This
listening and speaking activity is based on the video below -and great powers
of imagination as it's very unlikely that you can have a ball pit in your
classroom if you teach adults-. ;-) It may be well used at the beginning of the
course as part of the presentation activities or at any time during the year
with large groups of students which tend to flock together and never really get
to know everyone in class.
Tell
them that when you're a kid, you can connect with almost anyone. But as you get
older, friendships can be harder to find. Get them to imagine they’re walking
down the street when they find a ball pit with a banner inviting them to get
inside and meet a complete stranger. Would they do it?
Tell
them this is exactly what people here in this video do. Let them watch it while
they take a note of all talking prompts written on the bigger balls for them to
speak about life’s big questions.
Play
it again and conduct feedback while asking comprehension questions and going
through some of the answers. Once done, encourage them to find at least two
classmates in their group to go into “the ball pit” and try to make friends
with by working through the issues together. Conversation practice
guaranteed and a good laugh while handshaking, believe me!
