Ken Wilson 5 activities 1

Kens five activities

The five activities are all from this book:

Oxford University Press

978-0-19-442580-3
Published 13 November 2008

2.3 Be someone else

Level Elementary +
Time 520 minutes
Aims To give students the chance to ask and answer basic personal
questions.
Preparation
No preparation is needed for this activity. It does however require a
certain level of trust between the teacher and the students, so it is
advisable to try this activity with a class you know well.
Procedure
1 Ask a student to come to the front of the class. Tell him/her you are
going to ask four questions and you want them answered truthfully.
Then ask the following simple questions:
Whats your name? Agnieszka.
What nationality are you? Polish.
Where do you live? Lublin.
What do you do? Im a student.
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2 Now tell Agnieszka that you want her to be someone else. Ask the
same four questions and ask her to change the answers to all of
them. Dont give her any time to prepare for this.
Whats your name? Monica.
What nationality are you? Irish.
Where do you live? Dublin.
What do you do? Im a nurse.
3 Now as the rest of the class to ask Monica about her life. Tell them
to be careful and not ask questions which are too personal. At this
point, you can sit down and be part of the class.
4 There is no rule about how long this questioning should go on some
students think of amazing questions and answers. However, when
the questioning starts to slow down, ask Monica to invite another
student to the front of the class and continue the procedure. Monica
becomes the teacher. She asks the four questions, twice, then she
sits down and the questioning begins again.
5 This process can go on for as long or short a time as you think fit. It is
worth noting that your role in this activity is minimal, and the focus of
the class changes completely
Follow up
Written homework. Tell the class to choose one of the characters that
they heard about, and write a description of what happened. If the
class can use reported speech, then encourage them to do it as a
report:
We talked to a nurse from Ireland called Monica. She told us that she
enjoyed nursing

If they dont know how to write reported speech sentences,

encourage them to write it as a dialogue.
Tomas: Do you like nursing?
Monica: Yes.
Natalia: How long have you been a nurse?
Monica: A year.
Comments
1 This activity is self-regulating. See the note about Self-regulating
improvisations in the introduction.
2 Use the same four questions, regardless of the level of the class and
regardless of whether the class is monolingual or multilingual and/or
multi-nationality. And always ask them to give the real answers first.
Of course, the answers to questions 24 will be almost identical in a
monolingual class living in the same town; this does not matter.
Giving the real answers gets the students into the rhythm of the
activity and gives them a little thinking time.
3 Do not accept answers to the second set of questions if the students
want to be a real person, a pop star or sportsperson, for example. We
dont want questions to Britney Spears or Lewis Hamilton!
Ken Wilson 5 activities 3

4 When a female student is answering the questions about her new

self, there is a tendency for the rest of the class to ask if she is
married, or in a relationship. There is nothing wrong with that, but the
questioning is then sometimes directed entirely towards the partner
and what he does. Try to encourage the questioning to be about the
students new persona, and not other people.
5 Do not worry that you are not giving the students enough preparation
time; they will not need it. Even in cultures which are less
immediately extrovert, students never fail to come up with a new
identity and enter into the spirit of the activity.

2.4 Actions and locations: where are you

and what are you doing?
Level Elementary +
Time 1015 minutes
Aims To practise the present continuous tense and phone language.
Preparation
You need two old mobile phones and two cardboard boxes, or similar
containers. Mark the boxes A for Actions, and L for Locations.
The students need a pen and two pieces of paper.
Procedure
1 Ask the class to write a location on a piece of paper. What you want is
a prepositional phrase. Write on the table on the board as an
example. Encourage them to use different prepositions that they
know: in, under, near, opposite, behind, next to, etc. Ask the class to
fold the papers and put them in a cardboard box, marked L
(Locations).
2 Now ask them to write an action on the other piece of paper. The
action needs to be in the present continuous tense, but try not to use
explanatory grammatical language when you ask them to do this.
Write an example on the board: Im eating a biscuit. Indicate that the
examples should be in the first person, and there should be a verb
and an object. Ask the class to fold the papers and put them in the
second cardboard box, marked A (Actions).
3 Invite two students to the front of the class and ask them to stand on
either side of the table with the two boxes between them. Give them
each a mobile phone. Ask them to begin a normal phone
conversation: Hi, how are you? etc. Tell them that eventually one of
them, Student A, must ask Where are you? When Student B hears
this question, he/she takes a piece of paper from the Locations box
and reads what it says, e.g. On the beach. Student A immediately
asks And what are you doing? Student B takes a piece of paper from
the Actions box and reads what it says, e.g. Im painting a wall.
4 You can if you like encourage Student A to ask for more details.
5 Student B now asks Student A the same two questions. Student A
takes a piece of paper from each box and reads the contents.
6 The two students then give the mobile phones to two other students,
who do exactly the same thing.
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This activity can continue, if you wish, until every student in the class
has had this mini-conversation. The only argument against allowing
everyone to do it is that there may be some written examples that
are offensive or illegible, so there may not be enough useable items
in the boxes for everyone. See the note on Offensive Language in the
introduction.
Comments
Always make sure they ask Where are you? before they ask What are
you doing? as this tends to lead to a livelier exchange.

