Speak Now. Or Forever Hold Your Piece! - A list of suggested conversation topics
To get students to talk during the first few days is far from easy. Ata later stage, the really difficult thing is to keep them quiet! Anyway, let's begin at the beginning...This teaching activity revolves around four major topics: a) The Home, b) School Life, c) Jobs and, d) Spare Time. By answering a few simple questions and carrying out some easy tasks, students will get to know one another in a comfortable and co-operative environment. There is something for everyone and -hopefully- all of the students will have something to say.
Just ask your students to say a number between 1 and 40 and read the corresponding question. Do not ask for perfection right now. Building up everybody's self-confidence is much more important -and will prove more useful in the long run - so make sure that everybody joins in the talking.
A) The Home
1) Design the ideal home. Tell your classmates about it.
2) Describe your bedroom. 24224q163y
Your classmates should be able to produce a detailed plan of the place, according to your description.
3) You have won 25,000 dollars in the lottery. How would you redecorate your living room?
4) In groups, design the house of the future. Show the results on a poster.
5) Draw a plan of your neighborhood, indicate your house and explain how you go to the following places:
a) the baker's
b) the supermarket and
c) your favorite disco or pub.
6) Compose an advertisement to sell your house.
7) Give 3 reasons why you like/dislike your house.
8) Write a story about a house. Use between 120 and 150 words.
9) Would you rather rent a house or buy one? Discuss.
10) Write a list of the housework to be done in a house. Say who does each thing at your place.
B) School Life
11) In pairs, list the qualities of the perfect teacher.
12) Say what your favorite school subjects are. Give reasons.
13) Are you a "good" student? Explain why/why not.
14) Design a suitable timetable for your class. Show it to your classmates.
15) Homework is necessary. Discuss.
16) Plan the activities for a special "Cultural Events Week" at your school.
17) Suggest an itinerary for an end-of-term trip.
18) Devise a short English exam. Try it and see what happens!
19) Tell your classmates a funny story/situation that has taken place in your school.
20) Imagine what a small child would write about his/her first day at school.
C) Jobs
21) Write a short paragraph about your present/past/future job. Read it out and aloud.
22) Tell your students 5 things you would do if you were not forced to work.
23) Write a list of 10 machines/devices that make people's work easier these days.
24) Tell your classmates about one job that you would NOT like to do. Explain your choice.
25) Would you work if you were a millionaire?
26) Think of 3 people you admire because of their jobs.
27) Would you like to be a policeman/policewoman? Why? Why not?
28) Many people have not got a job. Suggest some solutions to the problem.
29) Think of one job. Let your classmates ask you questions about it
(I.e. "Do you work indoors?" "Is your job interesting?" etc.)
You may only answer "Yes" or "No". Can they guess the job you are thinking about?
30) How many different jobs can you name in 1 minute?
D) Spare Time
31) Summarize the plot of a book you have enjoyed. Can your classmates guess its title?
32) Tell the class about the worst TV program you have ever seen.
33) Are you sports-mad? Briefly describe the rules of your favorite sport.
34) If you could travel round the world, what countries would you visit?
35) Write a short paragraph about your favorite singer/band. Use about 70 words.
36) Tell your classmates about the (computer) game you like best.
37) Do you like reading comics? Which are your favorites? Why?
38) Think about your favorite radio program.
Tell your neighbor, adding reasons why you think s/he should listen to it.
39) In groups, make a poster about your favorite singer/band.
40) Write the titles of the 4 best films you have ever seen.
Crime and Punishment
This is quite an open project. The activities vary a lot. The main aim is to make the students aware that laws are necessary and must be abided. Teachers are encouraged to make whatever changes suit their class and their own teaching style.
TASKS - AIMS
1) Furnishing an office.
Using a budget efficiently, buying just what you need (no more, no less.)
After all, it's the taxpayer money you are using!
* Lawyers and magistrates work for hours in their offices. Design a suitable one, including the necessary furniture and fittings. Draw a map of the place and describe it.
2) Deciding the amount for some fines.
Evaluating the damage caused by several people. Students should realize that when someone breaks the law s/he is causing trouble to others, and that is always wrong.
