ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHING SPEAKING

TABOO
What is it?
Vocabulary game. Students pair up. One student is the describer s/he gets the
vocabulary cards. The other students is the guesser. The describer picks a card and describes or
defines it until the guesser says the word on the card. Pairs try to complete ad many cards as
possible in a time limit.
How can you use it?

To review vocabulary already studied

To introduce new vocabulary and see what students already know

To practice synonyms, definitions, descriptions.

FIND THE DIFFERENCE
What is it?
Information gap where two students have nearly identical pictures. They must ask
and answer questions to find the differences between their two pictures (without looking at each
others picture!). search Google images for find the difference and you can print many examples.
How can you use it?

Asking questions

Answering questions

Giving descriptions

Communicating repair (solving misunderstanding)

ROLE PLAYS
How can you use it?
STORIES
How can you use it?
PICTURES
How can you use it?
PAIR SHARE
What is it?
Pairs of students brainstorm a topic, answer a question, discuss an issue, compare
answer, ect.
How can you use it?

Warm up activity

To help shy students get more comfortable speaking

First step to a group discussion

JIGSAW
What is it?
Communicative group activity where each group becomes an expert on an
article, topic, issue, argument, etc. Next, form new groups with one expert from each topic. The
experts have to teach/explain their information to the new group members.
How can you use it?

Students teach one other

Every student has to speak to give information to group members

Every students has to listen to get missing information from group member

Teaching Speaking

Developing Speaking Activities

Traditional classroom speaking practice often takes the form of drills in which one
person asks a question and another gives an answer. The question and the answer
are structured and predictable, and often there is only one correct, predetermined
answer. The purpose of asking and answering the question is to demonstrate the
ability to ask and answer the question.
In contrast, the purpose of real communication is to accomplish a task, such as
conveying a telephone message, obtaining information, or expressing an opinion. In
real communication, participants must manage uncertainty about what the other
person will say. Authentic communication involves an information gap; each
participant has information that the other does not have. In addition, to achieve their
purpose, participants may have to clarify their meaning or ask for confirmation of
their own understanding.
To create classroom speaking activities that will develop communicative competence,
instructors need to incorporate a purpose and an information gap and allow for
multiple forms of expression. However, quantity alone will not necessarily produce
competent speakers. Instructors need to combine structured output activities, which
allow for error correction and increased accuracy, with communicative output
activities that give students opportunities to practice language use more freely.
Structured Output Activities
Two common kinds of structured output activities are information
gap and jigsaw activities. In both these types of activities, students complete a task
by obtaining missing information, a feature the activities have in common with real
communication. However, information gap and jigsaw activities also set up practice
on specific items of language. In this respect they are more like drills than like
communication.
Information Gap Activities

Filling the gaps in a schedule or timetable: Partner A holds an airline

timetable with some of the arrival and departure times missing. Partner B has
the same timetable but with different blank spaces. The two partners are not
permitted to see each other's timetables and must fill in the blanks by asking
each other appropriate questions. The features of language that are practiced
would include questions beginning with "when" or "at what time." Answers
would be limited mostly to time expressions like "at 8:15" or "at ten in the
evening."

Completing the picture: The two partners have similar pictures, each with
different missing details, and they cooperate to find all the missing details. In
another variation, no items are missing, but similar items differ in
appearance. For example, in one picture, a man walking along the street may
be wearing an overcoat, while in the other the man is wearing a jacket. The
features of grammar and vocabulary that are practiced are determined by the
content of the pictures and the items that are missing or different. Differences
in the activities depicted lead to practice of different verbs. Differences in
number, size, and shape lead to adjective practice. Differing locations would
probably be described with prepositional phrases.

These activities may be set up so that the partners must practice more than just
grammatical and lexical features. For example, the timetable activity gains a social
dimension when one partner assumes the role of a student trying to make an
appointment with a partner who takes the role of a professor. Each partner has pages
from an appointment book in which certain dates and times are already filled in and
other times are still available for an appointment. Of course, the open times don't
match exactly, so there must be some polite negotiation to arrive at a mutually
convenient time for a meeting or a conference.
Jigsaw Activities
Jigsaw activities are more elaborate information gap activities that can be done with
several partners. In a jigsaw activity, each partner has one or a few pieces of the
"puzzle," and the partners must cooperate to fit all the pieces into a whole picture.
The puzzle piece may take one of several forms. It may be one panel from a comic
strip or one photo from a set that tells a story. It may be one sentence from a written
narrative. It may be a tape recording of a conversation, in which case no two partners
hear exactly the same conversation.

