EF1 UNIT 12

Musical Chairs

Preparation: Get a CD or tape of some up-tempo music.

Procedure: Start by identifying 4-5 personal topics that the students might share information about themselves. For example, they could talk about their taste in fashion, food, entertainment, etc. They should think of 2 or 3 sentences they would say for each topic.
* Note that this “mental rehearsal time” for thinking of sentences is very important. It not only give them time to prepare, it gives them a lot of practice, mentally. More language goes on in this step than in the activity itself.
Students work in groups of 5-7. They arrange chairs in circles, facing out. There is one less chair than person in each group. They walk in a circle around the chairs as you play the music. When you stop it, they scramble for the chairs. The person who doesn’t get a chair must say at least 3 sentences about their preferences on any subject.
Then start the music again. Continue.

Note: The person who loses isn’t out. You don’t need to remove any more chairs. The game just goes on.
This is adapted from an activity set called, “Let’s get physical-Warm-up activities involving movement and language” by English Firsthand author Marc Helgesen. It is available at http://www.mgu.ac.jp/~ic/helgesen/physical/physical_-prehtml.htm