martin.sankofi.com

It's back to first classes again, I've always kind of enjoyed Find someone who"- in all kinds of variations. But not enough to doing them again this year. I've done a mystery teacher exercise today, which I find worked relatively well. I first saw this activity in Portugal, wher a teacher introduced me as a mystery guest and had the students ask me yes/no questions and introduce themselves by first names. This way I got to learn their names and they learned a few things about myself.Students seem less reluctant to ask questions then to speak about themselves, especially when you are in agroup where you are the only new person – The ESL Cafe is still around, I was happy to find out, Paul Surette from South Korea posted a nice activity, which I'm going to try out with my other new group. 

If it doesn't work, there are still hundreds of other activities in the Ice Breaker section

Sean Banville, the "Breaking News guy" has also published a recommendable e-book with lots (1000) activities, some of which are good first class activities.