In one fairly simple jigsaw activity, students work in groups of four. Each
student in the group receives one panel from a comic strip. Partners may not
show each other their panels. Together the four panels present this narrative:
a man takes a container of ice cream from the freezer; he serves himself
several scoops of ice cream; he sits in front of the TV eating his ice cream; he
returns with the empty bowl to the kitchen and finds that he left the container
of ice cream, now melting, on the kitchen counter. These pictures have a clear
narrative line and the partners are not likely to disagree about the appropriate
sequencing. You can make the task more demanding, however, by using
pictures that lend themselves to alternative sequences, so that the partners
have to negotiate among themselves to agree on a satisfactory sequence.
More elaborate jigsaws may proceed in two stages. Students first work in
input groups (groups A, B, C, and D) to receive information. Each group
receives a different part of the total information for the task. Students then
reorganize into groups of four with one student each from A, B, C, and D, and
use the information they received to complete the task. Such an organization
could be used, for example, when the input is given in the form of a tape
recording. Groups A, B, C, and D each hear a different recording of a short
news bulletin. The four recordings all contain the same general information,

but each has one or more details that the others do not. In the second stage,
students reconstruct the complete story by comparing the four versions.
With information gap and jigsaw activities, instructors need to be conscious of the
language demands they place on their students. If an activity calls for language your
students have not already practiced, you can brainstorm with them when setting up
the activity to preview the language they will need, eliciting what they already know
and supplementing what they are able to produce themselves.
Structured output activities can form an effective bridge between instructor modeling
and communicative output because they are partly authentic and partly artificial.
Like authentic communication, they feature information gaps that must be bridged
for successful completion of the task. However, where authentic communication
allows speakers to use all of the language they know, structured output activities lead
students to practice specific features of language and to practice only in brief
sentences, not in extended discourse. Also, structured output situations are contrived
and more like games than real communication, and the participants' social roles are
irrelevant to the performance of the activity. This structure controls the number of
variables that students must deal with when they are first exposed to new material.
As they become comfortable, they can move on to true communicative output
activities.
Communicative Output Activities
Communicative output activities allow students to practice using all of the language
they know in situations that resemble real settings. In these activities, students must
work together to develop a plan, resolve a problem, or complete a task. The most
common types of communicative output activity are role plays and discussions .
In role plays, students are assigned roles and put into situations that they may
eventually encounter outside the classroom. Because role plays imitate life, the range
of language functions that may be used expands considerably. Also, the role
relationships among the students as they play their parts call for them to practice and
develop their sociolinguistic competence. They have to use language that is
appropriate to the situation and to the characters.
Students usually find role playing enjoyable, but students who lack self-confidence or
have lower proficiency levels may find them intimidating at first. To succeed with
role plays:

Prepare carefully: Introduce the activity by describing the situation and

making sure that all of the students understand it
Set a goal or outcome: Be sure the students understand what the product of
the role play should be, whether a plan, a schedule, a group opinion, or some
other product
Use role cards: Give each student a card that describes the person or role to be
played. For lower-level students, the cards can include words or expressions
that that person might use.

Brainstorm: Before you start the role play, have students brainstorm as a class
to predict what vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions they might
use.

Keep groups small: Less-confident students will feel more able to participate if
they do not have to compete with many voices.

Give students time to prepare: Let them work individually to outline their
ideas and the language they will need to express them.

Be present as a resource, not a monitor: Stay in communicative mode to

answer students' questions. Do not correct their pronunciation or grammar
unless they specifically ask you about it.

Allow students to work at their own levels: Each student has individual
language skills, an individual approach to working in groups, and a specific
role to play in the activity. Do not expect all students to contribute equally to
the discussion, or to use every grammar point you have taught.

Do topical follow-up: Have students report to the class on the outcome of their
role plays.

Do linguistic follow-up: After the role play is over, give feedback on grammar
or pronunciation problems you have heard. This can wait until another class
period when you plan to review pronunciation or grammar anyway.

Discussions, like role plays, succeed when the instructor prepares students first, and
then gets out of the way. To succeed with discussions:

Prepare the students: Give them input (both topical information and language
forms) so that they will have something to say and the language with which to
say it.
Offer choices: Let students suggest the topic for discussion or choose from
several options. Discussion does not always have to be about serious issues.
Students are likely to be more motivated to participate if the topic is television
programs, plans for a vacation, or news about mutual friends. Weighty topics
like how to combat pollution are not as engaging and place heavy demands on
students' linguistic competence.

Set a goal or outcome: This can be a group product, such as a letter to the
editor, or individual reports on the views of others in the group.

Use small groups instead of whole-class discussion: Large groups can make
participation difficult.

Keep it short: Give students a defined period of time, not more than 8-10
minutes, for discussion. Allow them to stop sooner if they run out of things to
say.

Allow students to participate in their own way: Not every student will feel
comfortable talking about every topic. Do not expect all of them to contribute
equally to the conversation.

Do topical follow-up: Have students report to the class on the results of their
discussion.

Do linguistic follow-up: After the discussion is over, give feedback on

grammar or pronunciation problems you have heard. This can wait until
another class period when you plan to review pronunciation or grammar
anyway.

Through well-prepared communicative output activities such as role plays and

discussions, you can encourage students to experiment and innovate with the
language, and create a supportive atmosphere that allows them to make mistakes
without fear of embarrassment. This will contribute to their self-confidence as
speakers and to their motivation to learn more.

01

Word Prompts

Team A

Team B

Students from Team (B) have to guess the words on

your LIST. Before each guess, say a word which
will help Team (B) to guess correctly. But DO NOT
SAY THE WORD ON YOUR LIST.

Students from Team (A) have to guess the words on

your LIST. Before each guess, say a word which
will help Team (A) to guess correctly. But DO NOT
SAY THE WORD ON YOUR LIST.

YOUR LIST (Team B must guess)

YOUR LIST (Team A must guess)

A1 horse

B1 car

A2 window

B2 Big Ben

A3 elephant

B3 cup

A4 England

B4 floor

A5 teacher

B5 kangaroo

A6 London

B6 lemon

A7 river

B7 Russia

A8 book

B8 ice cream

A9 Margaret Thatcher

B9 Micky Mouse

A10 karate

B10 bath

02

Kim's game (longer & longer lists) see Rudyard Kipling for origin of game

In my [pocket] [shopping bag] [house] [garden] [country] [dream], there is / are / was /were
(The teacher imposes the necessary restrictions according to the vocabulary area)
I packed my bag and in it I put:
an X (longer & longer list)
an X and some Ys.
an X, some Ys, a Z, an ___ and some _____s
(As you go round the class each student has to recite the existing list and add an item in the
same category).

03

Guessing nouns via "Is it + adjective" questions

Guessing Games: Vocabulary. Questions with ADJECTIVES

Group A

Questions to ask opposing team(s)

1. chair

Ask YES/NO questions:

2. bus

Is it big / round /square / rectangular?

3. head

Is there one in this room?

4. bicycle

Can we eat it?

5. computer

Is it made of wood / plastic / metal?

6. chocolate

Ask your own questions

Group B

Questions to ask opposing team(s)

1. tree

Ask YES/NO questions:

2. shoe

Is it small/yellow/light/dark/circular?

3. tea

Have you one in your house / country?

4. knife

Do you like it?

5. finger

Is it used every day?

6. button

Ask your own questions

Group C

Questions to ask opposing team(s)

1. bra

Ask YES/NO questions:

2. pen

Is it larger than a chair?

3. mouse

Can I see one now?

4. coffee

Do you find it indoors or outdoors?

5. jumbo jet

Are there a lot of them in this school?

6. mobile phone

Ask your own questions:

Group D

Questions to ask opposing team(s)

1. cat

Ask YES/NO questions:

2. house

Is it hard / soft / high / tall / low ?

3. gate

Is it liquid or solid?

4. guitar

Do I see one every day?

5. sugar

Have you got one in your house / with you?

6. washing machine

Ask your own questions:

04

Market trader: guess the connection (I can sell + LIST)

Ss: I'm a market trader and I can sell (camcorders) (compact disks) (televisions).
T: That's right. You can.
Ss: I'm a market trader and I can sell (steam engines) (saucepans) (guitars)
T: No you can't.
CONNECTION: Invented after 1900.
Other possible restrictions
1. objects must begin with the same letter as the S's first name.
2. objects must begin with the same letter as the first name of S on the right of speaker.
3. must be in the room
4. must be made of special material / must include wood or metal
5. must be objects you can grow.
Instructions
Each student has a turn of saying "I'm a market trader and I can sell...."
The person who knows the connection (T or S) gives feedback (Yes, you can or No, you can't.
The students must guess the connection. Either call it out or write it down after a reasonable
number of examples have been given.

05

Comparisons: How is XXX like YYY?

