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.
upper-intermediate
Vocabulary dice game for all levels
This easy and extremely versatile vocabulary dice game is suitable for all levels and age groups of English learners. It is a great idea to revise vocabulary and might be used as a warm-up activity or to conclude the class. All you need to play it is a list of words you would like your students to revise, sheets of paper, pencils, and some dice. Continue Reading …
Workplace dilemmas speaking activity
This speaking activity presents students with four workplace dilemmas in which they need to make a decision. It is a perfect fit for adult students, levels intermediate and above. It might be used during conversation classes as well as to complement lessons about workplace or career. Continue Reading …
Used to, be used to, get used to speaking activity
This activity helps practice through speaking three often confused grammar structures: used to, be used to, get used to. The aim is to show the difference in meaning and structure by allowing students use used to, be used to, get used to to describe habits or changes in their personal lives. It is suitable for upper-intermediate or FCE students.
Phrasal verbs about relationships: speaking activity
The aim of this activity is to introduce four phrasal verbs to talk about relationships and practice using them in context. To work with this set of phrasal verbs you might want to choose some activities I described in my previous post about teaching this language point. Continue Reading …
Big life decisions speaking activity
Students make four big life decisions by coming up with lists of pros and cons for different situations. By doing so they can also revise the use of conditionals (first and second), modal verbs used to speculate (may, might, could) and linking devices (however, although, on the other hand). Suitable for adult and teenage students, levels intermediate and up.
Teaching phrasal verbs: phrasal verbs about money
A lot of my students claim phrasal verbs are the most difficult part of any given English course. They are not sure how to learn them, and even less sure how to use them. As a result, they try to memorise long lists but never risk using any in speaking or writing. I wrote more on how to approach learning phrasal verbs in my guest post for Keep Smiling English here. Continue Reading …
