These are some activities within the theme of personal information as an example, but some of these can be adapted to fit other themes or topics.

Speaking, listening

To practice personal information start off with questions and answers: What's your name? Where do you live? What's your phone number? How old are you? Where are you from? These are "set dialogue" in which answers are always the same.

Reading, writing

When a student is able to read the questions the tutor can write them on a small strips of paper and put them in an envelope. The student then takes a strip from the envelope, reads the question, answers it and then writes it down. The student can also ask the tutor the questions and if possible write down the answers.

Dictation, writing

Tutors can dictate phone numbers for practice with writing down information. The tutor can say the numbers impossibly fast to force the students to ask the tutor to repeat the numbers.

Provide the student with sentences that need to be completed:

My name is________________________

I live in___________________________

I am ______ years old.

My date of birth is__________________

And because students often need to fill out forms, it is useful to practice with a simple form such as those for magazine subscriptions.

Hands-on English, Vol. 19, No. 6