ESL Conversation Activities
Free Strategies to Increase English Students' Conversational Skills
Aug 2, 2009
Finding the right balance in the ESL classroom is often one of the biggest challenges of teaching English. Many students are unsure and ashamed of their language skills, therefore reluctant to speak up during a discussion. Others never seem to stop talking- but is the quality of their conversational skills actually improving, or are they just repeating the same memorized phrases?
The following tips and strategies for the ESL teacher should help students get more out of conversation activities.
Daily Habits with Occasional Twists
Most teachers know that repetition is a great way to reinforce learning. However, a daily habit like greeting activities can quickly become monotonous.
Teachers should add a little twist or change to conversational warm-up activities every day. For example, many classes start with greetings and chatting about feelings. "Hi! How are you today?" "I'm excited because today is Friday!" Working on common conversations like this is great, but after awhile the students aren't learning anymore.
In this case, the teacher can change or add to the conversation to help introduce a new concept. "Yes, today is Friday! What will you do this weekend?"
Repetition is great and makes students feel comfortable, but adding new elements to the conversation every now and then will keep students on their toes.
Students in a Conversation Circle
This activity is a great way to ensure all students participate.
Have the students sit in a circle. Choose a topic; in this example, the topic is food. Write the phrases on the board: "My favorite food is ______. What is your favorite food?"
Student 1 states his favorite food, then asks Student 2 what his favorite food is. Repeat until each student has had a turn, then add to the phrases: "My favorite food is _______, but I don't like ________. What is your least favorite food?"
Repeat these phrases in the circle again. Change as many times as necessary, adding new information and questions. This can become a memory game as well to test how well students were paying attention. "His favorite food is ________, but he doesn't like ________."
Role Play for ESL Students
Having students role play situations in small groups or pairs can help reduce the stress of speaking in front of the entire class.
For example, during a lesson on shopping (using "how much", food or clothes vocabulary, etc), the teacher can arrange the desks around the room and label each as a different shop. Students are divided into shopkeepers and shoppers. The shoppers take turns roaming from shop to shop, inquiring on prices and "purchasing" items. For a thorough lesson, Monopoly money, shopping lists, and other props can make this a full afternoon of speaking English!
Descriptions of People, Places and Things
Describing people, places, and things is a fun way to dramatically increase students' vocabulary. However, describing people can quickly become dull, and having students describe places others aren't familiar with can be frustrating for everyone involved.
Instead, try bringing pictures and props to describe. For descriptions of people, younger students will enjoy describing their favorite cartoon characters, and they'll use a much wider vocabulary of color, shapes, and sizes.
Roll the Dice ESL Game
For this activity, the teacher should choose a topic or theme and have students brainstorm twelve questions, which are written and numbered on the board. Students take turn rolling the dice and answering the corresponding questions.
To make this more of a game, double or triple the amount of questions. Leave a few numbers open, and label them with phrases like "three questions back" or "free pass – move ahead six questions". The teacher can keep track of which question each student is on. Students keep rolling the dice, only moving forward if they can answer the question, and stop when the first student answers the last question.
For More ESL Activities
To help encourage better reading skills, try these ESL Reading Activities.
Own an iPhone or iPod Touch? These Apps for ESL Students are a great resource for English learners!
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