Warmers and Fillers with EnglishClub

There are many reasons why you may need to use warmers and time fillers while working as an ESL teacher:

  • to focus or bring energy to each class in the first ten minutes or so
  • to break the ice with a new class of students
  • to fill a small block of time when a lesson runs shorter than you planned
  • to replace a lesson that students can't grasp or are bored with
  • to have on hand for emergencies such as broken audio-visual equipment or photocopiers
  • to use when you get parachuted in as a last-minute stand-in for another teacher

Some teachers use short games and activities on a daily basis, and others use them only when the need arises. Print out some of these warmers, activities, worksheets and even jokes, and place them in a special file or notebook to keep with you at all times. You never know when you might need to pull something fun and new out of your teaching hat!