Finding Connections (Word Fields and Adjective Comparisons

Group A

How is XXX like YYY?

How does XXX differ from YYY?

1. milk

cheese

3. caf

restaurant

2. computer

television

Group B

How is XXX like YYY?

4. umbrella

sunshade

How does XXX differ from YYY?

X

1. kettle

teapot

3. doctor

dentist

2. moustache

beard

4. cooker

fridge

Group C

How is XXX like YYY?

How does XXX differ from YYY?

1. horse

dog

3. beer

whisky

2. sock

stocking

4. wristwatch

egg-timer

Group D

How is XXX like YYY?

How does XXX differ from YYY?

1. ice

snow

3. dictionary

encyclopaedia

2. chemist

pharmacist

4. record

compact disk

06

BLIP (sometimes known as COFFEE POT) Guess the verb

Each student is given a VERB. (See that it is suitable for the level of the class).

In pairs or as a whole class, discover the VERB through QUESTIONS.

The nonsense word "BLIP" should be substituted for the target VERB.

Write sample QUESTIONS on the board

When / Where / Why / How do you blip?
Can you blip someone / something / somewhere?
Do you often blip?
Did you blip yesterday?
Are you blipping now?
Are you going to blip this weekend?
Have you blipped since you arrived in England?
Do you like blipping?
Do you blip with your hands?
If I saw you blipping, would you be embarrassed?

The aim of the game is not to guess the meaning of the word "Blip" straight away. When you
think you know the meaning of the word "Blip", you could ask further questions which make
the meaning of the word "Blip" clear to the rest of the class or which amuse the student who
is answering the questions.

Sample Verbs
cook

live

cry

love

dance

read

draw

run

dream

shout

drink

sing

drive

sleep

eat

swim

fight

talk

fish

think

fly

undress

jump

worry

kiss

argue

paint

bathe

plan

complain

rest

diet

scream

explore

sew

fidget

smile

translate

hesitate

understand

iron

vacuum

joke

whisper

knit

win

move

yell

oversleep

zigzag

07

Guess the ADVERB

One student goes out of the room. The rest of the class think of an adverb or the teacher
selects one and writes it on the board for everybody to see. It is rubbed off the board before
the student outside returns.
The returned student asks a variety of questions to different students. They all answer in the
manner suggested by the adverb.
Alternatively, the returned student can ask members of the class to do things. They then have
to perform the actions in the manner suggested by the adverb.
After hearing a sample of answers or observing a sample of actions performed by different
students, the student who originally left the classroom is then asked to guess the adverb.
quickly

slowly

noisily

quietly

angrily

politely

sadly

happily

sleepily

shyly

loudly

rudely

drunkenly

nervously

romantically

confidently

anxiously

hesitantly

calmly

lovingly

doubtfully

ungrammatically

warmly

coldly

timidly

08

The Preposition Game

The teacher thinks of a room of a house and a hiding-place in which to hide an object.
(1) I've hidden YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT and today is YOUR BIRTHDAY!
Ss: Have you put it __________________________?
(2) I hid my mother's Christmas present LAST CHRISTMAS!
Ss: Did you put it ____________________________?
(3) I'm going to hide my brother's Christmas present NEXT CHRISTMAS!
Ss: Are you going to put it ________________________?

(4) EVERY CHRISTMAS, my uncle hides my present!

Ss: Does he put it ________________________________?

Practise different tenses. A student can choose a hiding-place and the rest of the class can
ask the questions. Alternatively, students can work in pairs.

09

Classroom observation

Seat TWO students at the front of the class facing the white/black board with the other
students looking on. The two students are both given a chance to answer each question and
they are awarded points for correct answers.
Sample Questions
1. How many windows / tables / chairs / students are there?
2. What are their names?
3. Who is sitting next to Z / between X and Y / opposite X / on the left / on the right?

4. What is (s)he wearing? / What colour is Z's shirt.

Alternatively, seat students in pairs back to back and issue them with a checklist of
vocabulary for describing physical appearance and clothing:
Height tall/short

Build well-built

Age middle-aged

Hair style curly

Hair length long

Eyes large-eyed

Shape of head oval

Complexion fresh

Article of clothing

Material

Pattern

Colour

shirt / skirt etc

dark green

plain /checked

light blue

Ask them to describe each other using suitable words from each category.
I spy with my little eye - something beginning with + letter ABC
The objects sighted must be in view of all the students in the classroom.

