Categories: Lesson

ESL Dating Activity

Talking about dating can be a lot of fun in an ESL classroom. Of course, that all depends on where you live… It might not work as well in, say, Saudi Arabia as it does in China. But in some countries at least it can provide a great platform on which to build a lesson.

With my pre-intermediate students, I recently taught a fun lesson that included the following two activities. Firstly, I had my students work in pairs to rank the qualities they seek in a partner:

What things are most important to you in a date or marriage partner? Rank the top four ideas in order of importance to you. Remember to say why you chose a particular factor.

___ his or her job
___ age
___ hobbies
___ physical appearance or looks
___ money
___ religion
___ honesty
___ sense of humor
___ family background
___ the person’s past life

Next, I had my students work in groups. To do this, I count them off randomly and send them to different corners of the room. This always works great as the students are on their feet and working with different people to whom they normally pair up. I told them to copy down the following:

Dating Profile

Sex: M/F
Height:
Weight:
Appearance:
Age:
Personality:
Occupation:
Smoker/Non-Smoker:
Favorite Music:
Hobbies:
Favorite Movie:
Education:

Together, they must complete the information for an imaginary friend (or a real one, if they are a fun group). After five minutes, I take their notes and give them to a different group. The new group must choose a perfect partner for this person.

Finally, the groups can tell each other why they chose this “perfect partner.”

An alternative is to send one person from each group to a new group instead of handing over the notes. This is more communicative, but might work best with a higher level.

David S Wills

I am a writer, editor, and educator. I have written various books on mid-20th century American writers and a few on grammar and IELTS preparation. I have been in the education field since 2008 and have worked in various countries. I started this website to share some ideas and resources to help my fellow teachers.