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Cheap eats recipe books

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A collection of recipes designed to feed your family for less than $2.50 per person per serve without sacrificing taste or nutrition.

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Choice New Zealand citizenship story 2022

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Resources created in this area by English Language Partners New Zealand are freely available.
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Resources created in this area by English Language Partners New Zealand are freely available. Please acknowledge the source when using our resources.

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153000+ English ESL free printable worksheets, EFL video lessons

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191000+ English ESL free printable worksheets, EFL video lessons

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A treasure trove of free English ESL handouts pdf & doc, slides, video quizzes with reading & listening comprehension exercises, vocabulary & grammar practice

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STEM Activity and Lesson Plan - Weathering and Erosion

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This is a lesson plan for a STEM activity on weathering and erosion.

The students have to come up with a way to stop beach erosion.

Weathering includes information on water and water freezing, plant roots, wind, and carbon dioxide.

You get a zip file with:

- the lesson plan with daily target, steps, materials you will need, pictures, and more (Marzano elements are embedded but can be removed if needed)

- the interactive lesson plan on a SmartNotebook File and as a PowerPoint

- an additional PowerPoint on weathering, deposition, and erosion for review if needed

*I did this with my fourth graders. However, it can be done with 2-5 if students have the basic background knowledge. I have included some slides and resources for background knowledge in the lesson plan.

If you want to see how my students completed the STEM activity - Click Here!

See more STEM Activities - Click Here!

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STEM Activity and Lesson Plan - Weathering and Erosion

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This is a lesson plan for a STEM activity on weathering and erosion. The students have to come up with a way to stop beach erosion.Weathering includes information on water and water freezing, plant roots, wind, and carbon dioxide. You get a zip file with:- the lesson plan with daily target, steps, ...

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https://create.kahoot.it/course/f6928c8e-1019-4a49-a073-0b221acd2a5d

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Kahoot! games

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn - any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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Math Antics | Basic Math Videos and Worksheets

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tU6-oBr9Uc

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How To Deal With Stress - The Stress Bucket - Dr. Julie Smith

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Logins and subscriptions details - Mindtools, HBR etc

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Logins and subscriptions details - Mindtools, HBR etc

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Harvard Business Review (HBR)www.hbr.org
- login sarah@upskills.co.nz; password Arm@ni12
Mindtools: www.mindtools.com username: Upskills93 or saran@upskills.co.nz ; password: Onehunga10!
Wordwall: www.wordwall.net -saranread@gmail.com: password Onehunga10
Playfactile: Classroom Jeopardy Review Game | Buzzer Mode | Factile (playfactile.com) saran@upskills.co.nz Password: Onehunga10

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Online Whiteboard Tool for Collaborating: Mural

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Online Whiteboard Tool for Collaborating: Mural

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https://learning.mural.co/

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Get ready to explore MURAL Learning and see how your team can achieve incredible outcomes with visual collaboration in MURAL.

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Good website for learning and development

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Learning & development news, insight & ideas | TrainingZone

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TrainingZone is the UK's leading learning & development publication, covering everything you need to know to deliver absolute excellence in L&D.

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Kahoot!'s new student passes are a one-way ticket to take students from players to creators! Empower your students to engage in active learning with the tools they need to create and host kahoots that demonstrate their learning to the whole class.

With student passes your class will have access to:

The full functionality of the Kahoot! creator to make fun and engaging kahoots for their peers

Award-winning learning apps from Poio and DragonBox to master everything from the basics of reading and numeracy to algebra, geometry, and even chess

Premium Kahoot! features including exclusive question types like brainstorm, type answer, and puzzles, plus creation tools to create advanced slide layouts with our premium image library

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Make your students the hosts of their own learning experiences

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A student-centered learning platform and content hub designed to help students to take an active role in their education through powerful play

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https://www.springboardtrust.org.nz/news/a-resilient-home-the-fonofale-model-of-health

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It's Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa 2020 - a time to celebrate Samoan language, culture and identity. And this year, the theme is Tapena sau ōso mo lau malaga, which translates to "prepare yourself a gift for your travels".

So, in line with this - and our recent focus on resilience during a crisis - we would like to highlight a model of wellbeing that all leaders can learn from, one that finds its roots in Samoa: the Fonofale model of health.

What is the Fonofale model of health?

Developed by Samoan-born academic Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann, the Fonofale model of health is a system of wellbeing that acknowledges and embraces Pacific perspectives.

It is a model built around a simple idea: the Samoan fale, or house. However, it includes elements from many nations, including the Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Tokelau and Tonga.

This fale represents one's overall wellbeing, and is comprised of multiple individual elements.

The floor, or foundation, represents aiga - family. Not just your immediate relatives, but extended family and anyone you are linked to by partnership or agreement.

The roof is your culture, your beliefs and value system that provide protection and shelter. Pulotu-Endemann notes that this can be traditional beliefs tied to a specific Pacific identity, but can also focus more on Palagi identity and values.

These two parts of the fale structure are then supported - figuratively and literally - by four pou (pillars). They represent the spiritual, the physical, mental and 'other' aspects of your wellbeing. Other includes elements like sexuality, socio-economic status and gender.

No one part of this fale stands in isolation - they are all reliant on and supportive of one another. Then, all around the fale, sits a circle, boundary or cocoon that has the final three elements:

The environment surrounds the fale, and is focused on the physical setting, no matter where you are.

Time and context relate to, respectively, a point in time that impacts Pacific people and the surrounding socio-economic, political, legal or personal context that shapes who you are.

For many people, this might be a new way of looking at wellbeing. Typically, we might only consider two or three elements of this when looking at how we're feeling, or what we can change to improve our situation. But in times when we need to take the utmost care with our wellbeing, models like Fonofale show us a different way of approaching ourselves.

Why are models like Fonofale so important?

In New Zealand, it is critical that we apply a culturally competent lens to everything we do that involves Pacific or indigenous people - especially in schools.

Helping people learn and grow as themselves is paramount, and models like Fonofale (or Hauora, Te Vaka Atafaga, Kalaka and Fa'afaletui) help both leaders and learners do that. It also provides a far better framework when looking at issues like our widening mental health gap for Pacific youth.

And beyond cultural responsiveness, the Fonofale model of health has a lot it can teach about resilience and wellbeing. Mackay et al have noted that Māori and Pacific models have a strong focus on both connection and reciprocity which, in addition to adhering to the overarching principles of Te Tiriti, are likely to help the practice of looking after your wellbeing. On top of this, it has recently been foundational for helping older people reconnect with their identity and culture.

At a time when we're emerging from two months of disconnect and relative isolation, Fonofale gives us a model for taking stock of everything in our lives, identifying what's going well (and not), and charting a clear path to resilience and wellbeing.

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A resilient home: The Fonofale Model of Health

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It's Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa 2020 - a time to celebrate Samoan language, culture and identity. And this year, the theme is Tapena sau ōso mo lau malaga, which translates to "prepare yourself a gift for your travels".

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https://mentalhealth.org.nz/te-whare-tapa-wha

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Whenua is the place where you stand. It is your connection to the land - a source of life, nourishment and wellbeing for everyone.

Whenua includes soil, rocks, plants, animals and people - the tangata whenua. We are linked physically and spiritually to the land - it is the earth through which you are connected to your tūpuna/ancestors and all the generations that will come after you.

You can also think about whenua as your place of belonging - that means the spaces where you feel comfortable, safe and able to be yourself. It could be around your friends, at home with whānau, as part of a sports team or even at your place of study or mahi/work.

Just like your physical health, your taha hinengaro/mental and emotional wellbeing needs to be taken care of. Taha hinengaro is your mind, heart, conscience, thoughts and feelings. It's about how you feel, as well as how you communicate and think.

Taha tinana is about how your body feels and how you care for it. Refuelling your body helps you to feel mentally well. Sometimes your tinana might not be where you'd like it to be and this might be beyond your control. What's important is that you do what you can to nurture it.

Taha whānau is about who makes you feel you belong, who you care about and who you share your life with. Whānau is about extended relationships - not just immediate relatives. It's your hoamahi/colleagues, friends, community and the people you care about. You have a unique place and a role to fulfil within your whānau and your whānau contributes to your wellbeing and identity.

Taha wairua explores your relationship with the environment, people and heritage in the past, present and future. The way people view wairua can be very different. For some, wairua is the capacity for faith or religious beliefs or having a belief in a higher power. Others may describe wairua as an internal connection to the universe. There is no right or wrong way to think of or experience wairua, but it is an important part of our mental wellbeing.

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A wellbeing model developed by leading Māori health advocate Sir Mason Durie in 1984, describing health and wellbeing as a wharenui.

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You can get a very good insight into mathematical ideas, concepts and patterns by playing some of the games presented on this page.

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Khan academy - free online lessons and activities

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Khan academy - free online lessons and activities

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A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.

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Develop The Skills You Need For Life

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Welcome. Here at SkillsYouNeed, we're passionate about providing high quality information and resources that help you learn and develop the skills you need to make the most of everyday life.

Whether you're at work, a job seeker, student, teacher or parent, or just interested in developing your key skills, you will find plenty of information here about essential life skills. We hope that this information and these resources will help you to improve your personal and professional life.

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People who have worked on developing strong interpersonal skills are usually more successful in both their professional and personal lives. From Interpersonal Communication Skills, including Listening, through to Building Rapport and Persuasion, you should find all you need to improve your Interpersonal Skills.

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Good writing skills allow you to communicate your message with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through face-to-face or telephone conversations.

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Snippets of wisdom from Skills You Need

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People with higher emotional intelligence find it easier to form and maintain interpersonal relationships and to 'fit in' to group situations.

