1. Pair work activities to encourage speaking
Most educators agree that student collaboration is a valuable exercise in the EFL
classroom. As it is not always easy to have your students work in groups and assign roles
to them in search of a goal, pair work is the initial step of a series that can help your class
become more student-centered and your students turn into more autonomous learners.
The question that arises is: Is working together worthwhile? Yes, not only does "pair
work immediately increase the amount of student talking time" (Harmer 1998), it
provides the students with the opportunity to communicate with each other to share
"suggestions, hypothesis, insights, feedback, successes, and failures" (Nielson, 1989).
Besides, by using pair work teachers reduce the prominence of their role: a factor that
sometimes hinders learning instead of fostering it.
There are many ways of handling pair work but no matter how you approach it there are
certain things a teacher has to keep in mind to facilitate the outcome of the activities. It
will not always be necessary (or appropriate or practical) to use all of these "ingredients".
Finally, it is also worth remembering that the way a lesson actually unfolds will always be
influenced by the students themselves. It pays to be alert and flexible.
• Identify a "realistic" communicative context or situation.
• Identify a clear objective or purpose.
• Generate student interest.
• Allow student preparation time if necessary.
• Be aware of any useful/relevant conversational gambits.
• Model, model, model.
• Determine appropriate student pairs..
• Monitor.
• Involve students in the self-correction of errors.
• Provide a sense of conclusion.
The advantages of pair work
• Gives learners more speaking time
• Changes the pace of the lesson
• Takes the spotlight off you and puts it on the learners
• Allows them to mix with everyone in the group
• Gives them a sense of achievement when a goal has been reached
• Teaches them how to lead and be led by someone other than the teacher
• It allows you to monitor, move around the class and really listen to the language
they are producing.
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

2. Suggested Activities (Adapted from different sources)
1. Talking Dice
a. Divide students in pairs and have them sit facing each other.
b. Distribute two or three dice for each pair. A student is to start by throwing the
“topic” dice to select a theme. Once they have done that, the other student throws the
“question” dice to select a Wh-word and asks a questions using it to his/her partner.
c. Finally the first students throws the “auxiliary” dice and asks a question using the
previously-mentioned wh-word plus the auxiliary to his/her partner.
2. Disappearing dialogue
a. After teaching both the Conversation and the Grammar Focus exercises of a unit,
make up a new dialog with a few sentences from the Conversation that include the new
grammar structure.
b. Write the new dialogue on the board and have students practice it.
c. Erase some words from the dialog, preferably words that are part of the new grammar
structure. Erase no more than one or two words per line at a time. Put a line under each
erased word.
d. Have students read the dialog again, including words that are missing.
e. Erase some more words and have students practice the dialog again. Continue until
there is nothing left on the board. By then students should be familiar with the new
grammar structure.
3. Back up your match
a. Organize your students in pairs and give each pair a bag with the scrambled matches.
b. Have students spread out the pieces of paper and take turns finding “logical
matches”.
c. Every time a student puts the matched words together, he/she is to back it up by
explaining the reason for the match. The other student has to ask at least two questions
related to the topic before they can continue matching.
Example:
St1: “50 states” goes with “United States” because that is the number of states in that
country.
St2: Have you ever been to the United States? or What's your favorite city in the United
States?
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

3. The cards are 'in order' here but will obviously get mixed up when the cards are cut up.
The Alphabet 26 letters
9 planets Solar System
11 players Football team
50 states United States
15 countries European Union
4 nations The United Kingdom
20 teams Italian Football League
5 players A basketball team
6 strings A guitar
5 rings Olympic flag
4. BLIP (sometimes known as COFFEE POT) Guess the verb
Each student is given a VERB. (See that it is suitable for the level of the class).
In pairs or as a whole class, discover the VERB through QUESTIONS.
The nonsense word "BLIP" should be substituted for the target VERB.
Write sample QUESTIONS on the board
When / Where / Why / How do you blip?
Can you blip someone / something / somewhere?
Do you often blip?
Did you blip yesterday?
Are you blipping now?
Are you going to blip this weekend?
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

