Vote with your feet!

Here's an activity for building fluency that can be as long or as short as you like, requires practically no preparation, can be tailored to fit any topic and is guaranteed to raise energy levels and a smile or two.

Who it's for:
All levels

What it's for:
Energy raising, separating parts of a lesson, introducing a topic, building fluency

What you need:
Ideally, a large group of students, but four will do. Find a number of "x versus y" topic pairs; these can be lifted from Spotlight each month.

What you do:
Before the lesson, skim through the contents page of Spotlight for your inspiration. In the 9/2009 issue, you might find "Canada" and decide to offer "the United States" as its alternative. Further ideas might be "walking vs jogging", "early vs on time", or "farmers' markets vs supermarkets".

Ask the students to stand up and meet in a clear area of the room. Explain that you are going to give them a choice of two items, for example "tea" or "coffee". Each student should decide which he or she prefers, or would prefer to talk about. Tell them that the "tea" people should then move to the left-hand side of the room, and the "coffee" people to the right. Once there, they will be able to discuss their preference with like-minded people for a minute or two.

From your list of topic pairs, call out the first pair of words and signal with your arms where each group should meet.

When the two groups have been established and are "on task", go round and listen to what people in each group are saying. When you think it's time to move on, either continue with your lesson or offer another choice of topic items.