When thinking about your lifetime goals, make them challenging and exciting, base them on your strengths but make them relevant to you and ultimately achievable.

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Skills You Need - Helping You Develop Life Skills

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Develop The Skills You Need For Life Sign up for your regular newsletter: Subscribe You'll get our 5 free 'One Minute Life Skills' and our weekly newsletter. Welcome. Here at SkillsYouNeed, we're passionate about providing high quality information and resources that help you learn and develop the skills you need to make the most of everyday life.

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On the Families page there is an introductory video that describes how you can help your child learn about mathematics and support their learning at school.

One of the ideas suggested is creating a maths kete at home. The kete will include materials that are helpful in learning about maths through making and finding things and playing games together. This page gives you a list of things that you can find around your house or can get cheaply from discount shops. For each item in your kete there are ideas and links to the Maths at Our House activity pages as well as links to number knowledge activities. Many of the activities are games and have cards or boards that you can print off and add to your kete.

Click on the link under each image to see the suggestions for that item.

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On the Families page there is an introductory video that describes how you can help your child learn about mathematics and support their learning at school. One of the ideas suggested is creating a maths kete at home. The kete will include materials that are helpful in learning about maths through making and finding things and playing games together.

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For Remote or In-Person Classrooms

Factile is a free learning platform that lets teachers create engaging jeopardy-style quiz games for the remote or in-person classroom

Assess students' understanding of new topics or review the latest concepts using our simple, user-friendly gameboard template. Create and share your games with students, or search our database of already-created games. Use Factile with Google Classroom to easily assign games and flashcards to your class.
Play Demo Game

Four Team Review Games
Play in classroom or remote with Buzzer Mode

Two Individual Study Games
Self-paced learning in classroom or remote

Buzzer Mode

Buzzer Mode

Turn phones, tablets or computers into buzzer buttons for an engaging multi-player gameshow experience

"Factile is fun and exciting. Students enjoy the competition, the team-building, the camaradarie, the positive reinforcement, or all of the above. The standard, free version is very workable and click-driven, although I am sure the premium version contains greater functionality that may appeal to some folks. Your students will enjoy it as much as you enjoy watching them learn"

Bruce DuBoff AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning Committee Member

See more reviews

Are you looking to make your Factile game even more engaging? Let students BUZZ IN via their laptops, phones or tablets! Remote or In-Classroom.

Send a link to your participants and they can play at any time on their own

Create custom games

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Multi-language support
(English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic)

...and much more

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Flashcards, Choice and Memory Games

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Double Jeopardy and Daily Double

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For Remote or In-Person Classrooms

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Classroom Jeopardy Review Game | Buzzer Mode | Factile

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Create your own Jeopardy template online without PowerPoint, or browse the pre-made templates to play Jeopardy-style classroom games or quizzes in minutes.

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Find communicable disease health and safety resources

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Facilitation Techniques and Workshop Activities | Library

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Hundreds of group facilitation activities for workshops, meetings and training sessions. Find the best team building activities, energisers, process facilitation and leadership development techniques.

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Log in to Mentimeter – Create and access dynamic presentations - Mentimeter

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Welcome back! Log in to quickly access your presentations, review results, or create a new Menti. Engage your audience with interactive content.

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Team building games are a fun and creative way to get your team connecting and working together. Whether you're in an online conference call or at the office, these activities can energize your team and brighten their day.

Finding the right exercise can be challenging, since not every team is comfortable with certain types of activities. It's important to choose an activity everyone feels safe doing.

Here are 32 team building games to choose from, and none of them involve trust falls (whew):

1. What Makes You Tick

You could think of this as "what makes you ticked off", as this is an exercise in learning about each other's personalities and seeing what kind of personalities will clash. As a group, take a personality test together. Bring in a speaker, if time allows, to expound on the different personality traits, their strengths, their weaknesses, and a plan on how potential clashes can be alleviated.

Choose a personality test that isn't excessively complicated. The DISC personality test is a good choice, as is the True Colors personality test. These tests simplify things and create easily remembered results. During future teamwork efforts, when conflicts arise, a team member can say "remember, I am orange" and the others will know exactly what she means.

Purpose: Knowing what motivates and what demotivates other team members is powerful. By establishing how each team member works best, and how they react in different situations, they can learn how to approach each other differently to succeed in work and personal interaction.

2. Ideas As Building Blocks

Create a fictional problem that must be solved. It could be a theoretical product, a brain teaser, a riddle, a design challenge - anything that needs a solution. Assemble your team, and have them write down an idea on a large sheet of paper. They only need to write a sentence or two.

Have them pass the paper to the person on their left, and instruct them to use the new idea to build another solution upon. Continue for several rounds, and then see what the results are. You may want to choose a fictional problem that allows you to reveal one aspect of the challenge each round.

Purpose: This exercise shows the value of everyone's ideas. As you work as a team, brainstorming sessions often sway towards the vocal and dominant personalities even though other team members have valuable ideas, too. By forcing these ideas to have equal footing, each team member's ability to contribute is established.

3. Truth And Lie

Give each team member four identical slips of paper. Instruct them to write down three truths and one lie. The lie should be believable to some extent (i.e. not "I've been to Mars"), and the tenor of the truths and lie should not be offensive or crude. Go around the group, one at a time, and have them read the truths and lie in random order. When they are finished, the team should discuss which they think are the truths and which are the lies.

Purpose: This exercise fits into the "get to know each other" category. Extroverts have no difficulty in making themselves known, but introverts often remain an enigma, bowled into silence. This exercise gives them equal footing to reveal facts about themselves as well as expose the assumptions others have made. Participants learn about others and also learn about themselves through the lies they thought were true.

4. The Barter Puzzle

Break your team into groups of equal members. Give each team a distinctly different jigsaw puzzle of equal difficulty. Explain that they have a set amount of time to complete the puzzle as a group. Explain that some of the pieces in their puzzle belong to the other puzzles in the room.

The goal is to complete their puzzle before the other groups, and that they must come up with their own method of convincing the other teams to relinquish the pieces they need, whether through barter, exchange of team members, donating time to another team, a merger, etc. Whatever they choose to do, they must do it as a group.

Purpose: This exercise is time-consuming, but it accomplishes creative teamwork on several levels. As a team, they must build the puzzle. As a team, they must find a way to convince the other teams to help them. In other words, they must solve both the puzzle and the problem of getting their pieces back.

5. Use What You Have

Divide your team into equal groups. Create a specific project with clear restrictions and a goal. For example, you might have your team create a device that involves movement without electricity, and moves a golf ball from point A to point B. The challenge is completely up to you.

Then give each team the same supplies to work from, or create a pile of available supplies in the middle of the room. Give them a specific time to complete the project, making sure to mention that they can only use what is available, though how they use it is completely up to them. The final reveal is a fun event, and a great opportunity for your team to compete.

Purpose: Problem solving as a team, with a strong mix of creativity, is exactly what this exercise accomplishes. It also brings an element of fun and maker-ism into the mix, with the added twist of learning how to solve a problem with reduced options.

6. Created Economy

In the book Weslandia by Paul Fleischman, the young boy Wes creates his own language, culture, and economy one summer. A new startup created a small economy and ended up having a great deal of fun as well as learning about what motivated other team members.

Get your team together and decide if you want to create an economy or some mini-aspect of larger society. Set up the rules you will abide by, leaving enough wiggle room to experience problems that need group agreement to solve as the system is put into action.

Purpose: By creating a "mini" society, your team naturally creates problems and challenges that force them to work together. There are rewards and penalties. Some team members will reveal themselves to be rule-abiders and others as creative rule-benders. The team will quickly learn how others work, solve, and think outside of the typical work-related realm. This will bring new understanding to work-related projects that need solutions.

7. Common Book

This team-building exercise takes place not in one sitting, but over time. Make a large, blank journal or scrapbook available in the break room or other common areas. The book may have prompts on each page, asking questions or suggesting things to write or draw. Or, you may have guidelines printed and displayed next to the book (i.e. no swearing, nothing offensive, no complaints, no scribbling out other's work, etc.).

Leave pens, markers, tape, and other items that your team can use to write and draw in the book. Encourage them to write down quotes from things they are reading or from team members, to write about a fun event that happened at work, tape or glue ephemera or anything that helps record the team's culture. When the book is full, put it on the shelf and get a new one.

Purpose: This team exercise creates a living history of your business that you can keep adding to. It is somewhat similar to the Zappos culture book, but allows your team a chance to build it more directly. This game encourages creativity, collaboration, and recollection. It also gives you something concrete to look at in the future to see where your team has been and how far they've come.

8. Scavenger Hunt

Divide your team into equal sized groups, and send them out with a list of items to locate and bring back. Whether they remain in the office or are to leave the building is up to you. The ultimate goal is to get back first with the most items. You may want to set a time limit so that all groups are back in a reasonable time, whether they found all items or not. A scavenger hunt can be themed, and might involve a variety of clues or other twists that force a team to get creative and work together.

One variation is to make it a digital scavenger hunt in which they must find examples and specific information or web pages online. You may wish to restrict which search engines or methods they use to complete the challenge.

Purpose: A scavenger hunt is a fun activity that forces people to work together as a team. It spurs creativity, particularly if clues or riddles are involved.

9. Geocache Adventure

Much like a scavenger hunt, a geocache adventure relies on clues but has the added level of using GPS coordinates to find an item. Each group will need to have a GPS device that will work for finding geocaches. There are several apps available to use on smartphones that would suffice. You may wish to have a set time in which all groups must return. The clues you hide in specific geographic locations could be part of a larger riddle or message that you wish the teams to have revealed to them.

