The first day of class

Acquaintance between teachers and students is essential in the process of teaching and learning. Although the first day of class is an appropriate moment to initiate that mutual knowledge, this opportunity can be lost if it is managed like any other day of the course, which only differs from the rest of the classes due to formal introductions of teachers, students and the syllabus. In this paper I will refer two first day of class activities that may encourage students' motivation about the course and at the same time, may help teachers to get valuable information about their students background and interests. The first tool consists of an electronic form named "interest inventory", which was made on Google Forms. It works as an icebreaker to encourage students to introduce themselves. Besides, if teachers ask the right questions, they will get information about their students' expectations and previous knowledge and background on the subjects and the course. As some questions may be answered aloud in front of class, they are helpful in building a welcoming environment and favour students mutual knowledge. Besides, as the form is designed by means of Google Forms, technology helps to maximize its use. The second tool is a ludic one and consists of a quiz. The course is divided into different groups and each group, by turns, answers one question. The winner is the one that gets more right answers. Questions must be defined in order to get information about the students' previous knowledge of certain topics related to the course. The "trivia" also helps to bring forward - in a subtle way - topics which will be studied during the course. This is an easier and more friendly way to get information about pupils deficiencies, skills or preparedness than a regular written diagnosis test. Finally, in the virtual campus of the school or the university teachers must provide detailed information about the content of the course, its requirements, approval conditions, study materials, etc. Materials related to the real practice of law - that is to say, the professional tasks performed by lawyers in their offices o in court every day - may also be included in the virtual campus in order to be used as a motivational and inspiring element.