How you start your training session can set the tone for the rest of the day. When you’re delivering a session that runs over the course of several days, a little creativity goes a long way to keep your audience engaged. We’ve written about our favourite ice breakers, but if you’re looking for ideas for day two of training and beyond, here are a few ideas:
1. Role Reversal
What is it? Students take turns acting as a trainer to their peers.
How it works: Each student takes one thing they learned from the previous day and presents a summary of it. They can get as creative as they like (i.e. write a rap summarising key concepts or a create a drawing of what they learned).
What to prepare: A list of concepts/key terms to review.
2. Pop Quiz
What is it? A quick round of questions to review the training from the previous day.
How it works: The trainer hosts a pop quiz and allocates points to the student(s) who answer the questions correctly. The player with the most points wins.
What to prepare: This may take 15-30 minutes to prepare but if you are teaching the same session more than once, it’s definitely a tool you can re-use. You can either prepare the quiz with PowerPoint or via a quiz/trivia platform like Kahoot!
3. Word Search
What is it? A virtual word search is posted on the trainer’s screen. The challenge is for students to find as many words as possible.
How it works: Challenge the students to write down as many terms as they can see from the word search. The words need to be ones they learned from the previous day. The winner with the most words wins. After a winner is declared, assign a term to each student to summarise for the group.
What to prepare: The word search. You can use a tool like Canva or look for a word search generator.
4. The Name Game
What is it? Like the game of Taboo, one person describes a word or a phrase without using the actual word. Everyone else has to guess the word/phrase in under a minute.
How it works: Divide the group into two teams. Secretly give the word/phrase to one player. When they’re ready, start the timer for their teammate to guess. If they guess right, they receive a point.
What to prepare: A list of words/phrases for students to choose from.
5. Word Jumble
What is it? Like the puzzles in the Sunday paper, the Word Jumble is a puzzle where all the letters of a word are scrambled.
How it works: The trainer unveils a word/phrase with the letters scrambled. The student who can unscramble and explain the word correctly wins a point. The student with the most points wins.
What to prepare: A list of words/phrases with the letters all scrambled
There are many ways to make training fun, even if the sessions are online. Almost any game you’ve played can be used in training. All you need is some creativity and good internet connection.