Auburn Activities #3

"Speed Dating/ Mixer" game

I have used this game for several years now in several different situations. This week, though, we made some modifications, and it worked really well yet again.

The concept of speed dating is often joked about. Thankfully, this game is not actually providing the opportunity to find a date...it's a get-to-know-you game. Even if the students already know each other, it can be used as a class opener, just for fun.

1. Variant 1: have students sit in two lines facing each other. This can be across a table or just in two rows of chairs. I've done both. Explain that one side of the table/ line of chairs will stay in their chairs the whole game. The other side of chairs will rotate seats every time the teacher calls time. Give each student about 1-2 minutes to chat/ gather information with each person. Remind them to listen for interesting facts about each person they talk to (at least, they should remember everyone's name). This game can take as long or short as you want.

2. Variant 2: we used this variant this week- out of necessity. We had planned to use this game in one of the classrooms. Unfortunately, the setup of the classroom was beyond "unconducive." We figured out that the best variant for us would be to visually divide the class into 5 groups (there were 4,5,6 students in each group). The Americans then took turns rotating among the groups, spending 3 or 4 minutes with each group, learning the students' names and telling about themselves. The students loved getting to know them a little, even if they (the students) weren't actually getting to move. It worked out wonderfully.