From the classroom - Page 2 of 3

ESL Pair Work Activity: Teenager Issues

This speaking activity deals with the everyday teenager issues.

Warm-up (10-15m)

Put the students in pairs and let them brainstorm the problems and conflicts young people might have. When they are finished, put them into groups of four and let them discuss the problems in more detail. What causes these problems? What advice would you give to people struggling with them? Do they have any personal experience that they are willing to share? Circle and monitor.

Activity (15m)

After that, tell the original pair to chose two conflict situations from their brainstorming sessions. They are going to role-play the first conflict and try to find a solution. Then they swap roles and play out the second conflict. Circle and monitor.

Problems: failing a subject, alcohol abuse, no money for new mobile phone/sneakers, etc.

Conflicts: with my dad because he grounded me for nothing, with my mom because she forces me to play the piano but I hate it, with my math teacher because….., etc.

Debrief (5m)

What advice did the students come up with?

Was it easier to play the role of a child or of a parent? Why?

How did they solve their conflicts?

Download the PDF version here: Teenager Issues

Other role plays:

Ridiculous Holiday Complaints: Reading And Speaking(Role-play) ESL Lesson Plan

ESL Communication Activity: Science Role Plays

ESL/EFL Speaking Activity: Role Play Debate

ESL Teaching Idea: Class Speaking Activity

Level: Upper Intermediate, Advanced

Age: 16+

Monolingual classes of ESL/EFL

This activity is great for practising fluency and improvising.

1) Tell each student to chose a topic they know a lot about, are passionate about and can talk about it for hours. Give them 5minutes to prepare a short lecture/presentation in their NATIVE language. They can only write brief notes/bullet points. Don’t tell them more at this stage.

2) When they are ready, tell them that they are going to present their lecture/presentation at an international conference, but unfortunately, they don’t speak English so they will need an interpreter. (Explain that they will interpret consecutively.)

3) Put Ss in pairs and explain that they will interpret each other’s presentations. Give them 5-10minutes so they can familiarize themselves with the topic and important vocabulary that will be used in the presentation. At this stage, they can use the notes they previously prepared.

4) The conference starts! The first pair of students gets on stage ( in front of their classmates). The speaker starts their presentation and after every couple of sentences pauses so the interpreter can repeat what was said in the target language. At this stage don’t correct the Ss, let them speak and write notes so you can provide feedback later.

5) Don’t let them speak longer than 5 minutes. If time allows, you can let the audience ask follow-up questions which will need to be translated from L2 into L1 and then the answer back from L1 to L2.

6) After everyone had their turn, provide feedback on the mistakes they made and don’t forget to praise them!

Download this activity in a PDF file.

Class Speaking Activity

More speaking activities:

ESL Speaking Activity Worksheet: Business Plan

ESL Group Speaking Activity: Language Centre Simulation

ESL Speaking Activity: Conditional Discussion Questions

ESL Speaking Activity: Business English Role Plays

No-prep Speaking Activity: Warmer And Filler For ESL Classes

ESL Speaking Activity Worksheet: Business Plan

My students loved this speaking activity. It is fun, it is competitive and it kept the students engaged for a loooong time. It is easy to use, just print the worksheet and you are ready to go.

Download the FREE PDF Worksheet>>>>>>Business Plan Worksheet

Try also some other activities and worksheets:

ESL Role Play Worksheet: Travel/Holidays

At The Restaurant: ESL Pair Work and Role Play Lesson.

28 ESL/EFL Conversation Starters to Spark Conversation

Business English Vocabulary Card Game | Forbidden Words

Speaking Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers: Picture Prompts

Speaking Resource for ESL/EFL Teachers: Creative Storytelling

32 Inspirational And Creative Job Interview Questions For ESL/Business English Students.

Picture Based Speaking Activity For ESL/EFL Classes

ESL Speaking Activity: Conditional Discussion Questions

ESL Travel Vocabulary Taboo Cards

This card game is very popular with my students so I’ve created more of them to cover different topics. Below, you can download the ESL travel vocabulary taboo card game.

