presentation activity for useful classroom phrases esl

Classroom Language: 29 Useful Classroom English Expressions for ESL Students

Classroom language is essential to communicate effectively in an academic setting. As English learners, it’s crucial to understand and use classroom English expressions to participate in class, ask questions, and express ourselves. In this article, we’ll explore the importance of classroom language for both teachers and students and provide a list of useful expressions to help you improve your English skills.

Classroom Language For Students

This is a list of common English Classroom Phrases you should know.

• I’m sorry. I did not hear.
• Can I go to the toilet?
• May I join the class/ group?
• Sorry, for being late.
• May I open/ close the window?
• May I go out, please?
• Can you explain it once more, please?
• What page are we on?
• I am ready. May I start it?
• Can you speak louder, please?
• Which book?
• Can you explain that again?
• Where is the exam?
• Can I come in?
• Can I pull up the blinds ?
• Can I pull down the blinds?
• Can you help me, please?
• Can I go out?
• Can I answer the question?
• Can I switch off the lights?
• What is the homework?
• Do we have to write this down?
• Is that right?
• Is this correct?
• When is the homework for?
• I have done this.
• Can I open the window?
• Can we pack our things now?
• Can I go to the board?

Basic Classroom English Expressions

Greetings and farewells.

When you enter the classroom, it’s important to greet your teacher and classmates. Here are some common greetings you can use:

• Good morning /afternoon/evening, everyone.
• Hello , class.
• Hi, everyone.

When the class is over, you can use these expressions to say goodbye:

• Goodbye , everyone.
• See you later.
• Have a nice day.

Instructions

Your teacher will give you instructions during the class. It’s important to understand the instructions and follow them carefully. Here are some expressions that your teacher might use:

• Please open your books to page 10.
• Listen carefully.
• Work in pairs/groups.
• Write down the answers.

If you don’t understand the instructions, don’t be afraid to ask your teacher for clarification.

Asking for Clarification

If you don’t understand something that your teacher or classmate said, you can use these expressions to ask for clarification:

• I’m sorry, could you repeat that, please?
• Could you explain that again, please?
• I didn’t understand. Could you say it in a different way?

It’s important to ask for clarification if you don’t understand something. This will help you learn better and avoid confusion.

Advanced Classroom English Expressions

Expressing opinions.

When it comes to expressing opinions in the classroom, it’s important to do so respectfully and clearly. Here are some useful expressions to help you do just that:

• In my opinion…
• From my perspective…
• I believe that…
• It seems to me that…
• As far as I’m concerned…

Using these expressions will help you convey your thoughts and ideas in a clear and concise manner.

Agreeing and Disagreeing

Agreeing and disagreeing with others in the classroom is a natural part of learning and discussion. Here are some expressions to help you agree and disagree in a polite and respectful manner:

• I agree with you up to a point, but…
• I see what you’re saying, but…
• I’m afraid I have to disagree with you on that…
• That’s an interesting point, but I’m not sure I agree…
• I’m of a different opinion, I think…

Using these expressions will help you participate in discussions and debates in a respectful and constructive way.

Giving Feedback

Giving feedback is an important part of the learning process. Here are some expressions to help you give feedback in a constructive and helpful way:

• That’s a great effort, but…
• You’re on the right track, but…
• I think you could improve by…
• You might want to consider…
• Have you thought about trying…

Using these expressions will help you provide feedback that is both encouraging and helpful, allowing your classmates to improve and grow in their language-learning journey.

Language for Classroom Management

Discipline and behaviour.

Maintaining discipline and managing behaviour is crucial for a successful classroom. Here are some phrases that can help:

• “Please stop talking and listen to me.”
• “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but please raise your hand before speaking.”
• “If you continue to disrupt the class, I will have to ask you to leave.”

Time and Schedules

Time management is important in any classroom. Here are some phrases that can help you manage your classroom schedule:

• “We only have 10 minutes left, so let’s finish up this activity quickly.”
• “Please make sure you have all your materials ready before the class starts.”
• “We will start the next activity at exactly 2:30 pm, so please be on time.”

Assignments and Homework

Assigning and managing homework is an essential part of classroom management. Here are some phrases that can help:

• “Your homework is due at the beginning of the next class, so please make sure you complete it on time.”
• “If you have any questions about the assignment, please feel free to ask me after class.”
• “Remember to bring your completed assignment to class tomorrow.”

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some useful English phrases for teachers to use in the classroom?

As teachers, we need to communicate with our students effectively to ensure they understand our lessons. Here are some useful English phrases that teachers can use in the classroom:

• “Please take out your textbooks and turn to page X.”
• “Can you repeat that, please?”
• “Let’s review what we learned yesterday.”
• “Do you have any questions?”
• “Please work in pairs/groups.”
• “Can you give me an example?”
• “Let’s move on to the next topic.”

By using these phrases, teachers can facilitate a more productive and engaging classroom environment.

How can teachers improve their classroom language skills?

As teachers, it’s important to constantly improve our language skills to better communicate with our students. Here are some ways teachers can improve their classroom language skills:

• Read books and articles about teaching language.
• Attend language workshops and conferences.
• Practice speaking and listening to English with native speakers.
• Record and listen to yourself speaking in the classroom.
• Ask for feedback from colleagues and students.

By improving our language skills, we can create a more effective and engaging learning environment for our students.

What are some examples of classroom language that can be used to encourage students?

As teachers, it’s important to encourage our students to participate and engage in the classroom. Here are some examples of classroom language that can be used to encourage students:

• “Great job!”
• “Well done!”
• “I’m proud of you.”
• “Keep up the good work.”
• “You’re making progress.”
• “I appreciate your effort.”
• “You have a lot of potential.”

Last Updated on November 17, 2023

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ESL Speaking

Games + Activities to Try Out Today!

in Activities for Adults

Presentation Projects for Students | ESL Presentation Ideas

If you do presentation with your language classes , then you’ll need to check out some of these presentation project ideas. Get beyond the boring old PowerPoint presentation and use some of these creative ideas to bring a bit of excitement and life back into your classes.

Presentation Projects and Ideas for ESL students

Your students will love it, and it’ll also keep things fresh for you if you’ve seen the same old projects year after year.

Presentation Projects for ESL/EFL Students

Over the years teaching in a Korean university , I’ve had students do plenty of presentation projects, with varying degrees of success . I hope that you can learn from my mistakes and make your ESL speaking classes as awesome as possible.

Presentation projects, if set up well are an excellent way to add a bit of variety to the ESL classroom. After all, students get tired of hearing the teacher talk all the time! And you probably get tired of talking. I know that I always did! Plus, it’s fun to hear what students have to say.

Here are my top presentation projects for ESL/EFL students.

• Basic speech (not recommended!)
• Presentation, then discussion time
• Poster presentation
• Making a movie
• PowerPoint presentation
• Impromptu presentation
• Teaching the class how to do something

If you teach business English, then the sky is kind of the limit in terms of what topics you choose. You could focus on just about anything that students may expect to present on when they start working in a company.

#1: A Basic Speech

Each student has to choose from a variety of topics such as family , food, dreams or hobby. They have to speak for between 1.5 and 2 minutes. I did this only once, with low-level students and it was ridiculously boring such that I never did it again.

The main problem is all the presentations are basically the same and go a little something like this: “I have a mom. She is 49 years old. She has brown hair and black eyes. I have a dad. He is 57 years old. My dad has brown hair and black eyes. He is short.” Word for word, almost the same!

Trust me, they were some of the most tedious and excruciating hours of my entire life. It was from this point on that I vowed to never set up a presentation like this again. I got a lot more creative and made students talk about things that were more varied and interesting.

Of course, the bad results from this experiment were totally my fault. I should have chosen more interesting topics for the students, or given them better guidelines. Seriously, better ESL presentations topics would have made a big difference here and I really have nobody to blame but myself!

Maybe Not Terrible if…

This style of presentation could have been far less bad if I had done a better job setting it up. I should have set the topic to something like, “Current events.” That way, students would have been forced to choose something in the news and the presentation topics would have been quite varied.

Or, I could have required some visual aids to make it a bit more interesting for the students.

#2: Presentation, and then Discussion Time

Each group has to give a presentation about a topic of their choosing and think of at least 5 interesting questions/surveys/activities that groups could discuss or do for about 20 minutes after their presentation. This often works best if the presentation is based on 2-3 articles that the students have to send you in advance.

This presentation project ideas had varying results, since some groups chose a topic that led to a lot of “yes/no” answers and discussions that lasted about 5 minutes, at most.

However, this could have been avoided by personally approving the topics in advance and requiring groups to submit their assignment for feedback a week or two before the actual presentation. I blame nobody but myself for the failure on this one!

This ideas for presentation projects isn’t a bad one, if you set it up well. It can work well for English majors or advanced level students who want a class filled with conversation and discussion.

#3: Poster Presentation

A poster is one of my favourite presentation projects. Each group has to choose a current controversial issue (like environmental pollution, suicide, North Korea) and make a poster that had English writing and some interesting pictures on it. Set a (low) max number of words or your posters will be terrible and filled with wordy death!

Then, the students have to do a presentation based on the poster where each group member speaks for 1-2 minutes, without a paper.

For this one, it’s very important that you require no paper script, or you’ll just have students reading off their notes. Also, don’t allow students to put too many words on the poster, or you’ll have students reading off of this.

If I ever did this again, I would do something where the audience was more involved, such as peer grading. Or, I would require each group watching the presentation to think of at least 1 question to ask and they’d get a point for doing so. Basically, it’d give the rest of the students in the class a reason to listen.

It’s potentially an excellent group presentation project!

ESL presentation ideas

#4 Presentation Projects: Making a Movie

Another ESL presentation idea is to have students make a movie. It’s easier than ever these days because almost everybody has a smartphone, and it’s free to upload the video to YouTube. This works particularly well if you teach film, art or fashion students and you’ll get some amazing results. It’s actually one of my favourite ESL projects these days.

You can have a fun “viewing day” in class and encourage everyone to bring a snack! It’s a nice change from the regular old textbook thing.

Here’s how I’ve done movie projects.

• I put students into groups of 4-5. One person can “film” the project and then you can have 2-3 actors. Finally, one person might be designated the write the script or edit. However, I leave it up to the group how they want to divide the roles and not everyone has to appear on camera.
• I set a minimum and maximum time for the movie (usually 3-5 minutes), as well as a certain number of English sentences that must be spoken during that time. It must be a story of some kind that makes sense.
• I’ll usually give a topic or theme of some kind, but may leave it open.

I evaluate it based on the following things:

• Quality of English
• Interesting story
• Quality of production (I don’t expect a lot, but just basic stuff like making sure it’s bright enough, we can hear the people talking, etc.)

The quality of English usually gets around 10 marks, while the other two categorie s are each worth five.

#5: PowerPoint Presentation

This has the potential to be very interesting, or PPT death. It all depends on how you set the presentation project up.

If you do go with this method, you should set a maximum number of slides and also a maximum numbers of words per slide (5-10?). Emphasize to students that you want to see pictures, charts, etc. and not a wall of text.

I generally allow each group to have 1 intro and 1 conclusion slide, and then 1 slide per group member. So if there are 6 students in the group, it’ll be 8 slides. I usually say that each student has to talk about their slide for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on the level.

Teach students how to make good PowerPoints and then penalize heavily for not following your recommendations. You should also coach students on how to stand to the side and keep their body pointed towards the audience. Eye contact is key!

This is an excellent idea for presentation projects, if some key expectations are set out in advance. Eye contact/don’t look at screen, pictures instead of words on the PowerPoint, etc.

#6: Just a Minute Impromptu Presentation

If you want to give your students some practice with making impromptu, or off the cuff style of speeches, then Just a Minute may be exactly what you need. It’s a toastmasters style activity and makes the perfect warm-up activity for intermediate or advanced level students.

You can also turn this into a listening activity, instead of just an ESL presentation by requiring the other students in the group to ask follow-up questions. Try this one with your classes and I think your students will really enjoy the challenge.

Find out more about it here:

Just a Minute ESL Speaking Activity

Impromptu presentation skills are never a bad thing for students (or anyone) to practice!

#7: Teaching Others How to Do Something

One of the best presentation ideas for students is to get them to teach the class how to do something. I’ve done this a few times now and they are some of my most memorable classes.

The way it works is that students choose something they know how to do well. Students in the past having chosen things like:

• How to fry an egg
• Heading a soccer ball
• Playing the guitar
• Getting dates
• Making sure their parents give them enough spending money
• Eating out cheaply around the university
• Getting the best class schedule

I allow students to bring in props, material or make a simple powerpoint presentation with pictures (no text) to explain.

#8: What are you Cooking?

If you want to have your students do some fun presentations in a more informal kind of way, then consider trying out “What are you Cooking?” Students have to plan a 3-course meal based on ingredients from their classmates and then make a presentation to the class who votes on the best menu.

Sounds interesting? I think you’ll love it so give it a try today. More information here: What are you Cooking?

#9: An Informative Speech

ESL Presentations FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about making presentation in English. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

Why are Presentations Important for Students?

