Speak Up

Getting your students speaking

through games and game-like
activities.
 Presentation Objective
• The objective of this presentation is to present
ideas about how to get our pupils more
engaged with spoken English in the classroom
– speaking and actively listening – while
enjoying the activity.
• Many of the ideas presented are not my
original ideas – rather this is a collection of
activities that have worked in my own
classroom.
 Underlying Principle
• Be as inclusive as possible – we want all the
pupils to be able to participate
• Reduce self-consciousness – we don’t want the
pupils overly worried about making mistakes
• Overcome avoidance – you can’t improve
speaking skills without speaking
 How much are your pupils actively
engaged with spoken English?
• Natural language acquisition occurs in the process of
deciphering meaning coupled with repeated attempts to
convey meaning. How much is that happening in our
classrooms?

• Teachers often delude themselves that pupils are

speaking more than they actually are by using the ‘ping
pong’ dialogue whereby very few pupils participate and
others aren’t necessarily listening.
NOTE:
When I speak about active engagement I am
referring to engagement that is NOT motivated
by the desire to attain future goals such as high
matriculation scores but because the lesson itself
is intrinsically engaging.
 Measuring Engagement
• Imagine playing a game you enjoy playing – if
you don’t like games than imagine an activity you
truly enjoy.
• When playing/doing this activity, how engaged
are you? (how conscious are you of peripheral
happenings?)
• If your cellphone rings in the middle, how pleased
are you to be distracted from your game?
Communication vs. Accuracy
 How much should accuracy be emphasized during
spoken English exercises?
• My recipe is that accuracy can be stressed only
as much as it doesn’t interfere with the
speaking activity.
• We can take advantage of teachable moments
to mold and correct our pupils English as long
as by doing so we are not making our pupils
self conscious in anyway and we are not
sabotaging the momentum of the activity.
 Getting to know each other
• The first few classes are a great time for game-
like activities because they speed up the
process of becoming more familiar and relaxed
with each other. I say game-like because it
important in the beginning of the year to
establish routines and procedures that will
serve to create and preserve a productive
learning atmosphere—we do not want to
introduce chaos but enjoyment yes.
 Gaming it up
Gaming-it up means being game-like without playing a
game. For example:
•Divide into groups of threes—triads.
•Only begin when I give you the sign.
•What I want you to do is write down as many activities as
you can in one minute that all three of you have chosen to
do over the last hour. (involuntary activities such as
breathing don’t count).
•Get ready, begin!
 Another Example
• In the same triads, list as many items as
possible that all three of you have in common
but it is unlikely that all the other groups have
in common.
• Anything goes – from the color of your
clothing to the number of siblings you have.
• Get ready. Begin. You have one minute.
• How many items has your group written down?
Which groups have written more than five? More
than ten?

• What items have you listed that are true only for
your specific group and no other?

• Let’s check.
 Learning Names
Sit in a circle.
•Variation One: Everyone needs to introduce themselves with
name, one word description and a movement. You can add an
explanation of why the person chose the word. The next person
has to repeat how the previous person introduced themselves
including movement all around the circle.
Example: Debora -- Water -- Swimming Movement [I swim almost
every day]
•Variation Two: Everyone needs to introduce themselves with a
two/three word alliteration. You have to repeat the previous
alliteration (s) and then add your own.
Example: Darling debonair Debora
 More game-like activities for first
lessons
• I usually begin a new class with a
questionnaire and by having the pupils write a
paragraph about themselves based on the
information they recorded in the questionnaire.
I then use the information I gather from this
paragraph to create a game-like activity for the
following lesson.
• Here are two examples...
Post Game-like activity – Who is it?
•Who was born in Chile?
•Whose favorite movie is The Invisible Sisters?
•Whose favorite TV show is Friends?
•Whose least favorite food is chicken soup?

