Before the session: Choosing a critical incident

  • Select a social situation.
  • Write a scenario related to this situation.
  • Create three or four responses for the situation.
  • If possible, make one of the choices related to the culture of the learner.

Critical Incident: Example

Lisa asked Beth to come over to her house for supper and a movie. She told Beth to come over "around 7:00 p.m." What time should Beth arrive?

  1. at any time that evening
  2. 10 or 15 minutes before 7:00 p.m.
  3. 10 or 15 minutes after 7:00 p.m.
  4. at exactly 7:00 p.m.

Basic steps in using critical incidents

  • Read the situation and the responses together.
  • Let the learner choose which one is the most appropriate.
  • Ask follow-up questions regarding why the learner has chosen that response.
  • Discuss each possible response with the learner and how it might be interpreted.
  • Discuss which answer you would have chosen and why.

This activity works with larger groups as well. The more diverse your group is, the more interesting it is.

Other variations

  • Instead of using a written "critical incident" play a short video segment with a communication problem between a Native English speaker and someone from another culture.
  • Have learners write their own "critical incident" regarding a situation they have experienced.

"We can not assume that our values are the best values or the only acceptable ones." 12


12 Virginia Sauvé, Voices and Visions: An Introduction to Teaching ESL (Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press Canada, 2000), p.12. By permission of Oxford University Press Canada.