Carine:

I want to know the amount of the coin.


Tutor:

Okay, what question do you need to ask before you can get that information?


Carine:

How much is a penny?


Tutor:

Sure... or how much is a penny worth?


Carine:

How much is a penny worth?


Tutor:


Okay, a penny is worth one cent. You can write one cent in this box (while pointing to the empty box on the person B grid.)
Now, you can ask me another question to get the information you need from the second row.

Adapting information gaps to a group

  • Have learners work in pairs with one learner as "Student A" (with copy A) and the other as "Student B" (using copy B.)
  • If you want to have the learners work with many partners, make "A" "B" " C" and "D" versions with a quarter of the information present on each. Pair up the learners and have them switch partners until they get all the information. This is also referred to as a "jigsaw."

Additional examples of information gaps are available in The Interactive Tutorial: An Activity Parade. 1

If you are interested in learning different ways to use jigsaws in classroom situations, refer to Zero Prep: Ready-to-Go Activities in the Language Classroom. 2

2 Karen M. Sanders, The Interactive Tutorial: An Activity Parade . (Brattleboro, VT: Pro Lingua Associates, 1998.)
3 Laurel Pollard and Natalie Hess, Zero Prep: Ready -to-Go Activities in the Language Classroom. (Burlingame, California: Alta Book Center Publishers, 1997.)