How many times have you had complete silence for an answer when you asked your English learners a question? I thought so. Speaking is a productive skill that requires manipulation of language. In order to speak, one must know some vocabulary and the basics of how to put words in a sentence. It may be a daunting task for beginners and even intermediate students to speak in English.
Speaking is personal. And teaching speaking is a complex task. On the one hand, you may ask yourself if you even need to do speaking activities with your students. After all, you talk all the time, you demonstrate and have them repeat words and phrases, they should get it eventually, right?
On the other hand, it is namely the targeted speaking activities that allow the students to practice language in a safe environment, learn not to take their mistakes too seriously and progress in their English language acquisition. Not to mention, do all this while having fun.
In this blog post, I am going to share with you three speaking activities that have proven to be a great success with my ESL students and that can be used with both beginners and intermediate level students.
Speaking activity #1: What’s my word, or the “hot seat”
This game is very energetic and lends itself to more communication between the students than you expect. It is great for reinforcing vocabulary, reviewing terms and negotiating meaning. It is very popular with my students, for sure!
Purpose: explain a term in different words. Review vocabulary.
Skills: speaking/reading/writing
Players: 4+
Level: intermediate
Materials: whiteboard, markers, flashcards
Procedure:
This game is also called the “hot seat”. Divide students into two groups. Hand them 10-20 flash cards and have them write down one word per card. Place a chair in front of the board and have one of the students from the opposing team sit in it. He/she will be the guesser. As a team, decide which word you would like the student in the “hot seat” to guess and write that word behind him/her on the board (the student must not be able to see it). His/her teammates then take turns explaining the word on the board using synonyms, antonyms, definitions, etc. It is important that they do not point to the word if it is an object in the classroom, as this game is for language practice. When the student in the “hot seat” guesses the term, they earn a point for their team and the teams switch.
Variations:
- If you have a bigger group of students, have only one student explain the word at a time.
- Instead of having the students prepare the words on flashcards, you can have a list of words and be the one that writes them on the board.
- The student in the hot seat may ask questions, but you can choose to limit them to just “yes/no” questions or a certain number.
- Set the time limit to ensure that the game does not last too long.
Speaking activity #2: Tell Tale Cards
In my post about the best textbooks for ESL beginners I mentioned a game, which is called Tell Tale. I have used it with great success with both elementary and older students. Here are a couple of ways you can utilize the cards to practice speaking.
Purpose: tell a (very short) story with a beginning, middle and end. Use vocabulary that you know and learn new words.
Skills: speaking/writing
Players: any. Works well with a small number of students, but can be adapted to larger classrooms as well.
Level: beginner-advanced
Materials: Tell Tale game, pencil and a piece of paper (optional)
Procedure:
The game comes in a round box that is filled with pictures on both sides of each card. Have the students pick three to five random cards and create a story using only one sentence per card. Students may take a few minutes to clarify what they see in the pictures and ask for words if they do not know. They may also write down words they would like to use in the story on a piece of paper and then speak. This game truly lets the students get as creative as they want and there is always good laugh guaranteed.
Variation:
Creating a story might be a tad bit open-ended speaking activity for some students. Therefore, you can use the cards to practice question formation. Each player gets 5 cards. They then pick one card and ask another student (someone on their left, someone on their right, or whatever order you choose to have them do this in) a question based on the picture. That student has to answer their question using one of their own cards.
Speaking activity # 3: Roll the Dice
This speaking game is one of my all-time favorites. The students enjoy it very much, too. I first used it used it in one of my practice lessons when I was studying. It was an instant hit! I think because it deals with real-life situations and questions that you might be asked.
Purpose: ask and answer questions. Use correct vocabulary, pronunciation and sentence structure. Give instant feedback on performance.
Skill: speaking/reading
Level: beginner-advanced
Materials: two dice, paper with questions for each player
Procedure:
I usually do a warm-up before the class by asking my students questions like whether they know what dice are, whether they ever played any games that used dice, if so, what kind of game, etc. Then I tell them that we will be playing a question and answer game and model the activity with one volunteer.
First, roll the dice. Choose the question from the question sheet (the Roll of Dice) based on the number that fell on the dice. You could have questions in different categories. For example, a roll of 1 would be a category of Food, a roll of 2 could be a category of friendship and other relationships, etc.
There are three possible questions/statements in each category, so the students will have to choose one for another person to answer/respond to. For example, a) Tell us about your favorite dish, b) Describe the weather today, or c) If you had a lot of money, what would you buy and why?
When the student has responded, we ask that he/she turns around and the class votes on his/her performance. If the student is not able to respond to the question, they should be given another question from the same group of questions. If the student is not able to respond to any of the questions from that group, they lose their turn and the student who rolled the dice gets to go again and choose another student.
Evaluation: Thumbs up is excellent, thumbs horizontal – ok, thumbs down – needs improvement. As a teacher, I can provide feedback based on the overall consensus – mostly excellent, no thumbs down, etc.
Extension: Since the number of questions in this game is finite, it may get boring after a few times. Ask the students to come up with their own real-life questions and make up a new sheet that can be used in the future.
I have created speaking resources that are easy to use and really engaging for English learners.
I am linking two below, so you can grab them and be ready without spending hours on planning! Click the images below to grab your own copy.
The first one is 25 Authentic Speaking Activities for Your ESL Classroom.
In it, I have included 25 photo lessons with idioms, word banks, discussion questions, and writing/speaking extensions. In addition, you will find 25 lesson plans that will help you save time!
This resource is so valuable and I am not just saying it – those who have tried it (including the students!) are very impressed and happy with it as well!
The second one is – 5 Speaking Activities for ESL Beginners – Hobbies. You can use these versatile lessons with students one-on-one and in groups.