10

Simon says (Action verbs + Parts of the body)

Students should only obey the commands if you preface each one with Simon says. If
you omit the preface Simon says any student who obeys the command can no longer
participate in the game. The last student to remain in the game is the winner.

Simon says: "hands up", "hands down", "thumbs up", "thunbs down", "fingers up", "fingers
down".
Simon says: "touch your eyes / ears / nose / mouth with the forefinger / middle finger / ring
finger / little finger / of your (right)(left) hand.
Simon says: "put your right hand / left hand / both hands on your right / left knee."
Simon says: "shut / open your eyes", "stand up / sit down", "stand on your right / left leg".
Simon says: "bend your knees / body", "straighten your knees / body".

Simon says: "fold your arms", "put your arms by your side".
Simon says: "wave your right hand", "STOP", "jump up and down", "STOP".
Simon says: "point at the ceiling / floor with the forefinger/ middle finger / ring finger / little
finger / of your right / left hand.

11

TELEGRAMS / MESSAGES / ANAGRAMS

TELEGRAMS / MESSAGES
Each student tries to write a telegram (or short e-mail message!) using the letters of their
name as the initial letters of the words e.g. TED = Treasure Every Day.
Place-names can also be used:
LONDON: Living On Nothing Drives One Nuts.
ENGLAND: Every Nice Girl Loves A Non-alcoholic Drink.
TOKYO: Thinking Of Kissing Yoko Ono.
JAPAN: Jokes About Politicians Are Normal.
STOCKHOLM: Sexy Toyoto Owners Can Kiss Happily On London Motorways
SWEDEN: Sociable Women Eat Doughnuts Every Night
ANAGRAMS
As an alternative to a straight spelling test, the words can be given with jumbled letters:
CESANSYRE
IRDAO
VITLSEENOI
OOCKRE
TNEHCKI
STTE

HANGMAN
This is a popular game. It is very useful at low levels and the words which students have to
guess can be restricted to areas of vocabulary (i.e. themes or semantic sets) or new words
introduced in a particular lesson.

12

Find your partner (Stick self adhesive labels to Ss' backs)

The teacher prepares SELF-ADHESIVE TYPEWRITER ADDRESS LABELS ( which can

be purchased in rolls to stick on the backs of all the students in the class.
Each label contains a real person's name or the name of a character from fiction or television
cartoons. Each named person should have a natural partner, for example if you write a label
with the name ROMEO, there should also be a label with the name JULIET stuck on
somebody's back. If you have an odd number of students in your class, stick a label on your
own back, but let the students do the questioning.
Questions must be of the type that can either be answered with YES or No:
Am I man or a woman? Alive or dead? European or American? Real or fictitious?
Am I a character from a cartoon or a book? Am I rich? Am I famous?
Have I been in the news recently? Am I someone from your country? Britain?
Do I work in sport / music / entertainment / the cinema / the theatre?
ROMEO

JULIET

TOM the cat

JERRY the mouse

POPEYE

OLIVE OIL

Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth II

Micky Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Stan Laurel

Oliver Hardy

King Juan Carlos

Queen Sofia

Andr Agassi

Steffi Graff

Nelson Mandella

Winnie Mandella

John Lennon

Yoko Ono

Richard Burton

Elizabeth Taylor

Bonnie (gangster)

Clyde (gangster)

Tarzan

Jane (jungle girl)

The Lone Ranger

Tonto (cowboy)

Prince Charles

Princess Diana

Cindarella

Prince Charming

13

What's my nationality? Who am I?

Student (A) thinks of a nationality

Student (B) asks:
"Do you wear______________?"
"Do you drink / eat _________ ?"
"Do you play (sport) or (game)?"
"Do you play the (musical instrument)?"
"Does it rain / snow a lot there?"
"Is it very hot / very cold there?"
"Do the people like ______ there?"
"Are the people there tall / short / romantic / hard-working / rich / poor?
Student (A) thinks of a famous person, fictitious character or cartoon character?
Student (B) asks YES/NO questions as in 12. Find Your Partner.

14

What's my job? (from open lists) Guessing games (closed lists)

Questions for those guessing

Do you work indoors or outdoors? / in a trade or profession? / in a factory or an office?

Do you work with your hands? Do you wear a uniform? Do you work long hours?
Do you work from 9-5? Do you work regular hours? Do you work at weekends?
Do you work with people or machines? Are you in a service industry?
Do you sell something? Do you earn a lot of money? Must you have good qualifications to do
your job?

