Procedure: Make a circle. Ask participants/students to think of their name and to find an adjective, starting with the same letter, that illustrates an aspect of who they are. Students then take turns to say their name and introduce it with the adjective (e.g. Jolly Joan, Bouncy Bilal, Voracious Visnja, Antsy Ana, Earthy Einar, Cheeky Cleo!).

Tip: In addition to telling us something about each learner’s personality, the adjective functions as a memory technique to help both educator and students remember names. It is best done as a first activity for a group.

Procedure: Make a circle. Throw the ball to a participant/student, while clearly and loudly saying your name and then hers/his. This student then throws the ball to someone else, repeating the pattern (saying her/his own name and then the receiver’s name). The game goes on until everyone can play fast and without making mistakes.

Tip: Start with a simple round during which each participant throws the ball and says her/his own name. Play slowly and speed it up as students become better at remembering names.

Procedure: Ask participants to write something unusual about themselves on a slip of paper. Warn them that the content will be made public! Place all papers in a basket. Whenever you need a break, an energiser, during class, randomly draw two or three slips from the basket, read the contents to the class, and ask students to guess who it belongs to. If the person identified is not the author, (s)he stands up. Continue until the class finds the true author who is invited to  then briefly explain what he wrote on the slip of paper.

Tip: Use opportunities to help student reflect on the content and ask questions to the authors; point out interesting links to aspects that you find useful for building rapport in the group. Go through the basket until it’s empty; no one should be left out!

Procedure: Make a circle, leaving a gap between two of the participants. The student to the left of the gap then chooses a new neighbour by saying: “The space to my right is free. I wish  [insert name] to come to me”. The person called moves into place. The student left with an empty space on her right is next to wish for a new neighbor. Repeat the process until the whole group has been called.

Tip: It is important that each student be called at least once. Don’t leave anyone out!