The longest time

Learners complete a series of statements with the names of other people in the class and then talk to those people to see if their ideas are right and to find out additional information. At a higher level, learners use prompts to create statements and then complete the exercise.

Preparation

Prepare enough photocopies of the worksheets for each learner to have a copy of them. Worksheet A is for pre-intermediate and B is for intermediate+. You can download the worksheets below.

Procedure

Pre-intermediate

1. Write the first sentence from worksheet A on the board. Ask the learners for ideas about whose name you can put in the gap.
2. Draw the learners' attention to the verb forms if this is appropriate to your aims, e.g. if you are using the exercise as extra practice or follow-up.
3. Ask the learners to complete the sentences on the worksheet with the names of other people in the class.
4. Once they have done this, ask them to circulate and check to see if their answers are right. Encourage them to ask for more details, for example, for Q4 what the other learner's hobby is, or for Q9 what job the other learner does.
5. Share interesting answers with the class to finish.

Intermediate+

1. Do the example from worksheet B on the board. Ask the learners for ideas about whose name you can put in the gap.
2. Hand out worksheet B. Draw the learners' attention to the fact that they can use present perfect simple or continuous in some questions. Also highlight the position of ‘the longest' in the sentence (at the end).
3. Ask the learners to create sentences using the prompts and then check this with the group.
4. Ask the learners to complete the sentences on the worksheet with the names of other people in the class.
5. Once they have done this, ask them to circulate and check to see if their answers are right. Encourage them to ask for more details, for example, for Q4 what the other learner's hobby is, or for Q9 what job the other learner does.
6. Share interesting answers with the class to finish.

Follow-up

1. Learners can prepare questions using the same ideas and a similar structure, e.g. How long have you known your teacher?
2. Learners can select a question they would like to talk about more and prepare a short presentation for the group, or a written piece.
3. Students can prepare a similar worksheet with questions about the shortest time rather than the longest.