10 Must-Use Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons. Simple ideas to help stimulate interaction and thought in all language classrooms
10 Must-Use Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons
10 Must-Use Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons. Fun Speaking Activities for All Language Classrooms
10 Must-Use Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons
A list of 10 Must-Use Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons to keep your students engaged.
Speaking activities have widely been seen as the most demanding for learners. This may be because of the many characteristics unique to spoken language: reduced forms, contractions, vowel reduction, and the use of slang. And let’s not forget stress, rhythm, the use of signpost transitions, and so forth.
Speaking activities are also difficult for teachers. In part, this is because even short 5-minute speeches require a significant allocation of time to assess and provide feedback. I mean, truly, how does one observe a student speaking for five minutes without boring the other twenty nine students who are just waiting to give their presentations?
Furthermore, speaking is also difficult to assess since teachers are generally required to create rubrics that contain some of the many possible categories that speaking entails. Teachers must decide: Does speaking include the use of body language? Does speaking include the use of visual aids? These and similar questions demonstrate the difficulty of assigning precisely what speaking, and especially competent speaking, might be.
One simple solution is to simply provide a lot of informal, unassessed speaking practice in preparation for a few more formal events. Thus, many teachers try to get students talking as much as possible, without a focus on formal presentations, but rather a focus on generating ideas, conversing, and practicing certain aspects of speaking.
The activities in this section mostly address this kind of informal speaking; speaking that may not be easily assessed, but allows students to engage in free, open communication practice. However, please pay special attention to the need to create narrow, specific objectives in these activities, and keep in mind that these informal practices should lead to success in a more formal evaluated presentation or speaking performance. Speaking activities, in this sense, take on the very real likeness of practice scrimmages before a big game.
Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.
~
Gustave Flaubert
10 Must-Use Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons
What follows are a few very simple ideas to help stimulate interaction and thought in an classroom.
Picture Prompt
Description
Invite students to look at a picture and then respond to a partner about what they see. Choose pictures that help students respond to themes or vocabulary that they will need for more formal presentations. You may wish to provide a list of questions for students to respond to while looking at the picture.
This Makes Me Think That…
Description
Students work in groups or pairs for this activity. The activity begins by showing them an article or video.
Afterwards, students should begin a discussion by saying, “This makes me think that…” Inform students that each member of the group should be allowed time to think and respond.
After everyone has responded to the material, invite students to respond to each other by using the phrase, “What you said makes me think that…” Tell students that they must continue speaking until the teacher calls the time. This activity allows students to practice continued speech.
Circle Speaking
Description
Students should form two circles with partners facing each other (an inside circle and an outside circle, as seen below). Give students a topic or question to speak about. Students on the inside talk first, with the partner directly across listening intently. Students on the outside are then invited to speak, and the partner on the inside circle listens intently.
At the teacher’s discretion, when students have had enough time to speak, they are required to switch partners by having the outside circle move clockwise (you might want to yell, “Switch!” to indicate that students move). When students switch, you can invite switch topics or give differing instructions (Now share your idea in only 30 seconds instead of 60, or Now share what you heard your last partner say). This is a simple game to get students to keep talking
Here is an example of circle speaking
Interaction Lines
Description
In this activity, tell students that they will be the “teacher” and will quiz each other.
Each student should think of a question that he or she knows the answer to (from a class discussion or a reading). Alternatively, you could provide questions for each student on strips of paper and distribute one question per student.
Now, ask students to line up in two rows and face each other. Students in Row A should ask their questions and the students in Row B will respond. Then Row B will ask their questions and Row A will respond.
After a set time (enough time for each pair to respond), Row A will move one position to the right. The student without a partner moves all the way around to the beginning of the row.
A simple variation of this game allows students to learn how to narrate. To begin, one row looks at half of a picture or video and describes to the partners facing them what they see. The other row listens to what is being described.
Then the partners switch positions so that the partner that was listening is now actively seeing the second half of the picture or video.
Then students are brought together to see the entire video or picture, and students are invited to discuss what they could or could not describe. Vocabulary that the teacher overhears can be written on the board.
Here is an example of interaction lines
Agree/Disagree Value Lines
Description
Ask students a series of questions that they can agree or disagree with.
After students agree and disagree, instruct them to rank the questions according to how much they agree/disagree with each statement using the Value Lines template.
Invite students to discuss why they ranked the value lines in that particular order.
As a variation, instead of asking students to agree or disagree, you could ask them to love/hate, like/dislike, never done before/done before, or other kinds of classification.
Story Chain
Description
Form groups of four students.
A student in each group is asked to begin a story.
After a period of time (for example, 1 minute) the next person in the group must continue the story. This is done until the story has reached its conclusion or every member has participated.
You can begin the story with a prompt that interests students or introduces the theme of your lesson. Tell students that it is fun to leave the story at a moment of suspense. For example: “There was a man who was staring at a bag of chips. He hated these chips. He hated them a lot. This was because…”
Folktale Storytelling
Description
Invite students to read a folktale and then recite it, by memory, to the rest of the group. If you have four stories of equal size, you can form groups and invite each member to read their story and share it with the rest of the group.
Discussion Questions
Description
While asking questions is a hallmark of every good teacher, it is a very
commonly ignored aspect of teacher training. Asking questions to create
discussions is an art and a vital skill.
Consider the following tips for creating effective discussion questions:
• Ask questions that are NOT yes/no (open ended)
• Ask questions that are “come on” questions; in other words, that are two-sided, but elicit an emotional reaction because you have deliberately made it look one-sided (“Technology is bad, isn’t it?”)
• Ask questions that make students think critically by asking them how they would resolve or respond to a particular problem
• Ask questions and give students time to think
• Ask questions to specific students ahead of time and let them know you will be giving them time in class to answer.
Fishbowl
Description
This activity requires four learners ONLY to speak, while all others listen. This is done by placing four chairs facing each other in the center of the room (as if in a small group discussion). To begin, invite four learners to sit in these chairs. All other members of the class will sit in chairs in a circle around the four students in the middle, thus creating the look of a fishbowl (the outside circle) and four fish in a fishbowl (the four inside students are being observed by those on the outside).
Provide questions for the four students in the middle and invite students to speak at least once for every question. After each have spoken at least one time, other students from the outside circle may take their place by lightly tapping them on the shoulder. This is a good way to spark conversation and allow for students to listen to each other. Some teachers will provide snacks only for those who
“enter” the fishbowl. Students on the outside may be required to take notes, and are encouraged to enter when they feel strongly about the conversation. This works especially well for debates or controversial discussions.
Here is an example
Three Objects in a Backpack
Description
Place three items in a backpack and explain to students that each of these three things has personal meaning (for example: a trophy, a picture, a ticket stub). Ask students to bring three objects to class and share what the objects mean to them. They should be personal and interesting. The other students in the class should predict what each item might mean before the student shares.
As a variation, hide 3 objects in separate bags. A blindfolded student is asked to feel inside the bag and hold it, but not take it out. The student then must describe what is in the bag to the students. The students must guess what the object is, or write down their answers.
10 Must-Use Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons
Here are some other Speaking activities you can find on Language Advisor
Speaking Activities For Your Language Lessons
