Is anyone wandering about the planet with your name?
What do they do? Where do they live?
Do they have a better job, make more money than you do? Have they written a book, do they lead a football team, are politicians or doctors?
Are they busy creating a digital footprint more weighty than your own?
A great conversation activity for EFL students, especially after a Getting to Know You lesson, is to ask your students to research the 'net for others walking around with the same or a similar name (perhaps an anglicized version) and to report back to the class on what they've discovered.
Good sites to check include Google obviously, however Wikipedia, Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing and Geneology sites can also produce interesting results.
Once in class, encourage them to share their findings in pairs, along with notes and photographs if they found these, and switch groups as often as time allows.
However, after the second switch, they should leave their paperwork behind and simply discuss their googlegänger freely.
At the end of the session do group feedback, asking participants to tell you about the most interesting thing they found out about another colleague's name-double and discuss some of the authentic words and expressions which came up as a result of their forays into the internet.
Post-task activity
Students write an email to their googlegängers introducing themselves and commenting on what they learned - what they both have in common or don't and they don't need to send these, but can if they want to.
What do they do? Where do they live?
Do they have a better job, make more money than you do? Have they written a book, do they lead a football team, are politicians or doctors?
Are they busy creating a digital footprint more weighty than your own?
A great conversation activity for EFL students, especially after a Getting to Know You lesson, is to ask your students to research the 'net for others walking around with the same or a similar name (perhaps an anglicized version) and to report back to the class on what they've discovered.
Good sites to check include Google obviously, however Wikipedia, Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing and Geneology sites can also produce interesting results.
Once in class, encourage them to share their findings in pairs, along with notes and photographs if they found these, and switch groups as often as time allows.
However, after the second switch, they should leave their paperwork behind and simply discuss their googlegänger freely.
At the end of the session do group feedback, asking participants to tell you about the most interesting thing they found out about another colleague's name-double and discuss some of the authentic words and expressions which came up as a result of their forays into the internet.
Post-task activity
Students write an email to their googlegängers introducing themselves and commenting on what they learned - what they both have in common or don't and they don't need to send these, but can if they want to.
Best,
Karenne
p.s. My googlegänger is an artist in Trinidad - one day I'm going to buy some of her paintings! Do you know who yours is?
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