Picture Swap

Thanks to Ellie Purdy for sharing this tip!

Purpose: To get learners up and moving, relaxed and practicing their vocabulary.

Prep Time: 5 minutes, if you have the flashcards from earlier in your unit.

Materials Needed: A few sets of the picture cards you are already using for your unit.

Prep: Brainstorm questions that students can ask each other about the flashcards. For example, in a health unit they could ask, “What’s wrong?,” in a housing unit they could ask, “What is the apartment like?,” or in a transportation unit they could ask, “How do you get to work?”

Procedure:

1. Review the flashcards with the class.
2. Write the question you prepared on the board and say it aloud. Ask the class to repeat it a couple times.
3. Model the mingle by taking two flashcards and approaching another student. Give the student one card.
4. Instruct the student to ask you the question on the board. Answer it using your flashcard in your answer. The student could ask, “How do you get to work?” and you would look at your flashcard of a bus and say, “By bus.”
5. Ask the student the question, “How do you get to work?” The student looks at the flashcard and answers. For example, “I walk.”
6. Trade cards with the student.
7. Give another flashcard to another student. Ask the question again. The student uses his/her card to answer. Then the student asks you. Trade cards.  
8. Have the two students with cards model the steps again for the class.
9. Pass out flashcards and ask all students to stand and push in their chairs before they begin to mingle.