Post Game-like activity – Bingo

Create bingo cards based on the information gathered. Each card should be
different. The object is to write the name of a fellow pupil in the correct box.
They can only use a name once.
Chaotic version is the pupils walk around the room asking each other if the
statement is true about them.
Orderly alternative: One by one the pupils ask someone in the class a question
that will help them complete their card.
 Getting to know you Bingo
Someone who was born in the same Someone who plays a musical Someone who likes sports
month as you instrument

Someone who likes Mathematics Someone who speaks more than three Someone who has a brother or sister
languages the same age as your brother or sister

Someone who knows how to ride a Someone who has more than two Someone who is the youngest child in
horse brothers the family
 Carousel
• Students sit in two concentric circles facing
each other.
• The students must discuss a topic that you call
out with the student facing them.
• Every minute you call out revolve/move place
and assign a new topic to speak about.
• The inner circle is invited to join the outer
circle. Elicit interesting new information they
learned about each other during the carousel.
 The Wind is Blowing in the
Direction of Everyone Who …
• Goal: Avoid being the last person standing.
• Preparation: Everyone needs to sit in chairs arranged in a circle. There
should be one chair less than the number of people. One person stands in
the middle of the circle.
• How to Play: The person in the middle needs to say “the wind is blowing
in the direction of everyone who ….” and complete the sentence with
something true about him/herself. For example: “The wind is blowing in
the direction of anyone who has been in the USA.” If the person’s
statement applies to someone sitting in the circle, that person has to move
from his or her seat and sit in a different chair. People cannot move to
seats on their immediate left or right. For example, they can sit two seats
away, but they cannot move to the left or right of their current chairs. The
person in the middle tries to sit down. One person will remain standing.
The standing person starts a new round by saying a different statement.
 SPEED DATING
Set up stations. Each station has a different question on it
and two chairs facing each other. You can use the “36
questions to fall in love with” or make up your own
questions. You can add vocabulary words to use at every
station.
Students pair up and sit at a station. They must answer the
question at their station. Play background music. When the
music stops they need to change both stations and
partners.
It is possible to have students fill in a form where they
need to fill in who was the partner, which question did
they discuss and which vocabulary word they used.
 Language Games
• It is possible to use speaking games to
introduce, reinforce and/or practice specific
language structures. The possibilities are
infinite…
• However, since the games are fun, they can
also be used without making the connection to
the structure.
 Advanced Simon Says
• Regular Simon Says practices the imperative.
However you can use it for practicing relative
pronouns as well.
• Simon Says point at something which is red,
shakes hands with someone who is wearing
sneakers, stand next to someone whose last
name begins with S.
• Have a pupil lead the game…
 What would you say if…
On pieces of paper/index cards write some funny, crazy,
and zanny situations such as:... your father came home
with blue hair, you went to school and it wasn’t there,
etc....The weirder the situation the better!
Place the situations in a bag/hat.
In another bag put the pupils names.
The teacher pulls out one situation and reads it: "What
would you do if...” Everyone needs to answer the
question for themselves. Teacher pulls name of a pupil
from the other bag – that pupil needs to answer the
question aloud. You can ask if anyone else has a good
answer…
 Adverbs of Manner
• Elicit from the class as many interesting adverbs as
manner as possible and write them on the board. You
can add others. (anxiously, clumsily, frantically,
mysteriously)
• A volunteer leaves the room. The class decides on what
