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Find Someone Who

This activity involves learners by asking them to try to find someone in the class who matches a description or knows certain information.  It can be used to practice new vocabulary, to activate background knowledge, or to review concepts.  You can also use it as a “getting to know you” activity to build community in the classroom. Students enjoy the mobility and sociability of the strategy.

How to use

1. Preparation

Prepare 10 to 20 “Find Someone Who” statements using vocabulary or concepts that relate to your current unit of study. For example, if you are teaching a unit on medieval culture, “Find someone who can list three types of jobs a serf might have;” “Find someone who has seen a movie set in medieval times;” “Find someone who has can sketch the feudal pyramid.” Create a variety of statements so that it will be easy to find a person with some characteristics but not so easy to find others.  You can use a bingo-card format or checklist. 

2. Directions

Announce that the class is going to do a brief interview activity in which students will ask each other questions.  The goal is to ask everyone in class until students find someone who does that activity, has that characteristic, or can answer the question. Pass out the bingo sheet or checklist to each student.  Review the sheet and answer any questions.  Instruct students to find someone who can answer one of their questions or say “yes” to one of the descriptions.  They should write that person’s name on their checklist sheet and go on to the next question with another person.  Important: A student can write a person’s name only once.
 

3. Complete the Chart

Ask everyone to stand up and begin the activity for a set amount of time.  You may want to provide a prize to the first student to complete the chart or, if you decide to use the activity to play Bingo, the first person to get five in a row.

When to use

Use Find Someone Who:

  • At the beginning of a lesson to review or introduce material
  • As a review game for a unit or chapter
  • To practice asking and answering questions in an ESL or foreign language setting
  • For practice using vocabulary in a unit of study

Variations

Icebreaker

You can use Find Someone Who as a way for students to learn names and something personal about their fellow classmates. Fill in the checklist or bingo card with statements about sports, pastimes, music groups, TV shows, foods, movies, pets, siblings, places in the community where students like to hang out, etc.

Jigsaw

After completing Find Someone Who, each student will be in charge of orally explaining, creating a visual representation, and/or writing about one of the topics/questions that they said they know about. They can present it to the class, smaller groups, or just to a partner. Important: the teacher should make sure that each student has a DIFFERENT topic/question.

Partner Up!

Use this variation of Find Someone Who to form student partners and review content you've just taught. Create cards with information that students have to match up -- for example, words and definitions. Give one card to each student. To find a partner for a new activity, students have to find a match for their card.

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