4. Have you blipped since you arrived in England?
Do you like blipping?
Do you blip with your hands?
If I saw you blipping, would you be embarrassed?
5. Word in edgeways
a. Students work in pairs. Each partner is given a strip of paper with an unusual sentence
written on it. They keep this concealed. If possible they try to learn the sentence by
heart.
b. Then they start conversing about any subject, but their real objective is to get their
given sentence into the conversation without their partner realising and before their
partner is able to do the same. To do this successfully they have to move the topic of
conversation towards a context in which their sentence could naturally occur.
Sample sentences for strips:
1. The farmer was carrying a yellow guitar.
2. Elvis Presley was waiting at Brighton Station
3.The bottles were full of green milk.
4. She kissed him on the nose and went to bed.
5. The French student wrote twenty love letters.
6. The policeman was dressed in pink shoes and a bow-tie
7. The plane landed on the roof of Buckingham Palace.
8. The beauty queen made me a cup of tea.
9. The fly took off again and landed on my pillow.
10 The dog slipped on the banana peel and broke its leg.
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

5. To win the game, the student has to continue speaking for a while after getting her/his
sentence into the conversation without being correctly challenged. She/he can
also win by correctly challenging her/his partner as soon as they think they are
reciting their sentence. If her/his challenge is wrong, you lose the game.
6. Toss n' Talk
Students select one person to start the conversation.
The first topic is "free." The student who starts chooses a topic from the list on the
board and asks another student an appropriate question, but he/she does not play a
Topic card.
All questions must be directed to specific students, not the group as a whole.
After the first question is asked, any student, in any order, can continue the conversation
by responding (playing an "Echo" card), asking a Follow-up question, or changing the
speaker (playing a "How about you?" card). Remember: when "they say it, they play it."
When a student plays a "How about you?" card, he/she should ask a related question to
keep the conversation on track. This does not count as a Follow-up question.
When the conversation falters, or a student doesn't like a topic, or feels he/she doesn't
have much to say about it, he/she can change the topic by announcing, "New Topic"
and playing a Topic card. He/she then asks another student a question related to the
new topic, and the conversation continues.
The first student to play all his/her cards is the "winner."
7. Pair quiz
a. Divide the class into pairs and then decide with the class how many points are needed
to win (six to ten points works best).
b. To begin, read the first question in the first category (i.e. “Vocabulary”). Give some
time to the students to discuss the possible answer. If a member of a pair thinks they can
answer, they raise their hand and must give their answer immediately. If it is correct,
their pair earns a point. If it is not correct, another pair has thirty seconds (or whatever
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

6. seems a reasonable length of time) in which to try to answer. If they answer correctly,
they earn a point.
c. Continue by asking one question from each category in turn. The game is over when a
pair reaches the target number of points.
8. Finish the sentence
a. Students are grouped in pairs. The teacher reads the beginning of sentence and allow
students to think about how they want to complete it.
b. Once they have finished, students say their sentences. Other students are allowed to
ask extra questions if they want to know more about the sentence.
This is a simple activity which at first sight looks like a grammar exercise. However, the
students must complete each unfinished phrase truthfully. The example given, for
instance, can have many different endings, according to each person's situation.
Example:
• My car ...
o My car broke down two months ago while I was coming home from work.
o My car cost a lot but I don't like it anymore.
You can try . . .
1. My best friend ...
2. Last night ...
3. I have never ...
4. The third world ...
5. Politicians ...
6. Parents ...
7. I once dreamt that ...
Most importantly, we would advise you to start this activity in silence, with each student
writing down his or her own completion. This guarantees that people will not be stuck
for words, which usually happens if you present somebody with a half-finished sentence
and ask for an immediate verbal reaction. We have found that, if you give students time
to think, they will produce better sentences. The bonus here is that if, for example, you
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

7. have a group of eight, each pair will probably come up with a different finish. This will
definitely trigger interest on the part of the other students, and reduce tension.
Moreover, it is the students who get to create something. The teacher merely oversees,
and hence does not dominate the class.
9. Grammar reformulation
Let's look at another activity. Now you are teaching grammar, a subject that usually
dominates the high-school English curriculum. Particularly at exam-oriented high
schools, grammar teaching through drill type exercises is popular at least among teachers
if not students. Instead of explaining and drilling, ask one student from each pair to put
his/her head on the desk and take a nap or otherwise not listen to the teacher. Explain a
grammar point to the "awake" students and ask them to take notes, so they can explain
it to the "napping" students. Then you awake students to teach the grammar point to
their partners. Although you may fear that some students will really fall asleep, you will
see that students, who at other times may sleep, become very excited.
10. Heads and tails
a. For a lower intermediate class, make photocopies (front and back) of two 'Word Up'
question sets from level 1 and two sets from level 2. You will need one copy of each of
the sets for every two students.
b. Collect a number of coins. You will need one coin for every two students.
c. Ask each student to draw a scoring table on a sheet of paper, like this:
(Student's name) Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
Missing Word
Crossword Clues
Multiple Choice
How it works
a. Divide the class into pairs and give each pair a coin. Then give each student one
question and answer set from the lower level and another from the higher level (the
students in a particular pair must have different sets).
b. Players toss the coin to decide who plays first.
3. The first player then tosses the coin again. If he or she throws 'heads', the other player
asks the first question from the first category ('Missing Word') in his or her higher-level
set. If it is 'tails', the player asks the first 'Missing Word' question in his or her lower-level
set. If the first player answers correctly, he or she ticks the 'Missing Word' box under
'Game 1' on his or her scoring table. If the answer is not correct, the other player reads
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

