First day activity

Introduction

This is probably my all-time favourite activity. I’ve used it with many groups over the years from A2-C2 level, in order to learn about my students’ attitudes, expectations and motivations. The information I’ve collected about my learners in this time has been so rich and detailed that I’ve used it as the basis for articles and conference presentations. The original idea came from an activity on Men and Women in Cutting Edge Advanced (Cunningham, 2007, Pearson) and follows a task-oriented methodology.

Summary

Students compare their past experiences, present motivations and future expectations of learning English and prepare a short survey to interview their classmates. The speaking and survey activities focus on question formation. These also allow learners to discover similarities and differences with their classmates, which can lead to enhanced metacognition and awareness of diversity within the group. The subsequent writing activity is an opportunity to explore individuals’ learner histories.

Materials

English and Me – student

English and Me – teacher