[etni] "ice-breaker" activities

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Hi All,
      I'm looking for a great getting-to-know-you - or getting back together 
activity. I'll share my very favorite one ( picked up at ETAI probably, 
apologies to the originator of this wonderfully amusing activity!) - though 
probably many of you are already familiar with it. It's called "snowball 
fight". It goes like this:
             
     1. Each student takes out a piece of paper and writes four facts about 
him/herself. If the kids already know each other, they should be instructed to 
write things they're pretty sure their classmates don't know about them.
     2. After writing the facts, each student scrunches the paper up into a 
ball as if he/she were going to throw it out.

     3. On the count of 3, and for a pre-agreed number of seconds (30 is 
plenty) a "snowball fight" ensues. Kids throw their "ball" and and keep picking 
up and throwing others that are being thrown around until the signal is sounded 
for stopping.

      4. After the signal each student picks up the nearest "ball" and flattens 
it out to read it.

      5. The goal is to find out who wrote the sentences. The students 
circulate and must ask yes/no questions in English to determine who wrote the 
sentences. ( Not "Did you write this? but rather, "Do you have 3 cats?"or 
whatever the sentence tells about the author) As soon as someone answers a 
question with "no" move on to another student.

    6. As each student discovers who wrote the sentences, he/she sits down with 
the author and asks for more details about one or more of the facts. 

    7. This step can be oral or written, as each student introduces, or 
presents the information about the classmate he/she has interviewed.    

Of course, there can be many variations of steps 6 and 7. The great fun is in 
the throwing and then finding out who wrote the facts.

The reason I can't use this one this year is that nearly all of my classes are 
groups I taught last year , and naturally we started out last September with a 
"snowball fight"!
I'd really be glad to see some ideas other teachers have used  successfully.
            Best wishes for a rollicking good time this year!
                              Mitzi


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