A variation of this might be to use QR codes placed around the office or neighborhood, mixing GPS locations with other clues found in QR codes.

Purpose: This exercise helps team members work together to achieve a specific goal using a specific and narrow process in which close enough is not good enough. It also promotes problem solving in a creative way if riddles and puzzles are involved.

10. Show And Tell

It's unfortunate that show and tell is something that ends when you're young. Whether your interest is in the code you're writing or ham radio, there are things each person would like to share with the group. Set aside a regular day for "show and tell" and give the next team member on the list the opportunity to bring something in and/or present on a topic. If you do this over lunch, be sure to cater food and make it a fun time. Require team members to be present. Have a question and answer session afterwards.

Purpose: Most people are eager to let others know interesting things about themselves, but not all team members are able to make that happen. Most teams are lopsided, with some members dominating discussion. Using regular "show and tell" sessions gives all team members a chance at center stage while also becoming familiar with giving a presentation and fielding questions.

11. Find The Common Thread

Before your regular staff meeting, break your team into groups. Instruct the groups to find out one commonality among themselves. It might be a hobby or an interest they all do, or having the same favorite genre of music or favorite food. Once they discover a commonality they can agree on, they create a list of what might be stereotypical qualities of such people.

Then, the groups come together to announce to the rest of the groups who they are. For example, they might be "Roller Coaster Buffs" or "Jane Austenites." For the rest of the regular staff meeting (or the day, if you're daring), group members must fulfill the stereotypes they listed. The Roller Coaster Buffs, for example, might periodically raise their arms and holler, or the Jane Austenites might rephrase all of their speech to co-workers as quotes from Jane Austen books. At the completion of the meeting (or day), talk about stereotypes that we assign to people. Discuss how they affect how we perceive other people's abilities. Talk about how people managed to find a commonality, and the process it took to dig it up.

Purpose: The idea is to force your team to confront the foolish nature of stereotypes and how, if people really behaved as we casually write them off to be, the office would be much different. The game also reveals the ability of a seemingly random group of people to find a commonality.

12. Mad Lib Mission Statement

Take your company's mission statement(s) and turn them into the popular Mad Lib game. To do this, remove key nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Create a worksheet in which the removed words are shown as a blank line with instructions on what kind of word is needed.

In groups of two, have one team member ask for the correct type of word and the other team member supply the word. Or, if you do not want to break the team into groups, ask the team as a whole to supply one word at a time. Once there are enough words, read the mission statement back. It will sound silly. Now that the team knows what the goal is, ask them for the same word types. See what kinds of words they supply. Repeat the exercise until you get a mission statement that the team feels is correct.

A variation is to categorize the types of words before the first round. So, tell them you are looking for words that apply to the team without telling them you are working on a mission statement.

Purpose: Mission statements can sometimes sound great but miss the mark, particularly if your team doesn't feel it represents them, or that they even understand it. By stripping away the jargon and stiffness and allowing the mission statement to go through several rounds of nonsense, you allow your team to help you craft a statement that is more relaxed and honest.

13. Organizational Jenga

Using wooden blocks or an actual Jenga game, mark blocks according to the hierarchies present in your company. For example, you might have some blocks denoted as the IT department, and others as HR. You might have particular shaped blocks marked as "manager" and block shapes as "support staff." The labeled blocks should reflect the composition of your office (e.g. if 10% of your staff is IT, so should 10% of the blocks).

Divide your team into groups, giving them an equal number and kind of blocks. From here, either specify the type of structure each team must build, or provide guidelines and allow them to build any structure they want. When the time limit has been reached, each team, taking turns, must begin to remove a block at a time without destroying their structure. Do not inform them ahead of time that you will be asking them to do this.

If time allows, you may ask them to repeat the exercise. See if they find a way to build a structure that can withstand removal of blocks.

Purpose: This exercise is meant to show how each department and the various managers and staff positions are necessary to complete the task, and that without everyone in place, things fall apart.The second round reveals what "blocks" the team sees as unnecessary as they conceive of a way to deconstruct their structure without destroying it.

14. Blind Drawing

Divide your team into groups of two each. Have each person sit with their back to the other. One person will have a picture. The other person will have a blank sheet of paper and a pen. The team member with the picture must not show the other person the image. Instead, the are to describe the image without using words that give it away, while the other team member is to draw what is being described.

For example, the picture might be of an elephant standing on a ball. The description cannot be "draw an elephant on the ball" but instead must use other adjectives and directions. After a set time limit, the drawing time ends and both team members view the original picture and the drawing.

Purpose: This is an exercise that focuses on communication and language. While the final drawing will seldom look like the picture, it is revealing to participants to see how different the interpretation of instructions can be even when they are supposedly talking about the same thing.

15. The Perfect Square

Gather your team in a circle, and have them sit down. Each team member should then put on a provided blindfold. Taking a long rope with its ends tied together, place the rope in each person's hands so that they all have a hold of it. Leave the circle. Instruct them to form a perfect square out of the rope without removing their blindfolds. Once the team believes they have formed a square, they can remove the blindfolds and see what they've accomplished.

You can introduce variations into this game. For example, you might, at random, instruct a team member to not speak. One by one, members of the group are muted, making communication more challenging. Or, let the team come up with a plan before putting on the blindfold, but once they cannot see, they also cannot talk.

Purpose: This exercise deals with both communication and leadership styles. There will inevitably be team members who want to take charge, and others who want to be given direction. The team will have to work together to create the square, and find a way to communicate without being able to see. By introducing the "muting" feature, you also inject the question of trust. Since instructions can't be vocally verified, the team member calling out instructions has to trust those who cannot talk to do as they are told.

16. What's My Name?

On name tags or similar labels, write down the name of a famous person, or write down people types (e.g. doctor, athlete, nerd, disabled, wealthy, homeless, etc.). Place these nametags on a team member's back so that they cannot see what they are, but the rest of the group can.

For a set amount of time, the entire group should mingle, and ask and answer questions. They should treat each other according to the stereotypical way based on what kind of person they have been labeled. Each team member can use that treatment, as well as the answers to questions, to figure out what the label is. As each team member figures out who they are, they can exit the game and let the rest continue.

Purpose: By confronting stereotypes in both how people treat us and in the questions and answers used, the team can get a better sense of how we mistakenly see people as well as how it feels to be so narrowly defined. This is also a good ice-breaker activity if you have team members that do not know each other yet.

17. Watch Where You Step

Using masking tape, create a large polygonal shape on the floor. It should be about 12 feet long by 6 feet wide, at least. Mark the start and stopping points. Make the shape a bit convoluted, choosing a shape that is elongated with the idea that people must make their way from one end to the other. Place a few squeaky dog toys inside the shape, and twice as many full sheets of paper with a large X on them inside the shape. The paper is the mines.

At least two at a time, each person on your team must make their way from start to finish blindfolded. They cannot step outside of the boundary, nor can they step on a mine. If they do, they are frozen. They can only be unfrozen if someone else inside the shape steps on a squeak toy. Their only guidance is the vocal commands of those outside the shape who are not blindfolded.

Purpose: This game is about communication, and trusting each other. Players learn to be observant of multiple action as well as give clear and timely advice.

18. Group Timeline

On a bulletin board or other surface which accepts thumbtacks, create a blank timeline. The timeline should start as far back as the oldest member on your team was born or when the company was founded, whichever came first. Mark each year on the timeline. Then, using narrow strips of paper, write down important dates for the company (e.g. founded, merged, changed names, incorporated, new product) and pin it to the correct spot on the timeline.

Give your team members four slips of paper, and ask them to mark down four important moments in their life. Let them pin them to the timeline.

Purpose: This exercise helps show, in a visual way, the different generations and experiences of your team. It leads well into talking about cultural and generational differences and the effects that has on how people work and communicate. It is also an opportunity for team members to learn more about each other.

19. What's On Your Desk

Have each team member bring one item from their desk to the exercise. Then, tell them that this item is going to be their new product, and that they must come up with a name, logo, slogan, and marketing plan for that object. Give them a set amount of time. This could be done individually, or in small groups if desired.

Once the time is up, allow each person to present the item and give a two minute presentation on their "product" as if they were selling it. Discuss, as a group, which products were successfully sold and why.

Purpose: For marketing and design teams, this exercise presents the challenge of seeing old things in a new light. When combined with groups working together to sell a common object, you introduce teamwork and crunch-time brainstorming. It promotes creativity and problem solving, too.

20. You Get One Question

Come up with several scenarios in which a person would be chosen to do something. For example, it might be a new job hire, marriage, leading an organization, or commanding an army. Ask each team member to come up with the "perfect" question - but only one! - that should be asked of a person that would determine if they were the perfect fit for the scenario. Have each team member write their question down. When all scenarios have been covered, discuss the questions as a group and see what each team member thinks would be the perfect question.

Purpose: Team members quickly learn how each other thinks differently. The perfect question that each comes up with will reflect their motives and what they think matters the most. This is an excellent way to lead into a discussion on how team members determine who is capable and who they will follow or trust.

21. Classify This

Collect a variety of objects and put them in the center of a table. The broader the variety, the better (e.g. office supplies, dinnerware, jewelry, toys, game pieces, etc.), Aim for at least 20 different objects. The goal is to collect items that, at first glance, have no apparent connection.

Break the team into groups, giving each group a sheet of paper and pen. Make sure they have a clear view of all the objects. Instruct them to classify the objects into four groups, writing down the groupings on their sheet of paper. They should not let the team groups hear what they are doing. When the time is up, have a spokesperson for each group reveal how they classified the objects, and why. Reasons might vary, from the function of the object to how it looks, or the material it is made of.

