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How many times have you asked a question of your English language learners and received nothing in return? Speaking involves the ability to manipulate words, which is a useful skill. One needs a basic understanding of word order and vocabulary in order to talk. Speaking in English can be a difficult undertaking for beginners and even intermediate students.
Speaking is a private act.
However, teaching speaking is a difficult endeavor. On the one hand, you might doubt the necessity of engaging your students in speaking exercises. Since you talk to them often, show them things, and ask them to repeat words and phrases, surely they will ultimately understand.
On the other hand, it is specifically targeted speaking exercises that give the students the chance to practice their English in a secure setting, learn not to take themselves too seriously, and advance in their language learning. Needless to mention, do it all while enjoying yourself.
We're going to share three speaking exercises with you in this blog post that have worked incredibly well with my ESL students and can be utilized with both beginning and intermediate-level students.
Speaking activity 1: What’s my word, or the “hot seat”
This game is incredibly engaging and encourages more student interaction than you may think. It is excellent for consolidating vocabulary, going over concepts, and determining meaning. Without a doubt, my students love it a lot!
Purpose: explain a term in different words. Review vocabulary.
Skills: speaking/reading/writing
Players: 4+
Level: intermediate
Materials: (online) whiteboard, markers, flashcards
The "hot seat" is another name for this game. Divide the class into two groups. Give them 10 to 20 flashcards, and instruct them to write one word on each card. One of the students from the opposing side should sit in the chair that has been placed in front of the board. The guesser will be he or she. Choose the word you want the student in the "hot seat" to guess as a group, and write it on the board behind him/her (the student must not be able to see it). Then, each team member takes a turn utilizing synonyms, antonyms, meanings, etc. to explain the word written on the board. It is crucial that students refrain from pointing to the term if it refers to an item in the classroom because the purpose of this game is to practice the language. The teams switch once the student in the "hot seat" correctly guesses the term, earning a point for their team.
Ideas:
- One student should explain the word at a time if there are more pupils in the class.
- You can have a list of words and write them on the board yourself, rather than requiring the pupils to prepare the words on flashcards.
- You might decide to restrict inquiries from the student in the hot seat to just "yes/no" questions or a specific number.
- Establish the time limit to make sure the game doesn't go on for too long.
Speaking activity 2: Tell Tale Cards
Here are a few strategies for using the cards to improve your 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 few students, but can be adapted to larger classrooms as well.
Level: beginner-advanced
Materials: Tell Tale game, pencil, and a piece of paper (optional)
The game is packaged in a circular box with images printed on both sides of each card. Give the children three to five cards at random, and instruct them to write a story using just one sentence from each card. Students can spend a few minutes explaining what they observe in the photos and looking up vocabulary if necessary. Students could also write down on paper the terms they want to use in the story before speaking. The pupils may fully express themselves creatively in this game, and laughter is always sure.
Ideas:
For some pupils, writing a tale might be a bit of an open-ended speaking activity. So you can practice asking questions and using the cards. 5 cards are dealt to each player. Students next choose one card and, using the information on it, pose a question to another student (on their left, right, or in any other order you decide). One of that student's own cards must be used to respond to their inquiry.
Speaking activity 3: Roll the Dice
It's one of our all-time favorites to play speaking games. The students are also quite fond of it. When I was studying, I utilized it for the first time in one of my practice lessons. An instant hit, it was! I believe that it does so because it addresses real-world issues and potential interview questions.
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
Ideas:
Before class, teachers at AllRight normally warm up by asking students questions such as, "Do you know what dice are?" and "Have you ever played any games that required dice? If so, what kind?" Next, they explain that we will be playing a game of questions and answers and demonstrate how to do it with a volunteer.
Roll the dice first. Depending on the number that appeared on the dice, choose the question from the roll of dice (question sheet). Several sorts of inquiries are possible. For instance, a category of 1 might be "Food," a category of 2 may be "Friendship and Other Relationships," etc.
The students will need to select one of the three questions or statements from each area for someone else to respond to.
For instance,
a) Describe your favorite cuisine,
b) Summarize the current weather, or
c) If you won the lottery, what would you buy and why?
We invite the student to turn around after responding so that the class can vote on how well they thought they did. Another question from the same series of questions should be presented to the student if they are unable to respond to the first one. The student who rolled the dice gets to go again and make their choice if they are unable to respond to any of the questions from that group.
Thumbs up means outstanding, horizontal thumbs are acceptable, and thumbs down mean improvement is needed. I can give comments as a teacher based on the overall sentiment—mostly excellent, no thumbs down, etc.
Extension:
This game's limited amount of questions may make it uninteresting after a while. Request that the students create a fresh, reusable sheet of questions based on their own real-world scenarios.
In conclusion, teaching speaking skills to English language learners can be challenging but essential for their language development. Engaging students in targeted speaking exercises provides them with a secure environment to practice and improve their English while having fun. The suggested speaking activities, such as "What's my word," "Tell Tale Cards," and "Roll the Dice," have proven to be successful with both beginner and intermediate students, fostering interaction, vocabulary consolidation, and storytelling skills. By incorporating these activities into language lessons, educators can enhance students' speaking abilities and make the learning process enjoyable.
We invite you to start teaching at AllRight.com, incorporate these ideas into your lessons, and engage your students to learn English. We provide all the materials for teachers online, conduct your classes on our authentic platform both interesting for students and teachers, have flexible schedules, and forget about wasting time preparing for classes.
Enjoy the process of teaching with ALLRIGHT💜