I mentioned this activity based on Taboo game in an older article 3 Board Games You Can Use In The Classroom, where I wrote about my favorite board games I use in the classroom. Since that, I’ve created another set of cards, this time focused on Media/Entertainment Media/Entertainment Vocabulary Card Game Based on Taboo.

Every word has three or four “forbidden words” so you can adjust the difficulty of the game
by allowing the students to use one or more of the “forbidden words”.

ESL travel vocabulary taboo cards can be used for revision, different games and students will certainly have lot of fun in the classroom.

Download the printer-friendly PDF activity >>>> Travel&Holidays

This travel vocabulary activity can be used with other resource on the topic of travel, our role play activity that contains five role-play situations: ESL Role Play Worksheet: Travel/Holidays

You will find more Taboo based cards here:

Forbidden Words: Food

Forbidden Words: Health

Vocabulary Taboo Cards: Nature&Environment

You can get all three card games in a bundle, which is a great value: Bundle of Three Taboo Card Games: Food, Health, Nature

Presentation Assessment Form

Download the form:

presentation assessement form

No-prep Speaking Activity: Warmer And Filler For ESL Classes

This is a quick no-prep activity that can be used as an ice breaker or a regular activity.

Students usually like to talk about themselves and maybe boast a little so this activity is quite popular.

At the beginning of the lesson, ask them to pull out their mobile phones and tell them to browse their image gallery for a picture they wouldn’t mind showing to their classmates. It should be a photo taken by them and it can be anything as long as it is appropriate.

When they are ready, put them in pairs or groups of four and tell them they will be describing their classmate’s photos and deducing as much information they can from the pictures. At the end, the student who took the photo will explain the photo to their classmates.

ESL/EFL Speaking Activity: Role Play Debate

I do a lot of speaking activities with my older students. We do a lot of simulations, discussions, role plays, games, etc. and this ESL debate is one of them.

One of the activities I do is an argumentative debate where they can utilize everything they’ve learned, and another great thing about this activity is that it combines writing and speaking. It can also be used as a warm-up for argumentative essay writing.

You can use your own topics according to the vocabulary you’ve been teaching or you can use the topic cards below.

Each pair of students gets the same topic with either Agree or Disagree information. I usually assign the topics randomly. They’ll have a couple of minutes for preparation, I recommend that they write brief notes and if possible, to do some quick online research. Another modification can be that you give them the topics for homework so they can prepare more thoroughly. It depends on the level of the students and the difficulty of the topics.

When they are ready, let them talk in pairs, circle and monitor. When they finish, have a short feedback discussion with them:

Were they able to persuade their opponent?

What arguments did they use?

Download the free PDF here>>>Role Play Debate Topics

Will Your Students Steal A Car?: ESL/EFL Simulation Activity

This ESL simulation activity is for a group of four students, B1-B2 level, 15+ age.

I find it’s best to use this activity after teaching crime vocabulary, and after teaching some basic concepts of peer pressure, argumentation, and manipulation. What I like about this activity is that the character cards don’t tell the students what decisions they should make, it’s purely their choice.

Pages: 12

Picture Based Speaking Activity For ESL/EFL Classes

I got the idea for this ESL picture speaking activity after we came across a well-known photograph in our textbook, and I was surprised how many students didn’t know it. Sure, young people are overwhelmed with photos all day long. Take Instagram for example, but it is usually photos of celebrities, fashion, food, Starbuck cups, you get the idea.

Another thing is that they often have no clue about history although they have to study it at school. What they are more interested in is the future; final tests, university, jobs, family.

I wanted to teach them something about the past, show them real, raw photos that deal with many issues that still resonate today. I chose 10 iconic photos, but you can add more that are more local or more significant for your country. This activity is a great starter for discussion about human rights, democracy, and equality, which are things that our modern society still struggles with.