Purpose: This exercise promotes teamwork and creative thinking, but it also encourages your team to rethink how they view everyday objects. They are forced to look for commonalities in otherwise unconnected objects. This leads to a discussion on how to work outside the box for solutions to problems that seem wholly unrelated.

22. This Is Better Than That

Bring in four objects (or multiple sets of four objects) of the same type (e.g. four different sets of mittens, four different coffee mugs). Write up a conversational scenario for each set that outlines what the perfect item would be, in the order of preference. While none of the four objects is an exact match, each have qualities that reflect that perfect list. Read this scenario to your team, and instruct them to order the objects from best fit to worst fit. When all object sets are done, have team members explain why they ordered the objects that way.

The key to this exercise is to make the scenario complex enough that it isn't immediately obvious which objects are best.

Purpose: This exercise helps your team break down a scenario or problem and figure out which things are the best fit. This dovetails directly into discussion on current projects or challenges facing the group, in which you can, as a group, write a scenario for an actual project you are working on and decide which solutions are the best fit.

23. It's Your Problem

Bring the team into the room, and divide evenly into groups of at least two. Tell them they have thirty minutes to come up with a group problem-solving challenge that would make use of: teamwork, creativity, communication.

When the thirty minutes is complete, the team will choose from one of the problem-solving challenges and actually do the activity.

A variation is to use all of the challenges over a period of time so that your team-building activities come directly from your team itself.

Purpose: This team building exercise puts leadership responsibilities back on your team, showing them that they have the potential to come up with solutions, too. It also gives your team a chance to challenge other team members in ways they might not otherwise find the opportunity to do so in regular workday activity.

24. Active Listening

Bring your team in for what they think is just another staff meeting. Have a long document filled with mind-numbing but coherent jargon-filled speech that talks vaguely about sales and marketing goals. Sprinkled in the document are sentences which say something else entirely. These sentences should contain instructions or information that they will be quizzed on after you are finished.

Begin reading it to your team in monotone. The goal is to get them to tune you out. Do not over-emphasize the "real" sentences. When you are finished, hand out paper to each team member. Then, ask them to write down what they thought you talked about. If your real sentences contained random information, quiz them on that. Discuss who heard what, and see who was able to actively listen.

Purpose: This exercise touches on conflict resolution with the idea that many conflicts arise because team members don't really listen. It shows the importance of listening to verbal communication, but also non-verbal communication. They can discuss why they tuned you out, and what you could have done to keep them tuned in.

25. Company Concentration

Most of us played the game "concentration" as a child, where you'd have pairs of cards randomly mixed and turned over, and you'd take turns flipping over two at a time. The goal was to collect as many pairs as possible, remembering what you'd seen.

Create a card deck that has images or words related to your company or brand. It might be logos, products, photos of your team, and so on. Whatever route you go, keep the images related. For example, use all photos of your team, or all photos of your products.

Divide up into teams and see which team can match the most pairs in the least amount of time. You might set additional rules, such as requiring the name of the person to be said aloud when the card is flipped over, or some other related bit of information connected to the image on the card.

Purpose: To learn the names, information, and visuals associated with your company. This is particularly effective if you have a lot of new team members and you want everyone to learn their name and something about them.

26. Company Concentration: Debate Version

The idea is the same as the "Company Concentration" format, where pairs of cards with visuals on one side are used. However, the goal here isn't necessarily to match up cards and remember where they were, and the images on the cards will not depict team members but will instead depict discussion-worthy concepts.

Teams can get a point for matching up cards, but they can get two points if they choose to successfully debate and argue why the two cards the turned over are associated. If the majority of the room agrees with their reasoning, they receive the points. If not, they lose a point.

You might use cards illustrating user personas, products you sell, procedures you use in development, customer support problems, known issues you're trying to solve, and so on.

Purpose: This team building game can help in brainstorming (associating two problems together, for example, that hadn't been) as well as getting team members to think on their feet and spot connections they hadn't before. It also forces them to decide what is worth debating or not, as well as whether or not someone has provided a good argument.

27. Hello My Name Is

Create a list of adjectives that describe people's attitudes (e.g. grumpy, happy, negative, fearful, encourager, discourager, positive, joker, etc.). Have enough adjectives for every member of your team, and write each adjective on a self-adhesive "Hello My Name Is" sticker. Place the name stickers in a container, and have each team member draw a name sticker out without being able to see the adjective. Have them stick the name tag on their shirt and wear it for a specific period of time, instructing them that all of their responses and interaction for that time must reflect the adjective on their name tag.

You can use this in several ways. Your team could wear them during a typical meeting or brainstorming session to show how good and bad attitudes affect outcomes. They could wear them for a typical work day and then discuss how they felt. Or, you could have them wear a name tag half of the day, and switch with someone for the second half.

Purpose: To show that assigning an attitude or telling someone they are "acting grumpy" can actually affect how they view themselves and how they act during the day. If they switch name tags, they will see how behavior and action often defines feeling, and not the other way around.

28. Telephone, On Paper

Give each team member a piece of paper. Have them draw a simple drawing on the paper, without talking to anyone else. Each person then passes the paper to their right. Each team member looks at the drawing they now have, fold the paper in half, and write at the top what they think the picture is of. The paper is passed to the right again. Each person reads the description, folds the paper over to hide the words, and draws a picture of that.

This continues, where each pass alternates between determining what the picture was and drawing what was described. It is important that each turn only reveals the words or picture from the previous round. Separate sheets or pads of paper may be used if that is easier than one sheet of paper, but they should be passed together.

When the paper is back to the original owner, each member reveals what was written and drawn.

Purpose: This activity tends to create a lot of laughter and is an excellent ice-breaker at parties or before long meetings where you want people to be comfortable with each other. The drawings and interpretations tend to bring out discussion and jokes.

29. Do The Math

Create "tasks" that are assigned different values. For example, you might have "Climb Mt. Everest" and give it a value of 35, while "Give the dog a bath" has a value of 3.

Give each member of your team three cards with the same number on them so that every team member has a set of numbers different from every other player. One person will have all 1's, while another might have all 10's. The goal is to accomplish the tasks in a set amount of time so that whoever is left will get a prize based on the total value of the tasks completed.

However, in order to "do" the task, they must get people together whose numbered cards add up to the value on the task. Once a card is used, it can't be used again. And once a team member has used up all their cards, they are taken out of the game and out of the running for the prize.

Ideally, there are more tasks and values than can be fulfilled by the cards your team possesses. They must determine which tasks to do, and which cards to use up. Ultimately, not every task can be completed, and not everyone can be a winner. The goal is to get the highest total task value (for the best prize), and work together to achieve it knowing that in order to do so, some will miss out.

Purpose: This rather painful game helps your team work together, understanding both strategy and self-sacrifice. Hopefully, once the game is over you'll see that everyone has some kind of prize or reward, but it's best to allow the team to not know that during game play.

30. Problem Family Tree

Give each team member a piece of paper. Instruct them to write down, at the top of the sheet, a problem they have at work. Make sure to tell them it shouldn't be directed at a specific person. These should be complaints about procedure, product, or some other non-human problem they've observed or believe exists.

Next, have them write below that, leaving a slight space, two things they think causes that problem (again, not mentioning specific people but finding a way to focus on systems, ideology, or procedures that people use). Draw a line from the two ideas up to the main problem, much like a family tree structure. Then have them break down those two ideas further, two for each, as far as they can go. The idea is to figure out what small things have led to the big things.

The exercise could stop here, allowing the team members to simply enjoy personal discovery, or they results could be discussed as a group to see if there were small underlying problems that popped up on multiple problem family trees.

Purpose: To help team members to see the real problems they deal with, and what causes them, not as specific people who cause trouble, but as often seemingly small issues that mix with other small issues to create larger problems.

31. Triangulate Your Place

Assemble all but one of your team members in the shape of a triangle. They should be facing into the triangle, standing side by side to create the outline of the shape.

Take the remaining member and place them inside the triangle. Let them choose to face whatever direction they want to, and instruct your team to remember exactly where they were in relation to the spinner. They should note who they were standing next to, and how they fit into the triangle shape based on where the spinner is facing.

The spinner should begin to slowly spin around. Without warning, the spinner should stop and stand still. At that point, the team has a set amount of time to reassemble into place so that the end result is a triangle situated correctly according to whatever direction the spinner chose to face.

Purpose: This team building activity is a great way to get the blood-pumping and to get your team to work together. They need to remember where they belong on the triangle, and help others, too, in order to finish in time.

32. Penny For Your Thoughts

Gather pennies (or any other coin) so that you have one for each member of your team, and so that the year on the coin is within your team's lifespan (i.e. you won't have a coin dated older than the youngest on your team).

Dump the coins in a container, and have each person draw out a coin. Have each person share something significant that happened to them in that year.

Purpose: This activity is a simple way for your team to get to know each other, and it's a quick ice-breaker to loosen up team members before a meeting.

What Team Building Game Ideas Do You Have? Please Share Your Thoughts in the Comments!
Editor's Note: This post was co-written by Julie Neidlinger. Read other posts by Julie and learn more about her here.

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32 Team Building Games Your Whole Team Will Love | When I Work

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Team building games are a fun and creative way to get your team connecting and working together. Whether you're in an online conference call or at the office, these activities can energize your team and brighten their day. Finding the right exercise can be challenging, since not every team is comfortable with certain types of activities.

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Adults believe that the real world mathematics they can do in life and work is just 'common sense' the real world mathematics they can't do is mathematics.

Having Maths Eyes changes the view of mathematics as being something everyone does in school. With maths eyes people see the mathematics they do everyday mathematics becomes real and meaningful.

