The capacity to communicate orally is extremely important for the success of our ESL students. While reading and listening skills are more straightforward to practice in a classroom setting, improving speaking abilities can be a challenging effort, especially when working with large groups of students. It can be tough for teachers to provide personalized feedback in such situations and many students don´t feel confident enough to speak in another language with their classmates.

Due to limited opportunities for oral practice, many ESL students tend to excel in passive language skills, such as reading and listening, but may face difficulties with speaking. To address this, it is crucial for us teachers to include highly engaging speaking activities into our lessons.

These activities have a dual purpose: motivating students to speak and creating an enjoyable and safe classroom environment where they feel comfortable making mistakes. By nurturing an atmosphere of enjoyment and acceptance, students are more likely to embrace speaking as an integral part of their language learning journey.

So if you are looking for innovative ways to improve your ESL students’ speaking skills, keep reading this, as we will explore five dynamic speaking activities suitable for both online and face-to-face lessons, adaptable to various age groups and language proficiency levels.

Fun Speaking Activities

1. Unconventional Travel Guide

Goal: The goal of the Unconventional Travel Guide activity is to foster creativity and improve students’ speaking skills. By encouraging students to become imaginative travel guides, it aims to ignite their creativity and boost their ability to describe unique and imaginary places effectively.

Materials: You’ll need images of fantastical places that don’t exist. These can be easily found through a quick online search using keywords like “fantasy places.” Additionally, you should be prepared to adjust the complexity of the images and vocabulary to match your students’ language proficiency.

Description of Activity: In this activity, students embark on a creative journey as unconventional travel guides. They are shown images of fantastical places that don’t exist and are encouraged to use their imagination to describe these locations. Students can ask questions about the places and provide descriptions as if they were guiding travelers through a new territory.

Why It’s Fun: This activity is fun because it allows students to escape reality and explore new worlds using their language skills. They get to explore their imagination, which can be an engaging and enjoyable way to practice speaking. It offers a unique and imaginative adventure that captivates students’ interest.

2. Recipe Reveal

Goal: The goal of the Recipe Reveal activity is to reinforce cooking-related vocabulary, challenge students to articulate detailed instructions, and enhance their speaking skills.

Materials: You’ll need images of various dishes, selected to match your students’ language proficiency, ranging from basic recipes like pancakes to more complex ones like multi-course meals.

Description of Activity: This deceptively simple yet highly effective activity involves presenting students with images of various dishes. Their task is to list the ingredients and describe the cooking process for each dish. This not only reinforces their cooking-related vocabulary but also challenges them to articulate detailed instructions.

Why It’s Fun: The activity combines a love for food with language learning, making it enjoyable and engaging. Students explore different dishes, discuss ingredients, and cooking methods, all while practicing their speaking skills. It often leads to lively discussions about favorite recipes and culinary experiences.

3. Time Travel Interviews

Goal: The goal of the Time Travel Interviews activity is to enhance students’ speaking skills, promote historical and cultural awareness, encourage role-play, and develop their ability to formulate questions.

Materials: You’ll need information about historical figures and, if available, images or props to represent these figures.

Description of Activity: In this activity, students travel back in time as they conduct interviews with historical figures, scientists, politicians, or renowned artists. They are encouraged to select figures that students are likely to know but also introduce lesser-known personalities from diverse backgrounds. Students discuss who these individuals were, their contributions, and historical significance. They then take on the roles of interviewers, crafting questions and embodying the historical figures.

Why It’s Fun: Students get to step into the shoes of historical figures, ask intriguing questions, and learn about the past. It’s fun because it allows them to connect with history, encouraging their curiosity and making learning enjoyable through role-play.

4. Object Monologue

Goal: The goal of the Object Monologue activity is to foster creative thinking, descriptive language, and storytelling skills.

Materials: No specific materials are needed. Students choose everyday objects within their reach.

Description of Activity: In this peculiar yet captivating exercise, students are asked to select a common object within their reach and provide a monologue from the object’s perspective. They describe how it feels, its surroundings, and its role in daily life. This activity encourages students to develop vivid narratives using descriptive language and imagination.

Why It’s Fun: While it may seem absurd, this activity is incredibly fun because it challenges students to think creatively and imagine the world from an object’s perspective. It often leads to unexpected and amusing storytelling, fostering both creativity and language development.

5. Parallel Universe

Goal: The goal of the Parallel Universe activity is to stimulate creativity, critical thinking, and effective articulation of ideas while exploring imaginative scenarios.

Materials: Scenario descriptions for parallel universes, which can be provided by the teacher.

Description of Activity: Students assume the roles of journalists reporting from alternate dimensions. They are provided with intriguing scenarios, such as a world where pizza grows on trees or where books engage in conversations with readers. Students choose one scenario, ask clarifying questions, and create news reports for a fictional TV show.

Why It’s Fun: This activity is fun because it encourages students to unleash their creativity and invent unique news stories. It’s both entertaining and intellectually stimulating, like stepping into a world of endless possibilities. It promotes critical thinking and provides an enjoyable way to practice speaking by discussing outlandish scenarios.

Let them talk!

Engaging ESL speaking activities are not only about improving language skills but also creating a comfortable and fun atmosphere for students. When learners feel at ease and encouraged to express themselves, they are more likely to embrace speaking and view the classroom as a safe space for making mistakes and growing. As a language teacher, your role is to guide and inspire, and these activities will undoubtedly help you achieve that.

Don’t forget to explore our extensive playlist of speaking activities, each designed to make language learning a joyous and productive experience for both you and your students. So, go ahead, implement these activities, and watch your students become confident and proficient speakers!