This is a speaking activity that I made for my teenage classes on Valentine’s Day, but you could do it anytime. It’s based on the concept of speed dating so you will need to organize the seats in 2 rows, with guys on one side and girls on the other. The students must face each other and then one side, for me usually the guys, must move along one seat and the students “meet” someone new. There are 18 characters. The students have some basic information and a picture but they must “become” this person and then take it from there. There is a “scorecard” to fill in, usually by the girls, as well as questions to stimulate conversation. Then at the end, they choose who they liked the most and why. Give each pair a few minutes to chat, and then shout “change”. There isn’t any offensive content but perhaps some cultural sensitivities should be borne in mind and the entire concept may be inappropriate for some non-European cultures. Also, some of the information is local to where I live so perhaps you should consider changing that too. I hope you have fun. The activity worked well for the vast majority of my classes. To make it really cheesy, I would put on some romantic music in the background and gave them heart-shaped sweets ;-)
