1. Speaking activities with low level English speakers
Low prep, effective ways to get students talking!
Goals of Speaking
Practice:
-Increase student talk time
-Allow students ofdifferent levels to
challenge themselves
-Review old material and think about
upcoming material
-Have fun and enjoy studying English
Types of Activities
Drills Participation Performance
Jazz Chants Task Based Role Play
Audiolingual Information Gap Presentations
Jigsaw
Speaking Activity Tips
-Before youstartan activity,letthemtalktoeach otherand ask questionstomake sure theyunderstand.A little
Spanishisok,if it helpsthemparticipate!
-Alwaysmodel orwrite phrasesonthe boardso that studentscan speakEnglishbefore andduringthe activity,
thingslike,OK,let’sstart,I'll go first,It's yourturn,What should Ido?, Yes, that's right,Wait, let’s askanother
group,I’mconfused,let’sasksomeone,let’sasktheteacher.
-Be preparedforyour classroomtobe louderandlook like it’soutof control.
-Provide lotsof practice sothat studentsknow whattodo whentheyare confused.Theyshouldfeel comfortable
lookingintheirtextbookforgrammarquestions,askinganother groupforactivityquestions,andfeelingconfident
enoughtotake risksevenif theyare unsure aboutthe exactEnglishtheyshoulduse.
-Whenyousetstudentstopractice,thisis more workthan lecturing!Alwaysbe walkingaround,observing,
listening, andhelping.
--Alwayssetatimer,hopefullywhere studentscansee it,andthenstickto it.If studentsaren’treadywhenthe
timergoesoff,they’ll learntoworkfasternexttime.Groupspeakingactivitiescanreallyuse upyourclass time
because studentsmaynotfocusand thenaskfor more time.Don’tletthemstretch five minutesintotwenty!
-Alwayssetatimer,hopefullywhere studentscansee it,andthenstickto it. If studentsaren’treadywhenthe timer
goesoff,they’ll learntoworkfaster nexttime.Groupspeakingactivitiescanreallyuse upyourclasstime because
studentsmaynotfocus andthenask for more time.Don’tletthemstretcha five minute activityinto20minutes! -
Alwaysseta timer,hopefullywhere studentscansee it.

2. Audio-lingual
This type of speakingdrill isgood for practicing very specific
grammar targets or vocabulary. Itcan get boring, so only use in
shortbursts of 5-10 minutes. Try to use different levels of
volume, emotions, or speeds when doingit to keep students
engaged and actively listening. Audio-lingual drillsaregood
warm up for more challenging,participation stylespeaking
activities.
Jazz Chants
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/listening/jazz-chants/
Help students hear the rhythm and stress of natural English.
It´s fun for students of all ages. Encourage students to clap
and singalong.You can repeat these Jazz Chants for a few
days,or review them after some time has passed. Search
onlinefor ¨Carolyn GrahamJazz Chants¨ or simply,“English
Jazz Chants” for more information.
Jigsaw
These can be as free or as strictas you want. For example,
ask students to make groups and simply chatabouta few
set topics and then break them into different groups to
sharewhat they chatted about. It can also be very
structured, with introductory readings and test review.
Putting students of different levels into the same groups
can help the lower level students understand the topic and
help the higher level students practicesummarizingand
explainingskills. The groups can range in sizefrom 3-6.
Information Gap
Good resources for information gaps:
http://bogglesworldesl.com/information_gap.htm
http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/exams/speaking-
exams/information-gap-activity
https://en.islcollective.com/resources/search_result?Tags=in
formation%20gap&searchworksheet=GO&type=Printables
Informationgaps are oftenverystructured, and canbe good
preparationfor a freer activity, suchas a Jigsaw or Role Play.
Task-based
A task-based activity will
•engage learners'interest.
•Have a goalor anoutcome.
•have completion be a
priority.
•relate to real world
activities.
Each task will be organized as
-Pre-task activity(an
introduction to topic andtask)-
-Taskcycle: Task-> Planning->
Report
-Language Focus andFeedback
Presentations and Role Plays
-Model good and bad examples of presentations and role
plays.
-Have students practicemultipletimes in front of multiple
audiences
-Beware of audience fatigue
-Teach students presentation skills
-Have something for the audienceto do whilethey listen