2.12 Fishbowl
Level Intermediate +
Time 1030 minutes
Aims To create a series of improvised exchanges.
Preparation
You need a cardboard box or similar container. Students need a pen
and a large piece of paper, which they will cut into three pieces.
Procedure
1 Tell students to get three small pieces of paper. Tell them that they
are going to write three separate conversation items on the pieces of
paper. Ask them to write clearly as other people may have to read
what they write.
2 Ask them to write a STATEMENT on the first one. Tell them that you
want conversation items, e.g. I saw a good TV programme yesterday,
not something you might hear in a speech, e.g. The main agricultural
produce of this country is corn.
3 Ask them to write a QUESTION on the second piece of paper. They
may ask if the statement and question should be related, and you
can tell them that it doesnt matter whether it is or not.
4 Ask them to write an EXCLAMATION on the third piece of paper. If
they dont understand what you mean, give an example: Oh no! Tell
them not to use the example you give, they must think of another
one.
5 Ask them to fold up the three pieces of paper and put them all in the
same box. Put the box on a chair or table at the front of the class,
and put a chair on either side of it.
6 Ask for two volunteers to sit in the chairs. Tell them they are going to
have a conversation. First of all, the rest of the class have to provide
a context for the conversation. Ask the rest of the class the following
three questions to provide information about the two volunteers:
Who are these people?
Where are they?
What are they talking about?
The class should come up with a situation that is clear to everyone,
e.g.:
They are neighbours.
They are standing in the street.
Ken Wilson 5 activities 5
They are talking about another neighbour.

7 Ask the two students to begin a conversation in these roles. Tell the
rest of the class that, if the conversation begins to slow down, they
can shout Fish! If this happens, one of the students takes a piece of
paper from the box and reads what it says. The two students must
find a way of incorporating this new line into their conversation.
Thereafter, the two students take it in turns to take a piece of paper
from the box.
8 A good rule is that they should be allowed three lines from the box
each. If their conversation becomes absolutely hilarious, allow them
to continue. Eventually, thank the pair and ask them to go back to
their seats. Ask for two more volunteers. Ask the rest of the class to
provide new characters, location and conversation topic for them.
9 Repeat the activity for as long as you want, or until the box is empty.
Comments
1 There is a potential for activities like this to backfire. For example, in
this case, the topic of conversation which is suggested by the rest of
the class may be limited, obscure, too personal or potentially
offensive. If this is the case, feel free to ask for other suggestions.
But, as far as possible, allow the students to provide input without
teacher interference.
2 Read the notes about Student suspicion and Students who talk too
much in the introduction.
3 Try to discourage the class from shouting Fish! too often.

2.15 Experts
Level Intermediate +
Time 1030 minutes
Aims To practise structuring sentences in the context of a game.
Preparation
No preparation is needed for this activity.
Procedure
1 Put three chairs in front of the class and ask for three volunteers to
sit in them.
2 Tell the three people in the chairs that they are experts, but we dont
know yet what they are experts about.
3 Ask the class to choose a topic that the three students are experts
about. The first time, accept simple and easily-understood topics like
Food, Films, or Sport. Lets say you choose Food. Tell the three
volunteers that they are now experts about food and they are going
to answer questions from the class about this topic. However, it is not
quite as straightforward as that. When they answer the questions,
they have to do it one word at a time, in sequence. Like this:
Student A: I
Student B: think
Student C: that
Student A: its
Ken Wilson 5 activities 6

4 Invite the rest of the class to ask the experts a question about the
chosen topic.
What is the most difficult dish to cook?
What is the healthiest food to eat?
The three experts then try to answer the question. Let them make
their answer as long or as short as they like.
5 Let the class ask a maximum of three questions to the experts, then
choose three new experts and a new topic for them. Continue the
game for as long as you can allow.
Comments
Accept contractions Im, its, dont, etc. as one word.

4.7 What time is it?

Level Elementary +
Time 15 minutes
Aims To practise intonation to convey emotion. To energize the group.
Preparation
No preparation is needed for this activity.
Procedure
1 Choose five students from the group and ask them to stand in a line.
2 Tell the first student (Student A) in the line to ask the question What
time is it? to Student B angrily. Let Student A practise asking the
question angrily. Ask the rest of the group if they sound angry
enough.
3 Now tell Student B to reply angrily with one word: What? He or she
should use rising intonation to indicate that he or she didnt hear the
first time. Let Student A and Student B practise the two lines.
4 Now ask Student A to repeat the question What time is it? This time
Student B says I dont know! Student A finishes the exchange by
indicating Student C and saying: Well, ask him / her!
So, the complete dialogue is as follows:
A: What time it is?
B: What?
A: What time is it?
B: I dont know!
A: Well, ask him/her!
B: What time is it?
C: What? etc
5 Now the team is ready to try to dialogue all the way down the line:
Student A to Student B, B to C, etc.
6 When Student D asks Student E, and Student E says: I dont know!
stop the action and tell Student E that he or she DOES know. Tell
Student E to tell Student D the time calmly. Its half past ten (or
whatever the time is).
Ken Wilson 5 activities 7
7 Now tell Student D to thank Student E profusely, but only using the
words Thank you. Tell him or her to make the Thank you as emphatic
as possible.

8 Student D now tells Student C the time calmly, and Student C gives a
big Thank you. Continue until Student B tells Student A.
9 Now repeat the whole exercise, letting Student E start.
10 The five members of the first team then choose five more people to
stand in a line.
11 Ask the class to give you a new question. Use the new question with
the new team.
12 Continue until everyone in the group has had a chance to play.
Comment
When you ask the group to give you a new question for the second or
subsequent groups, they may not offer one which works. It doesnt
matter; accept whatever they say and let the second and subsequent
groups try to make it work. For example, if they offer Whats your
name?, dont reject it let the team try it:
Student A: Whats your name?
Student B: What?
Student A: Whats your name?
Student B: I dont know!
Student A: Well, ask her!
They will soon realize that questions which ask for more general information are
the ones which will work.