Playing catch-up

This is a fun mingle activity which is perfect for large classes.  It does require a bit of preparation in order to provide examples of language but I think it´s well worth it.

The objective

To make conversation.  To find out what someone´s been doing since you last met.  To gossip even.

The language

Present perfect: I´ve just returned from a trip.

Present perfect continuous:  I´ve been working a lot.

Past simple: I saw a fantastic film last weekend.

Future (plans): I´m meeting an old friend on Friday.

Reported speech:  Juan says that he´s been working too much.

Relative clauses: I´ve found out that Juan has been working too much.

The set-up

Record, or write a dialogue between two people catching up on personal news (examples provided below, which of course you can use).  Print out the examples (even if you record them).

The low-down

Listen to or read the example dialogues and ask students the following.  

General understanding:

What´s happening?

What is their relationship?  

What news does each person give?

Specific phrases:

What questions do each speaker ask?

Why do they ask these questions?

What you want to establish is that some time has passed since their last meeting and so in order to learn what is new since that time, these questions are used.  Make sure you put the questions on the board.  Once you´re sure students understand the grammar, ask them to think in pairs of more questions they might ask someone they haven´t seen for a while. These questions could be specific or general.  They should think of things like, Did you go on holiday?  How was your weekend?  What´s new?  Have you been very busy?  Etc.

Put students´ ideas on the board when they´re finished and discuss them.

Now what?

Ask students to speak to their partner for (2 minutes??) and collect as much information about them as possible since their last meeting or since the last time they spoke (outside of class).  Information can be about themselves or others (family, friends, co-workers).  Demonstrate with a couple of students first.  At the end of the alloted time, ask them to change partners.  Repeat this process a couple of times, time allowing.  Finally, reorganize them into groups of three (hopefully with students they generally haven´t met with before) and ask them to report to each other everything they found out.  Put the phrase "I´ve found out that..." and give a couple of examples.  When they´ve finished, ask a couple of students to report something they thought was interesting and check to see if it´s really true with the student it originally came from.  

More talk-time

Review any problems in speaking that you heard on the board.  

Do you like to gossip?

Do you gossip much?

Is gossip always negative?

Example Dialogues

One
Jim: Hi Kate, it´s nice to see you again.   How have you been?

Kate: Oh, Jim!  What a surprise!  I didn´t expect to see you here!
Jim:  Well, I´m here with some friends.  They´re over there at the bar.
Kate:  So how are you?
Jim:  Good!  And you?
Kate: Uff!  Really busy lately but I can´t complain.  So have you seen Eva recently?

Jim: No.  Have you?
Kate:  Yes.  She´s pregnant!
Jim:  Really?  That´s fantastic!

Two
Montse: You´re Ted, aren´t you?  From IT?
Ted: That´s right.  And you´re Montse.
Montse:  How are you?  How´s it over there?
Ted: Same as always.
Montse:  I know what you mean.  I´m looking change departments, actually?
Ted:  Really?  Is it that bad?
Montse:  No, no worse than IT, I suppose.  Do you know Kate, from Accounts?
Ted: A bit.  Why?
Montse: She said they´re looking for someone so I might apply.
Ted: Good for you!  Hey, are you still living in the city?
Montse:  Yeah, and you?
Ted:  No, I just moved to a smaller town about 20 minutes away.  It´s really quiet.
Montse:  I´m a city-girl myself.
Ted: Well, I know a bit what you mean.  I´m starting to miss all that noise!