Why is it important to have Maths eyes?

Having maths eyes promotes the usefulness of mathematics - Everyone has maths eyes they just need to be opened. Involves individuals, parents, children, young adolescents, pensioners, teachers, tutors.

Having maths eyes builds confidence in mathematics.

Having maths eyes encourages the use of the real world as a starting point for the relevant exploration in the maths world.

Having maths eyes provides excellent opportunities for linking education (primary, secondary, adult) and community.

Having maths eyes provides a platform for adults and children to share their maths eyes in their everyday life whether they are shopping, walking, driving, at sports events - everywhere. Open a channel for dialogue about real world mathematics.

Maths Eyes provides parents with opportunities to talk about mathematics that are not related to homework

Having maths eyes promotes active citizenship and informed decision making.

When teachers, and tutors have maths eyes they can identify real world starting points for mathematics teaching and learning that are relevant to the social, cultural and educational context of their learners.

Developing maths eyes helps to create a new inheritance for future generations -' we are all real world maths people'

Developing maths eyes resonates with the philosophy and approach to learning which underpin initiative in the Irish education system e.g. Project Maths

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Adults believe that the real world mathematics they can do in life and work is just 'common sense' the real world mathematics they can't do is mathematics. Having Maths Eyes changes the view of mathematics as being something everyone does in school. With maths eyes people see the mathematics they do everyday mathematics becomes real and meaningful.

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In this chapter, we'll take you through some of the best ice breaker games that are suitable for adults.

A lot of the ice breakers you'll stumble across on the internet are suitable for both corporate work teams, but also for students or teenagers.

However, sometimes, especially in a corporate setting, you'll find yourself running activities with a group of people who aren't inclined to participate in what they consider to be 'childish' activities.

Benefits of Breaking The Ice

Breaking the ice can be a bit intimidating and a little cheesy. But it is very beneficial when building a strong work community and these are our top reasons why:

It is an awesome activity for introductions and new recruits, while it may be an informal way of getting to know one another it automatically brings a relaxed and no pressure vibe.

Great virtual icebreakers can be a fun way to jumpstart Zoom meetings and invite that help mix up your normal agenda.

Ice breaker games relax teams and help them to get to know each other far more quickly and easily. Some of the best ice breakers can also be a great way to ease new people into a group.

Fun icebreakers can help create common ground within teams, building trust and rapport.

Ice breaker questions energize, motivate and engage any team no matter what their background is.

If your team is working remotely at the moment then you should check out our guide on virtual team building activities and games for remote teams. In there you'll find 100 ideas with instructions that you can try with your newly remote team.

You'll notice that a lot of the activities we have picked are most suitable for teams players who haven't met each other yet or are fairly newly formed. Let us know if you use them on your new work team!

Without further ado, here's our list of the ten best ideas for very grown up team icebreakers for virtual teams and in-office setups too... Enjoy!

1) QuizBreaker IceBreaker Game

Objective: Help adult teams connect through a fun & automated icebreaker quiz game once a week

Participants: 3 to 3000

Duration: 5 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: One free trial of QuizBreaker.com

Instructions

Sign up for a free trial of QuizBreaker and invite your team to answer any of the hundreds of ice breaker questions built into the platform.

QuizBreaker then automatically sends out quizzes at anytime you choose where players have to guess each other's answers.

How It Works

You create an account and invite your team to answer icebreaker questions. The platform has over 100 curated fun icebreaker questions included but you can also add in your own custom ones.

Once your team starts answering ice breaker questions automated quizzes can be sent out via email where players have to guess each other's answers. For example; "Was it Greg or Grace who said that their favorite TV series of all time is The Office?"

Points, badges and levels are unlocked through each consecutive round of the game. And you can schedule the quiz to be sent out on your chosen frequency; daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

It's a really fun & simple icebreaker activity for adults, there's even a leaderboard for a bit of friendly competition.
Click here to try out QuizBreaker for free.
2) Human Billboards

Objective: To get participants to learn more about each other and connect on a personal level

Participants: No more than 10

Duration: 15 to 20 minutes

Difficulty: Medium

Materials: One very large piece of paper per participant, scissors and coloured markers

We love human billboards because it is self-disclosure activity that allows participants to connect on a personal level.

This perfect icebreaker for creative teams gets the innovative juices flowing and will allow people to unwind via a fun game in the process.

We recommend using this for teams that don't know each other that well, or as a team building activity for new groups.

Instructions

1. Give everyone in your team a piece of paper and some coloured markers.

2. Each participant has 6 minutes to use words, pictures or symbols to describe themselves on the "billboard".

3. After the 6 minutes, participants should cut a hole in the paper and put it over their heads so that it drapes in front of them.

4. Get everyone to mingle for 6 minutes and ask each other ice breaker questions about their billboards so that they can learn more about each other.

3) My N.A.M.E

Objective: To get everyone knowing each other's names and an interesting fact that may prompt small talk at a later date

Participants: 5 to 20 people

Duration: 8 to 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: None

Use this ice breaker with a brand new team, when people don't even know each other's names yet.

One of the reasons we love this icebreaker is because it's simple and requires no preparation from you.

Instructions

1. Give group members 3 to 5 minutes to think of interesting facts that correspond to the letters of their first name.

2. Have each participant share their acronym.

An example:

Hi, I'm Heather.

H is for horses, my favourite animal.

E is for eating, my favourite activity.

A is for Australia, the country I am currently travelling to.

T is for television because I like to watch it in the evenings.

H is for holidays, something I like to do more than once a year.

E is for exercise, which I do five times a week.

And R is for Rome, a city I really want to visit.

4) Neighbours

Objective: To get participants to learn each other's names

Participants: 20 or more

Duration: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: None

Another icebreaker that we suggest using on a new team.

It's very similar to the 'my N.A.M.E' ice breaker listed above, and we love it for all the same reasons.

Instructions

5) A Penny For Your Thoughts

Objective: To get team members acquainted and to promote small talk

Participants: 5 to 15 people

Duration: 15 to 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: A penny for each participant, should be shiny, easy to read and less than 20 years old

Again, another very 'adult' activity to be used on teams that don't know each other very well.

We love this fun icebreaker because it's quick, reveals personal facts and promotes the further development of personal relationships.

This ice breaker has appeared on a few of our blog posts, and the simple reason for its reoccurrence is that we love its simplicity, differentness and its effectiveness.

Instructions

1. Give a penny to each participant (top tip: to add a sense of humour, ask your team if they realised they were receiving a "cash bonus" for attending today!).

2. Ask everyone to introduce themselves with their name, their age and where they come from.

3. Then, they should share something significant or interesting about themselves on the year the penny was minted.

6) Rather Than

Objective: To be used as an introductory activity to get participants to understand each other's preferences

Participants: 5 to 12 people

Duration: 3 to 8 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: None

This is another icebreaker very well suited to new teams. We love it because it is a light introductory activity that reveals everyone's personal preferences.

The game also tests memory, which is great to use at the start as research has concluded that when memory games are used, the amount of information learnt increases.

Thus, using this memory game at the start of training is likely to increase the amount your new hires take in!

Instructions

7) Ready, Set, Reorganise

Objective: To get participants to learn new and interesting facts about each other

Participants: 16 to 26 people

Duration: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Hard

Materials: None

We love this adult ice breaker activity because it's a quick way to get everyone up and moving about.

We recommend doing this halfway through training sessions or virtual meetings to get everyone to reset and feel energised.

Instructions

Category suggestions: birthday (chronologically), birthplace (alphabetically or geographically), height, formal job title, countries visited in their lifetime (numerically) and so on...

8) Similarities and Differences

Objective: To get team members to learn how they are similar and different to each other and connect on a personal level

Participants: 20 to 30 people

Duration: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: Piece of paper and pen for each participant

Let's be honest, we all like to have something unique about us.

But, we also all like to know we are similar in some way. This ice breaker allows us to find out those things about our co-workers.

Instructions

1. Give each participant a piece of paper and pen.

2. Get everyone to draw three columns on their piece of paper with the headings: name, similar and different.

3. Get your team to mingle with each other and find out what they have similar and different to each other.

4. Put a time limit of ten minutes. After the clock stops, the winner is the person who has filled in as many names on their card as possible.

9) Sweet Stories

Objective: To get participants to learn about each other and build trust

Participants: 5 to 20 people

Duration: 10 to 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Materials: A large bag of candy (Skittles, M&M's)

We love it because it builds trust as participants get to learn a bit more about each other.

The game is also fun and we guarantee you that your team members won't have used it before!

Instructions

1. Every team member takes a candy.

2. Participants share a story based on the colour of the candy they have.

3. Participants can eat the candy.

Candy colour ideas:

Blue - A boss you respected and why

Green - A reason why you are proud to belong to this organisation

Organe - An embarrassing moment at work

Red - Your biggest working success

Yellow - The funniest moment at work

Purple - A time at work where you have failed, and what you learnt from it

10) Gossip Time

Objective: To get team members to learn new and interesting things about each other

Participants: 5 to 10 people

Duration: 20 to 60 minutes

Difficulty: Medium

Materials: A piece of paper and pen for each participant

We recommend using this great icebreaker when your team players know each other fairly well and when there is a level of trust among the group.

Recent research has actually found that trust is linked directly to positive team performance, so we can't recommend enough ensuring that trust is at the forefront of your team's culture.

We love this icebreaker because it is an activity where teammates can share fun information about each other, which prompts further appreciation for each other and promotes stronger personal ties. It's an activity suitable for both small groups and large groups.

