1.Role Plays
Role playing is an important communicative activity. It allows your students to practice the target language in a safe environment where mistakes are no big deal. They’ll get a feel for what it’s like wielding the language in different situations and contexts.
Assign scenes to student pairs – (this will maximize their speaking time). The scenes can be anything, but make it relevant for your wards. If you have a class of business professionals, make it about a meeting or a sales situation, for example. If your class is composed of high school students, try a mess hall or a dorm room situation. A 30-second dialogue is already enough.
2.The Talk Show Interview
Here, students will experience what it’s like being the host of a talk show or being the guest answering questions in front of a live studio audience.
Again, let the students work in pairs. The host student prepares five questions and writes them on a piece of paper. This question list will be given ahead of time to the celebrity student so they can prepare an answer for them. Instruct the “celebrity” students to give answers in complete sentences. Three sentences for beginners should be just right.
Reminder: Go around the classroom to make sure the questions are worded correctly and are in their proper format.
Give the pair a day to rehearse their Q&A segment.
3.Objectified
Have students draw from rolled sheets of paper containing names of different objects. Their job, using the target language, is to describe and give plenty of hints so that the class can discover what the object is.
The student who guesses the correct word gets some brownie points. The student who’s able to communicate the correct answer gets double brownie points.
The student in front is trying to pass meaningful information to the whole class. Don’t worry if their grammar is less than perfect. Never mind that their sentences aren’t polished. As long as they’re able to pass along meaningful information, then they’re engaging in the communicative approach to learning a new language. Their grammar will get better in time.
4.News Reporting
Let the students choose a topic of their liking. They could choose to report on sports, politics, business, showbiz, lifestyle—anything they might see reported on TV. But unlike their favorite CNN anchors, they won’t be reading from a script. They’ll have to commit their piece to memory really tell a story! A 30-second clip would be more than enough.
So, the first thing they’ll need to do is compose their piece on a sheet of paper. Depending on their skill level, they could start by writing the story in English, then translating it to the target language. Ask for a copy of their story so you can polish it a little more and return a corrected draft.
After a few days of practice, let the students do their thing in front of the class.
Listen to them and follow with the copy of the story in your hand. But consider that only as a guide. Truth is, they don’t really need to memorize the script word for word, so don’t jump on every miss, don’t get your nose bent on every mistake. Don’t even think of the grade that you’re going to give the student. Watch, smile and be supportive.
5. THE BUTTON GAME
6. COLOUR CALL
7.FIND SOMEONE WHO
8.WHO AM I?
9.WHAT’S IN THE BAG?
