Man/Woman on the Street ESL Interview Activity

If you’re looking for an engaging, interactive and interesting ESL listening and speaking activity, this man or woman on the street interview might be exactly what you’re looking for. It’s ideal for eliciting opinions from students on a variety of topics and the good news is that it’s perfect for big classes or small ones.

Man or Woman on the Street ESL Interview Activity

Here are all the details you need to know about how to do this interview activity that’s heavy on the speaking and listening with your students. Keep on reading!

Skills: Speaking/Listening
Time: 10-15+ minutes
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Materials Required: Laminated question cards

In this activity, each student takes a turn as the reporter, asking a current events question from a card. The group members answer as a man/woman on the street. Begin with a discussion of the news and man/woman on the street interviews. Also consider prepping a few clips of such interviews (you might include a funny one or two, such as “Jaywalking with Jay Leno”), or clips from ELLLO (www.elllo.org) which are non-native speakers.

Divide students into small groups and give each member of the group a different question card. However, the various groups can have the same pool of cards.

In a small class of fewer than 4-5 students, consider doing it together in a single group. However, with more students than that, break up students into small groups because this will make the activity more student-centred and increase student talking time. In this case, the teacher can monitor and offer assistance to any groups that need it, as well as give feedback at the end of the activity.

Procedure for Man/Woman on the Street Interviews:

1. In advance, prepare question cards with one current events question on each card. Laminate them, if you want to use them with more than one class. Optionally, also prepare a few clips of man/woman on the street interviews to show a few examples to students.
2. Begin class with a discussion of the news, specifically, man/woman on the street interviews.
3. Explain to the class that they will take turns being a reporter and the man/woman on the street.
4. Divide students into groups of 4-5 and give each group enough question cards for each student to have a different question.
5. If you want this to be a short activity, have each reporter choose a different man/woman on the street, so each group member asks and answers only one question each.
6. For a longer activity, have the reporter ask the same question to every group member and optionally, ask some follow-up questions as well.
7.  If you want to extend the activity, have a group discussion after about the different opinions on current events held by class members.
8. Also consider assigning a short essay or opinion paper for homework based on one of the things from class for a writing activity. 

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Have your Say about this  Man/Woman on the Street ESL Activity

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Last update on 2022-01-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API