Having students give presentations is important for delivering a positive learning environment. They can also help teach communication skills and assist with students feeling comfortable talking in front of a group of people. Finally, they are an engaging way to share ideas and help students build confidence.

What Makes a Great Presentation?

A great presentation is very memorable. This can be done in various ways, but graphics, images, relevant facts, story telling and humour play an important role. Finally, a memorable presentation motivates the audience to action.

What are the Advantages of a Presentation?

Businesses and people in general use presentations for various reasons. The advantage of them is that they can educate, motivate, and persuade in a more interesting way than the written word alone can.

Should Students Memorize Speeches?

Should you make students memorize their presentation, or not? It’s an interesting question and I certainly see points for both sides. However, I generally lead towards the memorization thing because…

• It results in presentations that are far more interesting for the audience
• I only require 30 seconds-2 minutes of speaking. It’s not a big task to memorize this amount
• It helps students remember vocabulary and key phrases

That said, I do know that students get nervous and that this can be a big ask. It’s for this reason that I tell students to bring their notes up to the front with this, but to leave them in their pocket.

If they have an emergency (forget what to say!), they can take it out and use it. But, only once if they don’t want to get a penalty. After that, put it aside and continue on.

I’m usually kind and if a student has to do this twice, I don’t mind. My main point is that I don’t want students reading exclusively off of a paper.

What are some Things to Consider for Presentations in English?

If you’re going to have your students do an ESL presentation, there are a number of factors that you’ll want to consider.

• How to explain the task in a simple way that students can understand what they need to do. How will you evaluate it?
• When will students prepare (outside, or inside of class. A combination of both often works well).
• What kind of equipment can students use (Projector, or not).
• How students will deliver the presentation. Will you expect things like gestures and eye contact?
• What kind of language will the students use? Will you teach them about the introduction (I would like to start by…) and conclusion (In conclusion, you can see that…), as well as transition sentences (Moving on to…). The style of the speech (persuasive, informative, etc.) is important for this.
• What will the rest of the class be doing while the presentations are happening? Is there a listening task you can assign to make this activity even more valuable?

The biggest tip I can give you is to be clear about the terms of the assignment. And, also how you will evaluate it. If expectations are clear, results will be far better and your life will be easier as well because you won’t have to answer the same questions over and over again.

What are the Top 20 ESL Presentation Topics?

Here are some of the most common topics that you may consider assigning to your students:

• Family (can be sensitive for some though)
• Current events
• If I had a million dollars…
• Vacation (past or future dream)
• Ideal first date
• TV and movies
• Favourite book
• Time, and how do you spend it
• An ideal first date
• Jobs and work
• Some future goals
• A favourite restaurant
• Money (saver or spender)
• Future plans
• Controversial topics
• Teaching someone how to do something
• If you were the president…

These interesting topics means that you presentation projects will be better than ever! No more boring, okay? Okay.

Do you Like these Ideas for Presentation Projects?

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Bolen, Jackie (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 148 Pages - 03/09/2016 (Publication Date)

Then you’re going to love this book, 101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults . It’s an extremely practical, well-organized teaching guide that will help you plan your lessons in no time. The best part about it is that your students will be having fun, while learning English.

The book is available in both digital and print formats. The (cheaper!) digital one can be read on any device-Kindle, Mac, Pc, Smartphone, or tablet by downloading the free Kindle reading app from Amazon. It’s super-easy to have some top-quality ESL activities and games at your fingertips at all times.

Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office and use it as a handy reference guide. Or, bring a copy with your on your phone or tablet to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go. It really is that easy to make your English classes even better.

Check out the book on Amazon by clicking the link below:

Have your Say about ESL Presentation Ideas

What’s your top ESL presentation project ideas? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this a share on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. It’ll help other teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults and 1001 English Expressions and Phrases . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook TikTok Pinterest Instagram

Great ideas! Thank you so much for such inspiring ideas for presentations.

I’ve been looking for some presentation ideas for my students here in South Korea and ran across your list. Thank you! Lots of good ones but I think I’m going to give the current events one a try. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Great info! Thanks for sharing your ideas for presentations. I love to do them but it was getting a bit stale for me so appreciate the new ideas.

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Topic: Presentation Skills

As you can see in the slide (giving presentations)

Step into the world of presentations with this handy lesson! Students explore vocabulary for structuring presentations, read the text of a presentation and watch a video on how to communicate ideas clearly.

Presentation: putting skills into action

With this lesson plan, students practise giving a presentation in English by doing a lot of different speaking activities. The lesson is the third of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations. 

Moving through your presentation

With this lesson plan, students learn plenty of useful phrases for presentations in English. They also prepare presentation excerpts, and learn how to start a presentation. The lesson is the second of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations. 

How to nail that presentation

In this lesson about business presentations in English, students discuss presentation structures in depth, watch a video with tips on giving presentations, and learn useful words and phrases related to the topic. The lesson is the first of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations. 

The city of the future is here

With this lesson plan based on a video about Toyota’s city of the future students learn some useful language for presentations and then practise their presentation skills.

The chair that conquered the world

This lesson plan about the chair that conquered the world includes a variety of tasks for students to learn new vocabulary related to describing furniture design and practise their presentation skills. 

How do you like your milk?

In this lesson, students will learn advanced cooking verbs, discuss different types of milk and do an English class project.

Apple’s legendary keynotes

The objective of this lesson plan is to teach students some adjectives for describing products and show them a video analysing Apple’s legendary keynotes.

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• Speaking exams
• Typical speaking tasks

Oral presentation

Giving an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam can be quite scary, but we're here to help you. Watch two students giving presentations and then read the tips carefully. Which tips do they follow? Which ones don’t they follow?

Instructions

Watch the video of two students doing an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam. Then read the tips below.

Melissa: Hi, everyone! Today I would like to talk about how to become the most popular teen in school.

Firstly, I think getting good academic results is the first factor to make you become popular since, having a good academic result, your teacher will award you in front of your schoolmates. Then, your schoolmates will know who you are and maybe they would like to get to know you because they want to learn something good from you.

Secondly, I think participating in school clubs and student unions can help to make you become popular, since after participating in these school clubs or student union, people will know who you are and it can help you to make friends all around the school, no matter senior forms or junior forms.

In conclusion, I think to become the most popular teen in school we need to have good academic results and also participate in school clubs and student union. Thank you!

Kelvin: Good evening, everyone! So, today I want to talk about whether the sale of cigarettes should be made illegal.

As we all know, cigarettes are not good for our health, not only oneself but also other people around. Moreover, many people die of lung cancer every year because of smoking cigarettes.

But, should the government make it illegal? I don’t think so, because Hong Kong is a place where people can enjoy lots of freedom and if the government banned the sale of cigarettes, many people would disagree with this and stand up to fight for their freedom.

Moreover, Hong Kong is a free market. If there's such a huge government intervention, I think it’s not good for Hong Kong’s economy.

So, if the government wants people to stop smoking cigarettes, what should it do? I think the government can use other administrative ways to do so, for example education and increasing the tax on cigarettes. Also, the government can ban the smokers smoking in public areas. So, this is the end of my presentation. Thank you.

It’s not easy to give a good oral presentation but these tips will help you. Here are our top tips for oral presentations.

• Use the planning time to prepare what you’re going to say. 
• If you are allowed to have a note card, write short notes in point form.
• Use more formal language.
• Use short, simple sentences to express your ideas clearly.
• Pause from time to time and don’t speak too quickly. This allows the listener to understand your ideas. Include a short pause after each idea.
• Speak clearly and at the right volume.
• Have your notes ready in case you forget anything.
• Practise your presentation. If possible record yourself and listen to your presentation. If you can’t record yourself, ask a friend to listen to you. Does your friend understand you?
• Make your opinions very clear. Use expressions to give your opinion .
• Look at the people who are listening to you.
• Write out the whole presentation and learn every word by heart. 
• Write out the whole presentation and read it aloud.
• Use very informal language.
• Only look at your note card. It’s important to look up at your listeners when you are speaking.

Useful language for presentations

Explain what your presentation is about at the beginning:

I’m going to talk about ... I’d like to talk about ... The main focus of this presentation is ...

Use these expressions to order your ideas:

First of all, ... Firstly, ... Then, ... Secondly, ... Next, ... Finally, ... Lastly, ... To sum up, ... In conclusion, ...

Use these expressions to add more ideas from the same point of view:

In addition, ... What’s more, ... Also, ... Added to this, ...

To introduce the opposite point of view you can use these words and expressions:

However, ... On the other hand, ... Then again, ...

Example presentation topics

• Violent computer games should be banned.
• The sale of cigarettes should be made illegal.
• Homework should be limited to just two nights a week.
• Should school students be required to wear a school uniform?
• How to become the most popular teen in school.
• Dogs should be banned from cities.

Check your language: ordering - parts of a presentation

Check your understanding: grouping - useful phrases, worksheets and downloads.

Do you think these tips will help you in your next speaking exam? Remember to tell us how well you do in future speaking exams!  

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Speaking , Skills

35 ESL Speaking Activities: Engage with Fun for Better Fluency

September 1, 2023

A H M Ohidujjaman

Have you ever found yourself, as an English teacher, scratching your head, trying to come up with new and engaging ESL speaking activities to get your students talking? You’re not alone. Speaking can be a tough skill to master for ESL learners, but if you can choose the right activities , you can turn this challenge into a fun and interactive learning experience for them.

In this article, you’ll discover 35 popular ESL speaking activities that really work. These activities are designed to get your students talking , whether they’re young learners or adults. They cover a range of scenarios, from casual chit-chat to formal presentations and everything in between. You can customize these activities based on your teaching methods to engage your specific learners.

So, if you’re on the hunt for fresh ideas to liven up your speaking class and help your students gain confidence in their spoken English, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive in and explore these activities together. Your next great class activity could be just a scroll away!

Table of Contents

Show and tell: engaging young minds.

Show and Tell is a classic activity that’s always a hit with young learners . It provides a platform for students to talk about something they’re passionate about, helping them practice their spoken English in a fun, personal way.

Materials Needed: The only materials required for this activity are the items that students choose to bring from home. These could be anything from a favorite toy to a cherished book or a family photo. The key is that the item should hold some significance to the student, giving them plenty to talk about.

Conducting the Activity:

• Let students know about the upcoming Show and Tell session well in advance so they have time to select their item and prepare what they want to say.
• On the day of the activity, each student takes turns presenting their item to the class.
• Students should describe their item, explaining what it is and why it’s important to them. They can also share any interesting stories or facts related to the item.
• To help students structure their presentations, you can provide sentence starters such as “This is my…”, “It’s special because…”, or “I feel… when I…”.
• After each presentation, encourage the rest of the class to ask questions. This promotes active listening and interaction.

Benefits of the Activity: Show and Tell offers numerous benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Helps students practice their descriptive language skills.
• Builds confidence in public speaking.
• Fosters a sense of community as students learn more about each other.
• Develops active listening skills as students engage with their peers’ presentations.
• Encourages curiosity and deeper understanding as students learn to ask relevant questions.

Incorporating Show and Tell into your ESL classroom can provide a fun, low-pressure way for students to practice their speaking skills while sharing a bit of their world with their classmates.

Role Play: The Power of Pretend in ESL

Role Play is a dynamic and versatile activity that can be tailored to suit any age group or proficiency level. It involves students acting out different scenarios, which can range from everyday situations like ordering food at a restaurant , to more complex interactions such as job interviews or debates.

Materials Needed: Materials for this activity can vary depending on the scenario you choose. You might need props to set the scene or role cards with character descriptions and objectives. For more complex role plays you might also provide conversation scripts for ordering food.

Download: 30 Role-Play Scenarios for ESL Classrooms (PDF)

• Choose a scenario that is relevant to your students’ learning objectives and level of proficiency.
• Explain the scenario to the students and assign roles. If necessary, provide props, role cards, or scripts.
• Give students time to prepare for their roles. They might need to practice certain phrases, plan their dialogue, or think about their character’s motivations.
• Have the students act out the scenario in front of the class. Encourage them to stay in character and use English to the best of their ability.
• After the role-play, facilitate a class discussion. Ask students about the outcome of the scenario, the language used, and how they could apply what they’ve learned in real-life situations.

Benefits of the Activity: Role Play is a powerful tool in the ESL classroom. It:

• Provides a practical context for language use, helping students understand how to use English in real-life situations.
• Encourages creativity and improvisation, which can make speaking practice more engaging and fun.
• Helps students develop their problem-solving skills as they navigate through the scenario.
• Builds confidence as students get comfortable with speaking English in front of others.
• Allows for the practice of specific language functions, such as making requests, giving advice, or expressing disagreement, in a controlled environment.

By incorporating Role Play into your lessons, you can provide your students with a safe and supportive space to practice their English speaking skills, while also preparing them for real-world interactions.

Storytelling: Creating Narratives for Language Development

Storytelling is a universal form of communication that can captivate learners of all ages. In the ESL classroom, storytelling activities can help students practice narrative tenses, descriptive language, and sequencing, all while sparking their creativity.

