Esl oral communication games

A great way to prepare students for this versatile activity, no matter their level, is with authentic videos of English conversations from FluentU.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app. The FluentU videos are all organized by level and come with interactive captions, flashcards and exercises to help students pick up new words as they watch.

Debate is another classic that can incorporate pair or group work, depending on the size of your class. Create groups and assign each group or pair a side of an argument. Use pair work time to allow students to develop their argument and conclude with a class-wide debate.

Debate is made even more interesting when you present students with authentic materials to use as support for their claims. Teach a class! The pair works together to prepare activities and lesson plans and teaches the point to the class.

This simple game started when Immy was about three years of age and fascinated by animals but it can easily be adapted to other themes. I would start by asking a question about a specific attribute see some examples below and she would call out as many responses as she could think of;.

Who Am I? I Went to Market: The aim of this game is to remember as many of the items in the shopping basket as possible. Any player who makes a mistake is eliminated until only one winner is left. Debates about different choices that children make provide lots of insight into their individual personalities and preferences. Odd One Out: Begin by naming three items — two that are connected in some way and one that is not you can make this as easy or as hard as you wish, depending upon the age and interests of your children and ask your children to choose the odd one out.

Secret Message: This well known game is best played with a group of children from kindergarten age upwards. Everyone sits in a line or circle and the first person whispers a short message to the next person in line, with the message then being passed from person to person in whispers along the line or around the circle. The last person announces the message they have heard to the whole group and everyone has a good laugh at how the message had invariably changed as it has been passed along.

Silly songs: Younger children love to listen to silly nursery rhymes created by altering the rhyming words of familiar nursery rhymes. For example,. Tongue twisters: Make up your own funny tongue twisters by choosing a letter or sound and working together to make a sentence with as many words beginning with the chosen sound as possible. Alphabet chain: Choose a category and take turns naming an item that fits the category following the sequence oaf letters of the alphabet.

So the first person chooses a word starting with a, the second person a word beginning with b, the third person with c, etc. The category can be anything at all — animals, countries, names, superpowers, etc.

I would love to add to our game collection. What verbal games do you enjoy with your children? Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

I would start by asking a question about a specific attribute see some examples below and she would call out as many responses as she could think of; How many animals can you name that hatch from eggs as babies? How many animals can you name that have patterns on their bodies? How many animals can you name that eat leaves? How many insects can you name that have six legs? How many vehicles can you name with four wheels?

How many things can you name that are cone shaped? Save Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. Read the comments or scroll down to add your own: Oh we are definitely adding sound tennis to our list of car games! Brilliant :- Our favourite at the moment is hide and seek where Bella counts by 10s up to or by 2s up to The game is over once someone has gotten five spaces in a row on their bingo board.

This game works best for students who already know each other fairly well. Work as a group to come up with a list of several character traits a person might have. Try to stick to positive traits. You might include adventurous, sympathetic and generous.

Then write these traits on small slips of paper and put them in a bag. Each person takes a turn drawing one character trait from the bag in front of the class.

The student must then announce who in class and you are fair game, too possesses that character trait. The person must tell a story or give an example of why he made his particular choice.

Put the list of story starters in your writing drawer to double duty with this silly and fast paced game. Students play in small groups of around five members. Students should arrange their seats in a circle. Give your class a story starter at the beginning of the round. Starting with the person whose birthday is closest to today and them moving around the circle, each person gives his group one sentence of the story. After one person is done, the person sitting to his left adds a line where the first person left off.

Students continue around the circle, adding one sentence at a time, until the music stops or until you give another signal. Whoever is in the middle of his sentence or is struggling to think of a sentence when the music stops is out.

He must leave the circle. Then students play a second round either continuing the story or with a new story starter. Play continues until the final round when the person not speaking when the music stops is the winner. They take turns rolling the dice to see what to talk about.

To make some of these activities more of a competitive game and less of a simple speaking activity, simply introduce game elements. My favorites include a basic Tic Tac Toe grid, and a boardgame type of path that students move along with the roll of a pair of dice.

They can take their turns after they roll their number, for example, but in order to be able to move that number of steps, they must give a correct answer. You might also want to give more advanced students a time limit, and say, for example, they must speak for a full minute.

Or make it a competition to see who can speak the longest! Students of all ages will find speaking more enjoyable and will be more motivated to participate. If you need any advice on a particular topic, share your question in the comments below. Your question might get picked and featured in an article! If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below.

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