Fillers

As a teacher you should always have some filler activities on hand: Short and fairly easy activities that can be done without much prep and can be adapted to any theme. Fillers are great for warming up at the beginning of class, killing that last 5-10 minutes at the end of class, giving the quick students who have already finished their work something to do, or to transition between activities.

Here are a few of my favorites:
Idiot’s Test. You probably remember some of these riddles and jokes from when you were little. My brother used to have an endless store of tricky questions. This is one I use for students who finish tests early. I just hand it out and let them have it. Not recommended for beginners though as they are a bit tricky even for native speakers.

Opportunities had a chapter on champions, which led to me write a quick champion’s quiz for the students. Who won the NBA championships, which team won the last World Cup, what is the record for a speed run through Halo 2? To my amazement, they ate it up. The jocks who never said a word in class were suddenly participating. So while my quiz is outdated a bit, I include it as a model of a great filler activity that can be adapted to include pop culture, sports, records, famous people in their country. Trivia quizzes, if the students have a chance of knowing or guessing the right answer, can be a fun way to engage them at their interest level.

Hangman An old favorite that teachers often use to kill time–and students will try to make you play it for the whole class. But it can be a good way to review vocabulary or teach spelling rules.