* You may be fined if you break the law. Consider the following offences and determine the appropriate fines: someone was driving above the speed limit - someone dumped waste in a river- someone has kept his noisy disco open well ahead of the approved business hours.
3) Writing about the night patrol.
A chance for students to write a dialogue (using information they have gathered from different sources, plus their imagination.) Students should be aware that the police look after the community 'around the clock' and make sure everything is OK at all times.
* Write the dialogue between 2 policemen/policewomen who discuss the incidents that took place during last nights round.
4) Alibis.
Students should know that nobody is guilty until that is proved before a judge and sometimes a jury. When accused of something, you will always be asked to give your version of the story (and it is a good idea to explain in detail what you were doing at a given place and time.) If you can find a third party to back what you say, so much the better!
* You have been accused of committing a crime. But you are not guilty. What's your alibi? Where were you and what were you doing on the following dates? 1st January 14th February 20th July 25th December.
5) Performing a trial.
It does nobody any harm to get acquainted with court proceedings, and it is a good thing if you can grasp the meaning of the most commonly used words and expressions.
* Perform a trial in class. Plan it carefully. Think of a situation and distribute the roles to be played.
6) Learning about autopsy post-mortems.
Very often the cause of somebody's death is not obvious. Find out about autopsies and post-mortems. The process is not very nice, but it is fascinating how things are found out. Make sure you know the names of the external parts of the body as well as the main internal organs.
* Find out how an autopsy is done. Briefly describe the process. Draw and name the external parts of the body. Refer to the body's internal organs and their functions.
7) Weapons.
Learn about weapons...and avoid using them. They are NOT toys.
* In-groups make a poster showing different types of weapons. Write a short description of each.
8) The baddies.
Unfortunately there are too many criminals, and far too many offences are caused every day. Can you tell a burglar from a robber? Beware of pickpockets, too. Learn the words and be careful!
* Burglar, Deserter, Hijacker, Kidnapper, Pickpocket, Robber, Smuggler, Spy.
9) Reading about crimes in your Community.
Is your town safe and quiet? If so, congratulations!
* Bring a newspaper article about a local crime and comment on it.
10) A day in the life of a prisoner.
Prisoners have a lot of time to think. What do you suppose they think about? What's a prison like from the inside? Do you suppose people feel guilty of their past misdeeds? How can a prisoner change his/her mind and become a normal citizen once the sentence has been fulfilled?
* Write a page of the diary of a man sentenced to life imprisonment.
11) Discussing the death penalty.
Some say it is necessary. Others loathe it. What do YOU think?
*Write a dialogue between two people, one of whom believes in capital punishment (the death penalty) for murderers while the other does not.
12) Telling fact from fiction.
Now you know a lot about real cops. How about reading a detective story?
*Summarize a detective story you have read.
Buy Now!
I find the world of advertising quite fascinating. Perhaps it has to be. After all, the advertisers want to catch your eye...and sell their products! Whether you are born to shop or the are thrifty type, I guess you'll admit that most ads are interesting and nice to look at, with all those colorful and beautiful designs. Also, you can use them for improving your students´ reading abilities and to broaden their vocabulary range, too! Tip: use a few TV commercials for listening comprehension purposes and added fun.
Most advertisements use images. Start by describing the pictures/scene. As designers and photographers work harder and harder to share with the public their best ideas, there will be lots to talk about, that's for sure! You will see people, animals and objects of all sorts, often in unusual situations. Some ads are rather controversial...let your students have their most interesting debate ever!
You can exploit ads to illustrate some grammar points (e.g. the Imperative, the Present Continuous, and the Future Simple) and sentence patterns (mainly questions and negative statements).
To me, though, the main power of advertisements lies in the words they use, the adjectives in particular. You bet they choose them carefully: things in ads are always "amazing", "comfortable", "excellent", "superb", "unique" and "cheap".
I once heard an expert say that, in the advertising world, things are not "yellow" but "golden". Isn't that the language of persuasion? ! Come to think of it, I assume not many people would be interested in getting an "old expensive rickety chair".
Comparatives and superlatives are used more often than not
("A" Washes Wither "B"... Just the Best there is! ) and
witty sentences are easily found: "
So... even if you, like me, have nothing to sell, DO turn to advertisements every once in a while... they are fun and the students enjoy reading them (the students are great at writing their own, too!) Ah... and if you surf the www often, you know the magical word already: "click, Click.... CLICK !!!" Do so... at your own risk.
