Speed Dating

This is a fun way to get students talking. It’s a great speaking activity at the beginning of the term or also as a substitute lesson. Students can talk to each other in small groups that way, which makes them lose their inhibitions faster. You can rotate them after a certain amount of time, so that they talk to different students during the activity.

I organize the students in pairs in a horseshoe seating arrangement, facing each other across a single table.  After a certain time, rotate both of them into different directions. That way, they are always facing a different partner.

My students always have great fun doing this activity and everyone can talk according to their own proficiency. It is possible to answer in short sentences if the students are still early learners but more proficient students can also simply have a conversation with the questions as the conversation stater.