Teachers' ideas on ways to avoid boredom in class

I already have a recent post about how to break the monotony in class and it also contained my own ways of handling this common situation. However, I wasn't satisfied with sharing just my thoughts on this, so figured it would be better if fellow ESL teachers could also share their own ideas. I posted this topic on teachers forums and also asked some teachers for their advice and here is what they have to share:

1. Activity: Story telling

         Provide a short story for your student to read but reveal the ending of the story. Ask your students to re-tell the story in their own words and also challenge them to think of a suitable ending for the story. This activity can help your students develop their creativity and also practice their speaking skills. This is also a good opportunity for your students to learn new vocabulary words along the way.


     2.  Activity: Question and Answer

         When your students are bored, one sure way to get their attention back is to make them talk. For this activity, you need to make a list of questions to ask your students. Try to make questions based on a theme or a topic, like holidays, shopping, environmental problems, etc, or you could also make fun, random, out-of-nowhere questions. Don't be satisfied with yes or no answers. Keep them talking by challenging them to give you an answer in not less than 5 sentences.
         To help you out with this activity, try visiting Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom for questions on different topics.


     3. Activity: Spin the Wheel

      
         For this activity you're going to need a spin wheel just like the image above. You're going to fill each slot with different tasks.  Each of your students will then take turns in spinning the wheel. When it stops check which slot the arrow is pointing to, this is the task your student should do. Make it fun by filling it with missions according to difficulty (easy, average, difficult).
         This would work best with group classes.


      4. Remember:  Warm-Ups and Time-Fillers are essential

        Every ESL teacher must know the importance of having warm-up and time-filler activities for you class. These activities help catch your student's attention and it also helps bring energy to your class on days when your students aren't in the mood or are just plain bored. Warm-ups and time-fillers are also great for filling up time when your lessons run shorter than expected.


      5. Free-talking
         Most of the respondents suggested that free-talking is what gets their students awake on ho-hum classes. Teachers recommend that you find what fancies your students the most and pretty much go from there. Based on their experiences, male students are usually very much into sports, music and movies. Females on the other hand enjoy talking mostly about fashion, celebrities and TV drama series. If in case you aren't familiar with their interests, I suggest reading up about it and sharing what you've read to let them know that you also consider their interests.



-- Thanks to Teachers Harvz, Carmi, Gyan, Teen, Jackielyn and Frances for the input :))