In this post, I am presenting 5 games that help students recognize and form different parts of speech. They are especially useful for students preparing for Cambridge exams (First and Advanced). I have been using these activities to revise and practice vocabulary and to offer some alternatives to typical Use of English exercises.
FCE
Cambridge exams: 7 speaking practice twists
In this post, I’m sharing 7 ideas about making Cambridge exams speaking practice more fun and engaging for the students. These ideas work best with learners preparing for Cambridge First and Advanced exams.
First Certificate Mad Libs
In this activity, students fill in the blanks in the text with the appropriate type of word. Each blank notes what kind of word should go there: noun, verb, adjective, or adverb. This activity is based on a popular party game, Mad Libs, and is suitable for FCE students who need more practice differentiating between various parts of speech.
Phrasal verbs about food: writing activity
This writing activity helps students learn and practice different phrasal verbs about food. It is a perfect fit for classes about nutrition, diets, health, and fitness. It might be used with groups and individual students, levels intermediate and higher.
5-minute reading activity: misheard lyrics
The aim of this brief reading activity is for students to identify and correct misheard lyrics in popular songs. It is a fun activity for both older and younger students which tests their reading comprehension and memory, and also encourages creativity. It is a great way to either start or finish the class.
Used to speaking activity: life before smartphones
The aim of this activity is for students to practice using used to to describe their lives before they had smartphones. The idea came from seeing this photo collection by Eric Pickersgill and reading this article in The Guardian. Continue Reading …
Speaking prompts for advanced students: photos
How far would a conversation class go if the only discussion prompt was a single photo? No topic, no questions, no pre-determined outcome. Just the picture. Does it even make sense? This post describes how I decided to find answers to these questions.
Continue Reading …
Country themed emojis speaking activity
The aim of this speaking activity is to discuss notions that students find representative of their countries. It is suitable for intermediate and more advanced students and complements such topics as national stereotypes, culture, and cultural differences. It was inspired by this article about Finland releasing a Christmas calendar that “is all about Finnish feelings represented in a set of emojis.” Continue Reading …
Our lives without … speaking activity
This speaking activity encourages students to imagine their lives without something considered quite vital nowadays and describe the new reality. It is a fun activity for levels intermediate and higher, teenagers and adults alike. It offers the opportunity for students to collaborate, exchange ideas, and practice such grammar points as modal verbs or second conditional.
Speed Discussions speaking activity
Speaking activities often rely on pairing students up with the same speaking partner. This might result in boring, predictable, and demotivating speaking practice. In order to mix things up and expose students to a variety of speaking partners, I propose a speaking activity which I called Speed Discussions as its format resembles Speed Dating. Speed Discussions is a very dynamic activity and guarantees plenty of student talking time. It is a great idea for larger groups but might also be adapted for smaller classes.
