The problem is the lack of structure.

I organize a lot of workshops involving people from experts to executives, where you always need an introduction round, and I give them a structure to follow. Makes the task it easier, but it’ll also be much more useful for the group, as we’ll focus in the aspects of a person that matter for the context of the workshop.

For a class intro in primary school, it could be:

• name and age
• nickname you’d like others to call you
• favorite subject
• favorite hobby / free time activity

I just made this up, but a teacher could probably come up with something even more fitting.

The point is, always give people structure or guidance, you’ll get much more out of similar introduction rounds.

That happens a lot less than you think. And I try to avoid clubs etc that do that nonsense.

I'm so sorry.

You throw a ball at each other and whoever holds it needs to introduce themselves?

I guess the teachers will just have to make educated guesses based on which students they presume will end up strung out, and then have only those kids practice the introductions.

(But, for real, I've encountered this shit in numerous workplaces)