Population:
Any level ABE (can be adapted to ESOL)

Objectives:

1. To give learners the opportunity to meet each other.
2. To get an informal assessment on students' abilities to make observations and communicate in writing. Good observations help students raise questions, and this is where science starts!

Description:
This has been a fun back-to-school activity.

1. Hand each student a potato. (Apples also work well.)
2. Ask students to look carefully at their potato and describe it, in complete sentences, as accurately as possible. Make available whatever tools you may have that will enable them to quantify what they see (e.g., rulers, string, etc.).
3. Exchange the descriptions among the students to see if they can find the right potato.
4. Finally, gather the class together to discuss what characteristics made the useful descriptions. For example, try to illustrate the usefulness of quantitative terms, like two centimeters in diameter, as opposed to vague terms like big or small. Accurate and clear expressions help people communicate.

Patti Vorfeld is a Pre-ASE (adult secondary education) instructor at Mount Wachusett Community College. She can be reached by e-mail at: vorf@prexar.com