Specifically using Canadian Culture: You can modify the activity with any theme of your choice.

• Students will justify their answers in English
• Students will practice using supporting details

A PowerPoint presentation with different “Would you rather” questions, such as “Would you rather be able to be invisible or be able to fly?”, “Would you rather do schoolwork in a group or by yourself?” You could also write the questions on a whiteboard. You could get more advanced students to come up with their own questions to ask the group.

1. Create your questions. You can do as few or as many as you would like, but I found that the students stayed interested for about 8-10 questions.
2. Explain the game to your group.
3. Play the game. I had students move to one side of the class for one option, and the other side of the class for the other option, but you could also have them raise their hands for their choice.
4. Ask one or two students per side to justify why they picked that option. Encourage debate between the two sides as well, if their level of English allows for it.

The ten Would You Rather, use the theme of Canadian culture.

1.) Would You Rather live in the Canadian Arctic or at sea off the coast of Newfoundland?

2.) Would You Rather be in Edmonton during the winter or Vancouver during the fall?

3.) Would You Rather watch an unlimited amount of television in a language you don’t understand (e.g. English) or would you rather watch 10 minutes of your favourite show every day?

4.) Would You Rather have year-round Manitoba summer or fall weather in your city?

5.) Would You Rather fly Air Canada for free for life or get a 20 percent discount on your favourite airline for life?

6.) Would You Rather be at Vimy Ridge during World War 2 or be with Romeo Dallaire in Rwanda?

7.) Would You Rather eat only Poutine or Nanaimo bars for life?

8.) Would You Rather meet Shania Twain or William Shatner?

9.) Would You Rather be poor for a year or have your most hated team win the championship? (e.g. The Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup?)

10.) Would You Rather have a great meal at Tim Hortons or a bad meal at a fancy restaurant?

Practice suggestions:
• Pick an option yourself after the students have picked, then explain why you picked that option. This gives the students a good example for justifying their choice.
• The students would likely stay engaged for longer if they were creating their own questions and then asking them to the class. You could do 4 or 5 questions that you make, and then get your group to create questions to continue the game.
• You can look up “Would you rather” or “This or that” questions online if you need some inspiration.

This is a modification of the Would You Rather activity by Mahaliah Peddle.