Name Memory Game--First Day Ice Breaker Activity

(TESOL Ideas--Icebreakers)

            I probably can’t take credit for inventing this idea, but I’ve used it often enough that I can claim it as one of my regular activities.

            The first day of class, I have the students go around the room and introduce themselves.  As we go around the room, each student has to remember the names of all the students before them. 

            For lower-level students, I also emphasize practicing useful phrases like “My name is _____________,” “This is ___________________” (or “His/Her name is ___________________”).  For more advanced students who have long since mastered these introductory phrases, I’m less strict about making them talk in full sentences.

            This game is a great way to help me learn the students’ names on the first day of class, and it also helps the students learn each other’s names.

            At the end of the game the students will usually insist I try and remember all the names myself, and I do my best.

            Often I’ll pretend to be confused about which end of the class I want to start the memory game from, and then eventually have the students play rock-paper-scissors to determine which end of the room gets to start, and which end of the room is stuck remembering all the names.

            To make the game more difficult, it’s also possible to add different information, such as favorite food, likes, dislikes, et cetera.

           Using verbs, the game can also used in this way to practice the 3rd person “s”.  (“I like pizza.  He likes fish.” etc).