Tell Me about Myself.doc

Tell Me about Myself
Level: Any Level
This game works well with students at pre-intermediate level or above and can be adapted
accordingly. It is an original way of introducing yourself (as a teacher) to a class for the
first time, but could also be used later on.
Prepare in advance, on an overhead transparency or white-board, a mind map of yourself.
Instead of using sentences to describe your life, use single words, numbers, dates, symbols
and illustrations where possible.
For example I include information about my life in England, names of siblings, date of
birth, name of hometown etc. (My hometown is Stoke-on-Trent which I then illustrate with
a cup and saucer - the Potteries, and a football - Stoke City FC. It keeps them guessing.)
I include information about my husband (name and illustration of job) children (names,
ages, birthdays). You can add your shoe size, height, illustrations of your hobbies etc. I
draw a needle and thread - sewing, a pair of skis - I enjoy skiing, and a pencil - drawing.
Any kind of information can be included. Use your imagination! I live in Sweden and draw
a picture of a snowman with a cross through it to illustrate that I don¥t like the winter!
Get your students to tell you what the information means. For example.
• July - is that when your birthday is?
• Does the cup and saucer mean you drink tea?
Try and get a good mix of obvious and less obvious information. For example, when I drew
a fish (to illustrate that I kept tropical fish) it provoked questions like:
• Do you eat a lot of fish?
• Do you enjoy fishing?
• Is your star sign Pisces?
Give them a clue if they’re having problems guessing.
This game has worked wonderfully for me in many classes of varying levels. To follow up,
get you students to take a few minutes to prepare something similar individually, and then
work in pairs guessing what the information means about their partner.