Pairwork

What and why?

Pairwork involves students working in pairs simultaneously. The reasons for the use of pairwork are similar to those of GROUPWORK. Pairwork allows more students to get more practice. It also provides a change of pace to a lesson and helps to sustain motivation. Students working in pairs are able to share ideas and help each other. However, pairwork can fail if it is not set up well. This can lead to students getting distracted, becoming disenchanted with English and, eventually, misbehaving.

Practical ideas

• Ensure that students know exactly what they have to do before they begin any pairwork activity. Run through a few examples with the whole class. Initially at least, pairwork tasks need to have a clear, concrete focus, for example on completing an exercise, doing PATTERNED PRACTICE, preparing some INTERACTIVE WRITING, preparing questions and so on.
• For variety, different students can be paired together. Students can be moved around the room or they can be put into pairs with students to their left or right, in front or behind.
• Give the students a time limit so that they know when they have to finish.
• Students can work in pairs to produce questions, exercises, etc. for other pairs to do.
• If the task does not actually require pairwork, the students can choose whether they want to work in pairs or alone.