This site is no longer being actively maintained, but I've received enough
grateful emails from teachers over the years to know that it's still being
used. I guess pedagogy never grows old, it just gets rediscovered!
(The Links page, on the other hand, was
hopelessly out of date, but I've just tidied that up too).
March 2012
General
These activities have no specific thematic focus, and could be integrated into almost any oral English lesson. |
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Duration |
Aim |
Requirements |
 |
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2030 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Students retell jokes in their own words. |
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2535 min |
Oral fluency practice |
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Students hear anocdotes from their classmates and retell them. |
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5 min |
Oral fluency practice |
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Students roleplay a dialogue, guided by a handful of keywords. |
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2535 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Students retell stories which they have just heard. |
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515 min |
Oral fluency practice |
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Working in groups, students invent a story, taking turns to speak. |
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2530 min |
Oral fluency practice; disagreeing |
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A series of quick debates in pairs. |
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1020 min |
Speaking and listening practice |
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Each student receives a different question, and conducts a survey of their classmates. |
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2025 min |
Oral fluency practice |
Adhesive labels; space to mingle |
Ask yes/no questions to guess the celebrity name on each student's back. |
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1520 min |
Oral fluency practice |
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Groups brainstorm ideas for why x is the world's greatest y. |
Adaptable
These activities can be adapted to a wide variety of topics. Usually the description includes one or two detailed examples of how the activity can be adapted to particular themes, but teachers can readily devise their own adaptions (and are encouraged to share their ideas with other readers by adding a comment to the relevant page). |
|
Duration |
Aim |
Requirements |
 |
|
2025 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Each time students complete the task with one partner, they swap cards and find a new partner. |
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|
1015 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Students speak in order to find the differences between two similar pictures. |
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N/A |
Oral fluency practice; assess speaking |
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Three students answer questions from the class on a particular topic. |
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2030 min |
Oral fluency practice |
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Students mime sentences which their group tries to guess. |
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1525 min |
Oral fluency practise |
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The typical "twenty questions"-style guessing game, confined to small groups. |
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1020 min |
Oral fluency practice; vocabulary review |
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Each student has a crossword with only half the words filled in, and must invent clues for their partner. |
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1015 min |
Speaking practice; vocabulary practice |
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Student discover how the facts or opinions on their roleplay card differ from their partner's. |
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2025 min |
Oral fluency; vocabulary review/development |
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Group members take turns to describe vocabulary items. |
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1015 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Groups discuss how to order a list of words. |
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1015 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Role play according to instructions on roleplay card. |
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1520 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Each pair of students is given two incorrect versions of a text and, looking at only one version each, must discuss the differences and reconstruct the original text. |
Home |
|
Duration |
Aim |
Requirements |
 |
|
2025 min |
Oral fluency practice; politely disagreeing |
|
Two housemates try to resolve their conflicts. |
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2530 min |
Oral fluency practice; apartment vocabulary |
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Students describe their family's apartment to a potential tenant (ie another student). |
See also: |
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1020 min |
Oral fluency practice; vocabulary review |
|
Each student has a crossword with only half the words filled in, and must invent clues for their partner. |
Relevant content: Renting an Apartment |
 |
|
1015 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Groups discuss how to order a list of words. |
Relevant content: Choosing an Apartment |
Recreation |
|
Duration |
Aim |
Requirements |
 |
|
1520 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Students think of a concept for a television show and describe it to their group. |
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2030 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Students work in groups to design a club, guided by an example sheet. |
See also: |
|
1525 min |
Oral fluency practise |
|
The typical "twenty questions"-style guessing game, confined to small groups. |
Relevant content: Hobbies |
 |
|
2025 min |
Oral fluency; vocabulary review/development |
|
Group members take turns to describe vocabulary items. |
Relevant content: Sports |
 |
|
1520 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Each pair of students is given two incorrect versions of a text and, looking at only one version each, must discuss the differences and reconstruct the original text. |
Relevant content: Love Story |
Work and Business |
|
Duration |
Aim |
Requirements |
 |
|
3035 min |
Practise language for making appointments |
|
Students arrange both business and personal appointments with other members of the class. |
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3045 min |
Oral fluency practice; banking vocabulary |
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A bank roleplay which leads to a group discussion on how to rob the bank. |
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2530 min |
Practise pronouncing dollar-and-cent values |
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Students interview each other on the cost of some common items. |
See also: |
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2025 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Each time students complete the task with one partner, they swap cards and find a new partner. |
Relevant content: Occupations Small-talk |
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|
1015 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Groups discuss how to order a list of words. |
Relevant content: Job Stress |
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|
1015 min |
Oral fluency practice |
|
Role play according to instructions on roleplay card. |
Relevant content: Office Roleplay |
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