🎤 EAL Poetry Warm-Ups KS2 | Fun Speaking & Listening Activities for Confidence
Poetry warm-ups are a brilliant way to help EAL learners build speaking confidence, practise pronunciation, and feel included and successful in the classroom straight away — even if they are new to English.
The secret?
Movement ✅
Repetition ✅
Rhythm ✅
Call-and-response ✅
Fun ✅✅✅
These warm-ups are perfect for KS2 classes, international schools, and mainstream UK schools with EAL pupils. They also work beautifully in SEMH/EBD settings where structure, rhythm and movement support emotional engagement.
👉 In my Poetry Days in primary schools across the UK I work hard to get the children excited about writing and performing their own poems. I visit over 100 schools every year and I’d love to work with your children and teachers.
📅 You can book me for:
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In-person Poetry Days across the UK
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Online Poetry Workshops (affordable and flexible)
➡ Secure your date here: Poets in Schools – Ian Bland
Great for teachers looking to save time!
🤸 Why Poetry Warm-Ups Work for EAL Pupils
EAL learners benefit from lessons that include:
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Repetition & rhythm
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Clear gestures and actions
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Visual and physical cues
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Group performance (no pressure to speak alone)
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Playful pronunciation practice
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Quick wins to build confidence
Poetry ticks every box — especially performance poetry.
✋ Warm-Up Poem #1 — Action Poem!
A simple, high-energy movement poem.
Say the line → children repeat & act it.
Action Poem!
Stand up!
Reach out!
Put a finger on your nose,
Look up!
Bend down!
Put your elbow on your toes!
Sit down!
Fold arms!
Put a big smile on your faces,
Kneel up!
Crouch down!
And then wiggle in your places!
✅ Classroom Ideas
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Teacher calls → class echoes
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Whisper vs loud challenge
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Boys vs girls / tables / partners
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Invent new action lines as a class
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Use as daily speaking warm-up
💃 Warm-Up Poem #2 — The Dinner Lady Dance
Brilliant for chorus learning, rhythm, and joining in confidently.
The Dinner Lady Dance
(chorus)
Eat your dinner your last chance!
Do the dinner lady dance!
Eat your dinner your last chance!
Do the dinner lady dance!Gets so angry in a crowd
Blows her whistle really loud
Always shouting in the hall
Stops you crying when you fall
Tells you off for telling lies
Hands on hips and angry eyes!
(chorus)Loves to jump in when you fight
Wears a coat that far too tight
Starts to panic in the rain
Dinner ladies they’re insane
Play a game and they will spoil it
Won’t let you go to the toilet!
(chorus)Keeps you waiting all the while
Makes you walk in single file
Always grumps and always pouts
Makes you eat your Brussel sprouts
Cleverest people in a way
They only work one hour a day!
(chorus)Makes you eat that fatty mince
Curly hair with purple rinse
Makes you stand up on the wall
Confiscates the playground ball
Think they’re nice then think again
They scared away the dinner men!
(chorus)
✅ Classroom Ideas
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Teach chorus first — everyone succeeds immediately
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Add actions and silly gestures
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Children perform chorus only at first
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Build up to full verses over time
Get yourself a signed book!
💤 Warm-Up Poem #3 — The Teachers Are Asleep!
A whisper-and-shout participation poem — perfect for EAL listening & drama.
The Teachers Are Asleep!
Shush!
The teacher’s are asleep
They’re dreaming of the holidays
They’re gonna get next week
They’re dreaming about children
Who’ll do as they are told
They’re dreaming of the pensions
That they’ll get when they are old!Shush!
The teachers are asleep!
They’re dreaming of a quiet class
That hardly ever speak
They’re dreaming of promotion
While they’re lying in their bed
They’re thinking up a lot of things
To do when they are head!Shush!
The teachers start to snore
We won’t have to listen to their lessons anymore
We can throw our pencils
We can run around and chase
We can creep up to our teachers
Make a silly funny face!Shush!
The teacher’s are asleep
These people are so tired
It could last until next week
They’re tossing and they’re turning
And they’re playing with their hair
There’s dribble dripping from their chin
They’re falling off their chair!Shush!
The teachers start to wake
Their eyelids start to flicker
And their hands begin to shake
They’re looking out for trouble
Their face is going red
They’re looking for somebody they can
Send off to the head!
✅ Classroom Ideas
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Whisper the “Shush!” lines
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Freeze when teacher wakes up
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Add face expressions / mime / drama
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Class creates extra “dreams teachers have” verse
✨ Independent EAL Challenge
Ask pupils to create their own action verse:
Stand up!
Turn round!
Touch your knee…
Buzz like a bee!
They LOVE it — and learn vocabulary & confidence fast.
👉 Action Poem Writing Framework
🎓 School Workshops (UK & International)
I work with schools across the UK and worldwide delivering fun, high-impact poetry workshops that help children write, perform, speak and shine.