I recommend you use this activity with students 16+ as the photos may be disturbing for younger students.

Teacher’s Sheet

Instructions

1. Use this material after a lesson on photography, global issues,
human rights, etc.

2. Hand out the Student’s Sheets and explain the Ss that they will see 10
iconic photographs. They will finds vocabulary in the handout that can be
associated with the pictures. This serves as a warm up, and help in case they
don’t know anything about the pictures. Pull up the pictures on the
interactive whiteboard, or any equipment that you use. Show them each
picture for approx. 30 seconds. In this phase do not let the Ss to talk or share
any knowledge they might have.

3. After they finish, show them the pictures again, this time a bit longer. Tell
them to write anything they know, or can guess about the pictures.

4. Discuss.

Answer Key

The 1968 Olympics Human Rights Salute was a political demonstration conducted by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony on October 16, 1968 at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. During the ceremony they turned on the podium to face their flags, and to hear the American national anthem. Each athlete raised a black-gloved fist, and kept them raised until the anthem had finished. In addition, Smith, Carlos, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human rights badges on their jackets.
Young Charlie Chaplin
Famine in India under British rule 1870s
The Hindenburg disaster occurred on May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station in New Jersey, US. Of the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), there were 35 fatalities (13 passengers and 22 crewmen).
Beatles, The Beatles’ album, Abbey Road, features the Beatles walking across the northwestern zebra crossing on the intersection of Abbey Road and Grove End Road
Florence Owens Thompson was the subject of Dorothea Lange’s famous photo Migrant Mother(1936), an iconic image of theGreat Depression
Young Joseph Stalin
Phan Thị Kim Phúc is the nine-year-old child depicted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken at Trảng Bàngduring the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972. The well-known photo, by AP photographer Nick Ut, shows her at nine years of age running naked on a road after being severely burned on her back by a South Vietnamese napalm attack.
Thích Quảng Đức was aVietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigonroad intersection on 11 June 1963. Quang Duc was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. Malcolm Browne won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of the monk’s death.
Muhamad Ali

Students’s Sheet

You will see 10 pictures. Write number of the picture next to the word which you associate with the picture.

Dictator

Actor

Poverty

Survivor

Famine

Democracy

Protest

Independence

Pulitzer Prize

Dictatorship

War

Human rights

Sacrifice

New York

Do you know anything about the pictures? Write what you know next to the number of the picture.

10.

Download the photos in PDF format>>>>>>Iconic Pictures

Teacher’s Sheet>>>>> Iconic Pictures Teacher’s Sheet

Student’s Sheet>>>>> Iconic Pictures Student’s Sheet

Other speaking activities you might want to try:

Speaking Resource for ESL/EFL Teachers: Creative Storytelling

Speaking Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers: Picture Prompts

28 ESL/EFL Conversation Starters to Spark Conversation

Group Activity For ESL/EFL Classes: Famous Stories With A Twist!

My students love creative activities, especially the younger kids and teenagers are always thrilled when we play a game or do some acting. I did this activity with students from 14 to 19 years. It was always a success. The best thing is, there is almost no prep and you can do it the whole lesson, or shorter versions as a warm-up.

This activity is a cross of telling a story, inventing your own and acting. I use famous stories with three or more characters so the kids can work in small groups. Then I assign the story and let them draw a card with a specific genre.

So, for example, we can have the story of Shrek and the genre is a documentary. We have three main characters: Shrek, Fiona, Donkey. If needed we could add one extra character: Gingerbread Man, or Puss in Boots. Then I give the students some time to prepare, usually 10 minutes. After that, they take turns in acting their stories, as a theatre troupe :).

You can download the activity with my stories here or prepare your own, using stories well known in your culture.

Download >>>>>>>> Stories with a Twist

Extra activity: if your students don’t know the stories or the characters in the stories, don’t tell them. Let them use their phones or school computers to do their own research.