Speaking

Teaching often turns out to be a challenge, specially if we are starting our career. Here some activities you can do according to the level of your students.

Beginning:

• Greet others

1) Students write their names in a piece of paper and give to the teacher. The class is organized in semicircle and the students choose a paper and look for the person that is written in the paper. Example. a paper says: "Maria" so the student ask someone: Hello! are you Maria? The other student respond Yes, I'm Maria or No, I'm not Maria. My name is "Laura". At the end of the activity the teacher ask to the students who they met. This activity is perfect to know each other in the first class.

• Cardinal and ordinal numbers

2)Use flashcards with numbers, nouns and daily routines. The teacher gives the flashcards to students and ask to tell sentences using cardinal and ordinal numbers and the vocabulary. Example. "cat" The student says: " I have 2 cats" . Get up and take a shower . The student says: First I get up and second I take a shower.

Low Beginning:

• Spell some familiar words

3)Ask to students think in 5 words. Play a song while a marker is passing around when the song stops, the student who got the marker has to spell one of his/her words.

Respond to simple questions in familiar situations demonstrating some control of gramar.

4)"The yes game"  to teach verb to be. Students ask simple questions as many as they can and provide shorts answers. 

Are you in my class? Yes, I am

Are you a nurse?

Low intermediate

• Retell a simple story

5) The teacher reads a story and the students try to say the story in their own words .

High beginning: 

• Answer questions on every day activities with some details.

6)"Investigative journalist" In pair. Students ask about their daily routines. Example. What time do you have lunch? I have lunch at 12  o'clock( sometimes I have lunch at 12:30 ) Then the teacher asks students about what they talked.

• Expresses likes and dislikes

7)"Find someone who..." Students write a list about their favorite things ask to their classmates about their favorites to find who have the same likes. Example. My  favorite movie is The notebook. What is your favorite movie? At the end the teacher ask,who whas the same likes that you? This activity can be adapted to teach possessives adjectives. His/Her favorite movie is...

• Use simple expressions to express opinion.

8) The teacher shows pictures/drawings with a statement and students says if they are agree or disagree. Example. " Dogs are the best friends of humans" The teacher asks, Is that true? What do you think? Why? Why not?

High intermediate

• Provide two and three step instructions with detail on how to do something.

9)Students do presentations about recipes.

Advanced

• Tell anecdotal stories

10) Conversation. In pair, students share something that happened to them.

This activity can be adapted. For example, the teacher asks a student to say the beginning of a story and his/her classmates continue adding more information.