Instructions

Bonus Activity

Identity Circles

Objective: To get team mates sharing and understanding their values

Participants: 8 to 50 people

Duration: 30 to 60 minutes

Difficulty: Hard

Materials: Index cards, enough for each person to have 10

We love this final icebreaker on our list because it encourages everyone to share things they would not normally choose to share with each other - this sparks further conversations and promotes friendships within your team.

Instructions

1. Divide your team in half and create two concentric circles (one inner circle and one outer circle).

2. People on the outer circle should face inside, and people on the outer circle should face inside.

3. Pair each inner person with an outer person.

4. Hand each person their 10 pieces of paper and get them to write down one value on each piece.

5. Have the partners share with each other why they wrote down the values they did and how they prioritized them for 5 minutes.

6. After, get the participants to rip up one of their cards.

7. The outer circle moves round, and new pairs are formed. The new pairs then have 5 minutes to explain to each other why they ripped up the card they ripped up and how they would feel if they lost that value.

8. Continue this process until the participants are only left with one card, their most important value.

Frequently Asked Questions

What icebreaker questions should I use?

Need a list of icebreaker questions, don't worry we have you covered! Our top ice breaker questions you can utilize for any game.

Are these activities great for groups?

Yes, they absolutely can be used for a bigger group!

Check-out our list of best large group activities

What are other great adult activities?

We suggest a virtual happy hour! It's relaxing and many of the activities are best for adults over the age of 21.

Conclusion

We hope you've liked our list of the best ice breaker games for adults.

Try these out and let me know how you go.

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The 10 Best Icebreakers for Adults (Tried & Tested) - QuizBreaker

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In this chapter, we'll take you through some of the best ice breaker games that are suitable for adults. A lot of the ice breakers you'll stumble across on the internet are suitable for both corporate work teams, but also for students or teenagers.

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Wordwall - Create better lessons quicker

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Need a fresh teaching resource that fits your class and teaching style? Create a customized pack of interactive and printable activities in just one minute.

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WorkSMART: Tips for a happier, more engaged workplace

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Communication exercises & listening activities - WorkSMART

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Over the years, I've collected these communication exercises and activities from a variety of LinkedIN discussions and recommendations from trainers and business people. If you aren't sure how to choose a team building game, view How to Choose a Teambuilding Game Infographic.

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by TeachThought Staff
For in-person professional development from TeachThought on effective instructional strategies or any other topic your school or district might need, contact us today.
Student-centered teaching is teaching designed for the student.

This means that planning often begins with the student in mind as opposed to a school policy or curriculum artifact, for example. Done well, it can disarm some of the more intimidating parts of academia, while also shortening the distance between the student and understanding.

Put another way, student-centered teaching is teaching that is 'aware' of students and their needs above and beyond anything else. It places students at the center of the learning process.

This isn't as simple as it sounds, especially without shifting one's mindset towards that approach. We recently shared 32 Research-Based Instructional Strategies. The following infographic via Mia MacMeekin provides additional tools (in the form of strategies) that can help create a learning environment that can, depending on the context, more approachable, friendly, or familiar to students in your classroom.
See Also 28 Critical Thinking Question Stems & Response Cards
Let us know in the comments which are your favorites, or any good ones you think it might have missed.
28 Student-Centered Instructional Methods

28 Student-Centered Instructional Strategies

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Executed well, student-centered instructional methods can disarm some of the more intimidating parts of academia.

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See a list of common whakataukī (Māori proverbs) and listen to how they’re pronounced.

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Jon: How was the meeting?
Bob: Well... the donuts made the hour-long meeting worth it. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother to go.
Do you go to meetings for the donuts or for the conversation?

Most companies invariably have one (or more) morning meetings, and we often find them annoying and disruptive to our daily routine or tasks at hand.

Meetings are considered important for moving your business forward through sharing information, solving problems, reviewing performance, making decisions and planning projects. They can also help tp foster team building and inclusivity.

However, meetings are usually seen as dull events that can be dreaded by everyone...including the organizer.

They also cost the company good money.

The National Statistics Council says 37% of employee time is spent in meetings, and 47% of employees consider too many meetings to be the biggest waste of time on any day - more than social media or email.
As a leader, how can you turn your meetings from "dull and dreaded" to "energized and effective"?
31 Morning Meeting Activities to Energize your Team

Here are few morning meeting activities you can do to run engaged and productive meetings for all attendees:

1. Start at an odd time

Instead of the usual 9 a.m. morning meeting, start your session at say 8:48 a.m. Having an unusual start time is useful in helping attendees remember a meeting time.

The brain may associate regulation with "boring" and "predictable" so, if the time is altered from the regular 8:30 or 9 o clock meeting to something a little more off-beat, it will not only help attendees remember that odd time, but also not associate the meeting with "dullness".

Also when you say 8:48 a.m., start right on dot. Don't wait if the senior most person isn't present. Set expectations with your team beforehand so that you all expect to start the meeting at the appointed time.

Do not allow latecomers to attend or better yet have a silly consequence for late attendees!

When meetings start on time, they are more likely to finish on time. They are also usually more productive and allows the meeting to unfold quickly and effectively.

2. Hold an icebreaker

Use the first 10 minutes as a social mixer or icebreaker.

For example, everyone can be asked to say one interesting thing they did over the weekend or brag about one accomplishment at work. They can even share a funny incident that happened to them or in their department since the last meeting.

Instead of taking turns going clock-wise or anti-clock wise around the room -make it even more interesting by playing catch-ball.

To play catch-ball:

Everyone stands in a circle.

You take a rubber ball and throw it randomly at one person.

He/she shares his weekend experience or funny incident and then throws the ball to another random person.

Not following any pattern makes it a lot more fun!

Sometimes people miss catching the ball...and that leads to some laughs too!

This is a great way to set a relaxed and fun mood to morning meetings which are generally perceived as serious, mind-numbing events.

The "catch-ball" technique can also be done virtually with online spinners, dice, or simply having people talk in the order that they entered the group chat.

3. Start with a pop-quiz

Preferably, pertaining to the topic of the meeting. This not only wakes up all participants, it also sends a message that everyone needs to be prepared for meetings. They should have read the information and notes sent prior to the meeting and understood the agenda thoroughly.

This is a great method to ensure productive and effective morning meetings where you have everyone engaged and participating.

4. Try a crazy location

This will add an element of fun and reignite originality. Instead of "Conference Room #5", try "Picnic Table #2" out behind the office building - or chose a local coffee shop. It's amazing what a simple change of venue can do for your team's productivity and creativity.

You can even steal a unique meeting location idea from mobile game publisher "Genera Games". They hold their meetings on the basketball court, shooting hoops, and brainstorming while they play a quick, pick-up game. This also enhances team spirit and cohesiveness while giving an energy boost to team members.

If you are on a remote team, try giving your team members a challenge to all go to the same type of environment like a Tim Hortons, or a more general requirement, like a local coffee shop. This may even help your remote workers to get out of the house and have a fresh mind by changing their scenery. This could also allow remote workers to discover a local venue that they can talk about to the rest of the team, at your meeting.

5. Have some food fun

You may have skipped a hearty breakfast to attend the early morning meeting, but this fun food game will take care of your rumbling stomach.

Ask one member of the team to bring a new and different kind of bread to each meeting (You have to ask them in advance). Rotate this responsibility to each member of the group. You could even vote on the best "bread winner" of the month.

For remote teams, try having a virtual pizza party or sharing a meal with the team whether it's one team member's breakfast and another team member's dinner time. Eating during the meeting can make for interesting conversations and add a more light and friendly feeling to your discussions.

6. Play it out

A great way to make sure everyone is awake and alert during "morning meetings" is to start with a simple game or brain teaser. This also lets the creative juices flowing.

One interesting game mentioned by Dave Gray in his book Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers is the "Anti-Problem".

In this game, meeting attendees are asked to identify ways to solve the problem opposite to their current problem. For example, if the goal is to increase footfalls at the retail store, then the person has to solve the anti-problem: How to reduce footfalls at the retail store?

The purpose of the game is to get people to look at a problem from an entirely opposite perspective. Looking at things differently sometimes makes you aware of the actual issues that are contributing to the real problem. It also enables you to think of "out-of-the-box" solutions.

This is just one example of the kind of team activities for work that will have a positive ripple effect on employees across your company.

7. Play an improv

An improv is a form of theatre in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, and is created spontaneously by the performers.

Get your meeting attendees to do an improv - whatever feels fun and exciting for them. It could be for as short as 10 minutes.

This sounds silly, but hear me out: the more playful the environment is, the more your team will feel relaxed and comfortable sharing thoughts with one another.

It will open your minds and prepare the team for more traditional brainstorming. The result would be a deeper dive to resolve issues with increased creativity.

Also, becoming more comfortable and silly will increase team building and foster an open and welcoming environment.

Improv and role-playing can also be done virtually, and can lead to some hilarious conversations between team members. You can also turn this into a fun way to problem-solve, if there are any issues that need to be addressed at work - allowing your team members to act out scenarios they have faced with clients, for example, can allow team members to both observe the situation differently and see the situation from multiple perspectives.

8. Toss some balloons

Another fun way to brainstorm on problems is to get the attendees to write ideas to a given issue on a piece of paper (one per sheet), fold the paper and put it inside a balloon.

Then blow up the balloons, toss them around for 30 seconds and then let each member can catch one balloon. Let them pop out the idea sheet from their balloon and build on that idea.

Using another person's idea to build a solution leads to creative and productive outputs.

Virtual teams can also do this activity using anonymous surveys and allow contributors to read out suggestions and ideas, without disclosing who came up with each suggestion.

