True/False

This listening activity gets students to participate simply by raising the appropriate card to indicate True or False.

Preparation

Prepare enough cards of each of two colors for the number of students in the class — one color for True and one for False.

Procedure

Give each student (or pair of students) two cards: TRUE and FALSE (each on different color cards). Students should have the TRUE cards in their right hands and FALSE cards in their left hands. Read a statement (on a theme), and students hold up one of the cards expressing if they think the statement is true or false.

Variations

1. Cards can be used and distributed per group so that team members can consult on the answer before raising the appropriate card. This helps reduce the pressure of the individual answer. 2. Instead of cards, have students move to different sides of the room to indicate their answers or line up and step to right for

True and left for False. 3. Have students raise their hands for True and keep them down for

False. 4. The facilitator can read the statements from the back of the room so the students cannot lip-read. 5. The teacher (or students) makes a set of cards for each student (or students can simply gesture up for affirmative and gesture down for negative, or whatever gesture would be appropriate).

The teacher asks a series of close-ended questions (about a story students have read or heard, about grammar features they have been studying, about word meaning, etc.). Each time, the students raise their cards (or gesture) to indicate an affirmative or negative answer. Students can be asked to justify their answers if they have sufficient English.

When to Use It

• To answer comprehension questions on a text or listening activity • To review a concept that the class has been working on • To get to know the teacher (the teacher can say statements about him/herself); students/participants can answer • To help students get to know their classmates. The class can be divided in half, and the statements can all start with “The majority of the students…”

Level

Skills

Practice

Materials

Colored cards (green = true; red = false); 2 (1 of each color) for each student

Preparation Time

15 minutes

Activity Time

10+ minutes

Contributors: Julie Holaway, Assessment Specialist and ESL Instructor, has taught in various learning institutions around the world and was an English Language Fellow in Brazil from 2009 to 2011; Cristiane Tinoco, English teacher, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; with additional ideas from Elizabeth Crockett Hixon, English Language Fellow, Brazil, 2011, Maria Snarski, Regional English Language Officer, and Brock Brady, Education Sector Specialist, U.S. Peace Corps, Washington, D.C.