10 Best Speaking Activities for ESL Students | For all ages and levels

Summary

In this video, Charlie from 'Charlie's Lessons' shares his top 10 favorite speaking activities for students. He emphasizes that speaking is the most challenging skill to improve, compared to reading or writing. The activities include classic games like 'Truth or Lie,' 'Taboo,' and creative tasks like 'Rank Everything' and 'There's a Monkey in My Bag.' These exercises aim to enhance students' language skills through interactive and fun methods, encouraging reasoning, teamwork, and communication. Charlie also provides tips for incorporating these activities into everyday classroom settings to boost speaking practice.

Takeaways

• 😀 Students most commonly want to improve their speaking skills, as it’s harder to practice alone compared to reading, listening, or writing.
• 🗣️ The ‘Truth or Lie’ activity involves students guessing which of five statements is false, encouraging reasoning and discussion.
• 🤝 The ‘Three Things About a Partner’ activity is useful for substitute teachers, helping students learn more about each other while promoting interaction.
• 🚫 The ‘Taboo’ game helps students describe words without using the actual word, enhancing their vocabulary and communication skills.
• 📺 A variation of Taboo uses videos or pictures instead of words, where students describe what they see to another student with their back to the board.
• ❓ The ‘Riddles’ activity engages students by having them guess answers to riddles, promoting critical thinking and reasoning in English.
• 👥 The ‘Corners’ activity involves students physically moving to either the agree or disagree side of the room based on a controversial statement, encouraging discussion.
• 📝 In the ‘Surveys’ activity, students create questionnaires using target language, gather responses, and analyze findings, using tools like Google Forms for efficiency.
• 🐒 The ‘Excuses’ and ‘There's a Monkey in My Bag’ activities help students practice reasoning by coming up with creative explanations for imaginary situations.
• 🏆 The ‘Rank Everything’ activity asks students to create top 10 lists and compare them with official lists, fostering competition and discussion about their choices.

Q & A

What is the most common skill students want to improve according to the speaker?

The most common skill students want to improve is speaking.

Why is speaking considered more difficult to practice on your own compared to other skills?

Speaking is considered more difficult to practice alone because it requires interaction with another person to get feedback and correction, unlike reading, listening, or writing, which can be done individually.

What is the ‘Truth or Lie’ activity mentioned in the video?

In the 'Truth or Lie' activity, the teacher writes five sentences about themselves on the board, one of which is false. Students discuss in pairs which sentence they think is false and provide reasoning.

How is the ‘Three Facts About a Partner’ activity beneficial in a classroom?

The ‘Three Facts About a Partner’ activity is beneficial because it encourages students to get to know each other better and provides the teacher with insight into the students' relationships within the class.

How is the ‘Taboo’ activity structured in this video?

In the ‘Taboo’ activity, one student sits with their back to the board while the rest of the class describes a word written on the board without saying it directly. The seated student must guess the word based on the descriptions.

What variation of the ‘Taboo’ activity does the speaker describe using a video?

The variation involves playing a video instead of writing a word on the board. The students describe the video’s content to a student who cannot see it, helping them guess what is being shown.

What is the purpose of the ‘Riddles’ activity?

The ‘Riddles’ activity engages students by challenging them to solve riddles written on the board, promoting discussion in English and encouraging reasoning and problem-solving.

How does the ‘Corners’ activity work?

In the ‘Corners’ activity, students physically move to a corner of the room labeled 'Agree' or 'Disagree' based on their opinion about a controversial statement written on the board. This encourages both movement and discussion.

What modern tool does the speaker recommend for conducting surveys, and why?

The speaker recommends using Google Forms for conducting surveys because it allows students to answer questions in various formats and provides a summary of the responses, which can be analyzed in class.

What is the goal of the ‘Rank Everything’ activity?

The goal of the ‘Rank Everything’ activity is to have students create a top 10 list on a specific topic and compare it with an official top 10 list. This promotes discussion about similarities and differences between the lists.