How Do They Rank?

Students brainstorm a list of jobs, rank them individually by criteria (status, pay, education, appeal), then negotiate group rankings.

Procedure

1. Ask the class to brainstorm a list of ten jobs.
2. Each student ranks the jobs according to each criterion (1 = lowest, 10 = highest):
   • Status
   • Pay
   • Level of education
   • Appeal
3. Divide the class into groups. Each group tries to agree on a definitive ranking.
4. Re-group students and have them compare and discuss their rankings.
5. Groups report back to the whole class anything that surprised or particularly interested them.

Tips

• Naturally generates comparative and superlative adjectives — good for practising this grammar communicatively.
• Easily adapted to other topics: energy sources, pets, means of communication, inventions, places to visit.
• Students can propose both criteria and topics themselves.
• Even seemingly homogeneous classes produce productive discussion when re-grouped.
• Works for any age group with appropriate topic choices.