Quick Guide
- Keywords: Reactions, natural responses, functional language
- Learner English level: Elementary and above
- Learner maturity: Elementary and above
- Preparation time: 10–15 minutes
- Activity time: 15–30 minutes
- Materials: Sets of “Statement” cards (Appendix A), sets of “Reaction” cards (Appendix B)
This communicative pair/group activity is a fun and effective way of consolidating vocabulary, promoting listening skills, and developing students’ speaking skills by reviewing natural reaction phrases and encouraging students to ask follow-up questions. The activity can be used in a range of lesson types and can be used as both a review of previous lesson material or a communicative closer.
Preparation
Step 1: Prepare sets of “Statement” cards. The sets should contain about 15–20 statements that encourage a reaction, for example, “I’m moving to a different country” and “My bike was stolen yesterday.” (see Appendix A for more examples).
Step 2: Prepare sets of “Reaction” cards. These sets should contain a variety of different reaction phrases, for instance, “Seriously?” and “No way!” (see Appendix B for more examples).
Step 3: Print enough copies so that one set of Statement and Reaction cards can be given to each pair or group that the class is split into.
Procedure
Step 1: Start by telling the class a fictional, but plausible statement that will likely elicit a response (e.g., “I got tickets to the upcoming BTS tour.”).
Step 2: Note some of the reactions that the students give and ask if they would sound natural in an English-speaking situation. Explain that some Japanese-sounding reactions (e.g., “Eeeeh!”) are expressed differently in other cultures.
Step 3: Explain that the initial statement was only a joke and elicit some natural responses from the students.
Step 4: Read out one of the Statement cards and model some natural reactions. Explain that it is common to add a follow-up question after a reaction. For example:
A: I got tickets to the upcoming BTS tour.
B: Seriously? Which show are you going to?
Read another statement and elicit some reactions and follow-up questions from students. Be prepared to make up plausible answers to whatever students ask.
Step 5: Select three Reaction cards and tell the students that they need to “find” the reactions on the cards by reacting to your statement. Say another statement and elicit reactions. If one of the reactions on the three cards is said, show it to the students and place it face up on your desk or write it on the board. Explain that ‘finding’ the reactions on the other person’s Reaction cards is the aim of the activity.
Step 6: Split the class into pairs/groups.
Step 7: Tell the students to put a set of Statement cards in the middle of the group.
Step 8: Ask the students to either deal out all of the Reaction cards (or randomly select three each, depending on the size of the groups).
Step 9: Tell the students they will take turns picking one of the Statement cards and reading it to their group.
Step 10: Explain that the other members of the group should say an appropriate reaction phrase. If the phrase matches one of the reactions on the statement reader’s Reaction cards, that card is placed face up on the table (as modelled in Step 5).
Step 11: Encourage the students to ask follow-up questions after saying their reactions. As explained in Step 4, this often means that the statement reader needs to think quickly and invent some information, which can be very entertaining.
Step 12: Tell the students to repeat this process until only one student is left holding Reaction cards. That student is the winner. At this point, the Reaction cards can be re-dealt, or the groups can be changed, and the activity repeated. The extra information elicited by the follow-up questions asked in Step 11 can also be shared with the class.
Conclusion
This activity provides students with the opportunity to review reaction phrases and practice using them in a fun, communicative way. The variations provided below allow the activity to be adapted to different levels of students and focus on different areas of functional language.
Variations
This activity can be adapted in a couple of ways. First, it could be used to practice giving advice to the statement reader instead of asking follow-up questions or to practice a range of different conversation-building strategies. Second, instead of using statement cards, students can think of and say their own statements to start the interactions.
Appendices
The appendices are available below:
