Instructional Strategy: Mix, Freeze, Pair

Hello colleagues, I am sure many teachers have implemented Think-Pair-Share in their classroom. For those who may not be familiar with this technique, it involves posing a question to the class, giving learners time to think about the question and possibly jot some notes. They then turn to a partner to talk together about the question. Finally, the teacher invites learners to share their ideas with the whole class.

I came across a variation of Think-Pair-Share called Mix-Freeze-Pair. Here's how it works. The teacher gives a signal for students to stand up and walk around for a few seconds, i.e., "mix" -- and then tells the students to "freeze." The teacher tells students to find a partner and then issues a question for discussion or a task for the pairs to complete. Partners discuss and/or complete the task. The class can engage in subsequent rounds of Mix-Freeze-Pair with different discussion questions and/or tasks.

I'm curious what ESL teachers see as the pros and cons of this instructional technique. 

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP