A selection of English ESL warmers printables

A couple of warmers that I've used with my primary level students. 

These are just some ideas to engaged students in the class. 

Remember you can change the vocabulary to match what you are currently teaching

Warmers

I used this as a warmer with my elementary and pre-int class. Pictionary of random words that they have learnt.

Pictionary warmer

Put students in pairs, then tell them they’re going to act out psychologist and client. Client will describe his/her dream and they will interpret it together. Let them decide who will be the pscyhologist first.  Then make the pscyhologists close their eyes before showing the clients one of the four “dream images” in this document. They should describe the scene to their partners and invent some more events to the dream. Finally, they should interpret the dream together.



Warmer: Interpreting dreams

This is a fun activity for students to do in pairs as a warm up.  It works particularly well on a Monday morning when everyone might be tired and in need of an engergizer to get their English brains working again.  Different levels do well with different time limits.  C1 students should get no more than 5 minutes (in my experience) while A2 students do well with about 8 minutes.  

English Race (Warmer)

This mind map can be used as a warmer/pre-reading activity when dealing with London sights. Students complete the map with the names of the places they already know. By doing this they get ready for the task that follows (reading passage, matching activity etc.)

London sights - warmer

A warmer task for rainy days. Get students to interview each other and see who likes to do what on rainy days. Bless up, Kisdobos

On Rainy Days (Warmer)

This can be a quick ESL warmup activity in 2x3 minutes or you can devote more time to it if it fits your lesson aims, since it is an activity that sparks students' imagination and is guaranteed to keep them engaged.



Recommended for highschool students and adults, as the activity presupposes ability for abstract thought and working with symbols. 



How to do this warmer activity:



1.	Put students in pairs, then tell them about the activity: "You’re going to act out psychologist and client. The client is supposed to tell the the psychologist about his/her dream. You will interpret the dream together. You will take turns in being the psychologist and the client."



2.	The psychologists need to close their eyes. You then show the clients one of the three “dream scenes”. 



3.	Next, they should describe the dream to their partners by adding some more events to the dream scene depicted in the photo. 



4.	Finally, they should interpret the dream and the symbols in it together. 





Follow-up:



1. You can check the meaning of the various symbols in the dream scenes and discuss it with students:

http://dreammoods.com

Warmer: Interpreting dreams #2

The worksheet can be used for different categories as a warmer. Students get a certain time to find words within each category starting with the letters of the alphabet.

Warmer: Round the Alphabet

After years of teaching ESL and training TESOL teachers, I have compiled an anthology of tried and tested warmers, coolers and fillers. There are some old classics, as well as new ideas. Hope you enjoy! Any contributions welcomed, e-mail me: teacherdianarenke@gmail.com

Warmers, Coolers & Fillers Teachers' Handbook

Handout to use to recap at the start of a class.  4 tasks:
1) Days and dates with today/ yesterday and tomorrow
2) Shapes and number spellings
3) Hobbies with play (students can write different sports, games or music words)
4) Match hobbies words.

Dates, shapes and hobbies warmer

This is a great warmer activity and also a funny way of dividing the class into two or three groups. 







Each student is given a card that tells them which line they are in, where exactly in the line and what they are doing and what their neighbors are doing. They have to find their place by observing their neighbors. The students all start their activities, and stand next to their neighbor once they've found him/her.







Follow up: Once students have found their places, you can get them to strike up a conversation with one of their neighbors while staying in their character, or perhaps enact improv scenes with 3-6 people in one line, and the other students being the audience.

Standing in Line - Role Play Warmer

Fun Warmer / Review activity for practising the Past Participles. Perfect activity to start off a lesson on 'Experiences' (presen. perfect). Game time is about 10-15 minutes. Check out my blog for ideas how to usethis game wit other language and to get a free template..

Concentration - Past Participle Review / Warmer Activity

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

60 Warmers English ESL worksheets pdf & doc