Pair interviews

The student questionnaire provides the basic text for the next assessment activity. Tell the students chat they need to interview each other. The whole class can work together to create questions from the questionnaire. Write these questions on the board and encourage the students co revise or make any corrections, as needed.

Add to the list by asking the students to think of questions about their study habits. "Do you get everything done on time, or leave everything until the last minute?" Prioritize the questions together, and eliminate those chat seem less important to the class. Your list of questions may be similar to the following model:

Interview

Tell the students that they are going co interview each other. Ask them co pair up with someone sitting nearby, preferably someone they don't know very well. Don't force any students to work together. If you have an odd number of students in your class, put three together and have them interview each other.

As soon as the students have finished the interviews, explain chat you want them to introduce each other to the class. Set a time frame. "You have two minutes to introduce your partner." Have them write key words on a piece of paper. A model on the board might include the following:

After the students have had a few moments to get organized, ask for some volunteers to come forward. If you are dealing with beginning level students, allow one student to ask questions while the partner answers. More advanced students can give brief descriptions that summarize their interviews. Whether they are trying to introduce each other to the class or listening to those presentations, all of the students are strengthening their language skills during this process.

With 30 to 75 pairs of students, not everyone will have an opportunity to give a presentation. However, if the students seem to enjoy speaking English in front of their classmates, allow them to sign up on your class calendar to be "guest speakers." Schedule no more than two pairs of students for each class period and limit their speaking time. The presentations are more enjoyable and interesting if students are not required to sit through too many introductions in one day.