The Way to the Holidays . and Back! Ready, Steady. Go!
a) The Travel Agency
Using pictures and information from encyclopaedias, magazines and travel guides, the students make info cards, brochures and/or posters for interesting landmarks, cities or countries and in turns try to convince one another that they are selling the best holiday that money can buy. Don't forget to vote for the best holiday ever! (Just in case...emphasize that the students should be honest and not vote for their own.)
b) Bye, bye, Blackbird!
Pack a case with all sorts of objects (make sure to include something
unusual, for fun!), carry it to class and let the students open it and describe
its contents. Ask questions like...What is this? What is this for? What is this
made of? What make is it? You can also refer to the
objects´ color, shape, and price...Ask the students what they would pack in
their cases for a trip to the Caribbean, or the North Pole, or the
c) Souvenirs
Collect a few souvenirs you have bought (or friends have given you) e.g. T-shirts, key rings, mugs, flags, dolls, CDs, pins...and display them on your desk. Ask the students to describe the items. Can they guess where the different things are from? You may take the opportunity to revise countries and nationalities and maybe teach a memorable lesson on world geography...seeing is believing!
Welcome Aboard! - A special letter for your pupils.
The main aim of the activity is to discuss school life in a new and amusing way. You could use it to break the ice at the first meeting with your students, whether at the beginning of the course or term or anytime when you want to focus on class management issues.
The letter includes 10 odd sentences (which contain some nasty pieces of advice, no doubt the work of some dreadful gremlins who want to spoil your course.) Can the students spot the wrong messages? Have they noticed the irony in them? Discuss the contents of the letter. If you play your cards right, you will find out what your new students think of school and homework. The activity will also give you an insight into how they regard our role of teachers.
Their past experiences, their opinions and feelings should help you plan the most successful course ever. It might be a good idea to write and read out and aloud the corrected version of the letter as well as to establish/negotiate your own rules.
The Letter
Dead stoogess,
To began with, let me become you most sicerely and hope you a don't came to class pappy. Please, think your teachers are monsters in a haunted house, ready to be torture you to the limit. We are humming beings, and you want we to be unhappy. You want we make to a lot of progress now and for never.
Both teachers and students must eat and smoke during the lessons, co-habituate, write graffiti on the walls, and try to underestimate one another. We assume you is there to learn. We'll certainly help we to forget your books and stationary someday.
We is experiencing professionals. Mistrust we! Us work hardly for your benefit, so please do not make a nuisance of yourselves. Never ask for help. We do not like to be disturbed. They say, "God helps them which never help we self" and don't do a homeworks.
You do not have to be genies to pass the course. But you mustn't work consistently everyday, nor pay attention to what your teachers say, and do un to others, before they do unto you. It usually helps if you kick the waste paper basket, are constantly late, and well unorganised.
If there be something you do understand forget it, tell us at once. If you is not happy in class, do not let us know so we can laugh.
Unwelcome to school once again. Good lucky!
One possible answer for: The Letter.
Dear students,
To begin with, let me welcome you most sincerely and I hope that you come to class happy. Please, do not think that your teachers are monsters in a haunted house, ready to torture you to the limit. We are human beings and we want you to be happy. We want you to make a lot of progress now and forever.
Both teachers and students must not eat or smoke during the lessons, must cooperate, must not write graffiti on the walls, and try to understand one another. We assume you are here to learn. We'll certainly help you to remember your books and stationery everyday.
We are experienced professionals. Trust us! We work hard for your benefit, so please make a nuisance of yourselves. Always ask for help. We like to be disturbed. They say, "God helps those who help themselves", and do their homework!
You do not have to be geniuses to pass the course. But you must work consistently everyday, pay attention to what your teachers say, and do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. It usually helps if you do not kick the waste paper basket, are not constantly late, and are well organized.
If there is something you do not understand do not forget it, tell us at once. If you are not happy in class, let us know so we can help.
Welcome to school again. Good luck!
