Four Corners In this activity, the corners of the room are labeled. Students respond to a question prompt or statement and go to the corner that corresponds to their answer. Students in each group discuss why they responded the way they did. Possible corner labels: A, B, C, D; 1, 2, 3, 4; Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree. Preparation
When to Use It • • • • •
To raise students’ interest in a topic To activate students’ background knowledge about a particular topic To energize a class To divide the class into groups To get a sense of how much students know about a topic
Prepare the labels for the four corners and the way they will be subdivided. E.g., For controversial statements, prepare the statements; for numbers or letters, prepare the categories; etc.
Level
Procedure
Skills
1. Put the labels up in the four corners. 2. Write the statement or question prompt on the board. 3. Instruct students to identify which category they are in based on their opinion or experience. 4. Have students move to the relevant corners. 5. Provide additional questions for students to discuss in their groups while in the corners. 6. After the designated time, have a group member in each corner summarize the discussion.
Variations
1. Students could discuss their opinions in groups, collect arguments if they’re based on a controversial statement, and write an essay on the topic using the arguments in the discussion. 2. The four corners could be regrouped into two for agree vs. disagree, and the groups could prepare arguments for a debate. 3. The instructor could change the question prompt or statement to have students move around as their opinions change based on the question/statement presented. If the statements are related to the same theme, it could provide additional discussion to show how opinions about one portion of a theme are different for different individuals. 4. Ask their opinion on a somewhat controversial topic, e.g., Do you consider helping someone on a test friendship or cheating? The students line up along a continuum with clearly cheating on one end and just being friendly on the other end of the continuum. If the class is very large or you want to make more of a distinction among answers, use corners as the end points and students can wrap themselves around the room to illustrate their responses on the continuum. Have them discuss their answer to a nearby student and/or have students explain why they placed themselves along the continuum as they did.
Practice Materials
Statement or instructions for the four divisions
Preparation Time 5 minutes
Activity Time 10–30 minutes
Possible Corners to Use
Strongly Agree — Strongly Disagree Corners: Prepare controversial statements for students to agree/disagree with related to the theme of the class (song, text, movie, etc.) Numbers: Prepare the range of numbers and categories Number of siblings: 0, 1–2, 3–4, 5+ Number of years studying English: <1, 1–2, 3–4, 5+ Favorites: Music: hip-hop, pop rock, classical, jazz Seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring Movies: drama, scary, comedy, documentary Emotions: love, like, dislike, hate
Contributors: David Malatesta, Spanish/French/ESL teacher, Niles West High School, Illinois, USA, and Brock Brady, Education Sector Specialist, U.S. Peace Corps, Washington, D.C.
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