Information Gap

Objective: To teach students to look for key information quickly; to practice speaking

Steps:

1. Many Reading exercises in New Interchange consist of two or more short passages and are accompanied by a chart that students fill in with information from each passage. This activity divides your class into smaller groups and asks students to find specific information in a passage.
2. Book closed. Students work in pairs as Student A and Student B. Assign a passage in the Reading exercise to Student A and another passage to Student B. Explain that each student should read the passage to complete his or her part of the chart.
3. Give students a time limit and tell them to begin. Students open their books and find out information as quickly as possible. They must complete their half of the chart with the necessary information.
4. Have students share information. They should tell each other everything they found out, including any additional details.

Example: The following example is for New Interchange 2, Unit 3: "Time for a Change!" The Reading exercise appears on p. 19 of the Student's Book.

Existing Activity in the Student's Book: Read the entire article, "Dreams Can Come True," about Tom Bloch and the Neal family. Find out (1) what they do now, (2) one difficulty, and (3) one reward. Complete the whole chart. Information-Gap Activity: Student A: Read the the part of the article about Tom Bloch. Find out (1) what he does now, (2) one difficulty, and (3) one reward. Complete the part of the chart about Tom Bloch. Student B: Read the the part of the article about the Neale family. Find out (1) what they do now, (2) one difficulty, and (3) one reward. Complete the part of the chart about the Neale family.

Variation: This activity could be made into a race. Don’t give students a time limit; instead, ask them to try to find out the information more quickly than their partner.