according to what adverb they will react when the
volunteer returns to the room.
• The volunteer re-enters and asks random students
questions. The students answer according to the manner
which was selected. The volunteer needs to guess
according to which manner they are answering.
 I Have Never Ever
• All students in the class should start holding
five or ten fingers in the air. The student who
begins the activity will tell the class one thing
that he/she has NEVER ever done. The
students who have done that activity should
put a finger down.
• Example: I have never ever read a Harry Potter
book.
• In an advanced class you can add that past
participles cannot be repeated.
 Twenty Questions
• A student/teacher is “it”. The “it “ person must
think of a person, place or thing. The others must
guess the person, place or thing in 20 questions or
less. Only yes/no questions are allowed.
• Before beginning, usually the category is given: Is
it a person, place, or thing?
• OR Is it an animal (alive and breathing)? A
vegetable (does it grow?) Or mineral (isn't alive,
doesn't grow, comes from the ground)? This
version can be a bit tricky as one object can fit a
couple different categories (like a leather belt).
 20 Questions Variations
Variation One: Who Am I
Volunteer chooses a famous person to be. The class asks
the volunteer yes/no questions until they guess who the
person is pretending to be.
Variation Two: What’s in my pocket?
A volunteer goes out of the room and places something in
his/her pocket. The class has to ask yes/no questions until
the figure out what the object is.
Variation Three: What have I changed? A volunteer goes
out of the room and changes something subtle about
his/her appearance. The class has to ask yes/no questions
to figure out the change.
 What is the Question?
• Make a set of cards with answers to questions
based on a text the students are familiar with.
• The students must formulate a question that is
appropriate for the answer according to the
text.
• This can be done as a competition between
teams.
 Superlatives
• Divide the class into two to four teams. Each team
must come up with questions that include superlatives
and to which they know the answer. For example:
Who is the youngest kid in the class? Where is the
tallest building in the world located?
• A volunteer from one team asks the members of the
other teams one of their questions. The first team to
write the correct answer on the board gets a point. If
no one answers the question correctly the team asking
the question gets the point.
 Vocabulary Games
• Games are a good way to reinforce specific
vocabulary being studied.
• In general, any speaking game is an
opportunity to expand and reinforce
vocabulary.
 Practicing vocabulary
by creating dialogues
• Divide the class into pairs.
• Each pair needs to create a short
comprehensible dialogue using five/ten words
from a vocabulary list and present it to the
class.
• The students need to identify which vocabulary
words were used.
 Conversations
• Have the pupils make flash cards with random
words or make them yourself. You can also use
new vocabulary that is being learnt. Divide the
flash cards into two piles.
• Two volunteers need to conduct a conversation
about a random topic. Each time they speak they
must use the word on the next flash card in their
pile. They keep going until they are unable to use
one of the words.
 Taboo
Taboo is a card game, released by Hasbro in 1989.
However you can create your own taboo cards.
Each taboo card has a word and a list of taboo words
you are not allowed to say. The goal is to get your
partner/teammates to guess the word you are
describing without using any of the taboo words.
The idea is to get the others to guess as many cards
as possible within a specified time limit.
Each card you get right is a point and all of the cards
you skip, or cards on which you said words that
were taboo is a point for the other side.
 Taboo Variations
• Variation #1: Create a PowerPoint presentation with each slide containing a
noun. Have one student come to the front of the room and sit with his/her back to
the PowerPoint. The students in the class should take turns describing the words
for the student in the front of the room to guess.

