Dear teachers,

If you are like me, I bet you love having a good stock of resources and activities ready to use at any moment during the class, for breaking the ice, for fixing some language issue or for those moments when we feel there’s a need to ditch the lesson plan.

Walton Burns has written 50 Activities for the First Day of School which I think is an essential toolkit for any teacher of English, either if you are starting your journey in the classroom or if you are a more experienced teacher as you will feel inspired to tailor and expand them according to your beloved students’ needs, hopes and wishes.

It’s a  compilation of creative and tangible resources for individual and group growth. And this is why I think that most of the activities in this book might work well at any given time, not just during the first day of School.

Walton shows that he is well aware of the importance of building rapport with learners and how trust plays an important part in developing self confidence and motivation in learning.

The activities are explained in a very clear and concise way and Walton includes examples as well as possible variations for teaching the same activity. They include interesting elements of games, they trigger our students’ curiosity, and they will help us create a relaxed atmosphere where learning is best cultivated.

The activities are designed to fit most of the teachers and students’ needs in the class: assessing grammar, vocabulary, fluency, writing, reading, speaking and listening to each other.

They will help learners:

• to develop fluency and confidence by sharing authentic feelings and personal stories 
• to focus on awareness of similarities, differences and roots among members of the class community. Total must to foster respect, tolerance, kindness as well as pride in our origin
• to journal about their learning and learning achievements: strengths and super powers. Also,  for introducing language learning awareness, which fosters self esteem and motivation to keep learning
• to set goals for their learning needs and to plan how they’ll get them.
• to brainstorm ideas and create their own stories: Learners as storytellers.
• to deal with questionnaires, timelines, listing, surveys for needs analysis
• to make decisions in designing rules for projects

How I read the book

I used color coding which worked fine for me:

Blue: Activities that I can use just as they are in the book

Yellow: Activities I want to tailor for my students
 
Green: Activities I can use for specific moments

  
I’m grateful for Walton’s book and really hope you can get inspired for your next class.

With love and gratitude,

Debbie