Materials Needed: Materials can vary based on how you choose to conduct the activity. You might need story prompts, picture cards for visual aid, or even digital tools if you’re incorporating multimedia elements.

• Depending on your students’ proficiency level, you can provide a story prompt or let them come up with their own ideas.
• Give students time to plan their stories. They should think about the characters, setting, and plot. For lower-level students, you can provide a story structure to guide them.
• Students then tell their stories to the class. Encourage them to use descriptive language and narrative tenses where appropriate.
• After each story, facilitate a brief discussion. Ask the class about the story’s sequence of events, the characters, and the overall narrative. This can reinforce comprehension and narrative skills.

Benefits of the Activity: Storytelling offers numerous benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Encourages creativity and imagination, making the learning process more engaging.
• Helps students practice narrative tenses and descriptive language in a meaningful context.
• Enhances students’ ability to sequence ideas logically.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students share their unique stories.
• Fosters listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s stories.

Incorporating storytelling into your ESL lessons can provide a creative outlet for students while offering ample opportunities for language practice. Whether they’re telling tales of far-off adventures or recounting personal experiences, students will be developing their English skills every step of the way.

Picture Descriptions: Painting with Words

Picture Descriptions is an activity that can be adapted for learners of all ages and proficiency levels. It involves students describing a picture in detail, which can help them practice their descriptive language skills and expand their vocabulary.

Materials Needed: For this activity, you’ll need a variety of pictures. These could be photographs, illustrations, or even comic strips. The pictures should be rich in detail to give students plenty to talk about.

• Distribute a picture to each student or pair of students. You can also project a picture on the board for the whole class to describe.
• Give students time to look at their picture and think about how they will describe it.
• Students then take turns describing their picture to the class. Encourage them to be as detailed as possible, describing not only the main elements but also the colors, shapes, and any actions or emotions they perceive.
• After each description, you can facilitate a brief discussion. Ask the class about the details they remember, or have them guess what’s happening in the picture based on the description.

Benefits of the Activity: Picture Descriptions offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Helps students practice their descriptive language skills in a focused context.
• Expands students’ vocabulary as they learn to describe various elements and scenes.
• Enhances students’ observational skills as they learn to notice and describe details.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students share their descriptions with the class.
• Fosters listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s descriptions.

By incorporating Picture Descriptions into your ESL lessons, you can provide a visual context for language practice, making the learning process more engaging and memorable for your students.

Interviews: Peer-to-Peer Learning

Interviews are a great way to get students to talk and listen to each other. This activity can be adapted to any topic, making it versatile for different lessons and proficiency levels. It’s an excellent way for students to practice question formation, active listening, and conversational skills.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a list of interview questions for this activity. These can be prepared in advance by the teacher, or you can have students come up with their own questions. The questions should be open-ended to encourage more than just yes/no answers.

• Pair up the students and give each pair a list of interview questions. If students are creating their own questions, give them time to prepare.
• One student in each pair takes on the role of the interviewer, while the other is the interviewee.
• The interviewer asks the questions, and the interviewee responds. Encourage students to expand on their answers and provide as much detail as possible.
• After a set amount of time, have the students switch roles.
• Once all interviews are complete, facilitate a class discussion. Students can share interesting things they learned about their partner or discuss any challenges they faced during the activity.

Benefits of the Activity: Conducting interviews in the ESL classroom offers several benefits. It:

• Provides a practical context for students to practice question formation and response.
• Enhances active listening skills as students engage in one-on-one conversations.
• Encourages students to express their thoughts and opinions in English.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students interact directly with their peers.

Incorporating interviews into your ESL lessons can provide a real-world context for language practice, helping students improve their conversational skills and build stronger connections with their peers.

Debates: The Art of Argument for Adult ESL Learners

Debates are a powerful tool for advanced language learning, particularly suited to adult learners. They provide a platform for students to practice persuasive language, critical thinking, and active listening, all within the context of a structured argument.

Materials Needed: For a debate, you’ll need a list of debatable topics that are appropriate and engaging for your students. You may also want to prepare some resources or reading materials for students to research their arguments.

• Divide the class into pairs or small groups and assign a debate topic to each. Make sure each group is clear on which side of the argument they are on.
• Give students time to research their topic and prepare their arguments. They should consider both their points and potential counterarguments.
• When it’s time for the debate, each group presents their arguments, alternating between the ‘for’ and ‘against’ sides. Encourage students to rebut and respond to each other’s points.
• After the debate, facilitate a class discussion. Ask students to reflect on the arguments presented and the language used.

Benefits of the Activity: Debates offer numerous benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Provide a practical context for students to practice persuasive language and argumentation.
• Enhance critical thinking skills as students have to construct and deconstruct arguments.
• Develop active listening skills as students need to respond to each other’s points.
• Build confidence in speaking as students present and defend their arguments.
• Encourage students to explore different perspectives on a topic, promoting empathy and understanding.

Incorporating debates into your ESL lessons can provide a dynamic and engaging way for students to practice their English speaking skills. Not only will they be learning to express their ideas more effectively, but they’ll also be developing valuable skills in critical thinking and active listening.

Information Gap Activities: Bridging the Gap

Information Gap activities are a staple in the communicative approach to language teaching. These activities involve students having different pieces of information that they need to share with each other to complete a task. It’s a great way for students to practice asking and answering questions, giving and following directions, and explaining ideas.

Materials Needed: The materials for this activity depend on the specific task. You might need task sheets with different information, maps with missing details, or incomplete diagrams. The key is that each student or pair of students has a piece of the puzzle, and they need to communicate effectively to put it all together.

• Divide the class into pairs or small groups and give each a different set of information.
• The task is for students to fill in the gaps in their information by communicating with their peers. They should ask questions, give answers, and clarify information as needed.
• Once students believe they have completed the task, check their work. If there are any mistakes or missing information, they should go back and continue the activity.
• After the activity, facilitate a class discussion. Reflect on the communication strategies used and the language practiced during the activity.

Benefits of the Activity: Information Gap activities offer several benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Provide a practical context for students to practice specific language functions, such as asking and answering questions.
• Encourage cooperative learning as students work together to complete the task.
• Enhance problem-solving and critical thinking skills as students figure out how to obtain the information they need.
• Build confidence in speaking as students interact directly with their peers.
• Foster active listening skills as students need to understand their peers’ information.

Incorporating Information Gap activities into your ESL lessons can provide a fun and interactive way for students to practice their English speaking skills. They’ll be learning to communicate more effectively while also developing valuable skills in problem-solving and cooperation.

Presentations: Public Speaking in ESL

Presentations are an excellent way for students to practice their public speaking skills in English. They can present on a topic of their choice or one assigned by the teacher, providing an opportunity to practice organizing and expressing their thoughts in a structured format.

Materials Needed: Students will need time to prepare their presentations. They may also need access to resources for research, and materials or technology for visual aids, such as PowerPoint slides or posters.

• Assign a topic or let students choose their own. The topic should be appropriate for their proficiency level and relevant to their interests or course content.
• Give students time to prepare their presentations. They should think about how to structure their talk, what information to include, and how to make their points clear and engaging.
• Students then deliver their presentations to the class. Encourage them to speak clearly, maintain eye contact with the audience, and use their visual aids effectively.
• After each presentation, allow time for questions and feedback from the class.

Benefits of the Activity: Presentations offer numerous benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Help students practice organizing and expressing their thoughts in English.
• Build confidence in public speaking.
• Enhance research and planning skills.
• Provide an opportunity for students to delve deeper into a topic of interest.
• Foster active listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s presentations.

Guessing Games: Fun with Descriptions for Young Learners

Guessing Games are a fun and interactive way for young learners to practice their descriptive language skills. In this activity, students describe a person, place, or thing without naming it, and the rest of the class tries to guess what it is.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a set of cards or pictures with different people, places, or things for the students to describe.

• Give a card or picture to a student, making sure the rest of the class can’t see it.
• The student describes the person, place, or thing on the card without saying its name.
• The rest of the class tries to guess what the student is describing.
• The game continues with different students taking turns to describe and guess.

Benefits of the Activity: Guessing Games offer several benefits for young ESL learners. They:

• Provide a fun and interactive way for students to practice their descriptive language skills.
• Encourage creativity as students think of different ways to describe the same thing.
• Foster active listening skills as students listen to the descriptions and try to guess the answers.
• Build confidence in speaking as students take turns describing and guessing.

News Report: Current Affairs in ESL

Creating a News Report is a dynamic activity that can help students practice formal language and reporting skills. It involves students researching a current event and presenting it as a news report, either individually or in groups. This enables learners to engage in conversations about the news in their daily lives.

Materials Needed: Students will need access to news resources for research. They may also need materials to create their news report, such as paper and pens for a written report, or a camera and microphone for a video report.

• Assign a current event or let students choose their own. The event should be appropriate for their proficiency level and relevant to their interests.
• Give students time to research the event and prepare their news report. They should think about the key facts of the event, the different perspectives involved, and how to present the information clearly and objectively.
• Students then present their news reports to the class. Encourage them to speak clearly, use formal language, and present the information in a balanced way.
• After each report, facilitate a class discussion about the event and the language used in the report.

Benefits of the Activity: Creating a News Report offers numerous benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Provide a practical context for students to practice formal language and reporting skills.
• Enhance research and critical thinking skills as students delve into a current event.
• Foster media literacy as students learn to analyze and present news information.
• Foster active listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s reports.

Problem-Solving : Collaborative Learning in ESL

Problem-Solving activities are a great way to get students working together and communicating in English. These activities involve presenting students with a problem or challenge that they need to solve collaboratively.

Materials Needed: The materials for this activity will depend on the problem you set. You might need puzzle pieces, task cards with the problem scenario, or physical materials for a building challenge.

• Divide the class into small groups and present each group with the same problem or challenge. This could be a riddle to solve, a mystery to unravel, or a structure to build.
• Students work together to solve the problem, discussing their ideas and strategies in English.
• Once the groups have completed the task, have them present their solutions to the class. Encourage them to explain their thought process and the steps they took to solve the problem.
• Facilitate a class discussion about the different solutions and the language used during the activity.

Benefits of the Activity: Problem-Solving activities offer several benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Encourage collaborative learning as students work together to solve a problem.
• Provide a practical context for students to practice their English speaking skills.
• Enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Build confidence in speaking as students interact with their peers and present their solutions.
• Foster active listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s solutions.

The Mystery Bag: Sensory Language Practice

The Mystery Bag is a fun and interactive activity for practicing sensory language and descriptive skills. It involves students feeling an object in a bag and describing it to the rest of the class, who then try to guess what it is.

Materials Needed: For this activity, you’ll need a bag and a variety of objects with different shapes, sizes, and textures.

• Place an object in the bag without showing it to the class.
• Have a student feel the object in the bag without looking. The student then describes the object to the class, focusing on its size, shape, texture, weight, and any other sensory details.
• The rest of the class listens to the description and tries to guess what the object is.
• The game continues with different students and objects.

Benefits of the Activity: The Mystery Bag offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun and interactive way for students to practice their descriptive language skills.
• Encourages creativity as students think of different ways to describe the same object.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to the descriptions and try to guess the answers.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students take turns describing and guessing.

Playing 20 Questions: Inquisitive Minds at Play

Playing 20 Questions is a classic game that’s perfect for practicing question formation and critical thinking skills. In this game, one student thinks of a person, place, or thing, and the rest of the class asks up to 20 yes/no questions to figure out what it is.

Materials Needed: No specific materials are needed for this activity, although you might choose to use picture cards or word cards to provide ideas for the students.

• One student thinks of a person, place, or thing, or chooses one from a card if you’re using them.
• The rest of the class takes turns asking yes/no questions to figure out what the student is thinking of. They can ask up to 20 questions.
• The game continues until the class guesses correctly or they run out of questions.

Benefits of the Activity: Playing 20 Questions offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a practical context for students to practice question formation.
• Enhances critical thinking skills as students have to think strategically about their questions.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to the answers and adjust their guesses accordingly.

Speeches: Formal Language Practice

Giving speeches is a valuable activity for more advanced ESL students. It provides an opportunity to practice formal language, public speaking, and the organization of ideas. Speech topics can range from personal experiences to persuasive arguments on current issues.

Materials Needed: Students will need time and resources to prepare their speeches. Depending on the topic, they may need to conduct research. They may also need notecards for their speaking notes or technology for any visual aids they want to use.

• Give students time to prepare their speeches. They should think about how to structure their speech, what points they want to make, and how to support their ideas.
• Students then deliver their speeches to the class. Encourage them to speak clearly, maintain eye contact with the audience, and use their visual aids effectively.
• After each speech, allow time for questions and feedback from the class.

Benefits of the Activity: Giving speeches offers numerous benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a practical context for students to practice formal language and public speaking.
• Enhances research and planning skills.
• Builds confidence in speaking in front of others.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s speeches.

Dialogue Journals: Interactive Learning

Dialogue Journals are written conversations between the teacher and student. While not a speaking activity per se, they can help students develop their conversational skills, grammar, and vocabulary in a low-pressure environment.