Jobs
GROUP 1
1. police officer

2. nurse

3. farmer

4. shopkeeper

5. scientist

6. artist

7. princess

8. dressmaker

9. civil engineer

10. bricklayer

11. caretaker

12. accountant

1. singer

2. cook

3. secretary

4. student

5. driver

6. engineer

7. president

8. painter

9. chiropodist

10. fishmonger

11. receptionist

12. mathematician

1. actor

2. teacher

3. manager

4. soldier

5. gardener

6. musician

7. writer

8. chemist

9. social worker

10. surgeon

11. bee-keeper

12. newsagent

1. doctor

2. housewife

3. baker

4. pilot

5. factory worker

6. cowboy

7. builder

8. dentist

9. solicitor

10. secret agent

11. dustman

12. air-hostess

GROUP 2

GROUP 3

GROUP 4

Miming lists of jobs: A & B teams

Student A chooses ONE of the jobs in Groups 1 and 2 above.
Student B chooses ONE of the jops in Groups 3 and 4 above.
The students have to mime their jobs so their partners can guess what they are.

15

The Airline HELP desk - miming

Write a role card for each student in the class giving them a problem which could occur in an
airport. Each student has to mime their problem. The class try to guess the problem by asking
questions, but the student with the problem is not permitted to speak. They can only signal
YES or NO.
This is a good game for teaching vocabulary in a memorable context. The stranger the
problem, the more probable it is that the words will become part of the class's active
vocabulary.
Example of a problem:
My wife's gone through passport control with my boarding card. She is wearing a long red
coat and is carrying a rolling pin. Can you find her?
A pigeon has flown into the Food Hall and is eating the fruit cake.
The game is especially good for supplying the right formulae in difficult situations where
languages may be a problem:
The Airline HELP desk can be moved to another environment e.g. a language school, a
hospital or a hotel (See CUP Maley & Duff's hotel receptionist).
16

The Yes/No Game (from Michael Miles: "Take Your Pick")

Different students volunteer to be asked questions. They must avoid saying the words "YES"
or "NO" for a given period of time e.g. 1-2 minutes.
This is done by using expressions like: "I do", "I am", "that's true", "that isn't true",

"that's not correct", "exactly", "precisely", "that's right", "that's correct", "I think so",
"probably", "possibly", "usually".
The questioners can try to trap them through deliberate misunderstanding and
echo questions: "Did you say usually? So you said you live in Stuttgart? Perhaps?
Questions
Do you come from Australia? Are you sure you don't?
Are you single or married? So you're divorced. You're not interested in marriage?
Do you like English food? So you LOVE English food. You think it's the best in the world?
Have you been to Florence? So you haven't been to Italy?
Which is more important - health or money? You said "health"?
How many brothers and sisters do you have? Fifteen?
Would you like a million pounds? So you're not interested in money?
Are you more intelligent than your parents? So you're less intelligent?
Did you say you were stupid?
Do you like your teacher? Is he / she the best teacher you've ever had?
The best in the world?
What are your hobbies? So you like listening to folk music?
Can you use a computer / play the piano? You can?

17

Word in edgeways (Conversation game)

Students work in pairs. Each partner is given a strip of paper with an unusual sentence written
on it. They keep this concealed. If possible they try to learn the sentence off by heart.
Then they start conversing about any subject, but their real object is to get their given
sentence into the conversation without their partner realising and before their partner is able

to do the same. To do this successfully they have to move the topic of conversation towards a
context in which their sentence could naturally occur.
Sample sentences for strips:
1. The farmer was carrying a yellow guitar.
2. Elvis Presley was waiting on Brighton Station
3.The bottles were full of green milk.
4. She kissed him on the nose and went to bed.
5. The French student wrote twenty love letters.
6. The policeman was dressed in pink shoes and a bow-tie
7. The plane landed on the roof of Buckingham Palace.
8. The beauty queen made me a cup of tea.
9. The fly took off again and landed on my pillow.
10 The dog slipped on the banana skin and broke its leg.
11. The water was so deep that the child had to call for help.
12. The king was glad that nobody wanted his autograph.
To win the game, you have to continue speaking for a while after getting your sentence into
the conversation without being correctly challenged. You can also win by correctly
challenging your partner as soon as you think they are reciting their sentence. If your
challenge is wrong, you lose the game. It is therefore good strategy to set traps for your
partner by including strange sentences in the conversation which differ from your given
sentence.

