49 ESL Conversation Games & Activities - Jackie Bolen 2020
Man/Woman on the street
English conversation games and activities for higher level students
Skills: Speaking/Listening
Time: 10-15+ minutes
Level: High-Beginner to Advanced
Materials Required: Laminated question cards
In this activity, each student takes a turn as the reporter, asking a current events question from a card, and the group members answer as a man/woman on the street. Begin with a discussion of the news and man/woman on the street interviews, and/or prep a few clips of such interviews (consider including a funny one or two such as “Jaywalking with Jay Leno”), or clips from ELLLO (www.elllo.org) which are non-native speakers. Divide students into small groups and give each member of the group a different question card—the various groups can have the same pool of cards.
Tips for Increasing Interaction:
With higher-level students, consider requiring that students ask some follow-up questions based on the answer from each person.
Another way to increase interaction and to give students a reason to listen to the answers is to have them report back to the class what the general consensus among the group members was for each question.
Procedure:
1. In advance, prepare question cards with one current events question on each card. Laminate them, if you want to use them with more than one class. Optionally, prepare a few clips of man/woman on the street interviews to show a few examples to students.
2. Begin class with a discussion of the news, specifically, man/woman on the street interviews.
3. Explain to the class that they will take turns being a reporter and the man/woman on the street.
4. Divide students into groups of 4-5 and give each group enough question cards for each student to have a different question.
5. To make this into a shorter activity, have each reporter choose a different man/woman on the street, so each group member asks and answers one question each.
6. To extend the activity, have a group discussion after about the different opinions on current events held by the class members.