The next letter game is played in teams of 4 at the maximum to practice alphabetical order with the goal being trying to recall as quickly as possible the next letter. A perfect warm up for when junior high school first grade are learning how to use the dictionary.

Students practice introducing themselves (Hello, my name is ~.) and pretend that each time they shake hands they change bodies (or names). A lot of fun and to be honest, quite mentally challenging (but in a completely fun and hilarious way).

This junior high warm-up gives students some thinking time to compose what they want to say (and write it down) before they do some mingling while using the target phase of the day.

A classic for practicing numbers is the count around the circle game. Easy in concept, but because students tend to learn numbers once then not have much chance to use them after that, they fall out of practice. For that reason, count around the circle is also a good review warm-up for any lesson with many variations.

Criss-cross or tate-yoko as it is known to most Japanese junior high students is a simple junior high warm-up game where you can avoid questions or may have to answer depending on if you are in the row or column of the person in the spotlight at that moment.

The head, shoulders, knees and toes song is one that most students in elementary school seem to know and are very able to sing along. Singing is fun and children love it, so here is a way to make the old song a little bit more fun and challenging.

In this activity, students decide how they are going to help the ALT. They discuss it and answers are written down. Great for a review warm-up focusing on using "I will...".

Try this version of the translate game to review or practice using him/her with junior high 1st graders (from the Sunshine 1 textbook Program 7-2).

The students have a set time, say 30 seconds, to say something and pass the eraser back and forward in pairs. When the timer runs down, the student left holding the eraser loses. No preparation needed for this junior high warm up activity.

I was looking for ideas to break past that tension and self-consciousness a group of students has the first time they have an English class and I found a page for English speaking kindergarten icebreakers.

I think some of these would translate well to elementary or junior high level English lessons in Japanese schools. I haven't read them all, I got as far as #4 (Name Puzzles) and that suited me fine.

This warm up has students reviewing recently studied grammar in a very focused way. One student provides the Japanese and the next, the English. Play it out in a quick-fire way and students get caught up and can really enjoy reviewing grammar this way.

Last letter first letter, more commonly known here as shiritori, is a game I am sure we have all played at some point and it makes a great warm up game for junior high classes.

No answers allowed is a great warm up for English conversation classes. It is quite an old game, and is sometimes a drinking game, but it can also work a conversation class starter game.

A warm up that challenges students to think of questions, ask others and answer. Everyone has a chance to speak as each student must answer then ask the next student before they sit down.

We often use warm-ups in class, whether teaching elementary, junior high or high school. A bad warm-up is no fun for teachers or students and can set a mood that's hard to shake. On the other hand, an effective warm-up that hits these three main points will set you up for a successful class that leaves students looking forward to their next English lesson with you.