Speaking activities:

Ball throwing:
•Throw the ball to a learner who has to say something, e.g. how they are feeling, an introduction to
themselves, what their future plans are, etc.
•The learner then throws the ball to someone else who has to speak.
•This continues until everyone has had a chance to say something.
•You can also do this by asking learners to make a question and then throw the ball for someone else to
answer it.

Pyramid discussion:
•Hand out worksheets with items for ranking.
•Put learners into pairs.
•Each pair has to order the items from most important to least important.
•Now put two pairs together (i.e. four learners in each group) and ask them to agree on the order of the
items.
•This is done again with two groups of four getting together and trying to agree and then with two groups
of eight.
•Finally the whole class has to rank the items and come to an overall agreement.

Survival:
•Divide the learners into groups of five or six.
•Describe a survival scenario to them, e.g. a plane crash in a jungle, miles from anywhere.
•Give them the task: they have to decide which eight items out of a possible 20 they would take with them
on their search for help and why.
•The teacher needs to decide what the 20 items are or the class can brainstorm 20 items and these can be
written on the board.
•Either each group presents their reasoning to the class and the class votes on the best choices or learners
are regrouped as in a jigsaw task and they have to agree on eight things to take.
•As a follow-up task, the group can make up the story of their trip and then be interviewed by reporters.

Onion rings:
•Make sure you have enough space for this – you could do it outside.
•Divide the class into two.
•One half stand in a circle facing outwards; the other half stand in a larger circle around them facing
inwards.
•Each learner should be opposite another learner.
•Tell them they have two or three minutes to ask and answer as many questions as possible.
•Tell the outer circle to move on to the next learner.
•Stop when they've come 'full circle'.
•This can be used for any functional language and for practising any language in a more interesting way.
Stage 1: Pre-reading
Before reading a text with learners, it's good to raise the readers' knowledge of what they're about to read (their
schematic knowledge) as this knowledge will help them to understand the text. The most effective way to do this is
by collaborating.
Here are some speaking activities you can get your learners to do before they read:
•Tell your partner what you know about the topic (perhaps see which pair can come up with the most 'facts'?).
•Look at some pictures related to the topic, and predict what will happen.
•Read the first paragraph and then predict.

Stage 2: While reading

Reading in pairs may seem like a strange approach to reading, but it's not hard to get learners speaking during
reading tasks as well. Here are two common approaches to accomplishing this:
1. Running dictation
•Divide the class into Learner A and Learner B pairs. Give Learner A a list of questions to ask Learner B.
•Learner A asks one question at a time, and Learner B runs to the text on the wall to find the answer, then
dictates the answer to Learner B, who writes it. Continue until all the questions are answered. You can have the
learners swap roles halfway through.
•The first pair to correctly answer all the questions wins.
2. Jigsaw reading
•Photocopy a suitable text and cut it diagonally into four.
•Seat learners in fours. Give a piece of the text to each learner. They mustn't show their piece to the others.
•Give each group a set of questions.
•The group have to work collaboratively to answer the questions since no one has the whole of the text.
•Groups can compare answers when they've finished

Stage 3: Post-reading
In everyday life, you often talk about what you've read. You can generate discussions about texts in your classroom
too. Give learners questions to discuss in groups about their reactions to the text. You can give them creative
questions to ask a partner, like 'Which of the characters would you like as a friend? Why?'
Here are some more ideas for pairs or groups:
•Write short role-plays from the text to act out in class.
•Write quizzes for each other.
•Create a short movie clip from the story.
•Create an interview with one of the characters from the story.

By adding speaking activities in your reading lessons:

•the learners are more engaged
•they improve speaking and listening skills in addition to reading
•their communication skills and confidence naturally improve.
Not all reading tasks need to include pre, while and post speaking activities. For example, you may find that with
more mature learners, you can simply have individuals read a text and then discuss.
This is an example puzzle for learners.
A man lives on the 12th floor of a block of flats. Every morning, he gets up and takes the lift to
the ground floor. He gets out of the lift and goes to work. Every evening he comes back home,
takes the lift to the 8th floor and walks to the 12th floor.
Why?

In this activity, learners have to speak to each other to solve the puzzle, so they get to
practice speaking and developing problem-solving skills.

The text is short, however they still practise reading for detail, and there is an element of grammar recognition as
they have to understand the use of the present simple for habits and daily routine.

This is a word categories game which you might use with higher level learners, but is more suited to you as a
teacher.
Instructions: Your teacher will give you some word cards. Work together to put the words into the right category.
Give the word cards back to the teacher when you have finished.