Materials Needed: Each student will need a journal for this activity. This could be a physical notebook or a digital document, depending on your preference.

• Each student starts by writing an entry in their journal. They can write about their day, ask questions, or respond to a prompt that you give them.
• You then read each student’s entry and write a response. Your response should model correct language use and may include comments, answers to questions, or further questions to keep the conversation going.
• The activity continues back and forth like this over time, creating an ongoing written dialogue.

Benefits of the Activity: Dialogue Journals offer several benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Provide a low-pressure environment for students to practice their English.
• Allow for individualized instruction as you can tailor your responses to each student’s needs.
• Enhance writing and reading skills alongside conversational skills.
• Foster a sense of connection between you and the student.

Charades: Non-Verbal Communication for Young Learners

Charades is a fun and interactive game that can help young learners practice their English vocabulary and sentence structure. In this game, students act out a word or phrase without speaking, and the rest of the class tries to guess what it is.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a set of cards with words or phrases for the students to act out. These could be verbs (like “jump” or “eat”), animals (like “cat” or “elephant”), or even simple sentences (like “I brush my teeth”).

• One student chooses a card and acts out the word or phrase without speaking or making any sound.
• The rest of the class watches and tries to guess the word or phrase. They should guess by making full sentences (like “Are you jumping?” or “Is it a cat?”).
• The game continues with different students taking turns to act and guess.

Benefits of the Activity: Charades offers several benefits for young ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun and interactive way for students to practice their English vocabulary and sentence structure.
• Encourages creativity and physical movement, which can help keep young learners engaged.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to the guesses and adjust their acting accordingly.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students take turns guessing in full sentences.

Listening and Drawing: Visualizing Language

Listening and Drawing is an engaging activity that helps students practice their listening comprehension and following instructions in English. In this activity, students listen to a description or a set of instructions and draw what they hear.

Materials Needed: Students will need paper and drawing materials for this activity. You’ll need a script or a set of instructions to read out.

• Students start with a blank piece of paper. You read out a description or a set of instructions for something to draw.
• Students listen carefully and draw what they hear. They should not ask questions or confirm their understanding during the activity.
• Once the drawing is complete, students can compare their drawings and discuss any differences. You can also reveal the original image or intended result for comparison.

Benefits of the Activity: Listening and Drawing offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun and interactive way for students to practice their listening comprehension.
• Helps students practice following instructions in English.
• Encourages creativity and visual thinking.
• Fosters active listening skills as students need to pay close attention to the details.
• Builds confidence as students see the results of their listening skills.

Story Retelling: Reinforcing Narrative Skills

Story Retelling is a powerful activity to reinforce narrative skills, comprehension, and memory. In this activity, students listen to a story and then retell it in their own words.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a story for this activity. This could be a short story, a chapter from a book, or a story that you tell orally. The story should be appropriate for the students’ proficiency level.

• Read the story to the class or have them read it individually.
• Once they’ve heard or read the story, students take turns retelling it in their own words. They should try to include the main events and characters, but they can also add their own interpretations or details.
• After each retelling, facilitate a class discussion about the story and the different ways it was retold.

Benefits of the Activity: Story Retelling offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Helps students practice narrative skills and comprehension.
• Enhances memory and recall as students have to remember and retell the story.
• Encourages creativity as students add their own interpretations or details.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s retellings.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students share their retellings with the class.

Find Someone Who: Interactive Icebreaker

Find Someone Who is a popular icebreaker activity that gets students up and moving. It involves students finding classmates who match certain criteria, providing a fun and interactive way for students to practice their question-asking and answering skills.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a worksheet with a list of criteria for this activity. The criteria could be things like “Find someone who has a pet” or “Find someone who has been to another country”.

• Give each student a worksheet and explain the activity. Students will walk around the room and ask their classmates questions to find someone who matches each criterion.
• Students interact with each other, asking questions and responding in English. They should try to find a different person for each criterion.
• Once students have found someone who matches each criterion, they can sit down. You can then facilitate a class discussion about what they learned about their classmates.

Benefits of the Activity: Find Someone Who offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun and interactive way for students to practice their question-asking and answering skills.
• Helps students get to know each other, fostering a sense of community in the class.
• Encourages movement and active learning.
• Fosters active listening skills as students need to listen to and understand their classmates’ responses.

Discussion Circles: Group Conversations in ESL

Discussion Circles are a great way to get students talking about a topic in depth. In this activity, students sit in a circle and discuss a topic, question, or text, providing a structured yet flexible way to practice conversational English.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a discussion topic or question for this activity. This could be a controversial statement, a thought-provoking question, or a text that students have read.

• Arrange the students in a circle and present the discussion topic or question.
• Students take turns speaking, giving their opinions, responding to each other, and asking follow-up questions. Encourage them to use appropriate discussion language and to listen actively when they’re not speaking.
• As the teacher, you can participate in the discussion, but try to let the students do most of the talking. You can also guide the discussion by asking probing questions or bringing up new points.
• After the discussion, facilitate a class reflection. Reflect on the content of the discussion as well as the language used.

Benefits of the Activity: Discussion Circles offer several benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Provide a structured yet flexible context for students to practice conversational English.
• Enhance critical thinking skills as students discuss a topic in depth.
• Foster active listening skills as students respond to each other’s points.
• Build confidence in speaking as students express their opinions and ideas.
• Encourage respect for different perspectives as students hear a variety of viewpoints.

Book Club: Literature in ESL

A Book Club can be a wonderful way for students to engage with English literature and practice their speaking skills. Students read a book (or a chapter of a book) and then discuss it in class, providing an opportunity to explore themes, characters, plot, and language in depth.

Materials Needed: You’ll need copies of the book for each student. Choose a book that is appropriate for your students’ proficiency level and interests.

• Assign a book or a chapter for students to read before the class.
• In class, facilitate a discussion about the book. Ask open-ended questions about the plot, characters, themes, and language. Encourage students to share their opinions and respond to each other’s comments.
• After the discussion, you can focus on specific language points from the book, such as vocabulary, grammar structures, or literary devices.

Benefits of the Activity: A Book Club offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a context for students to explore English literature and culture.
• Enhances reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.
• Fosters active listening skills as students respond to each other’s comments.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students express their opinions and ideas.
• Encourages a love of reading in English.

Dictation: Listening and Repeating

Dictation is a classic language learning activity that can help students practice their listening comprehension, spelling, and grammar. In this activity, you read a sentence or a short paragraph aloud, and students write down exactly what they hear.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a script for this activity. This could be a sentence, a paragraph, or a short text, depending on your students’ proficiency level.

• Choose a script that is appropriate for your students’ proficiency level and relevant to your lesson content.
• Read the script aloud at a normal pace. Students listen and write down what they hear.
• Repeat the script a few times, allowing students to fill in any gaps or correct any mistakes.
• Once the dictation is complete, reveal the written script. Students can then check their work and discuss any difficulties or challenges they faced.

Benefits of the Activity: Dictation offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Helps students practice their listening comprehension in a focused way.
• Enhances spelling and grammar skills as students have to write down exactly what they hear.
• Provides a quiet, focused activity that can balance out more interactive or noisy activities.

Travel Agency Activity: Planning and Persuasion

The Travel Agency activity is a fun and interactive way for students to practice their persuasive language skills. In this activity, students work in pairs or small groups to plan a trip and then try to persuade the rest of the class to join their tour.

Materials Needed: You’ll need resources for students to research their trip, such as travel brochures, internet access, or travel books. You might also want to provide poster paper and markers for students to create their travel advertisements.

• Divide the class into pairs or small groups and assign each a destination. The destination could be a city, a country, or a type of trip (like a beach vacation or a cultural tour).
• Students research their destination and plan a trip, including the itinerary, accommodations, and attractions.
• Students then create a travel advertisement for their trip and present it to the class, trying to persuade their classmates to join their tour.
• After all the presentations, the class votes on which trip they would most like to join.

Benefits of the Activity: The Travel Agency activity offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a practical context for students to practice persuasive language.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students present their trip to the class.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and evaluate each other’s presentations.
• Encourages creativity and teamwork as students work together to plan their trip and create their advertisement.

Job Interview Role-Plays: Preparing for the Real World

Job Interview Role-Plays are a valuable activity for more advanced ESL students. They provide an opportunity to practice formal language, answer common interview questions, and discuss career-related topics.

Materials Needed: You’ll need role-play cards for this activity. These should include a job description and a list of common interview questions.

• Divide the class into pairs and give each a role-play card. One student will be the interviewer and the other will be the job applicant.
• Students prepare for their roles, with the applicant thinking about how to answer the interview questions and the interviewer thinking about what they’re looking for in a candidate.
• Students then act out their role-play. After each role-play, facilitate a class discussion about the interview, the language used, and how to prepare for a job interview in English.

Benefits of the Activity: Job Interview Role-Plays offer several benefits for ESL learners. They:

• Provide a practical context for students to practice formal language and job interview skills.
• Enhance students’ understanding of job interviews and career-related topics.
• Build confidence in speaking as students act out different roles.
• Foster active listening skills as students respond to each other in the role-play.
• Prepare students for real-world situations, such as job interviews in English.

Story Cubes: Narrative Skills for Young Learners

Story Cubes are a fun and creative way for young learners to practice their narrative skills. In this activity, students roll dice with pictures on each face and then create a story based on the pictures that come up.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a set of story cubes for this activity. These are dice with different pictures on each face. If you don’t have story cubes, you can make your own with regular dice and a list of pictures corresponding to each number.

• One student rolls the story cubes and looks at the pictures that come up.
• The student then creates a story that includes all of the pictures. They can make the story as imaginative and creative as they like.
• The game continues with different students rolling the cubes and telling their stories.

Benefits of the Activity: Story Cubes offer several benefits for young ESL learners. They:

• Provide a fun and creative way for students to practice their narrative skills.
• Enhance creativity and imagination as students create their own stories.
• Build confidence in speaking as students tell their stories to the class.
• Foster active listening skills as students listen to and respond to each other’s stories.

Discussion Circles: The Power of Group Discussion

Podcast creation: modern learning for adult learners.

Creating a podcast is a modern and engaging way for adult learners to practice their English skills. In this activity, students work in pairs or small groups to create a podcast episode on a topic of their choice.

Materials Needed: Students will need a recording device for this activity. This could be a smartphone, a computer with a microphone, or a dedicated audio recorder. They’ll also need a topic for their podcast episode.

• Divide the class into pairs or small groups and assign each a topic for their podcast episode. The topic should be something they’re interested in and can research.
• Students research their topic and plan their podcast episode. They should think about what points they want to make, who will say what, and how to engage their listeners.
• Students then record their podcast episode. They can do this in one take or edit together multiple takes for a more polished result.
• Once the podcasts are complete, have a listening party where you play each podcast and discuss them as a class.

Benefits of the Activity: Creating a podcast offers several benefits for adult ESL learners. It:

• Provides a modern and engaging context for students to practice their English skills.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students record their podcast episodes.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s podcasts.
• Encourages digital literacy skills as students record and edit their podcasts.

Picture Story Activity: Sequential Storytelling

The Picture Story activity is a fun and creative way for students to practice their narrative skills and sequential language. In this activity, students arrange pictures to create a story and then tell the story to the class.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a set of pictures for this activity. The pictures should be able to be arranged in different ways to create different stories. I’ve written a complete guide on creating story sequencing pictures with ChatGPT and given away all the necessary prompts you use with little effort.

• Divide the class into pairs or small groups and give each a set of pictures.
• Students arrange the pictures to create a story. They should think about the sequence of events, the characters, and the plot.
• Students then tell their story to the class, using the pictures as a guide.
• After each story, facilitate a class discussion about the story and the language used.

Benefits of the Activity: The Picture Story activity offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun and creative way for students to practice their narrative skills and sequential language.
• Enhances creativity and imagination as students create their own stories.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students tell their stories to the class.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and respond to each other’s stories.

Surveys: Data Collection and Discussion

Conducting surveys is a practical way for students to practice their question-asking and data-interpretation skills. In this activity, students create a survey, collect data from their classmates, and then discuss the results.

Materials Needed: Students will need paper and pens for this activity. They might also need resources to research their survey topic.

• Divide the class into pairs or small groups and assign each a survey topic. The topic should be something they can collect data on from their classmates.
• Students create a survey with a variety of question types, such as yes/no questions, multiple-choice questions, and open-ended questions.
• Students then conduct their survey, asking their classmates the questions and recording their answers.
• Once the surveys are complete, students analyze the data and present their findings to the class.

Benefits of the Activity: Conducting surveys offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a practical context for students to practice their question-asking and data-interpretation skills.
• Enhances research and analytical skills.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students conduct their surveys and present their findings.
• Fosters active listening skills as students respond to the survey questions and listen to the presentations.

Movie Reviews: Critical Thinking in Action

Writing and discussing movie reviews is a fun way for students to practice their critical thinking and persuasive language skills. In this activity, students watch a movie, write a review, and then discuss their reviews in class.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a movie for this activity. Choose a movie that is appropriate for your students’ proficiency level and interests. Students will also need paper and pens to write their reviews.

