Gossip PartyOn the very first day of my teaching, I start with some ice-breakers so that we can learn about each others’ names, likes, dislikes, etc.  I start by first introducing myself through a game called ‘Gossip Game’.  First I elicit what people may do at parties; i.e. dance, drink and eat some nice food, meet new people, gossip, etc. Then, I tell them that to assume we are in a party and do exactly the same thing. I also tell them that we are to mingle around to gossip about what they have just learned about me.  I then distribute slips of sentences to each student. On each slip there is a piece of information about me, i.e. “Nesrin loves watching movies, and the most recent one she has seen is ‘Black Swan’. Once they have read it, I get the slips back. Then, they have to share the information with as many people as they can.  When everybody has disseminated the information they have, I tell them to get in groups of 4/5, and write down as much as they remember in 5 minutes. Groups then have to swap their papers, and check whether there is anything missing or wrong. I then tell the group who has the most correct items to read out their sentences. At this stage, I add some more information about myself, and also ask them if they have any similar experiences, interests, and so on.