EF2 UNIT 4

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, since in this unit they are working on preferences for entertainment, you might ask students what they would say about their taste in movies/movie stars, music, etc. You can expand it to include things like fashion, food, 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 game 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 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