CARE AND SHARE
1.1 Learning names
Family CAREANDSHARE
Language Introducing oneself and others, learning names
Variation Sharing likes or other personal information,
learning names
Preparation Set a friendly classroom atmosphere by putting
on some music, if
you wish.
Procedure
1 Ask the learners to mill about, nodding and smiling, in a
space in the
classroom. It is an advantage if you can have some cheerful
music playing
and stop it when you want them to stop.
2 Ask them to stop in front of another learner and introduce
themselves.
You can demonstrate this.
Learner 1: Hello, I am Lars.
Learner 2: Hello, I am Zakia
3 Let the learners mill again until you stop them and ask
them to introduce
themselves again.
4 You can add to the challenge by asking them to point at
and name the
other people they have already met. They can help each other
to do this, if
necessary. This is a very effective way of practising the
paradigm of the
present simple: I am, he/she is.
Learner 1: She’s Barbara and she’s Yvonne and he’s Harry.
I’mFerdinand.
Variation 1 Getting to know each other
1 Sit the learners in circles of about eight.
2 Give the class a moment or two to choose something which
is important
to them and can be referred to in one or two words. You can
begin as the
model. Introduce yourself by saying, for example, I’m
Martine and I like
playing football.
3 The next learner in the circle repeats what the first
learner said and adds
his or her own information.
Learner 1: You’re Martine and you like football. I’m Rubino
and
Ihave a pet dog.
4 The third learner repeats what the first two learners said
and then adds
his or her own information. And so it continues round the
circle.
Examples of other types of information to add
Family, home area, job
Favourite thing to do when not working, favourite food
Reason for learning English, anxieties about learning
English
Something really nice which has happened recently
5 To make it more challenging, the person who has just
spoken should
choose the next speaker by pointing at them. This may not be
their
neighbour, but someone sitting on the other side of the
circle. In this way
it is a little more difficult to remember the information.
Notes
• You can focus on learning styles by asking the learners to
relate their
information about jobs and hobbies with likes and dislikes
and an
estimation of how good they are at each activity, and in
this way youwill
learn something about their possible learning style
preferences. Learning names is a necessary condition to establishing
familiarity and
trust and confidence in the other class members.
• In order to establish a true communicative classroom
atmosphere you
must include yourself in all of these activities.