Speaking Activities

Speaking is usually thought of as the most important of the four skills. Below is a list of activities to enhance a learner’s ability to speak English.

Describe a Picture
Using the two links below, learners are able to look at daily pictures and graphs and describe what is happening in each picture or graph. For each picture, there are guiding questions for the learner to think about and answer. The learner also has the option to read how others respond to the picture/graph. When describing a picture, think about answering who, what, where, when and why.

https://www.nytimes.com/column/learning-whats-going-on-in-this-picture

https://www.nytimes.com/column/whats-going-on-in-this-graph

What is It?
Place 5 objects on the table under a towel or blanket. Describe each object and let your partner guess what it is you are describing, then switch.

Sentence ideas:
The object I have is (heavy/light).
It is used in the (room).

Debates
Give your learner a statement. Have your learner think about whether or not he agrees or disagrees with the statement. The learner writes notes defending his statement. Have your learner present multiple reasons why he agrees or disagrees with the statement.

Example: The Summer Olympics are better than the Winter Olympics.
Sentence starters:
I think….
I believe….
The _____ is better than ____ because….
In my opinion…..
I think that…for example…