Pair Work:
Pair work is very important in larger classes through role-play. Specifically, the following two exercises are suitable for intermediate adult learners. Bring in a resume, or talk about resumes for a few minutes. Ask the students what goes on a resume. Next, have all students quickly (10 minutes) write a resumes in English. Encourage exaggeration, even lies (comedy is so important for enjoying a conversation class). Next, have them work with partners taking turns interviewing each other for jobs. Choose the jobs: possible (fun) choices are McDonalds, KFC, Gas station attendant, NASA Astronaut, CIA spy, Military General, Model, or a Movie Star. Anything a little out of the ordinary, or at least not what the majority of the students expect to do with their lives. Review frequently asked interview questions beforehand. (The students will know the questions in their native language for the most part). After everyone has been interviewed and been the interviewer, query the class on their success: Did the applicant get the job? How did they do? I've had a lot of success with this activity. It usually takes about 40 minutes.
Telephone Idioms:
There are many phrases and idioms used when talking on the telephone. Print up a series of 60 idioms such as "Please hold and I will ring Mr. Smith's office", and "I'm sorry, but Ms. Jones is not in her office right now", "Would you like to leave a message?" on blank business cards. The activity goes like this: The students are grouped into pairs. Each student gets 5 cards (more or less, depending on the size of the class and the number of cards you printed). In turn, they turn over the top card and have to initiate a telephone conversation with their partner, somehow and somewhere working in the idiom / phrase on their card. The partner does not see the phrase. This means they have to think of a situation, and steer the conversation in such a way as to be able to slip in the idiom / phrase. The first team to use up all their cards is the winner.
Note: This is a lively activity that is suitable for an advanced class. You will have already introduced telephone idioms and they will have done some conversation practice before playing the game.
Defending Your Job With The Present Perfect:
This is a good conversational activity to reinforce the present perfect (or the simple past). It's only going to work if you have a group that comfortable with one another so I wouldn't recommend using it near the beginning of the course. Obviously you wouldn't want to use it in a situation where people really are in danger of losing their jobs, if possible.
Pretend you've been handed a document from some higher ups in the company that informs you of a planned downsizing of the company. You, the English teacher are such a good judge of character and performance that you have the judge of deciding which students keep their jobs and which don't. You can "ham" it up a little bit and pretend to be astonished by such horrible news. You can then ask the students, "What have you done for company X?" Encourage them to come up with ridiculous responses like, "I have left my family to devote more time to my job". After they've all had a turn doing that pretend that you still can't decide and tell them you'll need to hear, "the dirt" about their co-workers (the other classmates) to make the decision. They should have a good time slagging their classmates with bogus misdeeds, (example)" Gustavo hasn't arrived on time to work for 2 years". After this has gone on for a while you can pretend someone is calling you to the door and gives you another letter. This letter informs you that due to a recent increase in profits the company won't need to lay off anyone after all. Be sure to breathe a big sigh of relief.
Marketing Madness:
This is an easy but fun way to get students of any age up and speaking enthusiastically in front of the class. Get them in groups of three and tell them all that today they are all marketing executives. Give them each a product to invent (shoes, car, soft-drink, medicine, etc) and tell them that they have to come up with a way to market it and then present their idea to the class. They have to design an advertisement for a billboard, television commercial, or magazine. Divide the presentation into three parts: 1) Description of the product. 2) Description of the advertising method they have used. 3) Explanation as to WHY they chose certain things in their advertisement (i.e. a beautiful landscape that makes you think of the peaceful way that you feel when you drink this soothing drink). This is a good way to make everybody speak making full use of every flowery adjective they can find and also a fun exercise in creativity/marketing strategies. This activity is also a good wrap-up for descriptive adjectives or adverbs.
Matchmaker:
When I need the students to work in pairs, I cut out pictures from magazines and cut them in half. As each student comes to class, I tape half of a picture on his or her back. When the class starts, the students have to find their partner(s) by describing to each other what they see in the pictures. They are not allowed to tell two classmates that they are a match. When they find their partner, I ask them to sit together and tape the pictures to the front of their desks for all to see. As an added incentive, the pictures can be a review of the last class; i.e., only people to describe or activities or food, etc. Once the pairs are formed this way, I can go on with the lesson as planned.
Moo! Hiss! Miaw!
