* Please note that for the links to work properly you need to download the document from Slideshare to your computer . It’s September again and we’re back with a selection of activities for the first few weeks of school. This month, Ewa brings us a couple of ideas that will help you kick-start the new school year. First, we’ve put together a few getting to know you activities to encourage your students to start up a conversation with each other. There are also a couple of warm-up games, a newspaper project and a reading challenge.

1. 1
September – Back to School!
It’s September again and we’re back with a selection of activities for the first few weeks of school. In
this issue of Enseñamos Juntos, we have a couple of ideas that will help you kick-start the new school
year. First, we’ve put together a few getting to know you activities to encourage your students to
start up a conversation with each other. There are also a couple of warm-up games, a newspaper
project and a reading challenge. Are you ready? New school year, here we go…!
Contents
1. Two truths and a lie – All levels ..........................................................................................................2
2. Stolen secrets – All levels....................................................................................................................2
3. A twist in the tale – B1+
→ B2..............................................................................................................2
4. Roll the dice! – B1 → B2......................................................................................................................3
5. Find someone who… – All levels.........................................................................................................4
6. Reading challenge for 2016 – 2017 – All levels..................................................................................5
7. Holiday Fun - Newspaper project – B1+
→ B2......................................................................................6
8. Circles and lines – All levels.................................................................................................................6
9. Bananas – All levels.............................................................................................................................7

2. 2
1. Two truths and a lie – All levels
Hand out small pieces of paper to your students and ask them to write down three to five sentences
about themselves. Some of these sentences will be true, and others will be false. Give them a few
minutes to think about what they want to write down. Then, ask them to read out loud their
sentences and have the rest of the class guess which sentence is false.
Variation: Ask your students to sit in a circle. Each student should tell the rest of the class what
he/she did this summer. Can the class tell whether their description is true or false?
2. Stolen secrets – All levels
Make sure you have a stack of post-it notes ready for this activity. Hand out one post-it note to
every student and ask them to write down something about themselves that nobody else in the
classroom knows. The “secrets” can be very basic, such as I drink hot chocolate every
day for breakfast, but can also be unique, creative or even bizarre, e.g. I’ve travelled
to five different countries; In Primary School my lunch box used to be pink and green;
When I grow up, I’d like to be an astronaut. It all depends on the ideas your pupils
have. After you have given them the time to create their sentences, ask them to stick
their post-it note somewhere on the wall or on a piece of furniture around them. Then,
each student should stand up and choose one post-it out of all the others that have
been placed around the classroom (except the one that they know is theirs!) and sit
down again at their desks. Can they guess whose secret they have “stolen”?
3. A twist in the tale – B1+
→ B2
In this activity, students have the opportunity to create a story in groups. Hand out a slip of paper to
each group with one sentence that is to be the beginning of their story. You can use the following
link if you need interesting ideas for “story starters”: http://www.thestorystarter.com/jr.htm, or
simply make up your own. In groups, every student should create at least one sentence and write it
down on a piece of paper, e.g.
Story starter: It was a dark, cold night, and Peter was walking home alone through a dense forest.
Student A: He was walking as quickly as he could because the darkness scared him.
Student B: “I wish I had stayed the night at my Grandma’s place!” He thought, looking around and
checking whether someone or something was watching him.
Student C: Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around but couldn’t see anything.
“Who’s there?” he called.
Once your pupils have written down their stories, ask each group to share it with the rest of the
classroom. Then, right down different writing genres on the board: horror, thriller, comedy, fantasy,
science-fiction, etc. Which story belongs to which genre? This is also a great opportunity for you to
talk to your students about different types of fiction and analyse their similarities and differences.

3. 3
4. Roll the dice! – B1 → B2
This is a fun conversation game that your students can play in groups of four to six. Each group
should have two dice. If you happen to have different coloured dice, one can be for the horizontal
numbers and the other for the vertical numbers. If not, let your students decide. Hand out one
worksheet to each group and make sure that every student gets their turn in throwing the dice.
Encourage your students to give full, detailed answers. Please note that the table below is only an
example, feel free to prepare your own!
1 2 3 4 5 6
1
Tell us
about your
best friend.
MISS A
TURN
What did
you do over
the
summer?
Tell us
about your
family!
What’s your
favourite
animal and
why?
What’s your
favourite
season and
why?
2
What’s your
favourite
school
subject?
Do you like
playing
computer
games?
ROLL THE
DICE
AGAIN!
What did
you do last
weekend?
What would
your
perfect day
be like?
What’s your
favourite
song?
3
Tell us
about your
dream
holiday!
ROLL THE
DICE
AGAIN!
What’s your
favourite
film and
why?
What would
you do if
you won the
lottery?
MISS A
TURN
Do you have
any pets?
Tell us
about them!
4
If you had
one
superpower,
what would
it be and
why?
ASK
ANYONE A
QUESTION
OF YOUR
CHOICE
What’s your
favourite
book
character
and why?
If you
could be
anywhere in
the world
right now,
where
would you
be and
why?
ROLL THE
DICE
AGAIN!
Talk about
your
favourite
book.
5
What’s your
favourite
food?
MISS A
TURN
What’s your
favourite
sport?
Why?
ROLL THE
DICE
AGAIN!
What do
you want to
be when
you grow up
and why?
What did
you have
for lunch
yesterday?
6
Tell us
about an
interesting
hobby you
have!
ASK
ANYONE A
QUESTION
OF YOUR
CHOICE
What’s your
house like?
If you had
three
wishes,
what would
they be?
What is one
thing you’re
really good
at?
Who’s your
favourite
superhero
and why?

