What to do

1. Write the following on the board: First name, Last name(s), Birthday, Nationality. Invite your students to ask you questions in order to complete the information about yourself. The questions should be: What is your first/last name? When is your birthday? Where are you from?/ What nationality are you? Write your answers to the questions on the board.

2. Explain that the students are going to work in pairs. You are going to give each student a sheet with questions and prompts to ask their partner. The two question sheets are different for Student A and Student B. The students take it in turn to ask the questions, making a note of their partner's answers on the question sheet.

3. Make copies of the activity page and cut it in half as indicated. Give students copies, making sure each pair has a copy of sheet A and sheet B. Students then ask each other the questions in order to complete the form for their partner.

If you are using the eWB version of the activity, display the first page. One student in each pair (Student A) faces the board and asks the questions to their partner (Student B) who faces away from the board. Student A makes a note of their partner’s answers. When they have finished, students swap roles and do the same for the second page.

4. When they have finished, ask students to choose 3 things that they have learned about their partner to share with the rest of the class. Invite different students to share their 3 facts with the rest of the class.

In classes in which students already know each other, collect all the question sheets and re-distribute them. Students then read out some of the information from the form they have been given (not the student’s name). How much information do the other students need before they can identify the student?

Note to subscribers

If you are an its-teachers subscriber then you can tell your students that all the information on the question sheet is related to a website for learners of English called its-myworld. Explain that your students can use the site free to practise reading and writing in English.

Make copies of the second activity page and cut it in half. Give students copies and ask some students to read out the information about the site. When students complete the registration form at the site, they need to know your its-myworld address. If you haven’t created your own address then the default address is the same as your subscriber ID. For example: www.its-myworld.com/9178

Give your its-myworld address to the students to write in the space on the information sheet. Students can then sign up at the site to use on their own or as part of the English course. For information on how you can use the site with your students, go to the address below.

www.its-teachers.com/tips/its-myworld.asp