To get your students into teams with people they don't usually work with, try making "animal groups". You need to make cards, enough for one per student, each card should have a picture of one animal on it. If you want to make 5 groups, make a set of cards using 5 different animals. Choose animals that have a distinctive voice, or feature or movement. For example ... elephant, snake, rooster, dragon, giraffe, monkey. Shuffle the cards and hand them out to the students. They shouldn't show anyone their card. Then all students stand up and move around the room in the style of their animal ... for example shouting "miaw" or making their neck extra long...?? ...looking for other people acting similarly. The students should identify each other and then go in search of other members, as quickly as possible. You can give the teams who group together fastest some bonus points for the start of the next team activity. It also means that as you play other team games you can refer to each group by their animal.
Don't sit on the fence!
Debates can be a lively way for students to talk about issues of the day and use effective communication skills, particularly presenting, persuading, listening, chairing, summarising. Divide the group by putting up two posters on opposite sides of the room, one marked FOR, one AGAINST. Students stand nearest to the sign depending on how strongly they feel for or against the issue and then get into their groups. You can draw an imaginary line across the room where the " fence" would be! After the debate ask students to stand in position again relative to how much they may have changed their opinions.
You're wonderful, you're marvellous...
One of the most entertaining ways I found of forming names was to give them good names to start with. Rather than boring 1, 2, 3 groupings, I go through the class, telling the first one "You are wonderful" the next, "You are marvellous" the next "You are terrific" etc, for however many groups I need. They then go around trying to form groups asking "Are you marvellous?" "No, I'm super", which is really warming to the group.
Note: As a variation, sometimes I use local sport team names, which gives a different, more competitive atmosphere
This initial "getting-to-know" one another game loosens up your class with laughter and giggles.
Supply the students with a list of topics to ask each other about. For example: name, pets, hobbies, and favourite food. Pair them up. One student is absolutely silent as the other asks them questions ("Do you have any pets?") and that same student predicts what the answer is by writing it down.
After finishing asking all the questions the interviewers take turns standing up and introducing their partner with their predictions as they are corrected by their new friend (which is the first time they are allowed to share the truth).
Now switch off the person being interviewed and the person predicting. Create unexpected topics and relax with these activities strange results.
True or False:
This game is ideal to be used on the first day or even at a later time. Here are the instructions: Each person should write down 5 things about themselves that are true and 5 things that are false (in a random order). Each person around the room reads their list in no particular order and the classmates have to guess if it could be true or false. Some of the things people have written on their list in the past are: I like dogs, I took horseback riding for 10 years, I cannot swim, I have five children etc. It allows the members to get to know each other in a very non-confrontational way. Have fun with this activity. I would love to hear feedbacks or suggestions.
New in Town:
If you were going to advice someone who is moving to your hometown what would you tell the newcomer about?
Make 5 groups and give the same color card to each member of the same group. Each group discusses one of the above questions. When done, regroup. A person of each group joins a new group. Each person reports findings to the new group.
Each group will write a letter to the newcomer as if the newcomer was: 10, 20, 30, and 50, 70 years old. The group can type or handwrite the letter. At the end each group reports to the whole class.
This is an icebreaker I learnt while doing my TESL course a few years ago. It works great with the students at all levels. The objective of this activity is ...to wake the students up in the morning. Simply ask them: "What made you smile today?" Let them tell you about the things that made their day/morning. You can't believe where the conversation can take you... Good luck
Three things in common:
This activity is for the first day of class with students who don't know each other. It requires no preparation. The students must ask each other questions until they find three things that they have in common. They must be things that are not obvious. For example, they can't say we both have black hair. It is easy to model the activity interviewing a student until you find three things that they have in common with you. Maybe choose a student you already know for this so you don't have to spend too long. Students can repeat this several times and then report back their findings to partners or the class.
Talk to me... this way:
This is a good activity to start the class. Before getting started, write sentences on a post-it paper, like: "Ask me questions", "Laugh at me", "Be angry at me", "Disagree with me", "Ignore me", etc. According to the number of students you've got stick the paper to the student's back, so he can't see what is written. They must stand up and go around the class and talk in pairs. They must act according to what's written on their partner's back. If it's "Tell me lies", they are supposed to tell lies. The teacher can choose topics for them to talk about, like: holidays, dates, pets, etc. They need to change partner's many times. At the end they are supposed to tell how people acted while talking to them to see if they can guess what 's written.
