Asking for Missing Information

Topic: Personal Information

Mode: Presentational

Level: Novice

Students will practice presenting and asking someone for missing personal information orally.

Instructions to the teacher

Below are examples of personal profiles. Write enough profiles for your class and assign each student one of the profiles. The task is to prepare an oral presentation of this information. However, students should NOT simply list this information. They should compose a cohesive introduction and add detail to make it interesting. In each profile, one piece of information appears in parentheses. Students must NOT include this piece of information in their presentation. The purpose of this is so that other students have to ask for the missing information. Students will circulate the room and take turns presenting their profiles to each other. As they listen to the presentation, the students should take notes on what they hear. After listening and taking notes, they should ask for the missing information. You can set a time limit and tell students to talk to as many people as they can in the time allowed, or you can allow them to keep going until they have talked to everyone in the class. 

Instructions to students

You have been given a personal profile. Your job is to prepare a short oral presentation of this information. Do NOT just read off a list of information. That’s boring! Prepare a cohesive presentation and add details to make it interesting. One of the pieces of information in your profile is in parentheses. Do NOT include this piece of information in your presentation. 

After you have prepared your presentation, you will circulate the room and take turns presenting your information with your classmates. As you listen to your classmate, take notes on what you hear in the table. When your classmate has finished, confirm the information you heard and ask them for the missing information. Then, move on to the next person.

Example

Person 1: My name is Lena, and I live in Seattle. It’s a big, exciting city. I often go to concerts with my friends. I work as a cook at a nice restaurant downtown. My mom and dad live in Seattle, too. My older sister lives in California. I like to visit her. 

Person 2: So, you live in Seattle, you have a mom, dad, and older sister, and your work as a cook. How  old are you?

Person 1: I’m 25. 

Profiles

Student Worksheet