For learners to be able to interact with each other, take into account each other’s interests, and allocate responsibilities during joint tasks, experiments, or problem solving, it is necessary to use different modes of interaction during the classes. In addition to individual work, it is recommended organizing pair and group work during tasks on the content of video lectures, working with texts, conducting experiments, or finding answer to problematic issues. While working in pairs and groups, the distance between students decreases, they find ways to interact with those with whom they may not have had to communicate before, open up new facets in each other, become more tolerant and diplomatic, and learn to find compromises.
Methods of dividing people into pairs
- Write on slips of paper the words on the class subject matter, and cut each one into two parts. Shuffle half the words. Each student pulls out a sheet of paper with a part of a word, and looks for a class participant with the other half.
- Cut the required number of pieces from the thread reel or from the rope coil (2 times fewer than the number of students). Grasp the threads / ropes in the middle (the ends should hang) and ask each student to take a loose end of the thread / rope. Those who take one thread / rope at both ends will form a pair.
- Cut the pictures into two parts. Shuffle half the pictures. Each student pulls out a fragment of the picture and looks for a student in the classroom with the other half.
- Write words with the opposite meaning on different slips of paper (groß, klein, kalt, warm, schwarz, weiß), ask each student to pull out a sheet of paper with a word and find the student in the group with the antonym word. Possible options: the German word and its translation (die Luft - air, das Wasser - water, der Schnee - snow), the object and its color (das Ei - weiß, die Sonne - gelb, der Himmel - blau, die Gurke - grün), the word matching the meaning (der Schnee - der Schneemann, die Luft - der Luftballon, das Wasser - das Schiff, die Schule - der Lehrer), the country and its capital, the country and the language spoken in that country, the scientist or inventor and his invention, the name of the profession and the concept suitable for the profession (der Bäcker - das Brot, der Fahrer - das Auto, der Polizist - die Pistole, der Programmierer - der Computer). The choice of options depends on the topic for the class.
- Each student receives a thread or a slip of paper. Students with threads or slips of paper of equal length form pairs.
All students close their eyes or blindfold and move around the classroom blindly. Those who accidentally come across each other form pairs. - Hidden objects. A teacher hides two identical objects in the class (two spoons, two forks, two rulers, two balls). Children look for objects in class, students with two identical “finds” are paired.
- Each student puts some object in a bag. The odd man out pulls 2 objects out of the bag. The owners of the objects form a pair.
Methods of dividing into groups
- Ask the children to count themselves from 1 to 3, 4, 5 (by the number of groups to form, not by the number of students) and remember their number (they can bend their fingers on their hands). Then everyone who has a “one” forms one group, all “twos” form a second group, and so on.
- Children take out colored pieces of paper (or white pieces of paper with colored dots) from the bag and are united into groups by color.
- Children take small caramels out of the bag, and are united in groups according to the type of candy.
- Cut the pictures (the number of pictures should correspond to the number of groups to form) into several fragments. Each student pulls out a fragment of the picture and looks for students with fragments of the same image.
- Write words on slips of paper. Each student pulls out a piece of paper with a word. Groups shall be formed by topics (animals, school supplies, seasons, food, clothing). Option: students pull out pieces of paper where words are written and corresponding pictures are drawn, if the word is not very familiar. Children should find groups by color (die Zitrone, das Krokodil, die Tomate, der Schnee, die Sonne, die Gurke, die Erdbeere, das Ei, das Kücken, das Gras, die Rose, die Watte).
- “Atoms and molecules”. This way of dividing into groups has other names: “Constellations”, “Rings”. The teacher calls the numeral, and the students, holding hands, form groups with the appropriate number of participants. Then the teacher calls a new numeral, and the pupils form new groups. The condition is that each student’s neighbors on the left and on the right sides should be new ones. This brings more movement into the game. At some point, the teacher calls a number corresponding to the number of participants in the required number of groups (for example, in order to divide 12 students into 4 groups, the teacher calls the number 3) and says “Stop”. The game is over, and then the work is done in groups.
- Animal sounds. Students get cards with titles written on them, or animals depicted. They cannot talk; they can only make a sound of an animal from their card or imitate its movements. In this way students are united in groups.
- Each student receives a thread or a slip of paper. Students with threads or slips of paper of equal length form groups.
- “Meyer family”. Family members with similar family names (Vater Meyer, Mutter Meyer, Kind Meyer, Vater Geier, Mutter Geier, Kind Geier, Vater Bayer, Mutter Bayer, Kind Bayer, Vater Dreier, Mutter Dreier, Kind Dreier) are written on the cards. Students move through the classroom, shouting their last name out loud, and look for other members of their “family”.
- Before class, tape each chair with colored pieces of paper on the bottom side. Students look under their chair and unite in groups by color.
- Each student puts some object in a bag. The odd man out, or the teacher, takes out several objects from the bag (according to the number of students in one group). The owners of the objects that are pulled out form a group.