EFL Speaking Ideas
Try Again:
This can be helpful for reading; speaking and pronunciation as well as making your students feel less nervous about making mistakes. Divide the class in two. They all have the same piece of text, which should be something they are familiar with. One member of team 1 starts to read. When team 2 thinks they have made a mistake or pronounced something the wrong way they shout "TRY AGAIN"! If they are correct team 2 scores a point and they take over reading, but if the reader on team 1 was correct then their team scores the point and continues with the next person in the group reading. They all get to read something and it turns into quite a fun competition.
I have had first hand experience of this as a student too, I remember this from French classes when I was younger and it was great fun.
Overview: Students need to understand that how they say something and how they physically present themselves are just as important as what they say. By understanding the dynamics involved in effective persuasive speaking, students will improve their overall confidence in communicating.
Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to improve students' oral persuasion techniques by understanding the appropriate speaking skills. The lesson is presented in second person, making it more meaningful as a resource for the students, and easier for the teacher to use as a handout.
Objectives: Students will be able to:
Demonstrate the appropriate classroom public speaking and listening skills (e.g., body
language, articulation, listening to be able to identify specific examples of the speaker's
coordination of talking and action) that would be necessary to influence or change someone's
mind or way of thinking about a topic.
2) Define the elements of persuasion.
3) Recognize the elements of personal credibility.
4) Develop methods to analyze other students' speeches.
5) Understand outlining main ideas.
6) Create a persuasive speech.
Teacher's Anticipatory Set:
During class discussion, define and explain how people make decisions based on what they see and hear. Explain that sometimes we have to use skills to convince others about our positions. Have the student's recall and list their own experiences trying to convince their friends about something, and then ask them to share these with the class.
The Procedure:
Pick a proposition that not everyone would agree with such as: "nuclear power plants are superior energy sources." Write a 6 to 8 - minute speech in outline form to persuade the group.
EFL Speaking Ideas
Talk, Talk, Die!
This is based on an improve game which, in my college troupe, is called "Story, Story, Die!" I didn't think it was good classroom material, but it was absolute dynamite when I actually tried it this morning. Get four or five students to stand up in front of the class. Mix some talkative and quiet ones together. Now, you are going to be the director. Get a topic from the class, or make one up yourself. Any old topic will do: Pets, politics, food, clothes, shopping, airplanes, etc.
Now, this is how it will go. You, the teacher, the director, will point to one of the student who is standing up front. That student must keep talking and talking and talking about the topic until you point to someone else. If they hesitate, stutter, or just don't speak, they "DIE!" It is even more fun if you tell the rest of the class that they get to yell, "DIE!" at someone who is stuttering, or hesitating, or not talking. If enough of the class yells it loudly enough, the person is out.
Keep going until you've knocked out all but one student. For fun, you can point at two or more people at the same time and have them talk, or, once the class gets the hang of it, a student can direct in your place. You can add in hand signals for louder and softer, you can have them tell stories instead of talk about facts, and the variations are endless.
A Cup Of Conversation:
I use this activity as a warm-up for each conversation class with my students. It can be used with beginner and advanced levels.
I write (or type) 1 question per student on separate slips of paper. I put the slips of paper into a coffee cup hence, a Cup of Conversation! Then I walk around to each student and he/she picks a slip of paper from the cup. They read the question, find a partner and talk to each other for 5 minutes. The time can be flexible, as I have done it for 3 minutes and also for 10 minutes. However, I keep an eye on the clock and when I say time is up, it's up. I collect the questions and save them for use later on. Then I begin my lesson for the day. If I do it for longer then 5 minutes (eg: 10 minutes) I have the students switch questions with their partners and/or switch partners.
When I first introduced the Cup of Conversation I had to put the students into pairs. Now, as soon as they arrive in class they ask for the Cup of Conversation and find their own partners. If they finish a bit early they mix themselves up too!
I find this activity is a great icebreaker at the beginning of the semester. As time goes by the students get closer and become interested in learning about each other, cultures, thoughts and experiences, etc. Therefore, it is beneficial for group cohesion and comfort. The students get excited about being able to talk, ask questions and be noisy, all before the lesson begins. This is always a good thing for conversation class!
