Game in English 1.1

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.