• Assign a movie for students to watch before the class. This could be for homework or you could watch the movie together in class if time allows.
• After watching the movie, students write a review. They should include a summary of the movie, their opinion of it, and reasons to support their opinion.
• In class, students share their reviews and discuss the movie. Facilitate a discussion about the different opinions and the language used in the reviews.
• You can use conversation questions to facilitate the discussions.

Benefits of the Activity: Writing and discussing movie reviews offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun context for students to practice their critical thinking and persuasive language skills.
• Enhances writing skills as students write their reviews.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students share their reviews and discuss the movie.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and respond to each other’s reviews.

I Spy: Observation and Description

I Spy is a classic game that can be adapted for the ESL classroom to practice observation and descriptive language. In this activity, one student describes something they can see, and the other students guess what it is.

Materials Needed: This activity doesn’t require any specific materials. You can play it in the classroom using the objects and people that are present.

• One student chooses something in the room and says “I spy with my little eye something that…” and then gives a description. The description could be about the color, size, shape, or function of the object.
• The other students take turns guessing what the object is. The student who guesses correctly gets to describe the next object.

Benefits of the Activity: I Spy offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun and interactive way for students to practice their observation and descriptive language skills.
• Enhances vocabulary as students describe and guess different objects.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students describe objects and guess what others are describing.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to the descriptions and guesses.

Mock Trial Activity: Legal Language in Practice

A Mock Trial is a dynamic activity for more advanced ESL students to practice legal language and persuasive speaking. In this activity, students take on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, and jurors in a simulated trial.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a case for the trial. This could be a real case, a fictional case, or a simplified version of a complex case. You’ll also need role cards with character descriptions and information about the case.

• Divide the class into roles and give each student a role card. The roles could include lawyers, witnesses, jurors, and a judge.
• Students prepare for the trial, with the lawyers preparing their arguments and questions, the witnesses preparing their testimonies, and the jurors preparing to listen and make a decision.
• Conduct the trial, with the lawyers presenting their cases, the witnesses giving their testimonies, and the jurors listening and making a decision.
• After the trial, facilitate a class discussion about the trial, the language used, and the legal concepts involved.

Benefits of the Activity: A Mock Trial offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a practical context for students to practice legal language and persuasive speaking.
• Enhances students’ understanding of legal concepts and courtroom procedures.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students take on different roles.
• Fosters active listening skills as students respond to each other in the trial.
• Encourages critical thinking as students prepare their roles and make decisions during the trial.

Describing a Process: Sequential Language Practice

Describing a Process is a useful activity for students to practice sequential language and technical vocabulary. In this activity, students describe a process, such as cooking a recipe, assembling a piece of furniture, or conducting a science experiment.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a process for students to describe. This could be a recipe, assembly instructions, a science experiment procedure, or any other process that involves a sequence of steps.

• Assign a process for students to describe. This could be for homework or you could describe the process together in class.
• Students describe the process, using sequential language and the appropriate technical vocabulary. They should try to make their description as clear and detailed as possible.
• After the descriptions are complete, facilitate a class discussion about the process, the language used, and any difficulties or challenges in describing the process.

Benefits of the Activity: Describing a Process offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a practical context for students to practice sequential language and technical vocabulary.
• Enhances students’ understanding of process and procedure.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students describe a process in detail.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and discuss the process descriptions.

Board Games: Learning through Play in ESL

Board Games are a fun and interactive way for students to practice English in a relaxed setting. In this activity, students play a board game, using English to discuss the game, make decisions, and interact with each other.

Materials Needed: You’ll need a board game for this activity. Choose a game that involves some level of language use, such as Scrabble, Pictionary, or a trivia game.

• Divide the class into small groups and give each a board game.
• Students play the game, using English to discuss the game, make decisions, and interact with each other.
• After the game, facilitate a class discussion about the game, the language used, and any new vocabulary or phrases that were learned.

Benefits of the Activity: Playing Board Games offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a fun and relaxed context for students to practice English.
• Enhances a variety of language skills, depending on the game.
• Encourages cooperative learning as students play together.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students interact in a low-pressure setting.
• Fosters active listening skills as students respond to each other during the game.

Cultural Exchange: Broadening Horizons in ESL

Activity Description: The Cultural Exchange activity is a fantastic way for students to learn about different cultures and practice their speaking skills. In this activity, students research a specific culture and present their findings to the class. This could be their own culture, the culture of an English-speaking country, or any other culture that interests them.

Materials Needed: Students will need resources to research their chosen culture. This could be books, internet access, or even interviews with people from that culture.

• Assign each student (or pair/group of students) a culture to research. This could be assigned by you, or students could choose their own.
• Students research their chosen culture, focusing on aspects such as traditions, customs, food, language, history, and more.
• Students prepare a presentation about their chosen culture. This could be a spoken presentation, a poster, a slideshow, or even a demonstration of a cultural activity.
• Students present their findings to the class. Encourage the class to ask questions and engage in a discussion about each culture.

Benefits of the Activity: The Cultural Exchange activity offers several benefits for ESL learners. It:

• Provides a meaningful context for students to practice their research and speaking skills.
• Enhances students’ global awareness and understanding of different cultures.
• Builds confidence in speaking as students present their findings to the class.
• Fosters active listening skills as students listen to and discuss each other’s presentations.
• Encourages respect for diversity and an appreciation for different cultures.

Conclusion: Choosing the Right ESL Speaking Activities for Your ESL Class

Choosing the right ESL speaking activities for your ESL class can make a big difference in your students’ engagement and progress. Consider your students’ proficiency level, interests, and learning goals when choosing activities. Remember that variety is key – a mix of quiet and noisy activities, individual and group work, and different types of language practice will keep your classes interesting and effective. Happy teaching!

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15 Speaking Projects And Activities For ESL Students

I don’t think I am sticking my neck out too much by saying that most ESL students enjoy speaking activities more than typical reading, writing and listening activities. Tending to be more dynamic, true to life and fun, a good speaking activity can really enhance an ESL student’s fluency and confidence.

Here, I am going to offer you a series of ESL speaking projects that you can adapt and use for your ESL students. Let’s go:

Infomercial Activities

This is one of my favorite speaking projects by far. Show students some typical adverts from a shopping channel; I like to show some of the funnier products just for giggles and to encourage students minds to wander, take a look at this compilation to see what I mean.

Next, I ask students usually in pairs to come up with their own completely original product to sell on an infomercial. If students struggle to come up with a completely new product you can suggest they add a new twist to arnold product, or make a new product based on a combination of two or more others.

For example, in the past I have had: microwave televisions, hair dryers that double as vacuum cleaners and laptops that double as portable stoves.

I tend to also do a language lesson based around the language of selling and persuasion so that when students make their infomercial they will send realistic and they often like to know some of the sales phrases, tactics and strategies that are used in real life.

Just for fun, you can tell students that they have a certain amount of money to spend and after they have seen all the infomercials they get to spend it. Sales can be recorded and you can see which idea/pair has made the most money and are the winner!

Presentations

Give students a presentation of a topic of your choosing, perhaps your own hobby and model the format and language that you want the students to use.

I tend to share slides with the student with the title of each slide already inserted. Students then have to fill the space with suitable information for that slide.

So, for example, if I wanted my students to present their own hobbies then I would probably have six slides titled with questions:

What is my favorite hobby? Why did I start this hobby? What have I achieved doing this hobby? Who do I do this hobby with? What will I do next in this hobby? Other interesting info about my hobby.

Students then fill the slides full of pictures that relate to the question and then they talk about these to the group and answer questions.

Some students always want to write out a script for a presentation which I let them do on the understanding that they can’t actually read it when they present. I allow them to write it out just so they can build up some confidence in what they are going to say and check the language accuracy of it. 

I do usually place sentence starters and linking words on posters behind the audience so that the presenter always has some support if needs be.

Of course, this could also be done as a recorded video task. I sometimes ask students to record a voice over on top of the slides. This can then be converted into a video format for sharing later.

A few other simple presentation topic titles for ESL students that could be used are: My Best Friend, Who Am I?, My Pets, My Future Career, My Family, The Last Celebration I want to, Why I am a fan of __________ (insert name of whatever they are a fan of).

At this point you might also want to read one of my popular article about how to make your students speak English , here

Hot Seat ing

Become an expert – As it sounds. Students spent a certain amount of time researching a topic that either they choose or that is given to them. They are then to become that character and the rest of the group has to ask them questions to find out as much as they can about them in a set amount of time.

You can award points for correct questions being asked and for grammatically correct sentences in response. Personally I like to do this at the beginning of a new topic and direct students to research different famous people.

For example, if we are going to be covering the topic of Travel as in the IGCSE ESL then I have students research characters, such as: Dr Livingstone, Joe Simpson, Ernest Shackleton, Amelia Earhart, Ranulf Fiennes, and so on. 

I often have students create a mini glossary for their characters as well which other students can refer to as they are quizzing the character.  

This activity is best for intermediate level and above students and even then you may need to provide texts at a suitable level for students to be able to access, otherwise students end up on Wikipedia reading very difficult text.

You can have the group make notes and write summaries of each character for homework if you also wish to work on summary writing skills.

Recommended reading: 15 Research Projects For ESL Students

The Detective Game

For this activity you make up a crime that occurred in a given location, the more gruesome the better and if you can personalise it to your location and environment more the better.

Divide the group into smaller groups of three or four people and then ask them to create their alibis for the morning, afternoon, or evening in question. These people are the suspects.

One group, however, is assigned as being the investigators and they individually quiz different suspects one to one to try and find inconsistencies in their group’s stories. This forces each group to consider exactly what they were doing, where and with whom very carefully and in great detail. 

After interviewing as many members of each group and making notes about inconsistencies between group members the investigators then confer with each other to decide upon which group’ alibi is the most inconsistent. This group are then sent to jail.

Whilst the investigators are discussing this, the suspects discuss which investigator was the best at questioning them and finding out the inconsistencies. The suspects will then announce who this person is, and they earn a promotion. Finally, the investigators announce the losing group which will go to prison.

This ‘game’ has got real legs and could go in so many different directions, so don’t be afraid to improvise and have fun with this one.  

Drama Activities

Acting out a chapter of a book. Pretty much as it sounds. Read through a chapter of a book with students or have them read it for homework before letting groups act out the chapter, or a scene from it.

This works well even if they all act out the same scene as each group will learn from the last and the acting/performance and language should get increasingly better throughout. Alternatively arrange it so that each group acts out the following scene to the last group and so the full story is told.

Storyboard and act out the student’s own story. Rather than act out a book, you could have students plan out a story, or at least part of a story on a storyboard. This can give a greater sense of ownership, achievement and ‘buy in’ from the students.

What happened next. Read the opening of a book and as a ‘cliffhanger is reached’ pause and have students work together to act out the ending of the story or the next scene at least.

This also works well with videos from YouTube, crime videos work well as do Walt Disney cartoons – even with adult learners for some reason!

You might also be interested in reading my helpful article on how to get your students speaking fluently , here.

Mind Map ping

Vocabulary relationships. Engage students in a subject which contains lots of relationships of cause and effect. Basically, you need to pick a topic and analyse what the different factors were that affected the main decision or characters involved.

In the centre of your mind map place the decision or a character that was made and then arrange influencing factors around this. 

The larger the circle each factor is in and the closer it is to the centre of the paper the stronger the influence is. Students then need to explain their mind map and the relationships to the group. Others can question and agree/ disagree with them. 

Topics can range from serious issues from history through to celebrity scandals, or even plots in a movie, such as, why did celebrity couple X and Y get divorced, or why did actor x decide to y in the movie xyz. Obviously, you can let the students self select these issues for greater interest. 

Backs To The Board

A timeless classic not so much a speaking project but this can be developed into a full lesson’s worth of speaking and it works for groups of all sizes. It is excellent for reviewing vocabulary at the end of a project or to see what students know at the beginning of a topic.

Simply split the group into teams of no more than five and have one member of the group come to the front and sit with their back to the board.

The other members of the group form a ‘u’ shape around the person, or, rather than being sat literally against the board groups can be sat at tables with just one student having their back to the board. 

All you then need to do is to write a word on the board and the students facing the board have to get the person not facing the board to say the word without literally telling them the word. They should be encouraged to use definitions, synonyms and examples of the word where possible. 

Depending on numbers, students can just shout out when they think they have the answer, or with large groups I make the students raise their hand if they think they have the answer.

The danger with debates is that to the teacher they may seem boring, or at least they do to me but have to remind myself that just because I have done the debates dozens of times, they haven’t and even the most overdone/boring sounding debates may go down like fireworks with some groups.

With that in mind here are a few of the more traditional/boring debates for your students to get their teeth into:

Which is better, country life or city life?

Should animal testing be allowed?

Should school uniforms be gotten rid of

Are cats better than dogs?

Should women be paid as much as men?

Online learning is better than classroom learning

Does money equal success in life?

