Help students introduce themselves by playing a game that will encourage them to get to know one another. Each student will get a game card that has a grid. Inside the squares are facts about students in the class. For instance, you might have one square that states, "Favorite food is hamburgers" and another one that says, "Has two sisters." The students then have to go around the class to find children that match the squares. Some students may have some of the items in common, and they should have a chance to discuss their similarities.
Capture the students' interest by walking into the classroom with a roll of toilet paper. Before you talk about the activity, pass around the toilet paper and tell the children to each take as much as they need. After everyone has toilet paper, instruct them to write one fact about themselves on each piece. They will then share their facts with the class. For more advanced students, you may want to have them mix in a few false facts with their true ones. The class must then decide which statements are false. If the toilet paper is too difficult to write on, allow the students to use one sticky note for each square of toilet paper they have.
In addition to becoming familiar with their classmates, the students should have the opportunity to get to know you. This activity allows you to introduce yourself while assessing their listening and writing skills. Everyone in class asks you a question. You answer them, and the students take notes about your answers as best they can. This activity also works well when the students get to interview each other, and it will give them the opportunity to learn more about each other.
Help students in the class realize how diverse they are by mapping their native countries. Use copies of a world map if you have students from different countries, or use a country map if they are all from the same country. The children walk around the room to ask each other where they are from, and they write each student's name next to their country or region. This can also be turned into a geography lesson, or it can be used to introduce the similarities and differences between the cultures in the classroom.