best practices

By Robert Dobie, M.Ed./TESOL

'Find Someone Who' activities are among the best known activities used by ESL teachers.  They are quick to set up, easy to use, communicative, and instantly target the language forms you want your learners to focus on.  Oh, and ... they're fun!  

​In fact, they're so much fun that you might be tempted to use 'Find Someone Who ...' activities more than once with your group of learners.  Well, why not?  All you need to do is put a fun 'twist' on this popular activity to get more out of them.  

​So, here are 5 'twists' you can use - 5 fun ways to use "Find Someone Who ...'

First, the Traditional Set-up (Version 1):

​Distribute one activity handout to each learner.  Have your students stand and find different classmates to interview.  When a classmate answers ‘Yes’, the interviewer should write the classmate’s name and ask for and record additional information.  For example:

A: Did you watch a movie on TV last night?
B: Yes, I did. (writes classmate’s name in the box)  What kind of movie did you watch?
A: I watched comedy.  (writes this information in the box)  
​
When a classmate answers with ‘No’, the interviewer should the leave box empty.  Another classmate may later answer ‘Yes’ for this question. 
 
IMPORTANT:  Be sure to model this activity with a student.  Consider using the board to write a similar conversation as above.

Traditional Set-up (Version 2):

​I find this second version more interesting and easier to manage in class. 
 
In this version, students are allowed to ask one classmate one question (excluding follow-up questions) – and the answer, no matter ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, is written in the box.  After a mutual interview exchange, students can move on to find another classmate to speak with.
 
‘Version 2’ guarantees that every box can be filled, and that students will not stick with just one classmate in an attempt to find a ‘Yes’ answer.
 
Wrap-up
Wrap-up either version by having your learners sit down in pairs or groups of three and share the information they collected.  Finally, elicit any especially interesting information your learners may have discovered.

1. Yes, Yes, Yes!

Instruct all of your students to answer 'Yes' to every question that is asked of them  So, "Did you watch a movie on TV last night" will always elicit a "Yes" response, no matter what.  The advantage of this 'twist' is that many of your students did NOT watch a movie on TV last night - so they will have to use their imaginations to answer their classmates' follow-up questions.  "Yes, I did.  I watched a comedy.  And ... Umm ... I watched it with my family."  Not only is this fun, but you will get your students talking much more - the interviewers will ask lots more follow-up questions because they will enjoy listening to the made-up stories their classmates come up with! 

2.  No, No, No!

Exactly as above, but this time everyone must answer "No".  This can be done if 'Version 2' of the activity (above) is used.  'No' answers are acceptable because the important thing here are the follow-up questions and the responses to the follow-up questions.  
A:  Why didn't you watch TV last night?  
B:  I went shopping with my friends.  And .... Umm ... I bought a new jacket.

3.  Mostly Honest

Here, the 'Find Someone Who ...' activity is turned into a Pair Work Interview activity with two learners seated together.  The students take turns interviewing each other, but before the activity begins, instruct them to lie about ONE of their answers.  Following the activity, your learners should find new partners and report and discuss their findings.  As they do so, they should try to guess which answer is a lie.  

A:  I talked to Robert.  He said he watched a movie on TV last night.  But I don't think that's true.  Robert's TV is broken!
B: I agree.  That must not be true!

To wrap up, students can find their original partners and confirm which answers were true, and which was a lie.

4.  Ask the Teacher!

Don't forget that your learners want to hear from you!  They want to listen to you because (1) you are a human with pretty impressive English skills, not a recorded, faceless voice on a CD; and (2) they want to find out more about you and build a closer relationship.  

With this in mind, project the 'Find Someone Who ...' Questions on the board and have them interview you.  Remember that you can respond in any of the three ways mentioned above (just be sure to tell them ahead of time that all of your answers will be 'Yes', 'No,' or 'Mostly True').

5.  Yes, for Homework!

Give your students a day (or two or three) to find people outside of your class who can truthfully answer "Yes" to as many of their questions as they can.  Of course, if they live in a non-native English speaking environment, don't insist on the interviews being done in English.  The important thing here is to bring the activity sheet back to class and have your learners sit in small groups to report their findings.  

A: My cousin watched TV last night.
B:  What TV program did she watch?
A: She watched a comedy.  She watches lots of TV, too much, I think!

What else?

What else can be done with 'Find Someone Who ...' activities?  What other ways have you used them?  Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!