Gram Pronunciat Vocabul

Language skills
mar ion ary

adjectiv guess meaning from

word stress idiom
e context

noun intonation antonym understand the gist

voiced
adverb synonym scanning
sounds

This activity involves speaking and a certain amount of functional language as learners have to work together
and agree on which category each word belongs in.

It also clearly practises vocabulary and word recognition, and depending on how the teacher sets it up, it could
also involve an element of pronunciation.

This example of jumbled sentences is from a training session for teachers, but it could be one way of giving the
instructions to a group of high level learners too.
Instructions: Look at the sentences. They show the stages of a classroom ranking activity. Work together to put
the stages of the ranking activity in the right order.

Work in a small discussion group.

Brainstorm all the different parts of language learning, e.g. grammar, speaking.

Decide which are the five most important parts of learning a language. Discuss and
agree as a group, and justify your opinions.

When you have chosen the five most important parts, number them from 1 to 5: 1 is
the most important part of learning language, 5 is the least important.

Now find another group and exchange your lists. Tell each other why you chose the
order you did. Try and agree on a new order.

Again, speaking is the main element of this activity, using some functional language to agree and negotiate the
correct order.
Learners also have to practise reading for gist and specific information. They will also get some practice
with vocabulary and grammar as they work out the correct order and what each stage involves.

This jigsaw reading activity is from a teacher workshop, to help teachers find out about drills. Each teacher in a
group of four reads about a different type of drill, and reports back to the group.
Instructions: A drill is a type of controlled activity where learners repeat after the teacher. There are a number of
different types of drill.
Work in groups of four. Your trainer will give you a piece of paper with a definition of a type of drill. Give the paper
back to your trainer when you have understood the definition. Tell your group about your definition and answer the
questions:
•Have you ever done any drills like these?
•What are some of the advantages of drills?
•What are some of the disadvantages of drills?

Transformation drill - learners change the grammatical structure of the sentence given by the teacher according to which
rule is being practised. For example:

I went to Scotland.

I didn't go to Scotland.
I saw the Loch Ness monster.

I didn't see the Loch Ness monster.

Choral drill - when learners repeat the word or sentence after the teacher as a whole class or in groups.

Individual drill - when one learner repeats the word or sentence after the teacher.

Substitution drill - the teacher gives the sentence and a different word or phrase the learners must use in the same place.
For example:

If you go to Scotland, you will see a lot of castles. (the Loch Ness monster)

If you go to Scotland, you will see the Loch Ness monster.

This role play could be used with learners.

Instructions: Work in pairs. Your teacher will give you a role card. You need to agree on when to have classes and
how to prepare for the exam.

A - Student
You are doing an English language course and want to take the exam. There is an exam in two weeks' time but you haven't
finished the course. The next exam is in six months' time, but you don't want to wait; you want to do the exam soon. You
would like the teacher to give you extra lessons so you are ready for the exam in two weeks' time.

B - Teacher
You are the teacher of the English course. The course ends in one month. You also teach another course in the evenings.
You do not have much free time and you don't really want any more work.

This 'find someone who' activity could also be used with learners.
Instructions: Walk around and ask each other questions to find someone who answers 'yes'; to the following
statements. Write their name in the box provided.

Find someone who... Name

has been abroad.

 has eaten something
strange.

has won a competition.  

has done a dangerous
sport.
 

A chain story involves learners working in small groups to create a story.

•One learner starts the story and the others listen.
•Then everyone takes turns to tell a bit more of the story.

A dictogloss is a very flexible type of dictation which involves listening to the teacher, speaking in groups, writing
and checking.
•The teacher reads a short text to the learners, who just listen.
•The teacher reads the text again, and the learners take notes.
•The learners then work in groups to recreate the text from their notes.

Songs and poems are usually very memorable and good fun. They can be used with older students as well as
children.
•The teacher can ask learners to listen for specific words or grammar structures.
•Learners can learn a song or poem, complete the gaps, or discuss the theme and write the story in their own
words.

Vanishing dialogues are useful for practising functional language.

•Ask the class to invent a short dialogue between two people.
•Write the dialogue on the board as you invent it with the learners.
•Drill the dialogue. Each side of the class takes different roles.
•Swap roles and drill again.
•Remove a word or phrase and drill again.
•Continue to remove words/phrases until the dialogue has vanished.
•Learners remember and practise the dialogue in pairs.