1. A WORKSHOP ON WARMERS
AND FILLERS
Manu Godard & Elaine Heyes

2. Our definition of a warmer
 Short (5 – 10 mins)
 Integrated into lesson plan
 Communicative
 Fun
 Challenging
 Non-threatening
 Element of surprise
 Adaptable
 Student-centred
 Easy to explain

3. Why use warmers / fillers / coolers?
Practical reasons:
 To delay the start of the class when
waiting for late-comers to arrive.
 When planned activities finish early
before a break or end of class.
 When interest / energy levels start to
fall and a change of focus or pace is
needed.

4. Why use warmers / fillers / coolers?
 To wake up students in early morning
classes.
 As ice-breakers at the beginning of a new
course.
 To change class distribution.
 To calm students down.
 For fun.
 For a strong finish.
 To buy time for the teacher.

5. Why use warmers / fillers / coolers?
Pedagogical reasons:
 Recycling of language
 Personalization
 Focus on production
 Provides a context for content to come
 Diagnostic

6. The UAB Idiomes top warmers

7. Listening comprehension

8. Listening / reading comprehension
 Chinese whispers / El teléfono
 Read and summarise short news stories
 Dictation – e.g. short dictagloss, coughing
dictation, running dictation
 One-minute news (BBC/Radio)
 Headlines around the class
 TV ads

9. Grammar points – powerpoint presentation

10. Grammar
 Grammar cards in bag with a gap-fill sentence on
each card
 Irregular verb cards
 Total cloze (totally gapped sentence) on board for
students to guess
 Very short grammar auction

11. Writing - using prompts

12. Writing
 Collaborative dictation – one student writes on
board while other students dictate
 Short chain story
 Write your own headline – students write a headline
to summarise their weekend

13. Speaking

14. Speaking
 5 questions (on powerpoint)
 Question of the day
 Spinning wheel / dice with questions
 60 seconds – timed discussions
 Speed dating (short version)

15. Get-to-know-you activities
 Find someone who
 “la estrella” / personal information gap-fill
 Personal information guessing
 Short psychology tests

16. Introduce a topic / lead-in
 Word dictation
 Wordsearch
 Visual powerpoint
 Sentence corrections
 Short role-plays
 Quiz

17. Vocabulary activties
 Anagrams
 Hangman
 Categories / “Stop”
 Taboo
 Pictionary
 Phonetic transcripts
 Pictures
 What can you remember? 1 minute to see a picture and remember
everything you saw
 “Pasapalabra”
 “Password”
 Call my bluff
 Scrabble
 Word maps
 On line Word games : http://www.wordplays.com/p/index

18. All-purpose activities
 Vocab box / bag
 Grammar box / bag
 Board game template to adapt
 Blockbusters for vocabulary revision
 Noughts and crosses for vocab or grammar
 Minimal pairs boards – to practise pronunciation
and recylce vocabulary

19. Beyond language activties
 Physical exercises
 Breathing exercises
 Music for stimulating imagination
 Humour & a good laugh

20. Recommended resources
 http://www.developingteachers.com/newsletterplan
s/News_warmers_nov1999.htm