9. Stick ideas on-the-go

Line the walls of your meeting room with different problems statements like "How can we improve the quality of XYZ?" Or create an online mind map for remote workers to contribute to.

Give meeting members a "sticky" notepad, and ask them to write down solutions to each of those problems. Or, give them access to the online mind map and have them all contribute solutions to the given problems.

Having all of the questions and solutions visible, in a large space, is a great way to see a huge wall/ screen of ideas, where everyone has contributed. This promotes team building and demonstrates a sense of collaboration within the team.

10. Set the agenda of the meeting

Setting a clear agenda for your morning meeting is vital for several reasons.

First, it gives a clear purpose and meaning to the meeting. This helps invitees to determine how important it is for them to attend and they can prioritize their work accordingly.

Second, knowing the topic of a meeting gives attendees time to prepare basic ideas that leads to a productive discussion or debate.

Next, without knowing the purpose of the meeting, people can get side-tracked and issues or discussions about the company can be hijacked by random discussions about Netflix movies and debates about who deserved to win that dance or singing competition that aired the night before.

Prepare agenda items (not more than 3-5) and send it to the attendees the day before the meeting. Agenda items should be narrow, focused and time-bound. Example: "Social Media Strategy-15 minutes".

11. Send invites out early

Distribute a detailed invitation at least three days before the meeting.

People need time in advance to schedule their plans, with the meeting in mind. Especially if you are working on a remote team, all members are working with different timelines and time zones.

Last-minute meeting invites tend to lead to unproductive meetings or lead to late or absent team members.

Give team members enough time in advance to plan accordingly.

12. Assign roles

Use the agenda to assign roles and what contribution - suggestions, ideas, and proposals - you expect from each participant. The best meetings are interactive, where everyone gets involved and participates.

You can also use this opportunity to assign responsibility to any one person of the group (a different one each time) to get bread, or set up an online mind map.

This increases anticipation for the meeting which goes a long way in increasing attendance and engagement.

13. Send documents rather than have a group reading session

If there are reports or notes than need to be reviewed in advance send them to the attendees early enough so that all attendees can actually read them.

Otherwise, your meeting will turn into a "reading session" which will not be a productive use of anyone's time.

14. Invite only relevant people

All the fun and games and pre-planning will be effective only when team members who are relevant to the topic of discussion are part of the meeting.

Employees who are not required to be part of any discussion can become disruptive, and drag conversations off-track. It is also a waste of company resources to have employees attend meetings where they don't or can't contribute.

15. Buzz people

To ensure that meetings don't go "off-agenda," have a policy where participants can "buzz" anyone who tries to bring any issues not pertaining to the topic of the current meeting.

These topics can be noted down for future discussions or meetings. You can use a table buzzer or just say the word "buzz". This technique is particular effective if you have someone who likes to hijack meetings.

16. Have a 'no distractions' policy

Ask participants to refrain from using phones during discussions unless it's being used to take notes.

Ideally, you should also refrain from making presentations. Meeting should be a place for brainstorming and decision making, not a PowerPoint show.

You want to talk WITH employees not AT them.

17. Get donations

To prevent distractions from ringing of the mobile phones - that can cause a snag in a meetings' productivity - keep a policy that anyone whose phone rings must make a donation to a charitable foundation.

This is an all-round win-win if your company already has a nonprofit organization that they donate to.

18. Reiterate agenda details

At the beginning of the meeting reiterate the specific agenda of the meeting. This helps attendees focus their attention and understand what is required of them.

Many employees attend back-to-back meetings, so it's helpful when the agenda is repeated. The meeting organizer should also make it clear what decisions need to be made or what actions need to be taken by the end of that meeting.

19. Coax participation

To ensure effective participation, don't dominate the discussion. Be positive about all inputs. Also, state that participation is paramount from all attendees.

Usually every meeting has few individuals who typically don't speak up. To engage them in the decision-making processes, write few questions related to the meeting agenda on the board or in the group chat before attendees arrive.

Then ask each person has to write their answer on a Post-It note and place it next to each question - or submit it to the group chat in a numbered order. This process should be done before any discussion starts on the agenda to get everyone's thoughts out in public.

20. A modern-day 'talking stick'

Another way to increase participation is to have a small token, say a poker chip or a talking stick, given randomly to a person to speak.

After that person has shared his idea, he passes it to another person who has yet to receive the chip.

Randomization helps to keep the participants' attention and everyone gets to speak.

A virtual talking stick can be made through the technology of the mute button - force everyone to mute their mics while someone else is talking. This allows the person speaking to talk without interruption. Then, by any unconventional method, take turns speaking by allowing each team member to talk individually before opening up the discussion to the entire remote team.

21. Get everyone on the same page - team solidarity

For important issues ask each participant's thoughts and restate what has been implied by the whole group before jotting down the final decision.

You can use various online tools to jot down notes and then lets attendees add their own comments to these.

22. Keep an hourglass or timer

This is more fun if you can get an egg timer. Designate a timekeeper.

Agree how long will a topic be discussed and when the time is up, the timekeeper get to shout "Time!" which is the signal to move on to the next topic.

Imposed time constraints often boost creative output.

23. Keep it not-so-formal

Make sure that attendees know they may leave when the meeting turns to affairs not relevant to their roles in the company. Having them stay for irrelevant discussions is draining for them and damaging to your company's productivity.

However, each member should leave in a way that doesn't completely disturb the other members in the meeting. In an online chat, a simple typed message stating "heading out - talk to you all soon", or slipping out of an office with a simple wave, is a great way to acknowledge your team without disrupting conversation.

24. Setting a particular meeting space

Be sure you not only know when the meeting is happening, but where.

Whether you are meeting in a board room, a café, or on a particular online communication software like Skype or Google Hangouts, be sure that you tell your attendees exactly where the meeting is being held.

This will eliminate any last-minute madness where attendees have arrived only to find no meeting room available. Also make sure that the meeting space suits the number of attendees and work to be accomplished.

You can use Google Calendar to choose a particular meeting room when you send out invitations.

25. Get the tech in place

Check whether the meeting room/ online platform accommodates all technology and equipment needed for a meeting. These technologies can range anywhere from whiteboards, markers, projectors, screens, to video calling equipment, screen-share applications, or somewhere in between.

Do a quick run-through and test everything out before the meeting begins, to avoid wasting time during the meeting.

26. Hold short meetings

Don't set meetings that are longer than 20 or 50 minutes. The maximum amount of time that produces productive discussion on one topic is about an hour. Meetings that last for more than an hour, tend to be unproductive.

27. Hold stand-up meetings

For weekly (routine) sales/marketing updates try a 10-minute standing meeting. Everyone stands up for the duration of the meeting.

If you want to have brief meetings, try this technique. It also tends to get people physically moving which brings more energy to the meeting. Moreover, when people are standing they will get to the point faster.

28. End it on time

When you start on time, you should ideally be able to end on time. If you have scheduled a meeting for 30 or 60 minutes, make it a habit to close it at the end of that time.

This is equally important to ensure that discussions don't drag on forever and decisions are made. If people know the meeting is going to end at a specific time, it will drive better meeting behavior by all involved.

Quick announcements of the time remaining at regular intervals can also help maintain a proper meeting pace.

29. End it early

If all decisions have been made, please just go ahead end the meeting early. Let people get on to other things. Getting back to work is more productive than sitting in a conference room and chatting. Ending meetings early is also a sign of a systematic, effective and productive team.

30. Keep a Q&A session

Use the last 10 minutes of the meeting for quick Q&A. Initially, no one may have any questions, but be patient. If you wait a minute without trying to fill-in the awkward silence, usually some questions will come out. These questions always end up being very useful.

31. Boost concentration

Lastly, arrange for glucose-based drinks during your morning meetings or invite your remote team to sip their coffee or energy drink as they chat online. This increases concentration and willpower which is essential for effective discussions and decision making.

Engaged meetings lead to creative brainstorming sessions and productive decisions. While most employees dread morning meetings, innovative leaders can find ways to make meetings fun as well as productive.

Arsenal for Good Meetings

Tools can make a difference between boring meetings versus effective working sessions where good decisions get made, people are engaged and leave with a clear sense of purpose.

One interesting tool you can consider is Less Meeting. This is a paid online app with features like agenda setting, a countdown timer that prompts you to move on to the next topic as time becomes short, and a "parking lot," where you can jot down topics that are worth discussing later.

Once you've built the agenda, you can send it, along with any other related files, to the people you need to attend your meeting in the invitation. It also has collaboration tools so that you can hold meetings with remote attendees. Less Meeting also connects with and syncs with Outlook and Google Apps.

Once the meeting is over, the app also gives you a concise list of action items, meeting minutes and notes, and more to send out to everyone who came. It will even get feedback on your meetings so the next ones are better.

Now that you know how to run meetings were the participants are engaged and active so that you get a productive output, it's vital to ask yourself an important question:

Is this meeting necessary?

Many companies think they have to have meetings in order to be productive.

They fill their schedules with endless meetings - status meetings, strategy meetings, staff meetings, meetings about meetings.

Locking your employees in meetings all week long does not get more work done. Back-to-back meetings or too many meetings only end of making workers exhausted, frazzled, and frustrated.

Additionally, too many unnecessary meetings dilute the importance of those few meetings that are actually important!

Make sure meetings do not dominate your team members' calendars.

Wondering if you should call that meeting? Think about these to get a quick answer:

If you can get the information you seek through a quick email or phone conversation with one or two people, then you need not call a group meeting.

If information needs to be disseminated, an office memo or email works better than calling 10 people to the conference room.

If you need opinion from a group of individuals, send a questionnaire before you arrange any meetings, where each respondent can provide their ideas. Individual opinions are sometimes more creative/ effective than group opinions.