EFL Speaking Ideas
Preposition Race:
I like this activity with basic-intermediate levels; the idea of the activity is to make something different with your class, I'm sure your students will love it, you'll only need 20 pieces of paper, if you want you can divide them in two groups of ten, and label them with the numbers from one to ten, so here are the steps:
1- Make a list in the board of the common prepositions such as in, on, at, under, between, near, etc and make a brief explanation of them.
2- Divide the class in two teams.
3- here comes the interesting part, take the student outside (most of the times I take them to a park, because in a park they can feel free and comfortable).
4- Give each group ten pieces of paper.
5- Tell to each group they have to hide the pieces of paper in different places of the park and also tell them that they have to write in a piece of paper ¨ the clues ¨ of where the papers were hidden; for example: Paper #1 is INSIDE the garbage can; paper # 2 is UNDER the rock that is NEAR to the slide, etc.
6- So when they finish hiding all the papers you call the two teams back and you tell them that using the other team's clues they have to search for the places where the other team hid their papers and the team who finds all the papers is the winner.
Sell Me On It!
This is a great way for your students to really use their speaking skills, and it produces some good laughs, too.
Make slips of paper with various products on each one, such as a camera, basketball & hoop, concert, hiking boots, car, perfume, etc. Put them in a bowl or hat or whatever, and have each student draw one piece of paper. For 5 minutes they have to try and sell this product to the class, convincing the rest of the students that they really need or want this item. Suggest that they try to use a recently learned idiom or vocabulary word in the selling process. After the student is finished with their initial sales statements, take another 5 minutes and have the rest of the class ask the salesperson questions about their product, which will make the speaker have to come up with further good reasons and answers to support their "case". They often make them up, and it can be pretty entertaining. At the end of the Q&W period, the teacher is to ask the rest of the class to raise their hands if they want to buy this product. Whoever sells the most wins? Have fun with it.
Comic Strip Technique:
Many students find their exercises in their textbook picture dictionaries boring and contrived. I had difficulty getting them to enthusiastically talk about the boring scenes in the book. Beginners, I've found, respond quite well to humor. If you thumb through a Comic Strip in the newspaper you will find that a large amount of the comics have no caption - their humour is purely visual (or you can remove the captions). Have the students use inions to write their own captions and explain them to the class. Finally, for more advanced students, I find the strips with captions often visually present English idiomatic expressions, and also frequently rely on a play on words, concepts that are easier to explain with a visual aid.
EFL Speaking Ideas
Tell us your story:
This is a game I've just tried with my listening-speaking students, who are mainly grownups. I asked them to look for something in their purses or briefcases for something with a story. I have a lot of fun when they start looking for something like that. After they've found the thing, they have to tell the story. How dit it or Why is it in my purse? etc. In large groups you can make them work in small teams. In smaller groups, you can make a circle, and everybody will tell their stories.
First impressions:
Materials: Pictures of famous people taken usually from book-covers or magazines. My copies include B.Dylan, G.Orwell, Christie Brown, S.Hawking and many others. On the board you write a number of occupations including the right ones plus "mafia boss", "serial killer", etc. as distracters. The students then have to work out which occupation goes with each photo and justify their answers. I've used it successfully with different levels ranging from intermediate students on up.
Extraordinary oral eyes:
This is a great exercise for both speaking and listening. Moreover it involves very little preparation time. The basic concept is: Imagine you are taking your friend to visit your home. Your friend, however, is blind. You have to describe in (meticulous) detail everything about your house to your friend. It helps enormously if you prepare a vocabulary sheet including words and phrases referring to "layout"," location", "size", "colours", "objects contained" and "positions".
The second prep sheet is simply one large square divided horizontally to denote a two floor house. Even in apartments this is still useful to show which floor the person lives on. You will need plenty of these.
One student has to describe his/her house while the other students have to listen and draw what they here. (Then it is the next person's turn).
It is useful to allow the speaker to see the listeners' pictures because it jolts him/her into realising east has been confused with west, right with left, etc.
You could make it into a prize winning game, whereby the speaker chooses the most correct picture.