18

Consequences (Paper & Pencil game)

Each student is given an A4 sheet of paper with some fields to fill in. They only fill in ONE
field in order (from the top to the bottom) and fold the sheet over to the next continuous line
_____________________________________________________ to hide what they have

written. They then pass the paper on to the next student who fills in the next field and fold the
paper over to the next line before handing the sheet to the third student. This continues until
all the fields are hidden. The paper is then passed on once again. Each paper will contain an
amusing story (sequence of events). This is read aloud by the student. If the student's reading
is poor, then the teacher should read the story out again using correct intonation and stress to
bring out the humour.

Name of a man famous or one in your class _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________________________________________________________
met
Name of a woman famous or one in your class _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
___________________________________________________________________________
____

at / in / on
Name of a Place _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______________________________________________________
He said to her
"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "

________________________________________________________
She said to him
" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"

_________________________________________________________
Consequence _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_____________________________________

_____________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
__

19

CHARADES: book / play / song / film / musical

One or two students agree on the title of a song, a book, a play, a musical, a TV programme
or a film (Note that films are often given different titles in different countries). They then tell
the class how many words there are in the title. If any definite or indefinite articles occur in
the title, the students must tell the class where they occur in the title. They must also say
whether the title is from a song, a book, a play, a musical, a TV programme or a film. They
must not say the name of the title.
EXAMPLES (If the students are at a lower level, you can give them the titles)
Fatal Attraction (2 words) (The title is from a film)
Cats (1 word) (The title is from a musical)
Gone With The Wind (4 words: the 3rd word is the definite article) (It's from a film)
Red is the colour (4 words: 3rd word is the definite article - a song)
Starlight Express (2 words) (It's from a musical)
Chess (1 word) (It's from a musical)
I wanna hold you hand (5 words. 2nd word is slang made up from 2 words: a song)
Blowing in the Wind (4 words: the 3rd word is the definite article) (It's from a song)
My Bonnie lies over the ocean (6 words: the 5th word is the definite article - a song)
Imagine (1 word) (It's from a song)
Les Miserables (2 words including the French definite article) (It's from a musical)
Octopussy (1 word) (It's from a film)
From Russia with Love (4 words. It's from a film)

Oliver Twist (2 words) (It's from a book)

Paperback writer (2 words - a song)
EastEnders (1 word with a capital letter in the middle) (It's from a TV program)
Tom and Jerry (3 words - a TV programme)
Popeye the Sailorman (3 words: 2nd word is the definite article - a TV programme)
Neighbours (1 word) (It's from a TV program)
Romeo and Juliet (3 words) (It's from a play)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (4 words: the 1st word is the indefinite article) (a play)
The students who have thought up the title then have to mime it. They can point to any
REALIA (e.g. maps on the wall) in the classroom. If the game is proving too difficult for
everybody, allow the mimers to sketch on the board or make animal noises, but THEY MUST
NOT WRITE or give away any of the words in the title.
The other members of the class have to guess the title. You can set a time limit or limit the
number of guesses. The game is one of co-operation between the students who are miming
and those who are guessing. A quick result points either to an easy title to mime or good
paralinguistic communication skills.
Some students like to mime every word in the title in consecutive order; others mime whole
situations which point to the full title.

20

20 Questions: Animal, Vegetable or Mineral (Abstract with V connections)

A student thinks of any object, substance, animal, person or abstract noun and declares
whether it is animal, vegetable, mineral or abstract ("love" would be declared as abstract
with animal connections) (People count as animal!)
Phrases which identify a well-known object such as uncle Tom's cabin are permitted.
The other students are limited to 20 questions. If they cannot guess the word(s) within the
allotted number of questions, then they lose the game. This is a competitive game. The class
can compete against the teacher, taking equal numbers of turns at selecting the object or
asking the questions, and the TEACHER and STUDENT scores can be recorded on the
board. Teachers should adjust the level of difficulty when it is their turn to select objects to
make a fairly equal contest.

Bibliography
Maley, Alan CUP 2005 Drama Techniques: a resource book of communication activities
Maley & Duff CUP 1978 repr 1980 Drama Techniques in Language Learning
Lee,WR OUP Language Teaching Games & Contests
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TEACHING INDEX | NEXT
a. Twenty Questions (Harmer,2001)
Twenty questions is one kind of guessing games. The essential rule of this game is
that someone knows something and others must find out what it is (Wright et al.,1984). This
game is a useful teaching technique since it can create a true communicative situation and
combine the language practice in fun and excitement ways.

