Paired Desks
Pairs are the smallest unit that can talk. Two students share a task, check an answer, or rehearse a sentence, and the gap between pairs keeps the noise from becoming a table of six. This is the layout to use when turn-and-talk is the habit, not the exception.
Use it when
- Turn and talk
- Peer editing
- Language practice and problem pairs
Pick something else when
- You need silence for a graded individual task
- Groups of four or more are the point of the lesson
- An odd leftover student will be left without a role and you have no plan for them
Class sizes
10 students
2 rows on a 10 by 9 grid.
12 students
2 rows on a 10 by 9 grid.
14 students
3 rows on a 10 by 11 grid.
16 students
3 rows on a 10 by 11 grid.
18 students
3 rows on a 10 by 11 grid.
20 students
3 rows on a 13 by 11 grid.
22 students
3 rows on a 13 by 11 grid.
24 students
3 rows on a 13 by 11 grid.
26 students
4 rows on a 13 by 13 grid.
28 students
4 rows on a 13 by 13 grid.
30 students
4 rows on a 13 by 13 grid.
32 students
4 rows on a 13 by 13 grid.
34 students
5 rows on a 13 by 15 grid.
36 students
5 rows on a 13 by 15 grid.