Quick Guide
- Keywords: Communication skills, discussion skills, warm-up activity
- Learner English level: Elementary and above
- Learner maturity: High school and above
- Preparation time: 5 minutes
- Activity time:10-60 minutes
- Materials: Question sheet, projector or whiteboard
Classroom discussions are great for communicative practice and can support key facets of learning, such as critical thinking. However, if you have ever asked your students to discuss a topic and then been greeted with a stony silence, then you know that it is not all plain sailing. Sometimes, it might be necessary to inject a little more focus and dynamism into the practice to inspire students to talk. This discussion activity borrows from the concept of speed dating and related classroom adaptations. Instead of asking students to discuss a topic, such as, social media or sports, the teacher prepares four focused questions related to that topic. Students discuss the first question in pairs for a limited duration. Then, learners change partners and discuss the next questions. This process is an active and lively way to introduce a new lesson topic or a fun, low-prep warm-up activity for any class.
Preparation
Step 1: Create four numbered questions related to the desired topic. For example, four questions related to social media could be:
Which social media platform do you like best, and why?
Who is your favourite YouTuber, and why?
How much YouTube or TikTok do you watch every day?
Could you live without social media for a day/week/month?
Step 2: Prepare the questions for distribution, whether by projecting them on a screen, writing them on the board, or printing hard copies.
Procedure
Step 1: Arrange the desks so students can sit facing each other in pairs, preferably in rows. If there is an uneven number of students, the teacher can participate or create a group of three.
Step 2: Designate learners on the left side of the pair as Student A and those on the right as
Student B.
Step 3: Distribute the questions to students: write them on the board, project them on a screen or hand out hard copies.
Step 4: Start a two-minute timer and display it in the classroom if possible.
Step 5: Students play janken (rock-paper-scissors), and the winner asks the first question. Both students give their answers and ask follow-up questions as necessary to keep the conversation going.
Step 6: Circulate and monitor the discussions. Help struggling students and contribute to learners’ discussions as appropriate.
Step 7: Stop the timer and review the question by selecting some students to share their answers with the class. Ask follow-up questions and share your ideas.
Step 8: Student A remains seated while Student B moves clockwise to make a new partner.
Step 9: Repeat steps 4-8 until all the questions have been discussed and reviewed.
Variations
This activity can be adapted to give lower-level students additional practice by increasing the number of times each question is discussed. For students who struggle to communicate, the duration could be decreased to one minute. Alternatively, for students with higher communicative competence, the duration of each conversation could be increased to allow more in-depth discussions.
Conclusion
This activity can work well for reluctant speakers and those with limited conversational ability in the target language. It can also be a fun, rapid-fire introduction to a topic for more adept communicators. It seems that the combination of physical movement, the bustling conversations and the interlocutor position (opposite the speaker) encourages learners to increase their efforts to express themselves.