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Motivating speaking activities for lower levels

These activities are all designed to motivate lower level learners to speak in pairs or small
groups.
Activity type: several short speaking activities
Level: A2+
Age: Teenage/Adult
lanning time has !een shown to increase production in speaking tasks. Lower level
learners often find it especially difficult to speak spontaneously" so these activities
incorporate #thinking time$ during which learners can prepare for speaking !y planning
what they are going to say" and asking the teacher or using a dictionary to look up
missing voca!ulary. The following activities are relatively short" with minimal materials
preparation time for the teacher. They are designed for use as a warmer or a filler in the
middle or at the end of a class.
%efinitions lists
This activity is good for activating e&isting voca!ulary or revising voca!ulary studied in
previous lessons.
rocedure:
' (hoose a voca!ulary topic )this can !e voca!ulary you have recently studied or a
topic you want to introduce*. Tell students to write a list of +, words they associate
with this topic. To make the activity shorter" reduce the num!er of words.
' re-teach / revise structures for definitions e.g. .t$s a thing which / that.... /ou use
it for... /ou find this in.... .t$s an animal / o!0ect / place... .t$s the opposite of... etc.
' Tell students to look at their lists and give them time to think of how they can
define these words )1 -2 mins*.
' 3ow students work in pairs )or groups of 1* to define their words. Their partner
must guess the word they are defining.
A faster moving" fun alternative to this activity is a team game.
' (hange the voca!ulary to lists of famous people / !ooks / films / o!0ects.
' 4ach team writes a list for another team )students can also 1 or 5 words each on
strips of paper to draw out of a hat*
' re-teach / revise structures for definitions e.g. .t$s a thing which / that.... /ou use
it for... .t$s a film / !ook / o!0ect.... 6e/ 7he$s an actor / a politician.... 6e$s 8ritish /
American / 7panish...
' 4ach team nominates one person to define the words to their team.
' 4ach team has + minute to define as many words as possi!le.

9hat were you doing...: )9hat are you going to do....:*
This activity can !e adapted to revise a range of tenses )present simple" past simple"
continuous" future tenses* !y changing the time prompts.
rocedure:
' 9rite a selection of time prompts on the !oard e.g. yesterday at ; o<clock" this
time last year" on 7eptem!er ++th 2,,+ etc
' Tell students to choose some of the prompts and think of what they were doing at
these times. Tell students that they are going to tell a partner / small group.
' =ive students time 2 minutes to plan what they are going to say and ask for any
voca!ulary they need.
' 7tudents tell their partner / small group. 4ncourage students to ask for more
information. 4.g. >. was watching T? yesterday at ;. -9hat were you watching:
' After speaking" students feed!ack and tell the class what they learnt. 4.g. Marie
was watching T? at ; o<clock yesterday. 7he loves chat shows@

Ad0ectives
This is a variation on the a!ove activity and is great for practising ad0ectives. 7tudents
personalise the discussion !y talking a!out e&periences and feelings.
rocedure:
' 9rite a selection of ad0ectives relating to feelings on the !oard.
' Tell students to choose several ad0ectives )increase or decrease the num!er
depending on how long you want the activity to take*. Tell them to think of a time
when they felt this way" and that they are going to tell their partner / small group
a!out their e&perience.
' =ive students time to plan what they are going to say. They can make notes and
ask for voca!ulary if they want to.
' 7tudents tell their stories.
' Aeed!ack to the class.

(artoons" cartoon stories and unusual pictures
There are many copyright-free comic strips" cartoons and unusual images availa!le
onlineB you can also find cartoon stories in many 4AL resource !ooks. These can !e used
in class in a num!er of ways.
.nformation gap activity: Crder the story
.nformation gap and 0igsaw tasks have !een shown to !e !eneficial task types in terms of
promoting o!ligatory" as opposed to optional information e&change and as a way of
promoting colla!orative dialogue in the classroom. .n this activity" students work in pairs
and the information" i.e. the pictures are divided eDually !etween them. 7tudents must
work colla!oratively to put the story together in the right order. 7uita!le for strong re-
intermediate students and a!ove.
rocedure:
' 8efore the class" find a cartoon with at least 5 vignettes. The cartoon can !e with
or without dialogue. The more vignettes and more elements in the story" the more
difficult the task.
' rint the cartoon and cut up the vignettes. %ivide the vignettes eDually !etween
student A and student 8.
' =ive students time to think a!out how to descri!e their pictures and ask for any
voca!ulary they need.
' re-teach any difficult voca!ulary that has not come up as well as phrases for
talking a!out pictures and seDuencing: e.g. .n my picture there is... . can see... . think
this is the first / second / last picture... Then.... After that....
' Tell students to work together to put the story in the correct order.
' Cptional e&tension: Tell students to write the story.

9rite the dialogue
rocedure:
' Take a comic strip" a cartoon" or unusual image in which there are several people
or characters. .f there is dialogue or captions" !lank it out.
' %isplay the comic / cartoon / image and elicit ideas from students a!out what is
happening in it. 9ho are the people / characters: 9hat are they doing: 9hat happens
ne&t: 9hat are they saying to each other:
' ut students in pair or small groups. Tell them to work together and write the
dialogue and /or captions for the comic" cartoon or image.
' 7tudents practice their dialogues and read their version out to the class.

9hat$s the Duestion:
This activity is good for practising Duestions and for fluency practice on a range of topics.
rocedure:
' 9rite a list of Duestions )one per student in your class* relating to your chosen
topic. Aor e&ample" if your topic is music" you could think of Duestions like: 9ho is
your favourite singer: 9hat is your favourite music to dance to: 9hat$s the !est
concert you have ever !een to: 9ho is a singer / group you hate: etc. Adapt the
Duestions to the level of your class.
' =ive each student a Duestion. Tell students to write the answer to their Duestion
)not the Duestion itself* on a piece of paper or a sticky la!el. Tell them not to show
anyone their answer yet.
' Tell the class the topic )e.g. music*. =ive students 2 minutes with a partner to
!rainstorm possi!le Duestions related to this topic.
' 3ow tell students to stand up and stick their la!el on their chest or hold their
paper with their answer in front of them. 7tudents move around the room and ask
each other Duestions to try to discover the Duestions that the other students were
originally asked.
' 4ncourage students to ask follow up Duestions and try to have a conversation.
-9hat$s the !est concert you$ve ever !een to: -Michael Eackson -9hen was the
concert: -9hy was it good:
' Aeed!ack and ask students what they found out.

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