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Martin Bastkowski introduces a selection of quick confidence-building speaking activities.
Isn’t it inspiring to see young students interacting with each other? In this article, I would like to focus on the development of creative and interactive exchanges between students, involving a high degree of movement.
The main idea is to provide different communicative situations in which topics that are of interest to young learners are used. Within these situations, questions need to be asked, which in turn prompt appropriate responses.
I promote the active use of language chunks to increase the talking time for each individual and to raise motivation so that learning English remains a positive experience.
A positive and receptive learning atmosphere is vital for getting the students to participate in communicative activities. The aim is for everyone to take part, and for everyone to play an important part.
A joy of being able to speak, interact and participate actively is considerable, especially amongst young learners. This potential should be supported by providing opportunities to use language successfully. Dialogues are particularly effective because they:
- Involve all the learners in language interaction
- Encourage the learners to take individual responsibility by maintaining the interaction
- Strengthen social skills by encouraging the learners to listen actively and to show interest in their classmates’ comments.
- Promote the use of conversation strategies, such as ‘filling’ words or requests
- Teach useful phrases and language chunks for re-occuring situations
A selection of interactive activities for young learners:
Swap-it cards – The students are given a card with a question on it. E.g Do you have any pets? What is your mother’s name? what is your shoe size? What is your favourite food? The students walk around the classroom, find a partner and take turns asking and answering the questions on their cards. When they have finished, they swap cards.
Talking words- Two students work together in a team. They are given a topic to talk about for 30 seconds. They are given a framework, which they are required to use during the exchange.
Example topics: my favourite subject, holidays, free time, spiders.
Framework:
Hello. / Let’s start / what comes to your mind when you think of ______?
Hello/ When I hear that word, I first think of _____/ what about you?
Guess my word- The students work in pairs or small groups. One student receives a word card. Their partner has to guess the word by asking questions, such as I it an animal?/ is it something in this room? The students answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Two truths and one lie- Each student has to think of two true statements and one statement that is lie. They each tell their statements to a partner, who has to identify the lie.
Chat stations- This activity involves a two-step conversation. Firstly, the students meet and greet a partner at a designated meeting point. Secondly, both students go to a ‘chat station’ where they find envelopes or small boxes containing different questions and answer prompts. They ask and answer the questions.
Where do you live? – I live ……
How old are you? – I am ___ years old.
What is your favourite sport? – my favourite sport is ……
What is your favourite fruit?- my favourtie fruit is ……….
What is your hobby? – My hobby is ….
Who am I?- The students work in pairs and one of them puts a sticky note with the name of a famous real or imaginary person on their partner’s forehead. The partner must guess who they are by asking questions, such as Am I a woman? Am I on TV? Am I still alive? Am I tall?
All the activities introduced here try to maximize the advantages of using dialogues in the classroom. By regularly implementing these activities, you can be sure to improve your students’ self-confidence and willingness to participate.
© Martin Bastkowski
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