If you want to get to know your classmates quickly, you can play a trivia game with them. The trivia game can be based on any format, such as team trivia or well-known TV game shows. In a team trivia game, you and the other students state your name, a fact about your appearance and a fact about your personality. After everyone has stated their information -- both out loud and on an answer key -- the teacher starts asking questions about students, and the class works in groups to come up with answers, which they submit as a group on a sheet of paper. In an individual-style trivia game, the teacher says questions out loud, gives multiple answer choices and asks the students to raise their hands for the choice they prefer.
In a role playing game, you adopt the identity of a character other than yourself. One good premise for a role playing game is to have every classmate play the character of another classmate at a cocktail party. In this game, every character gets two cards: one for the name and personality traits of the classmate they are trying to portray, and another with their own name and personality traits. When you talk to the classmate you think is trying to play you, you give him the card with your name on it.
Another game involves pairing students into groups and having one student act out another student in the group. After the student has acted out the character for a few minutes, the other students form a conference outside the classroom to vote on which student was being portrayed.
Some of the best games for getting to know your classmates involve detecting truth and lies. The Wilderdom educational organization has an ice breaking game called "two truths and a lie," where each student tells another student two truths and one lie about themselves. When one student guesses the other student's lie, he then takes his turn to make his partner guess which of his information is untrue.
In a different game, every student gets up in front of the class and says their name, as well as a single piece of information about themselves, which can be true or false. The class then votes on whether or not the information is true. This game is good for later in the semester when you and the other students know each other somewhat.
Hearing the story behind someone's name can help you remember who the person is. You can also make a game out of this. In one game, every student gets up in front of the class to tell the story about how their parents picked their name, or why they were given a nickname. At the end of the class, you and the other students fill out a trivia sheet with questions like "which student was named after his uncle who died in the war?"
In another game, a chosen student -- who will not play the game -- writes a fictional story where each student in the class is represented by a fictional character in the story. The class works together as a team to determine which characters are based on which students.