Pen pals

Objective & content

An information-gap pair activity about two invented pen pals, Ella (13, Toronto) and Ravi (12, Melbourne). Half the class are Student A and half are Student B. Each page has the pupil's own pen pal on a full card, to answer from, and the partner's pen pal on a half-empty card, to complete by asking: city, family, pet, favourite food, sport and last weekend. Pupils ask questions such as "Where does Ravi live?", "Has he got a pet?" and "What did he do last weekend?". By the end, pupils can ask for and give personal information about another person.

Pedagogical guide

Each pupil is the expert on one pen pal and has to ask about the other, so every pupil asks and answers in turn. The questions box on each page gives the six questions with a model answer, and pupils answer in full sentences from their own pen pal's card. The language is present simple questions with he / she (Where does he live? What sport does she play?), Has she got ...?, What's her favourite food? and one past simple question, What did he do last weekend?, which is a single question to answer with a ready-made verb. The set stays at A2- level. Page 3 is the teacher page: four steps, both profiles and the model answers in full sentences.

Suggested procedure

One activity of about 15 to 20 minutes.

1. (3 min) Set up the pairs: copy page 1 (Student A) for half the class and page 2 (Student B) for the other half, and put pupils in A + B pairs, face to face. Nobody shows their page.
2. (4 min) Read the questions box with the class and model the first question with one pupil: "Where does Ravi live?" "He lives in Melbourne, in Australia."
3. (10 min) Pairs ask and answer until the card is full. Pupils answer in full sentences from their own pen pal's card. Walk round and listen for he / she and for the verb endings.
4. (3 min) Pairs swap pages to check, then talk about the last question (which pen pal do you like, and why). Check with the key on page 3.

Adaptations

[S] Let pupils read the model answer from the questions box and write short notes (one or two words) on the card before saying a full sentence. Do the first two questions together as a class.

[A] Pupils write the same six lines about themselves for a pen pal, then swap with a partner and ask questions.

Materials & prerequisites

Print infogap.pdf: page 1 for Student A and page 2 for Student B, one copy per pupil; page 3 is the teacher page. Pupils need a pencil. They should already know the present simple with he / she, have got and the names of family members, pets, sports and food. It goes well after a lesson on personal information and family, and before any work on writing to a pen pal.