Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 8bb3bee63531973154667b090dfee3ddae2d8212441e8a315ab0f03479b129d0

# My Day Backwards

Pairs take turns guessing the sequence of their partner's previous day in reverse chronological order, while the partner confirms, corrects, or fills in gaps.

**Time:** 15 minutes. Based on the 10-15 minute recommendation from ESL Active.
**People:** 4 to 24. Pairs. If an odd number is present, create one group of three where two people take turns guessing for one partner.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Practice sequencing language and active recall by reconstructing a timeline from the most recent event backward to waking up.
**Use it when:** Use during language practice, warm-ups, or communication workshops where participants need practice using temporal connectors and past-tense sequencing.
**Skip it when:** Skip if participants do not know each other at all and prefer not to share mundane daily routines, or if privacy concerns make personal schedules uncomfortable to discuss.

## Materials and tools

- Countdown timer visible to the room
- Scratch paper and pen per person (optional, for noting timeline steps)

## Before participants arrive

1. Arrange seating so partners face each other.
2. Decide whether participants recount yesterday or today up to the current moment.

## Say this to open

Find a partner. One of you will be Partner A and one will be Partner B. Partner A will try to guess Partner B's day in reverse order, starting from the moment right before this session and working backwards to when Partner B woke up. Partner B, you will confirm, correct, or fill in what actually happened. Keep the details light and routine. After five minutes, you will switch roles.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce reverse sequencing (3 minutes)

Explain the mechanic. Offer a brief neutral example: 'Before arriving here, you ate lunch. Before eating lunch, you replied to emails. Before that, you commuted.' Clarify that participants only share ordinary public routines. Tell participants that if they prefer not to share their actual day, they may invent an imaginary routine.

### 2. Round one guessing (5 minutes)

Partner A reconstructs Partner B's timeline backwards. Partner A says an event, and Partner B responds by validating or correcting the step before Partner A moves further back in time. Signal when two minutes remain in this round.

### 3. Round two swap (5 minutes)

Call time. Direct partners to switch roles. Partner B now reconstructs Partner A's day in reverse chronological order back to waking up. Signal when two minutes remain in this round.

### 4. Brief reflection (2 minutes)

Bring the room together. Ask two brief debrief questions. Take two or three quick volunteer responses from the whole room to stay within the allotted time.


## Debrief questions

- What cues or connectors helped you track the sequence backwards?
- Where did your guesses match reality, and where did the routine surprise you?

**Finished output:** Each pair completes two reverse-chronological spoken accounts of a day's routine.

## Remote

Run in video breakout rooms with two participants per room. Broadcast a broadcast message into rooms at minute 8 to prompt partners to swap roles. Re-convene in the main room for the final two-minute debrief.

## Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with in-person partners and remote participants with remote partners in breakout rooms. If a cross-mode pair is necessary, have the in-person partner join a dedicated video breakout using a laptop and headset.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may invent a fictional workday or weekend schedule instead of sharing personal routines.
- Partners may write or type their sequence in bullet points instead of speaking aloud if preferred.

## If the session gets stuck

**One partner stalls because they do not know what the other person did.**

Remind them it is a guessing game. Partner A makes educated guesses, and Partner B supplies the real step if the guess is incorrect.

**A participant arrives at waking up in under two minutes.**

Ask them to zoom into a specific hour and recount smaller steps in reverse, such as each step of preparing breakfast or leaving the house.


## Terms used here

- Reverse chronological order: Listing events starting from the most recent and moving backward toward the earliest.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in ESL Active (eslactive.com) as an English language teaching pair activity for practicing sequencing and past time markers.

The core mechanic of guessing a partner's day backwards in reverse order using sequence language is drawn directly from ESL Active. UWT structured the activity into clear 5-minute timed rounds with explicit turn-taking, added access options (fictional days, text-based option), and established hybrid pairing protocols.

[ESL Active](https://eslactive.com/activities/my-day-backwards/)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/my-day-backwards/