8. out the correct answer(s). The second player then throws the coin and answers either a
higher-level or a lower-level 'Missing Word' question. Then each player answers a
'Crossword Clues' question in the same way. They continue through the various question
categories, returning to 'Missing Word' again after 'Spelling'.
4. Play continues with each player answering questions only from those categories they
have yet to correctly answer a question from. For example, if a player has already
correctly answered a 'Missing Word' question, he or she skips this category when it next
comes around and answers a question from the next category instead. Play continues
until one of the players has correctly answered a question from each of the four
categories and has four ticks under 'Game 1'.
5. Each pair may then play another game, continuing with the same question sheets from
where they left off in the first game. There should be enough questions for at least three
games.
Note:
- If your class has an uneven number of students, form one group of three with the rest
in pairs. In the group of three, one member watches the first game and then plays the
winner in the second. The player watching the second game plays the winner in the third
WORD UP SAMPLE QUESTIONS : LEVEL 1 - SET 1
MISSING WORD
1. What _ _ your name? (2 letters)
2. My sister works _ _ a bank. (2 letters)
3. Can you _ _ _ _ me the time, please? (4 letters)
4. I'm going to _ _ _ a movie tonight. (3 letters)
5. The time is ten minutes _ _ seven. (2 letters)
6. Do you like eating Chinese _ _ _ _ ? (4 letters)
7. Would you like tea _ _ coffee? (2 letters)
CROSSWORD CLUES
1. The opposite of 'new'. o _______
2. What can you do with a pen? w _______
3. The early part of the day. m _______
4. A place for learning. s _______
5. What do you bite food with? t _______
6. A type of fruit. a _______
7. The brother of your mother or father. u _______
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

9. MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What can you see at a zoo?
a) movies b) doctors c) animals
2. Which country has the most people?
a) India b) China c) Japan
3. "Do you like
a) reading books?" b) looking books?" c) watching books?"
4. Which is the tallest animal?
a) a horse b) an elephant c) a giraffe
5. Where are your lips?
a) under your arms b) above your eyes c) around your mouth
6. Ham is meat from
a) a cow b) a pig c) a hamster
7. West is the opposite direction to
a) east b) north c) south
WORD UP SAMPLE QUESTIONS : LEVEL 2 - SET 1
MISSING WORD
1. Tiger Woods can play golf very _ _ _ _ . (4 letters)
2. If you don't study hard, you will _ _ _ _ the exam. (4 letters)
3. We use our noses for _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . (8 letters)
4. 'Big' is the _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of 'small'. (8 letters)
5. The sun goes _ _ _ _ at sunset. (4 letters)
6. He likes listening to music while _ _ _ _ _ his homework. (5 letters)
7. I stayed _ _ home all day. (2 letters)
CROSSWORD CLUES
1. Clever. i ______
2. It has a trunk and branches. t _______
3. A tropical fruit. p _______
4. A pain in the mouth. t _______
5. A small piece of rock. s _______
6. What are gloves worn on? h _______
7. What are the Andes and the Himalayas? m _______
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Venezuela is a country in
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.

10. a) Eastern Europe b) South America c) Northern Africa
2. Which material is natural?
a) cotton b) polyester c) nylon
3. What does a composer write?
a) books b) movie scripts c) music
4. Where is cargo loaded onto a ship?
a) at a station b) at a port c) at a shipyard
5. The capital city of Norway is
a) Oslo b) Stockholm c) Zurich
6. Which river is in India?
a) the Rhine b) the Nile c) the Ganges
7. A person who comes third in the Olympic Games wins
a) a brass medal b) a bronze medal c) a silver medal
Teaching speaking – San Juan de Pasto Dec 2010 William Sastoque V.