| How: | | | | usually the other two are listening and formulating |
| 1. Make a list of pairs of names before the lesson | | | | responses, in a group of four (or more), one is |
| starts or while the students are coming in, or just tell | | | | speaking, one or two are listening and formulating |
| them when the time comes: "Gianni, you work with | | | | responses and the other one is asleep, aware that s |
| Paola; Chiara, you’re with Stefano this time." | | | | he hasn’t got much chance of getting a |
| 2. If there is an odd number of students make a group | | | | word in edge-ways. Or of course, in a group of four, |
| of three but break them up later in the lesson and put | | | | two speak to each other while the other two often |
| them into pairs with someone else so they get more | | | | either fall asleep or end up speaking to each other too, |
| chance to speak. | | | | in which case you might as well have put them in pairs |
| 3. You could put them in small groups to start with if | | | | in the first place. |
| the activity allows. You could even make the activity a | | | | If you have an odd number of students |
| competition in small teams if the activity allows, seeing | | | | don’t pair the extra student up with yourself |
| which team gets the most answers right. Use the | | | | - make a group of three somewhere. I used to take |
| board or a piece of paper for keeping score. | | | | on the "odd" student myself when I started in EFL but I |
| 4. Change the partners quite often so that the | | | | found that it didn’t work. The other students |
| students don’t get bored with their partner. | | | | weren’t daft - they realised they were |
| This is especially important if there is a student who | | | | missing out on the teacher’s attention and I |
| isn’t very popular with the others. | | | | realised they were right - I was short-changing them |
| Why: | | | | by not monitoring them as I should. |
| 1. It’s good for the students to speak to | | | | If you’ve got some talkative and some quiet |
| each other in English (see TT5 for further explanation). | | | | students, pair the quiet ones together for the fluency |
| 2. It’s good for the students to work with | | | | activities (as opposed to the vocabulary/grammar |
| another student sometimes rather than alone (see | | | | activities) to encourage them to talk more. I used to put |
| TT5 and TT13) for further explanation). | | | | one talkative student in a pair with a quiet one, thinking |
| Extra Info: | | | | that the quiet one would speak more if his/her partner |
| I don’t put my students into groups bigger | | | | was the chatty type. I was wrong - the talkative one |
| than 3 because I don’t think they get enough | | | | monopolises the conversation and the quiet one is |
| chance to speak in such a large group so they switch | | | | happy to let this happen. |
| off, start fidgeting, get frustrated, let the hard-working | | | | NB: If you only have one student, simply "pair up" with |
| students do all the work, fall asleep etc. In a pair, one | | | | your student. The worksheets are designed to be |
| student is speaking and one is listening and formulating | | | | used in individual lessons as well as group ones. |
| a response, in a group of three, one is speaking, and | | | | |