4. 4
5. Find someone who… – All levels
This is great icebreaker where children can ask questions about one another and get to know each
other better. Hand out the below worksheet to each student and ask them to walk around the
classroom and talk to their classmates. Can they answer all the questions?
Find some who…
1 has travelled by airplane before.
2 has a cat.
3 has a dog.
4 has a sister.
5 has a brother.
6 walks to school.
7 takes the bus to school.
8 like reading.
9 is left-handed.
10 speaks two languages.
11 has lived in a different country.
12 plays the piano.
13 can ride a horse.
14 draws beautiful pictures.
15 can sing very well.
16 likes playing board games.
17 plays the guitar.
18 is very good at sports.
19 writes amazing stories.
20 likes maths.

5. 5
6. Reading challenge for 2016 – 2017 – All levels
Looking for different ways to encourage your students to read in English? Try
giving them a reading challenge. Tell them that their goal is to read a total of ten
books throughout the whole school year (the number of books should vary,
depending on your students’ level of English, overall workload, etc.). You can
either choose the title of the books for them, or they can choose themselves.
Prepare a table for each student like the one below where they can introduce the details of the book
they are reading. When they have finished a book, ask your students to write “yes” in the “finished?”
column, or stick a sticker to show that they are finished, etc.
Nº Book title Author Finished?
1 The Snowman Raymond Briggs
2 The Sheep-Pig Dick King-Smith
3 Milo and the Magical Stones Marcus Pfister
4 Truckers Terry Pratchett
5 Mandy Julie Andrews
6
7
8
9
10
Congratulations! You have successfully completed this year’s Reading Challenge! Go to
Ms. Pérez to find out what your prize is… 

6. 6
7. Holiday Fun - Newspaper project – B1
+
→ B2
This is a fun activity that can be extended into a project that your students would work on both at
school and at home. Your students have just returned from the summer holidays and have plenty of
stories to tell for sure. Ask them to tell their classroom friends about their favourite adventure from
the summer holidays. Then, tell them that they are journalists and that they are writing for the
Classroom Paper. The topic of this month´s issue is Holiday Fun. Each student should prepare their
own newspaper in which they can include the highlights from their holidays. Make sure that each
newspaper entry they decide to include has a proper journalistic format: it can be an article, a
photographic report, a review of a film they saw or of the hotel they stayed at, an interview with a
new friend or other interesting person they met during their time away from school, etc. Remind
them that each entry should have a proper headline written in journalistic style, for
e.g. “Family spots dolphin while on ferry trip”, or “Exclusive interview with a true
New Yorker”. This is a good opportunity to introduce new vocabulary and teach them
how to report facts in an objective style. Make sure your students are as creative as
possible: they can include photos to illustrate each entry or even their own drawings if they want to.
8. Circles and lines – All levels
This is an entertaining icebreaker that will help your students realise all the things they have in
common! Children are asked to line up in a certain order, previously specified by the teacher, or to
gather in a group or “blob”, based on something they have in common. Here are some examples:
 Gather with people who have the same hair colour as you
 Gather with people who have the same eye colour as you
 Gather in two groups: those who are wearing jeans and those who aren’t
 Gather in two groups: those who are wearing trainers and those who aren’t
 Line up in order of your birthdays
 Line up in alphabetical order by your names
 Gather with people whose clothes are the same colour as yours

7. 7
9. Bananas – All levels
This game is suitable for all levels, and is a great way for children to practice forming
questions in English. Additionally, it is a lot of fun and you can use it as a warm-up
exercise.
Choose one student to sit down on a chair in front of the whole classroom to be “it”. The rest of the
children are to ask him/her questions, but “it” can only answer by saying “bananas” and try to keep
a straight face. When “it” laughs, randomly choose someone else to replace them.