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Dialogues
Free ESL
dialogues! These dialogues all include highlighted vocabulary words,
discussion questions, and a sentence pattern. Great for both
one-on-one classes and larger ESL classes.
Find these dialogues
useful? Check out our ESL Dialogues
e-books, which include all of the above dialogues and
much, much more!
Conversation and Speaking Activities
Here are some simple and useful ideas
that will hopefully manage to get a few words or sentences actually
flowing outward from the students' mouths.
Conversation Cards - Less a game than an
"activity," although it can be tweaked to make it enjoyable for the
students. (I find that anytime they close their books and get to
focus on something non-book-like, their mood magically improves.)
This is generally more
suitable for intermediate or advanced students. Basically, I have
several small pieces of paper in a box, and on each piece of paper
is written a question that the student must answer (such as: If you
had one million dollars and had to spend it in one day, what would
you do?). This is good practice for tests like the GEPT in Taiwan,
in which students have 15 or 30 seconds to answer such a question.
I have already made
tons of these cards, and you can find and download them for free
here.
I know this doesn't
exactly sound "fun," so here are some suggestions to make it more
interesting. First, instead of simply taking turns answering
questions, you could read one question and then go around the room,
having each student say ONE WORD until the question is answered (the
final student says "period"). Alternatively, you can give each
student a question, one at a time, but to ensure that they don't
respond with "I don't know," or some other lazy variant, have
his/her classmates rate the response on a scale from 1 - 10. If the
average falls below 5, for example, the student gets a second
question. (I did this in my class, and the quality of the answers
magically improved.)
If you always keep this
box of questions at your side in the classroom, it can be a
wonderful salvation for the teacher and a nice reprieve from those
dusty textbooks for the students.
I've Never
-
Adapted from a
drinking game, in which
one person says
something that he/she has never done, and whoever has done
that thing must take a drink. The point is to say something that
you think everyone else has done. If you're the only male at the
table, then, you could say, "I've never worn a dress," or "I've
never kissed a boy," and most of the girls (presumably) would have
to drink.
In the classroom, then,
you play the same way, but instead of drinks, you have to be
creative. One way is to bring several small chocolates or candies
(like M&Ms or Skittles), and for each turn, whoever has never done
that thing can take one candy. (So if there are two boys in class,
and one boy says, "I've never worn a dress," then the two boys can
take a one piece of candy each. Or, if your school has a reward
system, then you can give points to the students instead of candies,
and whoever has the most points at the end would then get a prize or
reward, or just the pride of having defeated one's classmates.
This is a great way to
practice Present Perfect Tense,
and the kids tend
to have a lot of fun with it. For more advanced students, you can be
strict and refuse to award points or candy if they forget to use the
past participle (e.g. "I've Never Go" instead of "I've Never
Gone").
The Lying Game
- This game is a lot of fun for intermediate or advanced students. I
particularly like this game, as it gets students listening and
speaking, and they have a good time without even realizing that
they're learning English. First, you, the teacher, write down three
things about yourself, two of which are lies. (For example: a) I
have been to Japan b) I have eaten a snail c) I have ridden a
horse). Read them to the students, who then write down a, b, or c,
to guess which statement is true. After everyone has guessed, reveal
the true answer, and give each student who guessed correctly one
point.
Then, everyone has 5
minutes or so to write down three things about themselves, of which
two must be lies. Have the first student read his/hers, and have
everyone guess which one is true, assigning points for correct
guesses as before. Then go on to the next student, and proceed until
everyone has read their three statements. Students tend to really
enjoy this game. I usually buy a tea or give a prize to the student
or students who have the most points at the end.
The
Improv Game
-
This is adapted
from those improv comedy classes. Stand or sit in something
resembling a circle. The teacher starts telling a story (Yesterday,
I went to the park, and I couldn't believe what I saw!). Then, the
teacher points to a student, and the student continues the story
from where the teacher stopped. Soon, the teacher points to another
student, and that student starts telling the story from the last
point. Keep going until everyone has spoken, or until the story gets
too ridiculous to continue (as is bound to happen).
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