My students were adults of low to medium ability. They all enjoyed this exercise a great deal and found it challenging. The drawing element really makes them get into it; it's also a nice personal touch. My students had 10 to 15 minutes to talk (because I have small classes) but they were by no means finished. When I told them how long they had been speaking they were very exited and surprised at their achievement. The time allowance is, of course, variable.
EFL Speaking Ideas
Radio Program:
I borrowed this from a resource book. It also involves reading and writing, but the focus is on speaking. Get your students to make a 20 to 30 minute variety radio program. They should get together in groups of 4 to 6 students. How involved you get is up to you, but I've found if you just let them go, their imaginations can produce some wonderful and creative results. You should control the introduction of the project to help the students brainstorm for content, themes, style and whatever else you want tossed in. I encourage them to use actual radio programs, TV, and newspapers to generate ideas. I recently discovered a website - www.live365.com - where anyone can make their own, personal actual radio broadcast. Since it's an English site, the students are further required to work in English. I've found the students really enjoy this project if you just let them go with it. The resource book recommended 4 to 5 hours, but I found 5 to 10 hours - depending on your students - to be more realistic. I hope your students have as much fun with this as mine do.
Why Did He Do That?!?!
This game is intended to get your class comfortable talking. I've used it tons of times, probably more than I should have, and the name changes each time. But here is how you play. You read your class a short paragraph of a strange occurrence. (You might even want to write it on the board). Then, go around the room and have each person explain why the strange occurrence might actually happen. Try to keep them in the world of reality so that they are forced to use words outside of the same 50 words they find every chance to use....Here is an example of a story to tell them and the questions they will need to answer in their response.
The Story:
An old man wakes up in the middle of the night. He leans over and sees that his wife is sleeping. Quietly, he creeps down the stairs into the basement, and sits down next to a brown trunk. He has an old key hanging on a chain around his neck. He uses the key to unlock the truck. Slowly, he sifts through old photographs and books. He opens one of the books and an envelope falls out. He takes the envelope over to the furnace and throws it in.
The envelope slowly burns. After he watches the envelope burns he goes back up to bed, kiss his wife on the cheek, and falls asleep.
Questions:
What was in the envelope?
Why did the old man put the envelope in the trunk in the first place?
Why did he burn the envelope?
Showtime!
This activity consists on doing a talk show in class. The teacher will prepare a set of cards; each one corresponds to a character, a panellist, or a member of the public. Students will take a card randomly, and they will act according to the role the card indicates. The teacher will be the moderator, and he/she will let the students talk. This activity is focused more in fluency than accuracy. I did this activity with a group of six advance students. They had a lot of fun, and because the topic chosen was interesting (a person who is cheating his/her couple with his/her best friend) they tried really hard to talk in English.
ESL Speaking Ideas
Two-word taboo:
This activity works well for intermediate to advanced students. Set a time limit (20 minutes).
Give each student in the group a small token, such as a toothpick or a button. Eight to ten or so people are a good size for the group. Each student is to ask questions of the other students. If the person answers using the word "yes" or "no," then the questioner takes the token. A really good questioner will be able to collect several tokens from the other players within the time limit.
Students who have lost their tokens may continue to ask questions and try to win tokens.
This activity encourages students to elaborate beyond simple yes or no answers. It also encourages them to get someone so engrossed in a conversation that they are caught off guard when they forget not to say the two "taboo" words.
Be sure to tell students not to stay in pairs, but to ask questions of the whole group. Otherwise they'll just keep switching tokens and not gaining any more. I tried this game once with heart-shaped beads. It added a whole new dimension to the game--"be careful not to say yes or no, or you will lose your heart to someone in the class!"
I tried this just the other day with a beginning grammar class, and it worked well. We were reviewing and practicing question formation. I divided the class into groups of three or four and asked each group to choose a famous person. (They chose Woody Allen, James Bond, and Sandra Bullock.) Then I gave each group a page labelled "Answers." The answers were like this:
Then I told the groups that they had to make a conversation between a reporter and the famous person they chose. They had the answers, so they had to make the questions for each answer and arrange them in a logical, conversational order. Then two members of each group presented the conversation to the class. (Before the presentations, I had them check for different types of errors, like verb tense or auxiliary choice, so they caught most of their mistakes.) The conversations were really funny.
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