I also like to see if there is something going on in the students view of the world that is worth debating. For example, in Thailand the debate over whether Korean pop music is better than Thai pop music is a popular one. 

I have had colleagues dive into debates about serious political topics with higher level students which have worked really well.

However, some topics are just too hot to handle and you don’t know who you are upsetting so be careful what topics you do debate, you never know who is listening, or who is going to offense at any of your personal views that you may let slip!

Here is a good resource for more ESL debate ideas .

Book And Movie Review s

This is pretty much as it sounds. I like to set a reading task for students over a holiday break and when they return they have to submit a video review of the book or movie they watched/read. 

I usually show them a good movie review for ideas and ask them to follow the same format. Something like this review of Kung Fu Panda . This goes along the lines of: background information, main characters, plot explanation, favorite moments, final recommendation.

I’ve also done this with higher level groups for documentaries but with enough support and speaking frames pre intermediate students can engage well with this activity.

Conversation Question s

Don’t underestimate the value of pure lists of conversation questions. Students are often happy to just ‘have a chat’ and use the English that they do know.

It is great for their confidence and fluency, as well as requiring zero lesson prep, which is always a nice thing. Just be sure to rotate speaking partners to avoid students getting bored with the same partners and used to different accents.

Sometimes, depending on ability and interest levels I will teach three or four idioms at the beginning of the lesson and set the task of trying to naturally drop them into conversation later on.

There are lot of good sources of conversation questions, here are a couple: eslconversationquestions.com and esldiscussions.com .

ESL Exam Preparation Material

Some students are hugely motivated by doing well in exams such as the IELTS test, and IGCSE ESL speaking tests. Exam boards for tests such as these produce a plethora of practise material that is often available for free online and ready to be use.

My students particularly enjoy the IELTS speaking part 2 task where they are required to speak about a given topic and are given three bullet points to talk about. They are given one minute to prepare their ideas before they have to speak on their own for two minutes. 

If you think your students might enjoy this then here are some good sources of free IELTS style questions: IELTS IDP and ielts-exam.net , and for IGCSE ESL speaking questions check out the role play paper here.

The added bonus of these activities is that there is always a grading criteria ready to be used so you can grade students and give them real reasons why they scored a certain level and what they need to do to score higher in the future.

Here are the IELTS speaking criteria for example which clearly spells out what is expected of students at different levels.

Finger Puppet Shows

One really good way to get shy students speaking I have found to introduce sock puppets. As silly as it sounds, there is something about using a puppet that takes away the pressure on the speaker and frees them up to speak.

Whether it is the element of hilarity of  speaking sock or the fact that people are generally looking at the sock rather than the person it seems to work well.

Depending on the ability level I will either give pairs of students scripts to act out with puppets. They can introduce their own props as well to make it even more funny. Alternatively, I will do this as an improv.

I will read out a situation, for example, one of you has lost their passport at the airport. Then the students have to act out this scenes as best as they can.

Switch partners and introduce more situations and watch the energy level of the room pick up!

By the end of the lesson you may well notice previously shy students speaking confidently with other students having been drawn into the magic of sock puppets! A great little speaking project.

Role Plays With Idioms

I use this lesson pattern quite regularly and it works well. I start off with student matching idioms to meanings and then to example sentences with the idioms missing.

After going through these answers and doing any teaching necessary to aid understanding I will then hand out a dialogue but with all the sentences jumbled up.

Students then have to unjumble the conversation which contains one or more of the idioms being used in a natural way. Next, they read the dialogue through taking different roles each and then doing the dialogue again without looking at the words.

Next, students are given the task of creating their own dialogues using at least one of the idioms in an appropriate way. Students write out the dialogues, rehearse them and then act them out for the group.

You can also do this with phrasal verbs but either way it works out well and the routine can be used again when you are a bit short of material or are having a hangover day!

Barrier Activities

One favourite of mine that never fails to stimulate plenty of language use is to simply create your own barrier exercise. I like to get a nice chunky newspaper article related to what we are learning and then go through each paragraph and remove key details, such as: names, dates, place names, times, location etcetera…

I create two versions of this, the first one will have words missing from odd number paragraphs and the second copy will have words missing from even number paragraphs.

This prevents it from becoming confusing and make sure to keep one master version with no details missing and if you have time highlight the missing words in red so it is easy for students to check later.

Once the missing word copies are ready you can divide the class into two halves distributing sheet A to one half and sheet B to the other half. Allow them to work in groups at this point to work out what questions they need to ask the other half of the group in order to get the missing details filled in.

If you think this will be too difficult for them you can provide the questions in a jumbled up format so they have to rearrange them to make the questions,, or even give them the questions but they have to work out the order in which to ask them to correspond to the paragraph order.

After this preparation period students can then pair up with someone from the opposite half of the group to take turns asking and answering each other’s questions.

Make sure that students do not show each other their articles and simply just sit and copy the answers, clearly this simply defeats the whale point of the exercise.

Before starting this I also pre teach any tricky vocabulary that I know is going to come up in the article just to make sure the final questions and answer session goes without too much stopping and starting to ask about vocabulary.

After students have got the answers then you can either display the answers on an overhead projector, or send students back to their original half of the group to see if they have all gotten the same answers.

Jigsaw Reading

This is another easy way to get students involved in the language and speaking. Select a relevant article related to the topic you are studying and chop it up into paragraphs. Hand out A4 paper with a simple one column table with as many boxes as there are paragraphs.

Hand out the paragraphs to the students considering which paragraphs are more difficult and should go to the higher level learners and which are slightly easier and can go to the lower ability students. 

Individually, students now summarise in their own words as far as possible their paragraphs and write the summary in a box in the table. Following this students pair up with students who had a different paragraph and they then read out their summaries whilst the other students make notes of it.

Rotate partners so that everyone can get every paragraph and after the first couple of times students have read their summaries, force students to turn over their paper and explain their paragraph from memory.

After the first couple of goes they should be able to do this and by the time they have explained to everyone in the group they should be reeling off their summary very comfortably.

A Word On Differentiation …

There is a lot of fun to be had for the students in the above activities but it is important to not forget that some students will require more support than others. Just asking students to do a role play with no support may be too much for some. 

Always consider using speaking frames, having sentence starters placed around the room, ‘useful language’ handouts, and always show a clear model of what it is you are expecting the students to produce. 

If you can tick those boxes then your speaking lesson will go that bit more smoothly.

All the best with your ESL speaking projects!

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25 Classroom Phrases in English for Teachers and Students

There is so much vocabulary to be used in an English-speaking classroom along with phrases as well!

Teachers have many different ways of telling students to do things and also of interacting with their students in a social way. In addition, students have their own phrases to communicate with each other and also to talk to their teacher.

This article will discuss a few examples of phrases used in the classroom.  These phrases are mostly familiar to me from British classrooms but I have tried to add American variations as well.

We will go through the school day in chronological order, so it is an easy step-by-step guide:

Beginning the day

End of the day (home time).

Here we go!

It’s the morning and things are crazy at school, friends are sitting down chatting and teachers are organising for the day ahead. We start first with the register:

1. Register (role-call)

The teacher takes (or ‘does’) a register every day to make sure they know who is present in the class and who is absent.  The teacher would initiate this process by saying something like:

• Now, class, we are going to take (or ‘do’) the register.

At this point students would have to be silent and respond only when their name is called with “present” or “here” .

It is considered impolite to answer with “Yep” or “Mhm” and some schools even make students answer “Yes Sir/Miss”.

Also, the teacher may use the register to ask students about previous absences or times when they were not in class. Parents are usually required to inform the school about why their child was not present, but they may also write a note in the student’s “journal” or “contact book”.

It can also be a time for the teacher to talk to students and ask them what they did at the weekend or if they saw the big game on television last night.

Mrs Smith: Johnny? Johnny: Here, Miss!

Mrs Smith: Did you watch the Arsenal match last night? It was fantastic! Johnny: Yes! It was brilliant Miss, I didn’t know you watched football!

Often, there will be a “register monitor” which is a student nominated to deliver the register from the classroom to the school office. This is a big responsibility but most students love to do it!

Often after the register, there might be a bit of noise as students are excited, so then the teacher may gently use this phrase…

2. Is everybody ready to start?

This is something the teacher would say at the start of the lesson, mainly to gain attention.

Often after the register is taken, students begin talking and chatting about what they did yesterday or something they think is more interesting than school!  So, the teacher saying “Is everybody ready to start?” is not really asking polite question but rather “Can everyone pay attention, please? I’m starting the lesson”.

Other examples of this include:

• I’m waiting…
• Settle down please.
• We won’t start until everyone is quiet.
• Okay, that’s enough…

And if that doesn’t work, the teacher will say politely:

3. Fingers on lips!

Another one that’s used to keep people quiet!

Teachers may say this if there is an argument or a group of children that are making too much noise in the class. It’s a way to cut through this noise and make sure everyone knows the teacher is in charge.  The idea then is that the children literally put their fingers on their lips to stop them speaking over each other.

Then maybe the teacher will encourage the class to share ideas together about what they did at the weekend or something interesting that they have to show the class. They can do this in a couple of ways or by using a couple of activities.

4. Homework excuses

In the morning, students usually have to hand in their homework so that it can be graded by the teacher.  This is definitely one for the students, excuses for not having done homework!

Here are 5 of the best:

• The dog ate my homework. – I don’t know if this has ever actually happened, but its the classic excuse for all students.
• I did it but I left it at home. – This is a brilliant excuse because the student can pretend to be surprised and also claim to be a good student having done the assignment!
• I left it in my mum’s car. – Same as above, although the danger here is that the teacher may call your mum to ask her to bring the homework that isn’t complete!
• I didn’t know it was due today. – An excuse that sometimes works, but usually not in my experience.  The student claims that they thought it was due on a different day (usually after the weekend) to gain some more time.
• I have a note from my parents. – Fantastic, as long as you actually have the note to backup the excuse! This is usually a lie.

If you are a teacher, you need to be ready to see these excuses on a regular basis! And if you’re a student, well maybe it’s time to start doing the homework (or to start thinking of some better excuses).

It’s time for the first activities of the day! Everyone is ready to start learning and having fun.

1. Show and Tell (showtime)

Show and Tell is a part of the class where students bring in something that is special or important to them and talk about it to the rest of the class. This helps students that may be shy or timid to participate and contribute to class discussion whilst gaining confidence.

This is an exercise generally used with younger students, but I have also used it with older, more mature students to get them talking and asking each other questions.

It can also be highly entertaining!

Here is an example of a show and tell dialogue:

Mrs Smith: Now, Ben has brought in something to show the class! Ben, what have you brought for us? Ben: I have brought my dad’s guitar. I love listening to him play it. It has six strings and it is brown.

Mrs Smith: That’s great! Can you play the guitar? Ben: A little bit, my dad teaches me a new song every month so that I can play little bits of music! Mrs Smith: Fantastic, thank you for sharing Ben!

This can be done in many different ways. You can ask students to show and tell as a whole class, or you can ask three people each day to prepare something, that way it won’t take up the whole lesson.

2. Circle Time

This is very similar to Show and Tell and also helps to get students talking!

It is a very good way to facilitate a group discussion and would be fantastic with all language learners of all ages.  In Circle Time, the class sits in a circle and will take it in turns to speak about a chosen subject. 

The thing is, they can only speak whilst they are holding an object and when a student does not have the object, they cannot speak. This helps to keep people focused and listening to each other.

3. Find a partner/get into groups of (number)

These phrases are used for group work and to get students to work together.

Some classes have predetermined groups to make sure that friends aren’t always together.

Mrs Smith: Now, class, get into groups of three please! We’re going to do an activity. Ben: Miss, can I work with James and Ricky?

Mrs Smith: Of course you can, as long as your group is a group of three, it’s not a problem! Ben: Yay, thanks miss!

Be careful, this one can cause chaos as students are moving all over the place and often teachers will start counting down from 10 to add a sense of urgency!

4. Come up to the front and show the class!

Teachers can ask students to come up to the front of the class for a variety of reasons but we will focus on the good ones.

It can be an honour for a student to go to the front! It means that your work is great or you have done something really well, much better than the other children!

Here are a few examples:

• Come up to the front and explain the problem to the class – this is a reward for somebody who is doing well in class. They can explain it to the students to make everyone understand it better.
• Come up to the front and write your answer on the board – This can be fantastic for students because usually the board is reserved for the teacher’s writing!

Sometimes if the student does well, the teacher will tell the class to give them a round of applause which means that they get clapped for their efforts! This is a great feeling!

Lunchtime! Finally!

Before anything, the teacher will check that everyone has their lunch because if not, then he/she will need to get them some lunch.

1. Does everyone have their lunch?

Followed by…

• Who has a packed lunch? – A packed lunch is a lunch that a student has brought. This will usually be sandwiches and fruit with a few small treats.
• Who is having a hot dinner? – A hot dinner is provided by the school usually for a small fee.

Lunchtime is a great time of the day for students because (if the weather is good) they get to go outside and eat their lunch whilst also playing sport or another type of game.

