the first day

the first class

Easy activities are the best way to start. Make a ball using a piece of paper and put students in a circle. Students then have to throw the ball to each other saying their names. You start by saying "My name is..." and ask them to repeat and throw the ball. The added advantage of this game is that if you play for about 10 minutes you can easily learn the names of all the students in the group.

From the start make them understand what they don't understand. Say "Stand up/sit down everybody" simultaneously doing it yourself and encouraging them with your hands-they are likely to do it as well.Tell someone to open/shut the window - do it with a proper gesture.Say "Come here, Peter", again inviting the student with your hand.They will be proud to follow your instructions. After that, try asking them to repeat the commands and act them out. It is also in the first lesson that I teach them to recognise some classroom expressions so that we can hold most of the lesson in English. These tricks and a good syllabus are half of our success.

If you still have time, you can ask them what English words they know, they soon get the hang of it when you give them one or two eg jeans, chewing gum, hot-dog, tennis,etc. They are impressed to see how many they know. Finish the lesson by saying "goodbye" to each one individually and getting them to say "goodbye Cristina" and "see you next time."

Take a doll or something else the kids might like to be the class mascot! Ask the students to give it a name and take it with you to all lessons! If possible, leave it with the students.

Simon Says game. Replace the name and use the mascot's name. Give instructions to students: "Simon says: sit down!", "Simon says: stand up!", etc After repeating the main ones several times ( you can do this in different ways: slow, fast, etc), ask a student to take the mascot and give instructions to the others.

Stand up/ sit down game. Give instructions to the students to sit down or stand up. Children must follow! Sometimes, change the order so that they start paying more attention to what you say.


"Who's Max?" game. After teaching the structures "My name is..." and "what's your name?", blindfold a student or turn him against the blackboard, and tell him to say aloud "What's your name?". The teacher chooses one student from the group and he should answer "My name is Max" but disguising his voice. The first child tries to guess who said it.

try to show them some rules. Dramatise or take pictures of good and bad behaviours sts have to say what's right or wrong. and why not make them sign a pact lol