Find Your Other Half

Find Your Other Half - All About Influenza This warmer is an enjoyable way for students to find out about the flu. Level: Intermediate and above. Language Aims: To join parts of sentences together to form complete sentences. To practice giving information. To practice listening for specific information. To practice speaking clearly and then listening and writing down exactly what someone says. To learn about a particular illness and practice using vocabulary appropriate to that illness. Time: Around 20 minutes Preparation: Cut up and separate the sentences below. If you have fourteen students, give one half to each student. If you have fewer students than this, you may remove one of the sentences and not use it. If you have an odd number of students, you can take one of the halves yourself. Procedure: 1. Give each student a card with half a sentence on it. Tell them to memorize their sentence half and then put the paper away. 2. Have the students get out of their seats and find the other student whose card completes that sentence. Students mingle and say their sentence halves aloud to each other and find the person who has the other half of their sentence. (They walk around and talk to other students to find out what information they have.) They are not allowed to read them out but must have learned them off by heart. You may like to set a time limit or allow the activity to continue until everyone has found their partner. 3. Those pairs of students then work together to check that they understand the meaning of their sentence. 4. When the students are ready, they present their sentence to the whole class by first explaining what the sentence means. Then they say their sentence to the class. Make sure each student speaks clearly and loudly so that everyone can hear. (The sentences do not have to be said in any particular order.) They then dictate their sentence to the class and everyone writes the sentence down. You may like to put an OHT of the sentences at the end for students to check their work. Variation: With more advanced students, you could make the activity more difficult by removing one or two words from each pair of sentence halves so students have to guess what those words might be. Alternative activity: This can be a pairwork activity with each pair getting a complete set of sentences and then trying to match each beginning with the correct ending. Extra sentences: If you need more sentences because you have more than fourteen students in your class, here are two extras: Children are most vulnerable to the flu,... ...but the elderly and people with lung disease are also more at risk. Flu viruses change each year and are often transmitted by people... ...in places like offices, schools and other meeting places. Student Handout: Sentence Halves To Be Copied And Then Cut Up