Find Someone Who

This is a good activity to do with students at the beginning of a course. It provides a quick way for students to connect with one another and helps them overcome initial shyness in a new situation.

Introduction

Tell students that they are going to play a game to find out things they might not know about each other. They will have a few minutes to fill out a survey sheet. When they hear a signal from you, they will “freeze” in their places.

* Distribute the Find Someone Who survey sheets (below). Explain that students are to walk around the room and find people who have the characteristics described on the sheet. When they find someone, they write the name in the blank provided. Ask them to find as many different people as possible, using each person’s name only once.

* Begin the game. Continue until several students complete the worksheet. This will probably take about five minutes.

* Ask students to return to their seats. Ask a student who completed the entire survey to go down the list, saying who s/he found for each item and acknowledging that person. Where appropriate, ask for more details. (For example, if Yvette has a pet, ask what pet she has.)

Discuss

* What did you notice about yourself and others during this game?
* Did you learn anything new about someone?
* If you were making up questions for this worksheet, what are some things you’d like to ask?

Source: http://www.teachablemoment.org/middle/findsomeonewho.html

FIND SOMEONE WHO

Find someone who:

Name: ___________________________ …is wearing the same color as you.

Name: ___________________________…has an older brother or sister at home.

Name: ___________________________…is wearing jewelry.

Name: ___________________________…has visited another state.

Name: ___________________________…has a pet.

Name: ___________________________…has a birthday the same month as you.

Name: ___________________________…is the oldest in his or her family.

Name: ___________________________…saw the same movie as you recently.

Name: ___________________________…has read a Harry Potter book.

Name: ___________________________…plays a musical instrument.

Name: ___________________________ has lived outside NYC for a year or more.

Name: ___________________________…speaks a language other than English.

Name: ___________________________…cooked a meal recently.