Find Someone Who - ESL Speaking Activities for Kids & Adults

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The Find Someone Who ESL Activity is a great way to get your students up and out of their seats. By filling out a chart of questions, students try to find other classmates who have done different actions and activities. It works especially well as an ice-breaker.

Student Level: Intermediate, Advanced

Age Group: Kids, Adults

Find Someone Who ESL Activity Preparation:

Prepare a sheet of questions for the students. The document should include a list of activities that people do their lives. At the top of the document, write “Find someone who…”.

Below, write a series of activities and actions that the students will have to check off when they do the discussion task. For instance, the document could look something like this:

Find someone who…

1. watched a movie last night.
2. drinks coffee in the morning.
3. likes spicy food.
4. is wearing jeans.
5. has an older brother.

Customize the difficulty based on your students’ levels and preferences.

Find Someone Who ESL Activity Guidelines:

To begin the activity, hand out the chart that you have created to every student.

You may want to explain any difficult vocabulary that is on the document. Ask students to skim over the words to see if there are any questions.

Next, demonstrate an example for the class. Select the first question and ask one of the students in the classroom. For instance, for number 1, ask the student if they watched a movie last night. If they say yes, then ask them what movie it was and if they enjoyed it etc. Try to engage a discussion.

Write the student’s name next to the question and take note of a few details that they said about the movie in point form. Alternatively, you may want to write this on the board, so it is clear what everyone else should do for the activity.

For the next step, ask question number 2 to another student:

“Do you drink coffee in the morning?”

If they say yes, check their name off on the chart. Again, to stimulate conversation, ask what kind of coffee they like and how often they drink it etc. However, if that student doesn’t drink coffee in the morning, ask another student in the class.

After modeling the examples, have the class begin the activity.

They should all stand up and move around the classroom filling out the chart with the names. Remind them to take notes and some details about student responses.

You could make it more competitive by rewarding the student who has the most names and answers on the chart. Most importantly, the aim of the activity to engage the students in as much conversation with other classmates as possible.

Once the students have completed their charts, or after a set time limit, have them return to their seats. Lead feedback and ask students what their classmates said. Make any corrections to grammar or pronunciation if necessary.

Follow-Up ESL Activities:

If time permits, you may want to try another activity to practice another skill or to change the pace. To review some vocabulary from the handout, you could play like the Mystery Word ESL Game or the popular Hot Seat ESL Game.