Procedures:

Students are divided in two teams. Each team thinks of an object and tell the other
team that the object is either animal, vegetable, or mineral- or a combination of two or three
of these. If team A is in charge, so team B has to find out what the object is by asking only
yes/no questions such as Can you use it in the kitchen? , and team A can answer the
question in a complete answer like No,we cant or just in short answer like No or Yes.
If team B can find out what the object is in twenty questions or less, team B will get point. At
this phase, the teacher should arrange how many point that the team B will get if they can
answer it in just five questions, ten questions, or fifteen questions, e.g. in or less than five
questions, the team will get 20 points, in or less than ten questions the team will get 15
points, and so on.
a. Where are My Glasses? (Wright et al.,1984)
Where are my glasses? is one kind of pictures games. Here, the pictures hold the
main role in conducting the games and pictures can cue responses to questions or cue
substitution through controlled practice.

Procedures:

1. Teacher copies the set of pictures for each group.

2. Teacher divides the students into group of three or four.
3. Teacher gives out the pictures.

4. Teacher tells the students that they belong to a very untidy family, and are always
losing things. The pictures consist of the large and small pictures. The large shows the
pictures of their family livingroom and small pictures show things that they have lost.
5. Teacher then asks each player of the group to find out from other where these things
are and draw them in his/her picture. One player should begin by asking Where
is/are my..? and naming one of the lost object, then the other player answers and
if it is right s/he will get points and gets the next turn
6. A game for use in the language classroom
7. The idea for this game has been supplied by George Tomlinson. He teaches
at Kuso Junior High School in Pusan, Korea. This page has been made using
George's instructions and original text. I have tried it with several classes and
it works really well.
8.

A suggested blackboard layout.

9.

100 200 300 400

Fruit
Weather
Occupations
Body
Etc.
10.

Score
Team A
Team B
11.

Introduction:
I currently teach at a Kuso Junior High School in Pusan, Korea for the
government of Korea. I have found one game... that isn't new, but is quite
effective. It needs to be modified. In order to do this you can use a picture
dictionary to get some ideas for interesting categories. I have recreated
Scrabble and a number of
other games, but Jeopardy by far has been the most captivating. Its been
such a hit that I am planning to design an entire curriculum around it. How I
plan on doing that is using it in conjunction with "Word by Word: Picture
Dictionary" textbook and workbook.

12. How to Play:

Copy the suggested blackboard layout (above) onto the blackboard. Divide
the students into groups of teams. The numbers refer to the difficulty of the
questions ie, 100 is very easy whereas 400 is more difficult.

A team chooses a type of question eg. Body 200. You then ask the question:
It's in the middle of the leg and we all have two of them. Answer knee. You
then put a cross in the "body 200" box so that this question will not be asked
again. The team who gets the right answer can continue to pick the
category... The team with the most points wins...
13. Notes:
I delegate the task of writing on the blackboard to the classroom president
and the classroom vice president. This allows me the chance to monitor the
exercise and all I have to do is give the category descriptions. As students
get better some of them will even be able to deliver the descriptions of the
categories themselves as the MC of the game. I have tried distributing a
version on paper but I have found that in this case the students are too busy
looking at their paper rather than listening to what I am saying. This detracts
from the listening skills that they can acquire and they don't see the TPR I am
performing so that the meaning of the word gets
permanently recorded into their long term memory bank.
14. Some

Possible Categories:

15. Places: (Geography)

Places: (Around Town) Bank, Store
School: (Classroom) (Classroom actions) (TPR)
Family: (twins, brother-in-law, great grandmother, nephew, cousin)
Activities: (everyday) work, cook, clean, drive
Weather: drizzling, sleeting, hazy, foggy
Hobbies: painting, sculpting, knitting
Music: tuba, cymbals, reggae, jazz, ska
Occupations: architect, butcher, firefighter
Fruit: mango, cherry, kiwi, persimmon
Vegetables: pepper, cucumber, onion
Body: pinky, thumb, ankle, wrist
Emotions: nervous, hungry, sleepy
Mammals: zebra, hippo, skunk, whale
Birds: duck, peacock, ostrich,penguin
16. Examples

of questions:

17. Fruit:
I am thinking of a fruit that grows in tropical
regions. It begins with an "M." And is nowadays popular
ingredient in iced tea..... Mango.
18. I am thinking of a fruit that is famous in New Zealand.
It is small, round and its color is brown. Its
inside color is green and black..... Kiwi
Body:

This is my hand and this is (pointing to it).... wrist

This is my wrist and these are my...... fingers
These are my fingers and this is my.... thumb
This is my thumb and this is my......... pinky