Higher level warmers/questions during attendance...

In my higher level classes I have been trying this as a warmer. The focus being students listening to each other.

When I do attendance I'll ask a question. for example: "What did you do for Spring festival?"

We will go through 3 students, then I'll ask the class. "What will Joe do for Spring festival?"

It is something that has been helping a lot for my poor/lazy listeners. I'll give points to teams who can say what their classmates said. I'll sometimes add a question from the warmer in the spelling/grammar test too.

What kinds of warmers are you doing for your upper level classes?

I love the combination of demanding English production via memory re-call. Its very appropriate for this age group. In essence, this is classic task based learning. The task is to re-call and using English is a byproduct of the task.

So similar warmers could be as simple as projecting an interesting/funny/cluttered 'scene' and rolling the dice, keep the scene projected for as many seconds as is rolled, the pic mute the projection and
a) ask focus questions which the students have to recall something from the scene to answer
b) task teams with making a list of as many:
-vocab
-verbs
This could be done with simple language chunks and then full sentences later. Ie: CL05 and up.

I also do a memory grid:
1. Project a survey style grid - axis X has adverbs of frequency and axis Y has foods
2. Two students at a time produce a sentence: I sometimes eat noodles for lunch.
3. They race to the board and write their names in the according grid square - where sometimes meets noodles.
4. Repeat this for half or more of the students.
Here's the memory re-call that normally really engages students.
5. Hit the pic mute button and the grid will disappear, leaving only students names.
6. Teams take turns recalling the given adverb of frequency and food for students' names. They make full sentences and then you can re-project the grid to check if they are correct.

This is a fun warmer I do frequently with my CL05s and My CH05 because they love it so much!

First brainstorm some questions from lessons that had open ended answers, like "What do you do on Fridays after School?" or "What makes you feel happy?" and write 'em on the board for their reference.

Make a circle and pass around two puppets to music. I use Spiderman and Hello Kitty. Make sure they know which puppet is the question and which one is the answer. Obviously, because Spiderman is a bad-ass, he doesn't answer questions, he ASKS them! And Hello Kitty answers the questions for obvious reasons. So pass them around and stop the music and yell "STOP!!"

Whoever has Spidey asks a question, and whoever has Hello Kitty answers. They think it is hilarious because they are trying really hard to not have a puppet, it's an adrenaline rush because everyone is jumping up and down and laughing and shouting, and it gets them having fun and setting a great mood for the class early on. I always use the song "One Man Mows A Meadow" from the counting CD. And empathize with whoever gets stuck with the puppets, "Oh, no!! Angie and Jerry! Ahhhhhhhh!!! Ok, Jerry! Ask Angie a Question!"

Do it until everyone has had a chance to speak, 5 or 6 minutes, or until someone wets themselves!
It's fun!

Voila! The Hot Potato Puppet Pass Q & A (TM) game. Try it today!