Effective grouping and how we can make it work

We, teachers, every now and then find ourselves in situations when we need to go further than just a simple ‘compare your answers with the person next to you’ instruction. Hence, the question: how to group students so that it’s not only effective in terms of particular lesson aims, but also adds a fun element? Let’s look at some options.

No more boring “A/B/C” This requires no prior preparation (besides coming up with a number of team names), but students - both adults and young learners - enjoy it.  Here are some options:  Apple/Banana/Cherry Red/Purple/Green Eggs/Coffee/Bacon, etc.  It will be even better if you know what your learners like: if kids enjoy cars - make it Volkswagen/Ford/Rolls Royce, and your adults discuss movies all the time - let it be Spielberg/Tarantino/Cameron.  Cut up cards You will need to prepare cards with words related to several specific topics on them - one word is one card. Students will work with people who have words from the same category. For example: Sports (football, basketball, golf, etc.) Places in the city (library, swimming pool, school, etc.) Animals (cat, dog, hippo), etc.  It’s better to prepare a number of cards and then use the ones you need, depending on the size of your group and the interaction you plan (pairs or larger groups). Again, it’s a good idea to vary the categories depending on your group’s preferences.  Paper clips Let’s face it, sometimes there’s no time to prepare cards - time is never on our side. In this case, simply use paper clips of various colors. One by one, students pick a paper clip (with their eyes closed) and then work with people who have the same color. If you already know which students you want to work together, simply distribute the paper clips yourself (the same goes for cut up cards).  Playing cards A deck of playing cards can help as well - it’s easy to adjust according to the number of students you have and requires no preparation beforehand. It will also work well for allocating roles and responsibilities during project work: Kings will do one type of work, Aces something else, and Queen will be busy with yet another thing.  Magnets with names This is a rather teacher-controlled grouping method, but it’s clear and easy to carry out. You will need some magnets and name tags for your students. Just put names next to each other - these students will work together. Whenever you feel like regrouping your learners, just move the magnets and point it out to your students.