The first day of any new class can be intimidating for everyone. For beginner ESL students, there’s an added layer of uncertainty. The language barrier can make those first-day jitters even stronger.

That’s why I think a good first-day activity needs to do more than just fill the first 20 minutes.

Students need to know right away that their classroom is a safe place where they can speak, make mistakes, and ask questions without worrying about getting everything perfect.

PIn It!

A good ice breaker should be simple, yet meaningful. And, of course… it has to be fun!

Most importantly, you want your students to trust you, and trust takes time.

But you can get started right away with this icebreaker. It will give you a major boost, right from the start.

In this low-prep activity, you create situations where they actually need to ask in real time.

Create the problem, and then solve it. That’s how you gain their trust as a teacher.

If you’d like to jump right in, you can check out the resource I use for first days in ESL. It’s here.

The Importance of Teaching Basic Language Questions

New teachers might be asking themselves:

Should I make them ask correctly before I answer?

Or should I just answer the question and move on?

Honestly, when you’re trying to keep the lesson moving, I say just answer the question.

Problem solved. Right?

Well… sort of.

The student got the information they needed, but it was a missed opportunity to help them communicate more effectively in English.

An experienced ESL teacher can do both. Answer the question and gently model the language the student needs:

Student: “What means apple?”
Teacher: “You can ask, ‘What does apple mean?’ An apple is a fruit.”

The student gets their answer and they also hear the correct question.

But that’s still not enough.

Hearing a correction (whether it’s once or even dozens of times) doesn’t mean a student will automatically start using it right away.

We wouldn’t have a job if students could do that!

So I came up with an even better way to handle this: practice the questions before students need them.

When students can confidently say:

• “What does it mean?”
• “How do you spell it?”
• “Could you say that again?”
• “Could you slow down?”
• “How do you pronounce it?”

You won’t have to stop every few minutes to figure out what they are trying to ask—

-and students don’t have to worry about asking the question while they’re already struggling to understand the lesson of the day.

More importantly, you’re giving students language they can take with them into every English-speaking situation they encounter. They don’t just learn the answer to one question. They learn how to get the answer themselves.

And that’s a much more valuable skill.

Now let’s get into how it works.

How To Run It

You can do this with almost any group and with very little preparation.

Step 2: Explain The Activity

Give each students a slip of paper with space for writing 3-5 sentences. You’re going to read some sentences to them, and they will write down what they hear.

But there’s a catch.

You’re intentionally going to make some of the sentences difficult to understand.

Their job isn’t necessarily to understand everything immediately.

Their job is to listen and ask questions when they need help.

Step 3: Read The First Sentence In Your Set

Start with a sentence that is fairly easy.

For example:

“My favorite food is pizza.”

Then read the next sentence much faster.

“I went to the farmers market with my sister.”

You’ll get a lot of gasps, groans, and giggles this time, and this is what you want! Students will now have to refer to their language phrases to access,

“Could you slow down a little, please!?”

And they will.

Read the sentence again slower.

On the third sentence, increase the challenge again.

Maybe you introduce a word students are unlikely to know:

“My favorite fruit is a pomegranate.”

If a student doesn’t know pomegranate, they’ll have to ask. They’ll look at their handout, and say to you in perfect, spotless English:

“What does pomegranate mean?”

I can’t help you explain what a pomegranate is, but I can tell you that you’ve just solved a very real problem in a very short time.

Win.

Continue reading sentences, each time adding or combining difficulties.

• You could read the next one in a whisper, so they have to ask you to speak up a little.
• You could read it in a mumbled voice, so they have to ask you to repeat yourself.
• Or do a combo, where you read really fast, with new words they can’t spell, in a whisper.

By the third or fourth sentence, students will have caught on to the game, and they’ll really get into it.

Important To Note: Don’t answer their questions or acknowledge their requests until they have asked the questions correctly. Give them a healthy dose of side-eye, and give them time to look up the correct phrasing.

This is where you are fine-tuning their skills and correcting incorrect language habits.

Step 4: Compare and Correct

After reading, students can pair up and compare their sentences.

After a few minutes, I do a whole-class correction. I ask them to check punctuation and capitalization, as well as review errors in spelling or grammar.

Step 5: Give Students A Go! (Optional)

If you want to take it a step further, take yourself out of the equation.

Give students their own sets of sentences to read for their group or the class. Monitor again for correct question formation.

Students find this part really fun, as they try to make their sentences super fast or unintelligible in other ways. It’s so much fun that they forget to be nervous, and that’s exactly what we want.

Why I Like This Activity

One of my favorite things about this activity is that it takes some of the fear out of asking questions.

Students quickly discover that asking for clarification doesn’t stop the conversation.It keeps the conversation going.

Tailor It for Different Levels

Another nice thing about this activity is that you can make it as easy or challenging as your students need.

Beginners

Keep the sentences short and focus on just one or two questions:

• “What does ___ mean?”
• “How do you spell ___?”

You can also write the questions on the board so students have a visual reminder.

Intermediate Students

Add “Could you repeat that?” or “Could you say that again?”

Use longer sentences and less familiar vocabulary.

You can also have students work in pairs and practice asking each other for clarification.

More Advanced Students

Make the listening challenge more natural.

Read quickly, use longer sentences, introduce idioms or unfamiliar vocabulary, or give students information they need to remember.

You can also challenge students to think of their own clarification questions.

Turn It Into a Classroom Habit

The real value of this activity isn’t just the few minutes you spend doing it on the first day.

It’s what happens afterward.

Once students have practiced these questions in a fun, low-pressure situation, you can keep encouraging them to use them throughout the year.

Instead of immediately translating a word, you might say:

“What could you ask me?”

Instead of automatically repeating yourself:

“What can you say if I was talking too fast?”

You’re teaching students that they have tools they can use when communication gets difficult.

And those tools are useful far beyond the classroom.

Want to Make This First-Day Ice Breaker A Breeze?

I created a ready-to-use version of this activity for ESL teachers who want to introduce classroom language without spending a lot of time preparing.

ESL Classroom Language for Meaning, Spelling & Listening gives students repeated practice with asking for clarification, understanding meaning, and asking for spelling—all while listening to sentences that intentionally give them a reason to use those questions.

It’s a simple, low-prep warm-up that works especially well when you’re starting a new class and want students to get comfortable communicating with you.

👉 Check out the ESL Classroom Language resource on Teachers Pay Teachers

You can use it on the first day, during the first week, or anytime you have a group that needs a little more confidence speaking up.

Because sometimes the most useful thing we can teach our students isn’t another grammar rule.

It’s how to say:

“Wait… I didn’t understand that. Could you say it again?”

I’d love to know your thoughts on this activity! Leave a comment below and subscribe for more helpful tips for ESL teachers and students!

Happy Teaching!

-Elsa