Jaber Kamali is a university lecturer at Farhangian University (a specialized center for teacher education) and a PhD candidate of TEFL at Allameh Tabataba'i University, Iran. He is a British Council teacher trainer and also a DELTA (Module 1) holder from Cambridge University. He has been training teachers for almost 7 years and run various workshops worldwide. Being a researcher for over 6 years, he has published number of articles and presented in different conferences worldwide. His fields of interest include teacher education, classroom discourse, strategy training, and interactional competence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ice-breakers are considered as the indicators of success in constructive interaction in any social milieu; language classroom is not an exception. In my own experience, whenever I have started a session with a creative ice-breaker, the session has been a triumph, whenever not, it was a fiasco. One of the best ways to break the ice in all classes is to introduce yourself and make the trainees do the same. So, let’s take a look at what we can do to start a session by introducing ourselves. Introduction is important because it can make the trainees feel more comfortable, break their ice, and gain willing to communicate; in other words, familiarity breeds love ;).

There are different forms of introducing oneself at the beginning of the class – e.g. call my bluff, how these numbers are related to me, and the like – among which I would like to introduce the one I like and I use sporadically in my training sessions. This is called ‘poetic introduction’. The benefits of literature employment in second language learning and teaching are undeniable and it can make the learners or trainees more excited about learning. The inclusion of this form of literature in training session not only can make the trainees more interested, it can also teach them the process of it to use in their own classrooms; that is, not only the content is taught but also the process.

 

Procedure

At first, I try to write a poem beforehand in which I introduce myself. This poem is not constant and is changed based on personal, social, political, and educational background of my trainees. So, I need some information about my trainees. However, one of the most common examples is as follows:

Son, father, husband, a friend,

They give me many a name.

I act the roles, as I have learned,

Inside those cloaks, I am the same.

 

I have Phd in language teaching

I have DELTA in Cambridge teaching

I have been teaching for almost 12 years

And have been training for someone who bears

 

I’ve received more than 40 certificates

The ones I think are very magnificate

I am a head trainer of a British college

I think it needs a load of knowledge

 

To be 36 doesn’t mean old

Since an old wine is better than a coke

September 11^th is my birthday

Albeit not nice but it’s a day

 

In this way, I have talked about my personal, social, and educational background and get them know me more. Now, they feel more comfortable to introduce themselves. They can do the same thing for their introduction; however, they can find it difficult since some people have the talents for poems, some not. Therefore, I give them prompts. Although they have the prompts to use, they are not restricted to those prompts and they can use their own creativity in writing the poems. The prompts can be as follows:

…………, ………………., …………………., a friend,

They give me many a name.

I act the roles, as I have learned,

Inside those cloaks, I am the same.

 

I have ……………. in ……………………

I have ………………… in ………………….

I have been teaching for ……………………….. years

And have been ………………….. for someone who bears

 

I’ve received more than ………………… certificates

The ones I think are very magnificate

I am a ……………………. of a …………………….

I think it needs a load of knowledge

 

To be …………………….. doesn’t mean old

Since an old wine is better than a coke

………………………… is my birthday

Albeit …………………….. but it’s a day

 

…………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………..

 

Providing these prompts, as my experience asserts, can be a springboard for the use of literature in language classes from one hand, and break the ice of the session on the other.

Next, the trainees are supposed to write their poems on pieces of paper they have been given and put them on the wall. Then, they do a ‘gallery walk’ in silence and read other poems and choose the one which is the most interesting. That one is read for the whole class. Through this activity, they get familiar with other trainees and can compare their poetic aptitude with others.

This technique can be employed in different stages of training such as warm-up, engagement, study, or activation as a motivating task and I do recommend teachers and teacher trainers to try to exploit it in their own classes.

 

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.