When working with English language learners, have you ever asked your student the question only to be answered with complete silence and blank stares? It is a common issue—almost every teacher has struggled with encouraging students to speak in a language they are still learning.
A student might have a deep fear of making a mistake or could be just plain shy, even in their native language. Whatever the case, here in this blog, Ms Sonu Goel, Founder, and Director of Café Converse, Delhi’s premium institute for learning spoken English shares a list of some fun activities to get your students to speak and keep them engaged.
Also, when students feel more engaged in any activity it increases their interest and curiosity towards the activity that eventually contributes towards more participation. This interest developed further helps the students to learn not just in a better way but with some fun too.
Who is Telling the Truth?
Have each of the students to write three truths about themselves that nobody in the class knows on a piece of paper. Ensure each student includes their name on the top of the page. Collect the sheets and bring three students to the front of the classroom. Read aloud one of the truths that is real for one of these three students.
All three claims that the fact belongs to them, and the class then proceeds to probe them in an attempt to determine who is telling the truth and who is not. Each student is permitted to ask one question to one of the three students. After one round of questioning, the students guess who is telling the fact.
Descriptive Drawing Activity
Give each student a certain portion of a comic strip. Without showing the pictures to one another, the students must attempt to describe their image and put the comic strip in the correct order. After about 10 minutes, the students can guess the sequence, show one another their portion, and see if they were right.
Debates
Hand over each student a piece of paper with “agree” written on a side and “disagree” on the other side. Read aloud one controversial statement, and have each student hold up their paper showing the agree or disagree side depending on their views. Select a student from each side to explain their position and participate in a short debate.
Secret Word
Students are given a random topic alongside a random word that is unrelated to the topic. The students need to hide the word in a speech about the topic, they are trying to make certain the other students cannot guess the secret word. The other students listen carefully to the speech and try to guess the secret word.
Story Telling Activity
Ask four students to come in front of the classroom. Three of them need to sit in a row, and one should stand behind them and work as a controller. Give the controller a stack of cards having nouns written on them.
The controller will hand a noun to one of those sitting students, who will begin to tell a story. The student continues telling the story until the controller decides to hand a noun to another student, who will then take over the story.
I Have Never
All students in the class have to start this activity holding five fingers in the air (you can also use fewer fingers to do this faster). The student who goes first tells the entire class one thing that they have never done. The students who have done that activity needs to put a finger down, and tell the class a story about this activity. A student is out of the game when all of the fingers are down.
Ms Sonu Goel is a professionally acclaimed certified ESL trainer from British Council having 15 years of strong background for teaching English language in both online and physical classes. She is dedicated to the teaching of English in an interactive and practical way, whereby learners feel enriched with knowledge and experience the language hands-on. She uses creative ideas and aids to let the learning happen as organically and efficiently as possible. Ms Goel has travelled various European countries and experienced an array of cultures and linguistic skills for the English language.
