From Laura K. Lawless,
Your Guide to French Language.
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Most language teachers find that there is a bit of dead time during class. This may occur at the beginning of class, as the students are arriving; at the end of class, as they are thinking about leaving; and right in the middle of class, when transitioning from one lesson to another. During this dead time, the best option is to spend five or ten minutes on a short, interesting activity, like the Name Game.


Set up

None.


Activity

Beginning at one end of the classroom, have the first student introduce herself (Bonjour, je m'appelle Laura). The next student then introduces himself (Bonjour, je m'appelle Paul) as well as the previous student (et elle s'appelle Laura). The third student introduces herself as well as the two previous students, and so on through the classroom. Once everyone has been introduced, the teacher then introduces him/herself and goes through the entire classroom naming all of the students.

Useful for

• First day of class
• Greetings
• Introductions

Notes

Obviously, the first few students get off pretty easily while the last students have a harder time, so you might want to have the first few take a second turn at the end, during which they have to name all of the students.

Interested in more warm-up activities and fillers? Take a look at the index.

What kind of warm-up activities work best in your language classes? Let us know!