Icebreaker Warm-up: Visualization

Posted on by kubraf

The TOP 15 games that are presented in the following posts are the games that we personally love playing in the classroom with my students’. They are from the book “Games for Language Learning” by Cambridge university (reference can be found below).

GAME #13

Language

Recognizing and mentally carrying out instructions (i.e. imperatives) and using oral descriptions to create mental images

Preparation

Find or prepare a visualization script. (See the example in step 3 below.)

Most people can see pictures in their minds, particularly when the pictures are described. At the beginning of a class, a visualization activity can help the learners to relax and focus on their work in the lesson ahead, and it emphasizes both pleasure and success.

Procedure

  1. Introduce the idea of relaxing, with the learners looking at you as you speak, and act out the idea of relaxing. Say (and act), for example: Take two deep breaths and relax all of your body: your feet, your legs, your stomach and chest, your arms and wrists and hands. Relax your neck and your face …
  2. When you feel the learners have got the idea of relaxing, ask them to put their heads on their arms, close their eyes and relax as they listen.
  3. Describe a situation for the learners to imagine, for example:

You are walking in the country. There are trees and flowers and grass. It is very quiet; there are no people or cars. You are carrying a bag. It is on your back. It is heavy. You want to sit down. Take off your bag. Put it down. Sit on the grass. It’s nice. You are happy. Open your bag. Look inside. Are your things in the bag? Now, close the bag. Look. Is it closed? Put your bag in a safe place. Now you can walk again. There is no bag on your back. How do you feel now? Enjoy your walking, slowly or quickly. It’s OK to walk slowly. It’s OK to walk quickly. What can you see? What can you hear? What can you feel and smell? Leave your bag. You will go back later. How do you feel? Keep those feelings. Slowly open your eyes. Open your eyes.

Further reading

Hall, E., Hall, C., and Leech, A. Scripted Fantasy in the Classroom, Routledge, 1990.

This book contains many useful examples of visualization scripts.You can find the downloadable pdf version available here. 

 

Reference

Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (2006). Games for Language Learning (3rd ed., p. 22, 23). New York: Cambridge University Press.

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