We often discuss speaking games and activities that can be integrated into English teaching here at Allright.com. After all, speaking is a productive skill that many of our students find challenging. Therefore, every time we try or discover something new, we love to share it with you.

In "5 ESL Speaking Activities to Get Students Talking," we explore a few games that you can use to involve your students in speaking.

Today, we are sharing one more game that really captured the attention of our elementary kiddos, and we anticipate that our older students (teens) may find it appealing as well.

The speaking game, Who? What? Where?

The speaking game: rules

The concept of the game is incredibly straightforward. There are three sets of cards: Who, What, and Where. Each student receives one card from each set, enabling them to essentially create a mental image of a story.

For instance, a "Who" card might say "a dolphin," the "What" card provides an action like "is standing on its head," and the "Where" card indicates "in the middle of the desert."

Now, the student has a two-minute window to illustrate a picture representing this "story." Once they finish, they showcase the picture to their classmates, who then attempt to guess what is taking place.

Undoubtedly, the enjoyment is substantial. The game facilitates a great deal of natural speaking practice. Frequently, students endeavor to negotiate their interpretations, leading to unexpected learning experiences beyond the initially planned class content.

Exceptional English-speaking Practice

After concluding our class, we contemplated the reasons behind the game's tremendous success.

From the perspective of English language learning, here are some suggestions for more focused speaking practice:

Utilize it to reinforce sentence structure.

• Many of my students, especially those from non-English language backgrounds with different sentence structures, struggle to arrange simple words correctly in English's SVO (subject-verb-object) format.

Employ it for practicing yes/no questions.

• When students are uncertain about the content in a picture drawn by their classmate or teacher (not everyone is a Picasso, alright?), they can pose clarifying questions that prompt a response of either "yes" or "no." For instance, "Is this an animal?"

Incorporate it for practicing synonyms, antonyms, and paraphrasing.

• If the "artist" needs to provide more information about the picture without outright revealing the answer, they can use synonyms, antonyms, or paraphrasing to explain. This allows their classmates to arrive at the correct response.

Apply it for grammar practice.

• This game is particularly effective for practicing the present progressive form of verbs, a grammatical structure that students often grasp quickly due to its widespread use. For example, "The shark is singing in the middle of a jungle."
• Additionally, you can use the game to practice other tenses like past simple or present perfect, though this may work better with older students.

The success of this speaking game can also be attributed to its communicative nature and the opportunity it provides for authentic language usage. Speaking another language involves conveying ideas, and when done naturally, it enhances comfort and proficiency.

What are some ways for your students to enjoy speaking games and practice? 

Given the widespread appeal of entertaining speaking activities, here are a couple of approaches you can take.

You can guide your students to brainstorm nouns, verbs, and adverbs of location, either individually or in small groups. Allowing them to contribute to the creation of the game often leads to heightened interest, as students typically enjoy playing a game they've helped develop and may even offer suggestions for improvement!

Conclusion

To sum up, at Allright.com, our commitment to addressing English language learning challenges is evident in our exploration of innovative speaking games. The "Who? What? Where?" game, highlighted here, is a simple yet impactful activity that resonates well with students, from elementary to teens.

This immersive game not only sparks enjoyment but also fosters natural speaking practice, providing unexpected learning experiences. Practical suggestions, from sentence structure reinforcement to varied language elements, aim to enhance language learning effectiveness. As learners become more comfortable expressing themselves, their proficiency flourishes. Educators are encouraged to involve students in the creation process, ensuring a personalized and engaging language learning journey. The pursuit of exceptional English-speaking practice remains a central focus at Allright.com, where valuable resources aim to facilitate an enriching language learning experience for students of all ages.