I have never used this activity as a warm up! Great idea! I wish I had the guts to tell the teachers in my Korean class to use this activity on us these days.
The variation I once used of this activity was for review after completing 5 units of a textbook. Each unit had one theme: international food, fashion, hobbies, etc.
So first, I paired off the chairs facing each other, say 5 pairs for a class of 10 students, and designated one topic per chair like this: Pair 1 Fashion, Pair 2 International Food, etc.
Next, you could brainstorm some questions related to each topic and put them on the board. If it really is a review, this step would be unnecessary, or could be done orally.
Then, like you said, two students sit facing each other and discuss the topic designated by their spot.
After 2 or 3 minutes, or more the teacher can ring a bell and the students all move to the right. I think it can work out that ever student talks with every other student about each topic, but I'm not mathematically inclined and don't feel like figuring out the schematics for this right now.
Anyway, this is similar to the original post in this thread, but used as a more formal review of grammar points or topics already covered in class.
Songsengnim, I really like the original method you posted, thanks. Sounds like a great way to give the shy students who resist speaking in front of a large group a few minutes to loosen up in class.
