Activity Ideas For Teaching Speaking

DRILLS  

They are suitable to learn grammar structures and vocabulary because they are repetitive exercises easier than typical grammar exercises where students practice and repeat the same thing several times.There are three types of drill:    -Substitution drills: they are used when the teacher wants to practice a particular vocabulary area (for example; places in a town:    supermarket, post-office, swimming pool...). These drills are good to improve vocabulary because learners have to substitute one word for another. We can use substitution drills to practice structures as well as vocabulary.    -Transformation drills: the teacher invites students to transform sentences, for example, an affirmative sentence into a negative sentence or an affirmative sentence into a question.    -Functional-situational drills: the teacher practices the language of a function such as giving an advice.

INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES 

In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs. One student will have the information that the other partner does not have and the partners will share the information.This kind of activity serves many purposes. Each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do not provide the information the others need. These activities are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk.There are different types of information gap activities such as:    -Describe and draw: one student has a picture and has to describe it to a partner who tries to draw what he or she is describing.    - Describe and arrange: students have to arrange objects according to instructions from a partner.    - Describe and identify: students have to identify which picture their partner is describing.    - Find the differences: is a funny activity where students have to find some differences describing a picture.

ASKING FOR INFORMATION 

One learner has the information and the other needs to go from X to Y and asks the partner for the necessary information.

ASKING AND GIVING DIRECTIONS 

One learner has certain places marked on a map and the other has different places marked.

DISCUSSION ACTIVITIES 

This kind of activities gives learners the opportunity to speak more freely and express themselves. It is helpful to structure a discussion activity by giving learners enough information about what they will be talking about and giving them enough time to think about what they want to say. 

RANKING ACTIVITIES 

They consist of creating a list of items about any topic. 

PLANNING  

They consist of planning activities for a special event or for a place and it is an enjoyable activity for students. An example would be for instance, planning a programme for a day out.

DISCUSSING AND SOLVING PROBLEM 

The learners can talk about a topic (chosen by the teacher or by themselves) and then, they express possible solutions.