An Unusual Speaking Activity For Your EFL Classroom

Speaking activities in the EFL classroom are great for everyone involved. Students love  a speaking activity because they love to talk. Teachers love speaking activities because they allow our students to feel free and be creative in their language usage. Any EFL teacher worth their salt will have an arsenal of speaking activities at their disposal for use in the classroom.

A speaking activity to add to your collection.

Aim:

Students focus on fluency while utilising a range of language structures, or consolidation of a particular language point

Procedure:

The teacher tells the students a story. What the students don’t know is that the story is not true. The story should be realistic enough that the students don’t think it could be untrue. When you have told the story, allow some time for questions. Then ask the students if they think the story is true or false. Tell them the story is actually not true.

Put the students into pairs. In each pair, the students must decide who will tell a true story and who will tell a false story. These stories must be personal and relate to their own lives in some way. They mustn’t tell anyone what they have decided. Give the students time to think of or make up a story. This will also give them time to consider their language and they can also make notes.

When they have their stories give them time to tell their story to their partner. This is a time for them to practise their story and the language they have chosen. This time will also give them confidence to speak in front of the class.

Each pair now tells their stories to the class and the class must decide who is telling the true story and who is telling the false story. They can ask questions to try to figure out who is lying. While this is happening, make notes of any errors that are made during their story-telling.

Once all the stories have been told, conduct an error correction session.

Rationale:

This speaking activity will give your students the opportunity to speak numerous times. They will speak in pairs and they will speak in front of the class. They will be free to communicate however they want. They will be able to practise their stories and gain confidence in telling them. They will also need to think carefully about the stories they hear in order to decide whether or not they are true. Plus, you should find out some interesting things about your students!