We all know that English exam speaking exercises aren't always the most natural situations that EFL students will find themselves in the real world (i.e. describing a photo for a minute, or speaking into a recording device answering a question about a text.) However, speaking is a part of every English exam whether it's Cambridge B1, B2, C1, or C2, IELTS, TOEFL, TEPS, you get the idea. ESL students always nervous at the speaking part, however, they don't like preparing for them because the tasks are so unnatural. It's a vicious cycle. |
Try This Game
How it works:
2. Give them a general topic to ask a question about. (ex. What they did last weekend. A movie they've seen recently. Etc)
3. The students are to ask their partner a question and their partner answers.
4. The partner then asks a question based on their answer to continue the conversation moving.
5. The game goes back and forth until one person can't think of anything else to ask or time runs out.
Pro Tips:
Props - Props always help, even if it's just a tennis themed photo on the screen or bring in tennis balls (the second one could get a little out of hand, so be careful)
Countdowns - Countdowns are always your friend to put a bit of pressure on your students to go when it's their turn. Use this to award points.
Easter Egg Lessons:
Conversation Skills - They will build a better feel for how a smooth conversation works which will help them in their own language.
What else can you find?