40 ESL warm-up activities

Find someone who

10 minA2+2 min prep

1. Write 6–8 prompts on the board: "Find someone who… has a pet / woke up before 6 / can cook couscous".
2. Learners stand up, ask "Do you…? / Have you…? / Can you…?" and write a classmate's name next to each prompt.
3. Stop when someone has a name for every prompt. Ask two or three learners to report back: "Sara has a cat."

Tip: Write the prompts with today's grammar so the warmer previews the lesson.

Two truths and a lie

10 minA2+No prep

1. Tell the class three sentences about yourself: two true, one false. Learners guess the lie.
2. Each learner writes three sentences about themselves.
3. In groups of three, they read them out and the others ask one question each before guessing.

Would you rather…?

5 minA2+No prep

1. Write a question on the board: "Would you rather live by the sea or in the mountains?"
2. Learners stand on one side of the room for each answer, or raise a hand.
3. Pairs on opposite sides explain their choice to each other with "because".

Just a minute

10 minB1+No prep

1. Give a simple topic: "breakfast", "my phone", "the weekend".
2. One learner in each group talks for 60 seconds without stopping.
3. The group listens for one interesting detail to ask about at the end. Rotate topics and speakers.

Tip: Lower levels: 30 seconds and a list of 3 questions on the board to help.

Question chain

5 minA1+No prep

1. Ask one learner a question: "What's your favourite food?"
2. That learner answers and asks the next learner a different question.
3. Keep going round the class. No question can be repeated.

Picture talk

5 minA2+2 min prep

1. Show one interesting photo connected to today's topic.
2. Pairs answer: "Where is this? Who are these people? What happened just before?"
3. Collect the best ideas and use them to lead into the lesson.

Weekend in three words

5 minA2+No prep

1. Each learner writes three words that describe their weekend (e.g. "rain, cousins, pizza").
2. In pairs, the partner guesses the story and asks questions in the past simple.
3. Ask a few pairs for the most surprising story.

Agree or disagree

10 minB1+No prep

1. Write a short opinion on the board: "Homework should be optional."
2. Learners write 0–10 to show how much they agree.
3. They find someone with a very different number and explain their reasons.

Hot seat interview

10 minA2+No prep

1. One learner sits at the front as a famous person or a character from the last lesson.
2. The class asks yes/no questions to find out who it is.
3. The learner who guesses takes the hot seat.

Board race

10 minA1+No prep

1. Divide the board in two and the class into two teams. Give each team a marker.
2. Call out a category ("things in a kitchen"). One learner per team runs and writes a word, then passes the marker.
3. After 2 minutes, count the correct, correctly spelled words.

Tip: Large class: play in rows, passing a paper forward instead of running.

Backs to the board

10 minA2+No prep

1. One learner from each team sits with their back to the board.
2. Write a word from the last lesson on the board.
3. Teammates explain it without saying it, gesturing or translating. First to say the word wins a point.

Alphabet race

5 minA2+No prep

1. In pairs, learners write A–Z down the side of a page.
2. Give a topic (food, jobs, travel). They write one word for each letter in 3 minutes.
3. Pairs swap and check; one point for each word nobody else has.

Odd one out

5 minA1+2 min prep

1. Write four words on the board: "bus, train, ticket, taxi".
2. Pairs decide which one is different and why.
3. Accept any good reason: there is often more than one answer.

Hangman with a twist

5 minA1+No prep

1. Draw the gaps for a word or a short phrase from last lesson.
2. Learners guess letters; after each correct letter, the guesser says a sentence with any word on the board so far.
3. The learner who completes the word gives the next one.

Word association chain

5 minA2+No prep

1. Say a word: "summer". The next learner says a word they connect with it: "beach".
2. Anyone can challenge: "Why?" The speaker must explain the link.
3. Write the most useful words on the board for later.

Categories (Scattergories)

10 minA2+No prep

1. Write 5 categories: a country, an animal, a job, a food, a verb.
2. Say a letter. Teams write one word for each category starting with it.
3. Unique answers score 2 points, shared answers 1.

Mind map the topic

5 minA2+No prep

1. Write today's topic in the middle of the board.
2. Pairs have 2 minutes to write every word they know about it.
3. Build one class mind map; the gaps show you what to pre-teach.

Collocation dominoes

10 minB1+2 min prep

1. Write verbs on one side of the board (make, do, take, have) and nouns on the other.
2. Teams take turns joining a verb and a noun that go together and saying a sentence.
3. Correct collocations score; the team must say why a wrong one doesn't work.

Describe and draw

10 minA2+2 min prep

1. Learner A has a simple picture; learner B has a blank page.
2. A describes the picture without showing it; B draws.
3. Compare. Focus on prepositions: next to, behind, in the top left corner.