• Variation #2: Write random words on cards. Students one by one choose a card.
They have one minute to describe the word on the card without saying the word.
If they succeed they choose a category that becomes taboo – such as colors,
shapes, activities. The person whose turn is next is not allowed to use that
category nor the previous categories. The game gets more and more difficult
until it is virtually impossible to have others guess the word.

• Variation #3: Separate the class into two teams. Each team makes ten taboo cards
for the other team. (on the card is the word to be guessed and 3-4 taboo words. A
team member chooses a card prepared by the opposing team and has to get his
team to guess the word without using any of the taboo words. Within a minute.
 What is happening?
(Taboo variation)
• Bring in four boxes. Label each box – character, object
and activity
• Ask each student to write on separate slips a character –
(mother, doctor, thief), an object (shoe, candle, phone),
an activity (swimming, shopping) and place the slips in
the appropriate boxes.
• Two volunteers choose a slip from each box. They need
to speak as if they are the character, doing the activity
and using/possessing the object but without mentioning
any of the words. The class needs to guess the words
each the volunteer chose.
 Drawing Taboo
• Divide the class into two groups. Each group comes up
with images that the other group needs to draw – up to
five word descriptions.
• A volunteer selects a card from the opposite group. He
must have another member of his group draw on the
board what is written on the card without using any of
the nouns on the card. For example: ‘apple with a
worm’. The speaker cannot use the words apple or
worm.
• The rest of the group needs to guess what is being drawn
within a minute.
 Password
• Divide the class into two groups. A volunteer
from each group is given a secret word.
• The first volunteer tries to have his/her group
guess the secret word by giving a one word
clue and performing one gesture. If the don’t
succeed the other volunteer tries to get his/her
group to guess the word using a one word clue
and gesture. The round ends when one of the
teams guesses the word.
 Speaking Games
• I have used the following games as a way to
get my pupils more comfortable speaking and
as fun warm-ups before practicing public
speaking (giving speeches) in class .
 Silly conversations
Have a conversation in which one of the
speakers can only these interjections:
•Whatever.
•Hey!
•Really?
•Oh no!
Have a conversation that is entirely in questions.
 Two Truths, One Lie
Students present three facts about
themselves. Two of the facts should be the truth,
and one should be a lie.
The other students need to decide which
statement is a lie.
 Who’s Telling the Truth?
Have each student write three facts about themselves that
nobody in the class knows on a piece of paper. Make sure
each student includes his/her name on the top of the
paper. Collect the sheets of paper and bring three students
to the front of the room.
Read aloud one of the facts that is true for one of the
students in the front of the room. The class then proceeds
to question the students in an attempt to determine who is
telling the truth, and who is lying.
Each student is allowed to ask one question to one of the
three students. After a round of questioning, the students
predict who is telling the truth.
 Impromptu Speeches
• An impromptu speech is a short speech given
on a random topic with little or no preparation.
• To turn it into a game, divide the class into
teams. The goal is to speak about the topic for
as long as possible without hesitations,
ineffective repetitions or mother tongue. The
more you speak without these blunders, the
more points you get.
 Secret Word
A volunteer is given a secret word which they
must use in a one minute impromptu speech
about a random topic. If they manage to use the
word at least three times without the others guess
what the word is, they win.
 Crazy Job Interviews
• Come up with weird job descriptions – such as
‘dragon trainer’ or ‘unicorn catcher’.
• Three volunteers need to explain in under
twenty words/20 seconds why they are the best
person for a specific job. They can either
know what the job is or not know.
• The class votes who is the best candidate for
that particular job based on their presentation.
 Mini Debates
• Divide the class into Agree, Disagrees and Judges.
• Read aloud a controversial statement.
• Choose one to three students from each side to explain
why he or she agrees or disagrees with the statement.
• Choose one to three students to refute the other side’s
claims.
• Choose a student from each side to give a closing
statement
• Have the judges vote on which side won and explain
why.
 This isn’t what you think it is
• Bring in box of a random objects.
• Volunteers choose an object. They need to
convince their classmates that the object is
something other than what it really is.
OR
• Volunteers have to explain why it is essential
for them to have the object – a promotional
commercial for the object.
 Picture Narrations
• Collect interesting images or have pupils each bring in
interesting images. You can put the images in a power point as
well. Students or you select an image, they must tell a story
which relates to the image. You can also have them tell a story
which connects a series of images together. The activity can
be turned into a competition.
 Story Completion
• Sit in a circle. The teacher starts to tell a story, but
after a few sentences stops narrating. Then each
students adds a sentence. Each student starts to
narrate from the point where the previous one
stopped. The idea is for the story to continue to
make sense.
• Variation: Tell a story one/two/three words at a
time – full stop counts as a word. If the
continuation is grammatically incorrect, that
person is out.
 Descriptive Drawing
Variation one: Pair up the students and give them each a
picture face down. They must describe the picture for
their partner to draw without their partner seeing the
picture.
Variation Two: Describe a drawing to the class. Each
pupil tries to make a copy of the drawing according to
your description.
Variation Three: Give the students directions how to draw
anything (monster, alien, person) without them knowing
what they need to draw. Compare the finished drawings.
You can do a follow-up by having them write stories
about their drawings.
 Endings
• Make up cards with possible endings for
stories.
• A volunteer selects an ending.
• The pupils need to tell a story in one minute
that ends according to the ending selected.
 Oink
• Send a volunteer out of the room. Decide on a
word that you will replace with “oink”.
• The volunteer returns to the room and begins to
ask pupils one by one WH questions until the
volunteer guesses what the “oink” is.
• You can add a requirement that the pupils – or
every three pupils -- need to answer the
question in such a way that they must use the
word oink if it hasn’t been used in the previous
two replies.
 I am bringing…
• The teacher begins by saying I am going to a
party and I am bringing X and Y. The choice
of what to bring needs to be based on a secret
logic such as only “round” objects.”I am going
to a party and I am bringing apples and
oranges. The students need to guess the logic
by offering to bring things to the party. The
teacher says if they can or can’t bring their
suggestions according to the logic chosen.
 Show and Tell
• Students bring in objects or images that have a
special meaning to them and tell the class
about it.
 Who can do it the fastest?
Divide the class into triads. Assign a short text to memorize.
They can divide the text up among them or choose one of them to
recite and the others help that person memorize. The first group
to succeed wins – or turn it into an exit ticket – they need to recite
the poem in order to leave the room.
One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
A deaf policeman heard the noise
And came and shot the two dead boys.
If you don’t believe my lies are true
Ask the blind man, he saw it too.