Meet your Neighbor

Most language teachers find that there is a bit of dead time during class. This may occur at the beginning of class, as the students are arriving; at the end of class, as they are thinking about leaving; and right in the middle of class, when transitioning from one lesson to another. During this dead time, the best option is to spend five or ten minutes on a short, interesting activity, like Meet your Neighbor.


Set up

Divide class into groups of two students, or have first student turn to second, who then turns to third, etc.


Activity

Students greet their partners using bonjour or salut, then ça va, comment vas-tu, or comment allez-vous so they learn the various ways. That student in turn greets his/her neighbor, and so on, around the classroom, or moves to another group. Students can then move on to introducing themselves, talking about theirs job/family/interests, as appropriate.


Variation

After a few minutes, have each student introduce the person next to him/her to the class, along with whatever personal details s/he just learned.


Useful for

• greetings
• introductions
• professions
• family
• hobbies
• languages

What kind of warm-up activities work best in your language classes? Let us know!

More warm-up activities