There are lots of possible games to play at lunchtime:

• Sport – football, rugby, basketball – Depending on the equipment you have!
• Tag – Everyone runs around the playground, one person is “It” which means they have to try and catch other people by chasing them and then touching them. The person that is touched becomes “It” and they chase everyone else.
• Catch – You throw a ball to each other and try to catch it.
• Dodgeball – More American, but a game where you have to try and dodge (move out of the way) a ball that is thrown at you!

Ben: Jamie, do you want to play dodgeball when I’ve finished my sandwiches? Jamie: No, everyone is playing tag ! Then after we are going to play football . Ben: Okay! Let me finish my lunch and I’ll be there!

After a few more activities and lessons comes home time !

A child’s favourite time of the day, time to go home! Here are some things that the teacher may say:

1. Pack your things away

This phrase can be used to make students tidy up the classroom.

Often after an art class or another class requiring a lot of equipment, students will have made a mess.  The teacher certainly does not want to tidy the class by themselves so they ask the students to do it for them! 

This usually happens 5 minutes before the end of class and should be done very quickly.  To make this happen, the teacher will often offer a reward for the quickest people to tidy up and sit down such as a sweet or a sticker.

• Tidy up time!
• Tidy your things away!
• I need the classroom spotless in 5 minutes!

There may be some time left before the bell rings so the teacher will carry on talking…

2. Have you had a good day?

A nice way to end the day is to ask students if they have had fun at school or even What did you learn today?

This can be an excellent way to end things and to make sure that students are learning. It also gives the students another opportunity to talk and express themselves!

Look at the dialogue below:

Mrs Smith: Okay children, it’s the end of the day! But before we go, Ellie, have you had a good day? Ellie: Um… Well I loved painting, I think I would like to be an artist one day!

Mrs Smith: Great! You are a really good artist! Now, Ben, what did you learn today? Ben: Well, I learned that quadrilaterals are shapes with 4 sides. Mrs Smith: Very good! That’s exactly right!

This makes sure that the students go home happy and ready to tell their parents all about what they have done today.

These are all great phrases to use in a classroom environment!

What do you think?

Teachers, what phrases do you like best?

Students, which phrases would you be scared to hear?

If you have any additions please add them in the comments below!

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7 ESL Activities for Public Speaking

Public speaking can be a scary thing.

Also known as glossophobia , the fear of public speaking is a major source of anxiety for roughly 75% of people worldwide .

However, public speaking is an essential skill everyone needs to have , including language learners.

The good news is that it gets easier with practice, which is why you should try out some of the below activities for public speaking that will help improve your or your students’ skills.

1. Watch TED Talks and observe body language

2. practice mimicking body language, 3. recite famous speeches, 4. give presentations in small groups, 5. prepare solo presentations using powerpoint, 6. do improvised presentations on random topics, 7. do some drama activities.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Playing videos from TED Talks is a fantastic way for you to see people giving professional-quality presentations in English. The TED Talks website is filled with hundreds of different speakers, with topics ranging from the fascinating world of technology to the meaning of life.

Here’s a list of excellent TED talks presentations for ESL students , along with guidelines on how to use them in the classroom.

Think about things you like and don’t like about the presentation as you watch the video. Once the presentation has ended, write down the positive and negative aspects you observed. This will get you thinking about what kind of techniques you can implement in your own speeches, as well as which mistakes to avoid.

To give yourself or your students a well-rounded learning experience, you could add FluentU   to your toolbox. FluentU is a language learning program that allows you to watch a library of authentic English videos with interactive dual-language subtitles. This can be a great way to break down what each video contains.

Good public speaking skills aren’t just about using clever words and speaking clearly— body language is equally as important . Incidentally, there’s a TED Talk you can watch covering the power of body language.

Start by brainstorming different types of body language, like gestures, postures and facial expressions. You can select actions like smiling, frowning, crossing your arms and more. After introducing body language, try matching your examples to various emotions and messages.

The results of this can be surprising because some meanings of expressions and gestures vary depending on the culture. Gestures that may seem polite could be offensive in other countries. For example, the “thumbs up” sign may seem universal for good job , but in Australia, Greece and the Middle East, it could be construed as an offensive insult.

Once you’ve elicited examples of positive and negative body language, practice how to use good body language in your presentations .

Making a speech is difficult enough, but writing a good one can feel like an impossible challenge to a beginner ESL learner.

Take some of the pressure off by reciting famous speeches. That way, you can focus on speaking skills without diving into writing or grammar.

Speeches can be taken from historical figures, social media and even movies. For beginners, you could work with a selection of famous short poems . For advanced students, try a longer speech, such as John F. Kennedy’s “Moon Speech.”

Standing alone in front of the class can be a nerve-wracking experience, even for the most gifted of learners.

If you aren’t ready for solo presentations, work in small groups so all of the attention isn’t focused on one individual learner. This can be done in just about any context, from proposing a business idea to describing how to cook your favorite food.

If you’re teaching this exercise, monitoring your students’ activity can be difficult with several groups working at the same time, so have your students assess each other.

Give every student a scoring sheet with criteria covering things like voice projection, timing, entertainment and ease of understanding. As your students listen, each group can score their partners based on this criteria. Then, you can use their scoring sheets to give feedback at the end of the class.

When you feel ready to come up with your own material, try preparing your own presentations with the help of PowerPoint.

PowerPoint slides are a great visual aid, as well as a way to make the presentation easier for nervous students.

Make sure the topic is a suitable difficulty level, and ideally, something you’re interested in. Just make sure to give enough time to write a presentation script and create the PowerPoint slides to go along with it.

I recommend planning the project in advance so there’s time to work on the presentations. Students who don’t have PowerPoint on their computer can use Google Slides as an alternative . It’s free and just as effective.

Once you or your students have built up some confidence in speaking, you can start trying some real  challenges , like on-the-spot presentations.

Do this by writing out a list of different topics and putting them in a hat, bag or any other object you or the students have to stick your hand into. These topics could be anything from my dream job  to the importance of a healthy diet.

Randomly select one topic, and without any preparation time, talk to the class or another audience for as long as they can about their chosen topic.

Public speaking doesn’t have to be about presentations. You can change things up a bit by trying some drama activities  as well.

These could include role plays and reenactments of famous movie scenes. While acting, students still use skills like good body language, voice projection, intonation and even improvisation  to make their dialogue sound natural and convincing.

While lectures and note-taking can be beneficial, nothing compares to the hands-on experience you can get from practicing public speaking.

That’s why you should implement some of the above activities for public speaking into your lessons or personal learning plans to improve confidence and overall speaking quality.

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Creative Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers

ESL Presentation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

ESL presentation topics for intermediate and upper intermediate students. Great as a warm-up or a speaking lesson.

You can use the slideshow and share your screen on Zoom or other app when teaching online. Just click on the full screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow.

I used it with my students during our online lesson and we didn’t even have time to discuss all the topics, because they couldn’t stop talking. I was quite impressed how much they knew and also how well they could express their opinions.

One of the reasons why I love conversation activities is that I learn so much about my students. I think that we often underestimate our students and see them as the stereotypical lazy teenagers. Activities like these can show us that they are much more than that.

You can also download the PDF for easy printing below.

Other picture-based resources:

ESL Exam Speaking Picture Description and Questions

No-Prep ESL Picture Description Speaking Activity

Picture Based Speaking Activity For ESL/EFL Classes

Picture Prompts for Speaking and Writing: An ESL Activity

ESL Picture Description: Exam Skills Practice

Food and Travel ESL Lesson: Interactive Online Lesson

Conversation resources:

Popular Conversation Topics for (not only) Adults and Teenagers: 50 Questions

Conversation Starters: 30 Interesting Conversation Questions Not Only For ESL Students

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives: ESL Speaking Activity

30 Hypothetical Conversation Questions for ESL Students

ESL Conversation Topics

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5 TOP ESL Interactive Activities

Tania Kyrylenko

May 21, 2024

• Gamification
• Interactivity

As an English teacher myself, I understand the struggle of wanting to introduce engaging activities without spending endless hours creating them . Personally, I’m a big fan of low-prep, engaging, and effective ESL interactive activities. In this post, I’ll share with you 5 top ESL interactive activities that will make your classes even more awesome and won’t take the whole day of preparation!

1. Storytelling: Boosting & Revising Vocabulary

Storytelling is a powerful tool for ESL teachers looking to spice up their lessons and boost their students’ vocabulary retention . When we hear a story, our brains light up with activity. This engagement helps us retain information more effectively than rote memorization. For ESL students, storytelling offers a dynamic way to encounter and absorb new words in context.

But crafting a story from scratch can be daunting, especially for learners still building their language skills. That’s where a handy tip comes in: provide your students with a story context or outline. By giving them a starting point, you empower them to focus on vocabulary and let their imaginations run wild in creating unique and exciting narratives.

For interactive and engaging storytelling sessions , I often turn to the Genial Wheel Quiz . With a few tweaks, it transforms into a top-notch tool for storytelling activities, even though it doesn’t look like it at first sight!

How to do it

I replace the numbers on the wheel with the target vocabulary from the lesson. Additionally, I provide a brief story prompt to guide my students’ creativity and save their mental energy for grasping new vocabulary.

Take a look at what I did for one of my lesson plans, aimed at learning new vocabulary related to crime and police . I integrated the target language and crafted a concise prompt: 

Check it out here:

2. Giving Grammar a Real-World Touch

Understanding grammar in context is paramount for ESL students. When grammar rules are presented within the framework of real-life situations or scenarios, students grasp them more readily.

To facilitate this, I always break down grammar topics into manageable chunks and embed them within common communicative situations.

By presenting grammar in bite-sized portions and connecting them to meaningful contexts, students can see the relevance of what they’re learning.

It’s important to show that grammar is a tool for effective communication and not a set of abstract rules to memorize.

In Genially, I can seamlessly transform grammar exercises into immersive experiences , allowing students to envision themselves in real-life scenarios. Now, here’s the catch: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. So, I’ll share a couple of my ideas to give you a solid grasp of what I’m talking about.

Using the Anime Comic template, I crafted an ESL interactive activity where students practise introducing themselves and sparking conversations. Using the prompts, they bring dialogues to life, practising correct grammar, whether in pairs role-playing, or solo.

Similarly, for practising the third conditional , I designed another ESL interactive activity. Students complete dialogues with third conditional sentences based on contextual cues. This activity offers two levels of difficulty: one without prompts and another with optional hints accessible by tapping a light bulb icon.

3. Gamification for ESL Lessons: Fun with Purpose

Games aren’t just fun—they’re a powerhouse for learning! They inject excitement into lessons, sparking engagement and motivation among students. 

Here’s the thing: while games are fantastic for energising the classroom, it’s crucial not to lose sight of the educational objectives.

As teachers, we need to strike a balance between enjoyment and effectiveness .

Every exercise should serve a purpose, whether it’s reinforcing grammar rules, expanding vocabulary, or improving communication skills. Understanding the educational value of each ESL interactive activity ensures that our lessons are not just entertaining but also meaningful, ultimately leading to tangible improvements in students’ language proficiency.

To ensure this, always give your students a clear communicative aim. They should know precisely why they’re communicating, what problem to solve, and what outcomes to aim for. This should come both from the teacher’s instructions and the design of the game itself.

Check out my creation inspired by the template Chaotic Kitchen Escape . 

How to do it 

Here’s the kicker—I tweaked the template to fit my needs, so it looks nothing like the original game when it comes to the mechanics! But I borrowed its awesome design! 

Here’s a tip: Genially templates offer stellar designs that you can repurpose for your own activities. It’s a real time-saver, and the results look simply stunning!

In ‘Dinner with Friends’, students dive into culinary adventures, following recipes and describing their actions. I even threw in some typical dialogue examples for extra guidance. All the elements are draggable, so students can comment on their real-time actions, making the experience even more immersive and engaging! And the communicative purpose? Students should cooperate to “cook” three dishes for their dinner together! It seems fun, but in reality, your students will use lots of new grammar and vocabulary from the lesson in a natural environment. 

4. Going Beyond Vocab & Grammar: Exploring Cultures

Learning English isn’t just about memorizing words and grammar—it’s also about exploring different cultures. By learning about how English is used in different countries , students can understand more about the people who speak it and how they live. It helps students understand and respect people from different backgrounds. 

This is called being ‘interculturally competent. ‘ It means they can connect with people from all over the world and understand their points of view better.

Let me share a personal example: I’m from Ukraine, where Halloween isn’t a widely celebrated tradition. However, I make it a point to introduce this topic to my students to broaden their understanding of English-speaking customs and traditions. 

To make the learning experience more immersive, I designed an ESL interactive activity where students decorate their houses for Halloween. Sure, it might not be typical for Ukrainians, but it’s a fun way for my students to delve deeper into the traditions and have a blast!

But it’s not just about having fun. As students collaborate and agree on decorations, they naturally use a ton of vocabulary related to Halloween. It’s a win-win situation: students get to have fun while expanding their language skills and cultural awareness .

