2. Types of Speaking Activities
Question loops – questions and answers, terms and definitions, halves
of sentences, can be exploited to create a question loop.
Info gap – students must speak to each other to fill in the missing
information from their diagram with questions sheet to support.
Trivia search – ‘three things you know’ and ‘three things you want to
know’ with support for making questions.
Word guessing games – Teams have one minute to guess as many
words as possible and get one point for each correct guess.
Class surveys – use questionnaires to guide pupils in asking set
questions of their classmates.
20 Questions – provide language support frame for questions.
Speaker can only say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in answer and pupils only get 20
questions to get the answer right.
Making presentations/talking from a prompt – instruct pupils to present
information from a visual using language support handout.
3. Formulaic language
In the early stages of learning, not much spontaneous speech can be
expected from pupils. Much of the English they will learn to produce in the
initial stages will be formulaic language, language that is produced as
whole chunks rather than being put together word by word. It often con
sists of routines or patterns which children memorize and which enable
them to communicate with a minimum of linguistic competence. As this
type of language is repeated regularly, children learn it quickly and have
the impression that they can speak a lot. Such language consists of:
* simple greetings: Hello! How are you? / I'm fine, thank you. And you?
* social English: Did you have a nice weekend? / Have a nice weekend!
* routines: What's the date? What's the weather like today?
* classroom language: Listen. Repeat. Sit down. Work in pairs. Good.
* asking permission: Can I/May I go to the toilet? Can I clean the board?
Can I wash my hands? Can I look at a book?
* communication strategies: Can you say that again, please? How do you
say ... in English, please? What does. ..mean please? I don't understand. Can I
have a… please?
4. SUGGESTIONS FOR GROUP AND PAIR ACTIVITIES ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
Picture Sequencing
For this activity, you will need a set of picture cards that tell a simple and
predictable story or illustrate a predictable sequence. Give each student
in the group one card (there should be the same number of students as
there are pictures cards). Tell the students not to show the others in their
group their card. Each student describes their card (it doesn't matter who
starts), and when they have all finished describing the cards, the group
decides on the basis of the descriptions which card should come first,
which second, and so on. On the basis of the order decided, the students
put down their cards in sequence.
For younger students and those very new to English, make sure that
cards are placed from left to right. This activity can lead to writing a story
based on the pictures, or writing a description of a sequence of events.
5. Hot Seat
Seat children in a circle, with one chair being designated the "hot
seat" The student in the hot seat portrays a character from a book
that has been shared by the class or a historical character. Other
students ask him or her questions to find out more about the
character's life. You can change the time frames too, moving
back into the past or forward into the future. If the character is
historical, details must be correct.
6. Questionnaires
Students can survey their classmates, other students in the school,
teachers, or community members to complete questionnaires about a
range of topics: favourite types of reading, television programs, eating
habits, views about a particular issue, and so on. They can use the
information they have gained as a basis for further class work, perhaps
involving a quantification or comparison of results, or the questionnaire
can be one means of gaining information for a larger project that
students are involved with. Apart from giving students practice in asking
questions, the activity is also an opportunity for teachers to talk with
students about the appropriate ways to do this, taking into account the
level of formality that is required in this context as students may be
interacting with people they do not know well.
7. Problem Solving
Contexts for problem solving occur in all curriculum areas. Groups of
students must solve a problem by discussion and report back to the
class about their solutions. Exercises where students are encouraged to
think laterally, in unusual and creative ways that are less bound by the
constraints of formal logical thinking, also provide fun contexts for
spoken language.
For example, ask the students, in groups, to think about "problems"
such as the following:
How can you combine two of the following to make something new; a
paintbrush, a wheelbarrow, a garbage bin, four wheels, a spade, a tent?
Possible solution: Put the tent on the wheels to make a mobile home.
How many uses can you think of for an old car tire?
Possible solution: Grow flowers in it; use it as a swing.
8. Activities for Beginners
Inquiry and Elimination
(Practices question forms and helps develop logical thinking.)
Choose a large picture showing a range of objects within a set, such as a
picture showing a number of different animals. One member of the group
chooses an animal and the others must guess which one it is by asking yes/no
questions only. It's important to restrict the number of questions that can be
asked so that guesses are not just random. Instead, encourage children to ask
those questions that elicit the maximum amount of information. For example,
the answer yes to the question: “Does it fly?” immediately eliminates all those
animals that don't fly.
9. I’m Thinking of…
(Practices describing things and their functions, use of that.)
Use a set of pictures of objects related to a particular topic being
studied, such as sets of dinosaur pictures, animals, tools, food,
forms of transport. Each student in the group says ''I'm thinking of
something that is ... “and then proceeds to describe the object.
Whoever guesses the object then takes the next turn.
10. Describe and Draw
(Practices giving instructions, describing objects, describing
positionunder, near, next to, to the left of, etc.)
Students work in pairs, and each has a blank sheet of paper and
drawing materials. Student A describes to Student B what he or
she is drawing, and Student B reproduces the drawing according
to A´s description. This is a barrier game they should not be able
to see each other’s work.
11. Find My Partner
(Practices question forms and describing.)
Deal out to the group four to six pictures, two of which are identical,
with the others having minor differences. Pictures can be related to
a curriculum topic. One of the two identical pictures should be
marked with an X, and whoever is dealt that card has to find the
other picture by questioning other members of the group.
What did you See?
(Practices vocabulary.)
On a table, place a selection of objects, or pictures of objects,
that are related to a topic being studied. After students have
looked at them for a few moments, cover the objects with a
cloth, and see how many objects children can remember.
