Snowball allows students to voice their opinions in smaller groups first and build up in stages to a whole-class discussion. This is a great way to encourage less confident students to participate.
In this short film Andrew Davids, a teacher from Thomas Tallis School, explains how to run a snowball activity.
Snowball is a good technique to use with mixed ability classes and ESOL students because it allows them to talk and express their opinions in the safety of a smaller group. Using key word or statement activities in which students have to reduce a list to the single most important word or statement works extremely well with this technique. Snowball can be used as a starter, a short activity to break up a lesson or as a plenary.
Download PDF (327 Kb) presenting an overview of discussion techniques including more about Snowball.