Sentence auction

10 minB1+2 min prep

1. Write 8 sentences on the board, some correct and some with one mistake.
2. Teams have 100 points to bid on the sentences they think are correct.
3. Reveal the answers. Teams lose the points spent on wrong sentences.

Tip: Use real mistakes from your learners' last homework.

Jumbled sentences

5 minA1+2 min prep

1. Write the words of a sentence in the wrong order: "to / been / ever / you / Have / Japan / ?"
2. Pairs race to write the correct sentence.
3. The first pair to finish reads it aloud and answers the question.

Finish my sentence

5 minA2+No prep

1. Say the beginning of a sentence: "If I won a lot of money, I'd…"
2. Each learner finishes it in their own way.
3. The class votes for the most creative ending.

Tense timeline

10 minB1+No prep

1. Draw a line on the board: past, now, future.
2. Read sentences aloud; learners point to where the action is on the line.
3. Ask "How do you know?" to bring out the form.

Stand up if…

5 minA1+No prep

1. Say sentences with today's structure: "Stand up if you have ever eaten sushi."
2. Learners stand when the sentence is true for them.
3. Ask one standing learner a follow-up question: "When did you eat it?"

Fix the teacher

5 minA2+No prep

1. Tell a short story about your weekend with 4–5 grammar mistakes.
2. Learners write down every mistake they hear.
3. Pairs compare, then correct the sentences on the board together.

Chain story

10 minA2+No prep

1. Start a story in the past: "Last Saturday, I woke up and saw a strange box at my door."
2. Each learner adds one sentence with a past tense verb, linking with "then", "after that" or "suddenly".
3. Write the verbs on the board as you go and check the irregular forms at the end.

Questions to the answer

5 minA2+No prep

1. Write answers about yourself on the board: "2015", "my sister", "pizza".
2. Learners guess the questions: "When did you start teaching?"
3. Accept a question only when it is grammatically correct.

Simon says (with today's verbs)

5 minA1+No prep

1. Give instructions with or without "Simon says": "Simon says touch your nose."
2. Learners only move when they hear "Simon says".
3. Let a learner lead the next round.

Line up!

5 minA1+No prep

1. Learners line up in order without speaking their first language: by birthday, by height, by distance from home.
2. They have to ask each other in English: "When's your birthday?"
3. Check the order by asking each learner to say their answer.

Four corners

5 minA2+2 min prep

1. Label each corner: A, B, C, D (or Strongly agree → Strongly disagree).
2. Read a question with four answers. Learners walk to their corner.
3. Learners in each corner explain their choice to each other, then one reports to the class.

Mingle and swap

10 minA2+2 min prep

1. Give each learner a card with a question.
2. They find a partner, ask and answer, then swap cards.
3. After 5 minutes, ask for the most interesting answer they heard.

Charades

10 minA1+2 min prep

1. Write verbs or phrases from the last lesson on slips of paper.
2. A learner mimes one; their team guesses within 30 seconds.
3. Teams swap turns. Use the present continuous: "You're swimming!"

Spelling bee relay

5 minA1+No prep

1. Teams stand in lines.
2. Say a word; each learner in the line says the next letter.
3. A wrong letter sends the word to the other team.

Chat box waterfall

5 minA2+No prep

1. Ask a question: "What did you have for breakfast?"
2. Everyone types the answer but does not press Enter.
3. Say "Go!": all answers appear together. Pick two to follow up.

Show me something…

5 minA1+No prep

1. Say "Show me something blue / something old / something you use every day."
2. Learners find it at home and hold it to the camera.
3. Each learner says one sentence about their object.

Emoji story

10 minA2+No prep

1. Post 4–5 emojis in the chat.
2. Learners write a short story that uses all of them, in the past simple.
3. Two or three volunteers read theirs aloud.

Guess the zoomed picture

5 minA1+2 min prep

1. Share a very zoomed-in photo of an object.
2. Learners guess in the chat with "It might be… / It could be…".
3. Zoom out step by step until someone is right.

Breakout room speed chat

10 minA2+No prep

1. Post three questions in the chat.
2. Send learners to breakout rooms in pairs for 3 minutes.
3. Bring everyone back and ask each pair for one thing they have in common.

Rate it 1–10

5 minA2+No prep

1. Name something: "Mondays", "pineapple on pizza", "homework".
2. Learners type a number from 1 to 10 in the chat.
3. Ask the highest and lowest numbers to explain why.

Typing race

5 minA1+No prep

1. Say a category: "things in your bedroom".
2. Learners type as many words as they can in the chat in 60 seconds.
3. Count unique, correctly spelled words.