This is a fun ESL/EFL reported speech speaking activity which I like to throw in when the students start to feel tired and bored by the theory and dull practice exercises.
It is a great activity to energize them while practising reported speech in the most natural way – gossiping. Not prep and a lot of fun.
Let’s gossip!
- Ask students if they like to gossip. Most of them do.
- Ask them to tell you some of the latest gossips they’ve heard. They’ll get excited, so keep it short.
- Explain that they are going to play a game of gossip. Tell them to prepare a gossip (it’s best not to use real gossip as someone might get offended). It can be about celebrities, friends, classmates, teachers(that’s one of the favourites).
- Give each student a copy of the worksheet and explain that they will talk to each other and gossip. Every time they hear a new gossip they write down the name of the person who told them and the gossip itself.
- Allow them to gossip for 10-15 minutes, depending on the class size.
- When they get back to their seats, tell them to report the gossips they’ve heard into the reported gossip column.
- When they are ready, ask them to report the gossips they’ve heard.
- Be prepared to hear some shocking news!
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Really appreciate you making these resources available here. I can’t wait to try them out with my students.