Information gap activity: Order the story

Information gap and jigsaw tasks have been shown to be beneficial task types in terms of promoting obligatory, as opposed to optional information exchange and as a way of promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. In this activity, students work in pairs and the information, i.e. the pictures are divided equally between them. Students must work collaboratively to put the story together in the right order. Suitable for strong Pre-intermediate students and above.

Procedure:

• Before the class, find a cartoon with at least 4 vignettes. The cartoon can be with or without dialogue. The more vignettes and more elements in the story, the more difficult the task.

• Print the cartoon and cut up the vignettes. Divide the vignettes equally between student A and student B.

• Give students time to think about how to describe their pictures and ask for any vocabulary they need.

• Pre-teach any difficult vocabulary that has not come up as well as phrases for talking about pictures and sequencing: e.g. In my picture there is... I can see... I think this is the first / second / last picture... Then.... After that....

• Tell students to work together to put the story in the correct order.

• Optional extension: Tell students to write the story.