The problem with most "getting to know you" activities is that they're boring for students who have done them fifty times before. "Tell us your name, where you're from, and one interesting fact." The class sits through twenty identical rounds. Nobody remembers anything. Nobody learned to trust each other.
A new class of ESL students needs more than names. They need to know the room is safe enough to speak imperfectly. They need to hear each other as humans, not as language levels. And they need a reason to actually want to talk to the person next to them.
YapYapGo is a classroom speaking practice tool for ESL and EFL teachers that works just as well on day one as it does all term. But these activities need nothing - they're designed specifically for the first lesson with a brand new group.Why first lessons matter so much
Research on foreign language anxiety is clear: the classroom climate established in the first one or two lessons strongly predicts students' willingness to speak for the rest of the term. Students who feel judged, bored, or invisible in early lessons develop habits of silence that are hard to break.
The goal of a first lesson isn't to teach language. It's to lower the affective filter enough that language learning can begin. You want students to leave thinking "I can speak in this class" - not "I hope I don't make a fool of myself."
Activities that actually work
1. The honest interview (pairs, 8 minutes)
Ban boring questions. Explicitly tell students they cannot ask: name, nationality, occupation. Those are off limits.
Instead, give them a list of genuinely interesting starters:
- "What's something you're surprisingly good at?"
- "What's the last thing that made you laugh properly?"
- "What's a belief you hold that most people around you disagree with?"
- "What's something you find fascinating that most people find boring?"
Pairs interview each other for four minutes each. Then each student introduces their partner to another pair - not reciting facts, but sharing the most interesting thing they learned.
The ban on boring questions does two things: it signals that this class will be different, and it generates the kind of genuine curiosity that makes people actually want to talk.
2. Find someone who... (whole class mingle, 8 minutes)
Give students five prompts to circulate with:
- "Find someone who has lived in more than one country"
- "Find someone who learned something new in the last week"
- "Find someone who disagrees with you about something"
- "Find someone who has an unusual skill or hobby"
- "Find someone who is learning English for an unexpected reason"
Students circulate, have brief conversations, and tick off each prompt when they find a match. They must speak to different people for each one.
The mingle format is ideal for first lessons because no one is trapped with a partner they find intimidating. Everyone keeps moving. The class feels energetic from the start. A random student picker is useful at the end to call on students to share what they found.
3. Two truths and a mission (pairs, 6 minutes)
A twist on the classic. Each student tells their partner:
- Two true things about themselves
- One thing they hope to achieve by the end of this course
Partner guesses which "truth" is false, then asks one question about the mission statement.
The mission element is useful for you as a teacher - it tells you why students are in the room and what they actually want. That information shapes everything you do for the next three months.
Tool tip: After the first day, YapYapGo's Free Conversation mode becomes a natural daily warm-up rotation. Students who've connected through first-day activities are far more willing to engage in pair work from lesson two onwards. The this-or-that generator is also perfect for early-term warm-ups - low-stakes binary choices that ease anxious students into speaking.
4. The life map (pairs, 10 minutes)
Students draw a simple timeline of their life with five significant moments marked on it. Stick figures and labels are fine - drawing ability is not the point. Then they share with a partner, who asks at least two questions about what they see.
The visual scaffold is particularly valuable for lower-level students. When words run out, they can point. The timeline also immediately reveals cultural differences, interesting life paths, and unexpected connections between students.
5. Same but different (groups of four, 8 minutes)
Groups of four have five minutes to find: three things they all have in common, and one thing that is unique to each person in the group. The commonalities must be non-obvious (not "we're all in this class").
The competitive element - finding both similarities and differences - keeps the conversation moving. Groups that finish early try to find a fourth thing in common. At the end, groups share their most surprising finding with the class.
6. Speed introductions (whole class, 6 minutes)
Every student stands. On your signal, they find the nearest person and have a 60-second conversation on a question you give them: "What brought you to this class?" Signal again - everyone moves and finds someone new. New question: "What do you do outside work or study?" Three or four rounds.
The time pressure removes the awkward "and what about you?" problem that drags conversations out. The movement keeps energy high. By the end, every student has spoken to four or five classmates.
After the activity: the class contract
At the end of the first lesson, spend five minutes establishing norms together. Ask students:
- "What makes you feel comfortable speaking in class?"
- "What would make this class feel unsafe?"
- "What do you want from this term?"
Write responses on the board. Photograph it. This becomes an implicit agreement about how the class will run - and it was co-created by students, which means they're more likely to hold each other to it.
For day two onwards, the challenge shifts from introductions to building a consistent speaking habit. See our post on 20 ESL warm-up activities for a full set of quick routines to open every lesson.
YapYapGo handles the ongoing pair work - random shuffling, levelled questions, built-in timers across six speaking modes. Free to start. A random team maker also helps if you want to form groups beyond pairs for activities like "Same but different."Sources:
- Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. - The Affective Filter: first impressions shape classroom anxiety all term.
- MacIntyre, P. et al. (1998). Conceptualizing Willingness to Communicate. The Modern Language Journal. - Community reduces anxiety and increases speaking willingness.
- Dörnyei, Z. & Murphey, T. (2003). Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press. - First lessons as foundation for group cohesion and participation.