Find Someone Who

This idea was adapted from a class activity that was taught by Samuel Skeist in Hawaii
Literacys (Non-profit organization) English Drop-In Center.
Levels:
Aims/Objectives:

Beginners
To deepen rapport among students, practice Do/did you
questions, form a question using a prompt
Outcomes:
After completing this activity, students will be able to: create 2nd
person Do/Did you questions from a prompt, introduce
themselves and get to know more about their classmates
Class Time:
20-30 minutes
Teacher Preparation Time: 5 minutes (5 minutes to make photocopies)
Resources Required:
One handout (attached), Black/Whiteboard, Dry Erase Markers or
Chalk
Description & Justification:
This is an introductory activity for either a start of a new class or for a class that does not
have a constant body of students/teachers. In this activity, students learn about how to form
a question from a prompt. Students will be able to get to know more about their classmates
and be more active in the classroom.
This activity is developed to get all students involved and interacting with each other. Norton
(2013) advocates that if a community excludes a language learner, they will be unmotivated
to study the language. By giving all students the opportunity to participate in an active
language environment, the classroom can become a community where students can
mutually help each other and motivate each other.
Procedure:
Part 1: Introduction of the activity
1. On the board, write down the title of the activity FIND SOMEONE WHO and pass
out the Find Someone Who worksheet. Explain that today, the students will be
getting to know more about their classmates by playing a fun and interactive activity.
Explain that in order to do this activity, the students have to change the Find
someone who sentence into a Do/Did you question.
2. As an example of how to change the prompt into a question, write down the following
examples
A. Find someone who went on a trip last year.
B. Find someone who drives every day.
C. Find someone who still owns a record player.
In order to make it into a Do/did you question, point out that they must find what
tense the verb is in the sentence. Using Example A, ask the students what the verb
is in the sentence and what tense it is. Once they answer correctly, underline went.
To make a Do/Did you question, tell the student that if the verb is a past tense verb,

start the question off with Did you and to change the past tense verb into a present
tense verb (wentgo) and to add the rest of the sentence.
Find someone who went on a trip last year. Did you go on a trip last year?
Do another example for the third person present tense verb for example B.
Find someone who drives every day. Do you drive every day?
For example C, let students try to create the Do/Did you question by themselves or
with a partner. Go over the correct form with the students after.
Part 2: Student Interaction
1. Once the students look comfortable with the activity, let students know that they will
now go around the classroom asking each other the questions on the FIND
SOMEONE WHO worksheet. If their partner says yes to an answer, they can write
their partners name on the sheet. Students can only write down one name per
question. Tell students to ask follow up questions when they found someone who has
done/does the action they ask about. Note: May be adjusted due to class size.
2. While students are doing the activity, float around the classroom and oversee
students progress and help out when students look troubled. Pay close attention to
how well students convert the question forms of Do or Did. Takes notes on any
errors they can bring up and discuss later, after the activity is finished.
3. Allow enough time for students to complete most of the worksheet.
Caveats and Options:
1. As a follow-up activity, you can have students return to their seats and ask the
students which classmate does/has done the action mentioned in the question. The
teacher can ask one of the students to elaborate more on his statement.
2. As a follow-up activity, have students work in pairs or groups to create their own
Find someone who set of items with a different grammar point. Teachers will be
able to utilize the students ideas for future use.
3. This activity can be adopted to any age range of L2 English Learners.
4. This activity can be adopted to review grammar or vocabulary. Prompts can also be
changed.
References and Further Reading:
Norton, B. (2013). Identity and second language acquisition. The Encyclopedia of Applied
Linguistics.

Your Name:

FIND SOMEONE WHO

Q: Do/Did you..
A: Yes/No, I

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

went on a trip last year. (Classmates name): ______________________

drank tea this morning. (Classmates name): ___________________
listens to music on their phone. (Classmates name): ____________________
sings in the shower. (Classmates name): ______________________
brought a water bottle to class. (Classmates name): ____________________
still owns a record player. (Classmates name): ______________________
listens to music while they exercise. (Classmates name): ________________
goes to the beach often. (Classmates name): ______________________
listens to the radio. (Classmates name): ______________________

10. plays tennis. (Classmates name): __________________

11. bought a CD before. (Classmates name): ______________________
12. likes watching football. (Classmates name): ______________________
13. listens to Japanese music. (Classmates name): _________________
14. ran a marathon before. (Classmates name): ______________________
15. listened to music this morning. (Classmates name): ____________________