Don’t Break the Ice. Build Community with Classroom Community Builders.

Tired of doing the same old icebreaker on the first day of class? Sick of choosing between doing a fun activity or getting down to work?

Classroom Community Builders solves the problem. Each activity is designed to build community in the classroom, but also help students practice language work! And let’s not forget that nothing builds classroom community better than working together as a team toward a clear objective, so most of these activities work as group projects. In fact all the activities are highly adaptable and are described with variations so you can fit them into your class with your students!

A good mix of classroom favorites and more creative activities such as:

• Culture Shock: Students talk about how they do different things in their culture such as greet a person or give a gift.
• Good Teacher / Good Student: Discuss what makes a good teacher and what makes a good student.
• Syllabus Scavenger Hunt: An interactive way to teach the syllabus and build community!
• Sentence Auction: Evaluate language knowledge while community building.
• Different Thoughts: Brainstorm different ways to do a simple task, while showing students why working as a team is better than working alone.
• Plane Crash Survival: A classic survival task that teaches students the importance of a diverse range of voices in a community.
• Sorting Line: A great classroom community builder than also has students practicing communication skills.
•  Picture Flashing: Students are given 3 seconds to look at a picture, then describe it to a partner. Strong descriptive skills and teamwork required!

There are also roleplays, logic puzzles, tasks, ideas for getting-to-know-you activities, and even ways to help the students get to know you, the teacher! A great resource for the new teacher, the CELTA graduate, or even an experienced educator looking for some new ideas!

Preview Classroom Community Builders

• Take a look inside by downloading the Table of Contents and Sample Activities.
• Browse all our resources for creating community in the classroom.
• Read more about why I wrote the book.