Missing Information

In a missing information activity, learners work in pairs.  Each partner has different information from the other, and they need to talk with each other to share information.  There's an unlimited number of variations.  A few examples are:

1. Missing prices

In a unit that involved household furniture items and prices, I created two versions of an "advertising flyer".  Without letting their partner see their own pages, each partner needed to ask the other for the missing prices on their own pages.  Here are the pages for Partner 1 and for Partner 2.

2. In, on, under

This was for a unit on classroom objects and prepositions of location (only in, on, and under) and used this document for the pictures and game pieces.  Partner 1 had a picture of a room with a table and chair (slide 1), and small cutouts of vocabulary items (from slide 8).  Partner 2 had the secret information: a picture of a room with various items in, on or under other objects (from slides 2-7).  

Partner 2 needed to describe the location of the items in their secret picture ("The stapler is on the table"), and Partner 1 needed to place the item(s) on their picture as described.  Not all of the cutout items that Partner 1 had would be used for each picture.  

When Partner 2 was done describing the scene, the partners compared their pictures to see if Partner 1 placed the items correctly.  Then the partners switched roles, using a different picture (from slides 2-7) as the secret information. 

3. Family tree

This was for a unit on the family, and used this document for the instructions, pictures and game pieces.  Partner 1 had a mostly-blank family tree (from slide 2), and small cutouts of people and names (from slide 3).  Partner 2 had a the secret information: a completed family tree (from slides 5-12).

Partner 1 needed to ask questions about the family tree in order to discover which people to place on the tree and where to place them, such as: Does Deb have daughters?  How many daughters does Deb have?  What’s are their names?   Who is Deb’s mother? 

When Partner 1 had filled in all of the blanks on their family tree, the partners compared the two trees to see if they match.  Then the partners switched roles and used a different family tree (from slides 5-12) as the secret information.

4. Ingredients for a recipe

For a unit on food, give each pair of learners an ingredient list for a simple recipe, and give each partner pictures of different ingredients that they have (including some that aren't needed for the recipe).  Partners need to ask each other "Do you have _______s?" to decide if they can make the recipe.  To make it more challenging, give each partner a different recipe.