate learners' prior knowledge.

Tell class that a group of students from different countries is trying to get to know a prospective roomate. Ask: What kind of questions will they have?
2 - Play the scene and ask students if any of the questions they thought of were asked. Ask students to describe the scene.
3- Ask students to write more questions of their own that facilitate getting to know people on cards. You willl need enough to give one to each student. It does not matter if the questions are similar or duplicated.
4- Give everybody a card. The students all stand up and each one finds a partner. In each of the pairs, one student asks one of the questions from the card which they think their partner might be interested in answering. Then the partner does the same.
When the second conversation finishes, the pairs separate and look for new partners. They should again choose a question to ask. Continue as long as the activity is lively and engaging.

Acknowledgement: I've heard about Tell me About on issue 49 March 2007 English Teaching Professional.

Ice Breaker - An Approach to Connect People

A good ice-breaker

Connects

Comforts

Opens the way

Melts

Enlivens

I have planned some last year using flickr, photopeach and wordle.  This year I am planning others using some tools I regularly come across on twitter or blogs I read.

On Life Feast I learned about YouCube.

Asking Questions

Level Elementary to upper intermediate

Materials Whiteboard, notebooks, internet

Tool YouCube

Preparation - Choose short videos of things you enjoy on youtube, paste the URLS on YouCube and have them also on a flashdrive in case the net fails on you!

Procedures

1. Let your students explore the videos and the amazing interface YouCube provides us with.

2. Ask students to write down wh questions to ask you. Suppose one video is about capoeira. A question could be something like how often do you practice?

3. Have students ask you some questions, but tell them that the students who remembers the most details will get a nice surprise. I usually give a small treat to all the students and a bigger one for the winner of the challenge.

4. Have students make their own cubes as homework and repeat the activity on the following lesson.

Ice breakers

and now..., originally uploaded by Zero Rae.

An ice-breaker...

• Opens the way
• Sets the course
• Clears the path
• Facilitates the movement
• Cuts through barriers
• Breaks resistance

Icebreakers are more than fun and games. They are activities that help people connect. These creative interactive processes open the way to learning. I have been collecting activities that I usually use and adapt from. I have been thinking about how to add a digital twist to old timers.

Flickr -

I could take my students to the computer lab and ask them to share some of their pictures -

I could ask students to choose some pictures that they relate to and ask them to talk about themselves using the images.

Students could get in small groups and guess information about each other through the pictures they chose.

Photopeach

I've read about this great site on Life is a feast, you can learn more about this tool on her blog post. I really liked this web2.0 because it's user friendly and we can make visually rich quizzes to enliven our classes. I used Photopeach to upgrade an ice breaking activity called

What's True?

Students write sentences about themselves, preferably something funny or unusual that most people wouldn't know. one of the sentences should be a lie. students read their sentences aloud to the group and they try to guess which one is the false one.

This simple interactive activity can help you set the course and start a great semester! Have fun!

esl warmer on PhotoPeach

Wordle

For the very beginning of the semester we could use wordle to design an ice- breaker.

You could write a text about yourself, turn it into a cloud using wordle and ask students to guess pieces of information about you using the words. Students could do the same in the computer lab using wordle or on a blank sheet of paper.

This activity might generate lots of interaction and exchange of information among your learners.

What tool would you use to design an ice-breaker? How would you use it?