Meetings are only effective when you require interaction and input from multiple people during brainstorming, problem solving, or decision-making processes.
Make it Happen

Recently I met the CEO of a company which has implemented two unusual practices to ensure meetings start on time and end on time: Whoever comes in late for a meeting has to sing and if the meeting runs over the allotted time, the last person talking has to do 10 pushups.

The CEO said that both the policies have been so effective that they rarely get the opportunity to make anyone sing or do pushups these days!

Plan and execute your meetings with the right policies and they will truly be valuable and productive, rather than a complete waste of time. Try these morning meeting activities and your morning meetings can actually be something that your employees look forward to, rather than dread!

What other tips do you have for holding engaging morning meetings? Let me know in the comments below.

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Morning Meeting Activities: 31 Ways to Run Engaged Meetings

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Jon: How was the meeting? Bob: Well... the donuts made the hour-long meeting worth it. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother to go. Do you go to meetings for the donuts or for the conversation? Most companies invariably have one (or more) morning meetings, and we often find them annoying and disruptive to our daily routine or tasks at hand.

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Kei te pai ki te wāhi mahi?

A lot of our time is spent at work. So how can we look after ourselves and others while on the job, and why is workplace wellbeing such a worthy investment? Here we share info, tools and tips from leaders in the field, and local workplaces who are leading the way.

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Oops, your cart is empty! Kei te pai ki te wāhi mahi? A lot of our time is spent at work. So how can we look after ourselves and others while on the job, and why is workplace wellbeing such a worthy investment?

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This is part of a series on learner centred teaching. There's also updated Pacific content at the links below:

The Fonofale model is a holistic approach to health and well-being that is specific to Pacific cultures. This model is similar to the Te Whare Tapa Whā model developed by Sir Mason Durie, which is also widely used in the healthcare sector. The Fonofale model can be applied to education settings to support the success of Pacific Islander learners.

The Fonofale Pasifika model was developed by Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann (2009), who is a respected academic and nursing professional based in New Zealand. Born in Samoa, Pulotu-Endemann drew on his cultural background and expertise to create the Fonofale model. The model emphasizes the importance of balance and harmony across different dimensions of health and well-being, including spiritual, mental, physical, and social aspects.

Similar to Te Whare Tapa Whā, Fonofale aims to promote holistic thinking about various aspects of life, including health, education, and culture, within Pacific Island communities.

The Fonofale model is composed of three main elements: the foundation, the roof, and the posts. Each element represents an essential aspect of Pacific cultural identity that must be taken into account to achieve holistic health and wellbeing.

The foundation represents the spiritual and cultural beliefs that underpin Pacific culture, while the roof represents the physical environment and the social and political contexts in which Pacific people live. The posts symbolise the different dimensions of Pacific identity, such as family, community, and individual identity.

By using the Fonofale Pasifika model, educators and health professionals can gain a deeper understanding of the cultural and spiritual needs of Pacific Island communities. This can help to create more effective and culturally appropriate interventions and strategies that promote health and educational success among Pacific learners.

It's a visual representation of Pasifika values and beliefs. We use the Samoan fale or house to describe the important factors of healthy development. Here are the parts below.

The foundation

This is the extended family - the foundation for all Pacific Island cultures. This foundation represents the core values and beliefs of Pacific people. It is the base of the model and supports the other elements.

It is made up of the cultural values and beliefs that are shared among Pacific peoples, such as the importance of family, respect for elders, and a strong connection to the environment.

These values are fundamental to the Pacific way of life and inform how Pacific people view themselves and their place in the world.

The roof

The roof of the Fonofale represents the cultural values and beliefs that are the the physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of Pacific people and their shelter for life.

This element is crucial to the model because it acknowledges that the wellbeing of Pacific people is interconnected and interdependent. If one area of wellbeing is neglected, it can have a significant impact on the other areas.

This can include traditional as well as western ways of doing things.

The Pou (posts)

The posts of the Fonofale connect the family to the culture. They also depend on each other. These posts represent the different systems and structures that support Pacific peoples' wellbeing.

These include the education system, health system, justice system, and social services. These systems and structures are essential for supporting Pacific peoples' wellbeing and must be culturally responsive and inclusive to be effective.

They are:

Spiritual

This relates to the sense of wellbeing that comes from Christianity or traditional spirituality or a combination of both.

Physical

This relates to the wellbeing and physical health of the body.

Mental

This relates to the mind including thinking and emotional wellbeing as well as behaviours.

Other

This includes other things like gender, sexual orientation, age, social class, employment, and educational status.

The fale is surrounded by a protective layer. This includes:

Environment. This relates to the relationships that Pasifika people have to their physical environment. This can be rural or urban.

Context. This dimension relates to the "big picture' for Pasifika including socio-economic or political situations.

Time. This relates to the actual or specific time in history that impacts on Pasifika people.

In summary, the Fonofale model is a holistic representation of Pacific cultural identity that acknowledges the interconnectedness of Pacific peoples' wellbeing, values, and beliefs. The model provides a useful framework for understanding the complex cultural identities of Pacific peoples and for guiding culturally responsive practices that promote the wellbeing of Pacific learners.

It's relevant because you can use your knowledge of the Fonofale to enhance your teaching. As with Te Whare Tapa Whā, this knowledge is not limited to just working with the people groups it represents.

This approach is also relevant because it will help create a learning environment that is culturally safe for Pasifika learners.

If you identify as Pasifika, the Fonofale is a framework that allows you to talk about how you probably already work with your learners.

If you are not Pasifika, the framework allows you to see your learners, particularly your Pacific Island learners in a different way, perhaps closer to how they see themselves.

Here are some questions from the learner's point of view to help you focus on each part of the Fonofale model:

Do I have support from my family to do this course? (Family).

Does this course connect with my Pacific cultural values and beliefs? (Culture).

Do I have the resources to do this course? (Physical).

Do I believe that I can do this course? (Spiritual).

Can I cope with the workload? (Mental).

Is there anything that's going to get in the way of my goals here? (Others).

Are my surroundings, including home and work, going to help me achieve? (Environment).

Can I afford to do this at the moment? (Context and time).

It may not always be possible to always attend to all dimensions of the Fonofale for all of your Pasifika learners. But one big implication is that if you have learners who are struggling, or who are not engaged, then the Fonofale may help you work out where the problem is and how to deal with it.

But one big implication is that if you have learners who are struggling, or who are not engaged, then the Fonofale may help you work out where the problem is and how to deal with it.

I have additional updated content of Pasifika here below:

Introducing Pacific Cultural Centredness

Are you Interested in finding out more about how a Pacific worldview may impact your teaching and learning? Check out this playlist with Pale, Saylene and Graeme talking about Pacific cultural centredness, talanoa, Le Va and Pacific cultural safety.

My eBooks

For more on Learner Centred Teaching please check out these resources of mine:

What is Learner-Centred Teaching - 12 Concepts from Te Ao Māori You Should Embrace to Create Learning Success

Discover time-honoured approaches to learner-centred teaching

What if I told you that there were time-honoured approaches to teaching and learning you can use to create the conditions for learning success. Imagine if your teaching really connected with your learners... What if your classroom or training environment was a place where your learners felt like they belonged and wanted to learn?

Here's a secret. It's totally possible if you discover and embrace time-honoured concepts from Te Ao Māori - the Māori world. This book is for you if you want to teach or train in a way that is more learner-centred or if you want to learn to think in a more holistic way. Read more here

Click the link below to find out more about What is Learner-Centred? 12 Concepts from Te Ao Māori You Should Embrace to Create Learning Success

Three Simple Approaches You Need for Learner-Centred Teaching

Find out more about three of the fundamentals of adult teaching

Have you ever thought about how to improve your teaching? Have you ever wondered what it takes to create learner success in any teaching environment? Well, you need three things. Make that four things... You need to:

Understand what people mean when they talk about "learner-centred" teaching.

Know how to leverage your learners' prior knowledge.

Have simple ways of increasing the motivation of your students.

Know what learner agency is and how to develop it.

Read more here.

Click the link below to find out more about Three Simple Approaches You Need for Learner Centred Teaching - Proven Ways to Use Prior Knowledge, Increase Motivation and Develop Learner Agency to Pave the Road to Learning Success

Literacy & Numeracy - It's Not Rocket Science

Learn the fundamentals of literacy and numeracy with Graeme Smith

Discover how to be more successful in your teaching journey. I'll introduce and explain some of the fundamentals of adult literacy and numeracy.

Once you've finished reading, you will have a better understanding of the basics including how to integrate or embed literacy and numeracy into your teaching. This includes with technical and vocational education. You can read more here.

Now bundled wth two free printable resources - a place value chart and hundreds grid.

Click the link below to find out more about Literacy and Numeracy: It's Not Rocket Science.

The Educator Entrepreneur - Don't Bring a Whiteboard Marker to a Knife Fight

Learn how to think like an Entrepreneur with Graeme Smith

Education is a tough business to work in. And that's true regardless of whether you are a teacher, a trainer or any kind of specialist educator. But what if you're a business owner AS WELL...!

If you're like me, most days you're probably pretty excited about what you do. But some days... Some days I can't understand why anyone would want to work in education. But I learned to survive and thrive and you can too. Teach yourself a lesson and start thinking like an entrepreneur. Read more here

Click the link below to find out more about The Educator Entrepreneur - Don't Bring a Whiteboard Marker to a Knife Fight

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Fonofale Pasifika: 6 Essential Factors To Create the Best Chance of Success - THISISGRAEME

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Fonofale Pasifika - what is the fono fale Pasifika?