5. Reinventing Flashcards

Flashcards are a tried-and-true method for mastering vocabulary, and for good reason! They offer a simple yet powerful way to reinforce word meanings and associations . By regularly reviewing flashcards, students can strengthen their memory and recall new words.

But here’s the trick: it’s not just about flipping through cards mindlessly. Flashcards are most effective when used actively and in the context.

Let me show you how I did it. In this genially, I included a couple of photos of celebrity couples and added target phrases that students can use to describe them. Using the phrases, students can describe the relationships the couples have.

With Genially’s interactive image mode, creating engaging flashcards is a breeze! Choose captivating images that spark curiosity and imagination, then add a task to describe the pictures . To give students a helpful nudge, include a tooltip with a word related to the image , providing them with ideas for discussion and expanding their vocabulary in context.

These are just 5 random ideas for how you can make the most of Genially in your classroom, but there are many more! I really hope these ESL interactive activities and geniallys inspired you to create more for your students! Here’s to creating memorable and impactful educational experiences together!

Related articles

Find here 5 low-prep, effective and extremely engaging ESL interactive activities. Tips, free templates and examples are included.

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Classroom Language For Teachers and Students of English

By: Author Sophia

Posted on Last updated: October 25, 2023

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In a classroom setting, effective use of language is essential for both teachers and students. Teachers need to be able to communicate their lessons clearly and effectively, while students need to have the necessary language skills to participate in class, ask questions, and express themselves.

This article will provide an overview of the importance of classroom language for teachers and students of English and will outline some useful phrases and strategies for improving language proficiency in the classroom.

• Classroom Language For English Teachers

Classroom Language: The beginning of the lesson

1. Good morning

• Good morning, everybody.
• Good afternoon, everybody.
• Hello, everyone.
• Hello there, John.

2. How are you?

• How are you today?
• How are you getting on?
• How’s life?
• How are things with you?
• Are you feeling better today, David?

3. Introductions

• My name is Mr/Mrs/Ms Kim. I’m your new English teacher.
• I’ll be teaching you English this year.
• I’ve got five lessons with you each week.

4. Time to begin

• Let’s begin our lesson now.
• Is everybody ready to start?
• I hope you are all ready for your English lesson.
• I think we can start now.
• Now we can get down to work.

5. Waiting to start

• I’m waiting for you to be quiet.
• We won’t start until everyone is quiet.
• Stop talking and be quiet.
• Settle down now so we can start.

6. Put your things away

• Close your books.
• Put your books away.
• Pack your things away.

7. Register

• Who is absent today?
• Who isn’t here today?
• What’s the matter with Jim today?
• What’s wrong with Jim today?
• Why were you absent last Friday?
• Where have you been?
• We started ten minutes ago. What have you been doing?
• Did you miss your bus?
• Did you oversleep?
• Don’t let it happen again.

Classroom Language: Simple instructions

1. Here are some common instructions which the class can easily understand:

• Come to the front of the class.
• Stand by your desks.
• Put your hands up.
• Put your hands down.
• Hold your books/pens up.
• Show me your pencil.

2. A number of instructions can be used at the beginning of a session:

• Pay attention, everybody.
• You need pencils/rulers.
• We’ll learn how to …
• Are you ready?
• Open your books at page…
• Turn to page …
• Look at activity five.
• Listen to this tape.
• Repeat after me.
• Again, please.
• Everybody …
• You have five minutes to do this.
• Who’s next?
• Like this, not like that.

3. A number of instructions can be used at the end of a session:

• It’s time to finish.
• Have you finished?
• Let’s stop now.
• Let’s check the answers.
• Any questions?
• Collect your work please.
• Pack up your books.
• Are your desks tidy?
• Don’t forget to bring your … tomorrow.

4. Instructions can also be sequenced:

5. Comprehension language:

• Are you with me?
• Are you OK?
• Do you get it?
• Do you understand?
• Do you follow me?
• What did you say?
• One more time, please.
• Say it again, please.
• I don’t understand.
• I don’t get it.
• Is this OK?

Classroom Language: The end of the lesson

1. Time to stop

• It’s almost time to stop.
• I’m afraid it’s time to finish now.
• We’ll have to stop here.
• There’s the bell. It’s time to stop.
• That’s all for today. You can go now.

2. Not time to stop

• The bell hasn’t gone yet.
• There are still two minutes to go.
• We still have a couple of minutes left.
• The lesson doesn’t finish till five past.
• Your watch must be fast.
• We seem to have finished early.
• We have an extra five minutes.
• Sit quietly until the bell goes.

3. Wait a minute

• Hang on a moment.
• Just hold on a moment.
• Stay where you are for a moment.
• Just a moment, please.
• One more thing before you go.
• Back to your places.

4. Next time

• We’ll do the rest of this chapter next time.
• We’ll finish this exercise next lesson.
• We’ve run out of time, so we’ll continue next lesson.
• We’ll continue this chapter next Monday.

5. Homework

• This is your homework for tonight.
• Do exercise 10 on page 23 for your homework.
• Prepare the next chapter for Monday.
• There is no homework today.
• Remember your homework.
• Take a worksheet as you leave.
• Goodbye, everyone.
• See you again next Wednesday.
• See you tomorrow afternoon.
• See you in room 7 after the break.
• Have a good holiday.
• Enjoy your vacation.

7. Leaving the room

• Get into a queue.
• Form a queue and wait for the bell.
• Everybody outside!
• All of you get outside now!
• Hurry up and get out!
• Try not to make any noise as you leave.
• Be quiet as you leave. Other classes are still working.
• It’s tidy up time

Classroom Language: Language of classroom management

Here are some phrases that can be used for classroom management:

Giving instructions

• Open your books at page 52.
• Come out and write it on the board.
• Listen to the tape, please.
• Get into groups of four.
• Finish off this song at home.
• Let’s sing a song.
• Everybody, please.
• All together now.
• The whole class, please.
• I want you all to join in.
• Could you try the next one?
• I would like you to write this down.
• Would you mind switching the lights on?
• It might be an idea to leave this till next time.
• Who would like to read?
• Which topic will your group report on?
• Do you want to answer question 3?
• First of all, today, …
• Right. Now we will go on to the next exercise.
• For the last thing today, let’s …
• Whose turn is it to read?
• Which question are you on?
• Next one, please.
• Who hasn’t answered yet?
• Let me explain what I want you to do next.
• The idea of this exercise is for you to …
• You have ten minutes to do this.
• Your time is up.
• Finish this by twenty to eleven.
• Can you all see the board?
• Have you found the place?
• Are you all ready?

  Supervision

• Look this way.
• Stop talking.
• Listen to what … is saying.
• Leave that alone now.
• Be careful.

Asking questions

• Where’s Bill?
• Is Bill in the kitchen?
• Tell me where Bill is.
• What was the house like?
• What do you think?
• How can you tell?

Responding to questions

• Yes, that’s right,
• Almost. Try again.
• What about this word?

Metalanguage

• What’s the Spanish for “doll”?
• Explain it in your own words.
• It’s spelt with a capital “J”.
• Can anybody correct this sentence?
• Fill in the missing words.
• Mark the right alternative.
• After they left the USA, the Beatles …
• The church was started in the last century.
• This is a picture of a typically English castle.
• In the background you can see …
• While we’re on the subject, …
• As I said earlier, …
• Let me sum up.

Affective attitudes

• That’s interesting!
• That really is very kind of you.
• Don’t worry about it.
• I was a bit disappointed with your efforts.

Social ritual

• Good morning.
• Cheerio now.
• Have a nice weekend.
• Thanks for your help.
• Happy birthday!
• Merry Christmas!

Classroom Language: The language of error correction

Here are some phrases that can be used when giving feedback to students:

• That’s very good.
• That’s nice.
• I like that.
• Marvellous!
• You did a great job.
• Magnificent!
• Jolly good!
• Great stuff!
• Quite right
• That’s right.
• That’s it.
• That’s correct.
• That’s quite right.
• Yes, you’ve got it.
• It depends.
• It might be, I suppose.
• In a way, perhaps.
• Sort of, yes.
• That’s more like it.
• That’s much better.
• That’s a lot better.
• You’ve improved a lot.
• You were almost right.
• That’s almost it.
• You’re halfway there.
• You’ve almost got it.
• You’re on the right lines.
• There’s no need to rush.
• There’s no hurry.
• We have plenty of time
• Go on. Have a try.
• Have a guess.
• Not really.
• Unfortunately not.
• I’m afraid that’s not quite right.
• You can’t say that, I’m afraid.
• You can’t use that word here.
• Good try, but not quite right.
• Have another try.
• Not quite right. Try again.
• Not exactly.

Classroom Language: The language of spontaneous situations

If we use English in spontaneous situations:

• We relate the target language to the learner’s immediate environment.
• We take advantage of spontaneous situations to use the target language.
• We exploit contexts which are not directly linked to the syllabus (language in use).

Here are some common situations in which spontaneous English can be used:

• Many returns (of the day).
• “” has his/her 12th birthday today.
• “” is eleven today. Let’s sing “Happy Birthday”.
• Best of luck.
• I hope you pass.
• Congratulations!
• Who’s not here today?
• Who isn’t here?
• What’s wrong with … today?
• I’m sorry (about that).
• Sorry, that was my fault.
• I’m terribly sorry.
• Could I get past please?
• You’re blocking the way.
• I can’t get past you.
• Get out of the way, please
• I hope you all have a good Christmas.
• Happy New Year!
• All the best for the New Year.
• Happy Easter.
• Hard lines!
• Never mind.
• Better luck next time.
• Do you feel better today?
• Are you better now?
• Have you been ill?
• What was the matter?
• I’ll be back in a moment.
• Carry on with the exercise while I’m away.
• I’ve got to go next door for a moment.
• I’m afraid I can’t speak any louder.
• I seem to be losing my voice.
• I have a sore throat.
• I have a headache.
• I’m feeling under the weather.
• Do you mind if I sit down?

Classroom Language for English Students

Here is a list of useful classroom language for students in English.

• Asking for clarification: Can you repeat that?, Can you explain that more?, I’m sorry, I don’t understand.
• Participating in discussions: I have a question, Can I share my thoughts?, That’s a good point, What do you think?
• Giving examples: For instance, For example, Such as, Like.
• Making comparisons: Just like, Similar to, Unlike, On the other hand.
• Expressing uncertainty: I’m not sure, I don’t know, I don’t understand, Can you help me?
• Summarizing information: In short, To summarize, To put it briefly, In other words.
• Expressing agreement/disagreement: I agree, I disagree, I concur, I don’t agree.
• Asking for help: Can you help me?, I need some assistance, Can you give me a hand?
• Responding to questions: Yes, No, Of course, Sure.
• Expressing appreciation: Thank you, That’s very kind of you, I appreciate your help, That’s helpful.

Classroom Objects in English

Classroom Objects in English 

Here is a list of words to learn for this lesson.

• Desk – a piece of furniture like a table, usually with drawers in it, that you sit at to write and work
• Chair  – a piece of furniture for one person to sit on, which has a back, a seat, and four legs
• Book – a set of printed pages that are held together in a cover so that you can read them
• Notebook – a book made of plain paper on which you can write notes
• Pencil case – a bag or box to carry pens and pencils in
• Scissors – a tool for cutting paper, made of two sharp blades fastened together in the middle, with holes for your finger and thumb
• Compass  – a V-shaped instrument with one sharp point and a pen or pencil at the other end, used for drawing circles or measuring distances on maps
• Pencil – an instrument that you use for writing or drawing, consisting of a wooden stick with a thin piece of a black or coloured substance in the middle
• Stapler – a tool used for putting staples into paper
• Calculator – a small electronic machine that can add, multiply, …
• Ballpoint  – a pen with a ball at the end that rolls ink onto the paper
• Hightlighter – a special light-coloured pen used for marking words in a book, article, …
• Rubber (U.K)/ Eraser (U.S) – a small piece of rubber or similar material used for removing pencil marks from paper
• Palette – a thin curved board that an artist uses to mix paints, holding it by putting his or her thumb through a hole at the edge
• Protractor  – a piece of plastic in the shape of a half-circle, which is used for measuring and drawing angles
• Funnel  – a thin tube with a wide top that you use for pouring liquid into a container with a narrow opening, such as a bottle
• Binder  – a removable cover for holding loose sheets of paper, magazines, …
• Computer – an electronic machine that stores information and uses programs to help you find, organize, or change the information
• Map  – a drawing of a particular area, for example a city or country, which shows its main features, such as its roads, rivers, mountains, …
• Blackboard  – a board with a dark smooth surface, used in schools for writing on with chalk
• Globe – a round object with a map of the Earth drawn on it
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Sunday 5th of November 2023

Does anyone know the classroom language courses for teachers? I am an english teacher and I teach preschool kids. I want to improve my english and looking for a class. If you know please let me know. Thank you.

Saturday 17th of June 2023

Really very usefull phrases for teachers as well students

Mohammad Omar Aria

Thursday 1st of June 2023

Can u tell me how can i join classes😪 w

Monday 8th of May 2023

It means a lot to me 😍

Dr. Ahmed Khattab

Sunday 23rd of April 2023

This really gives great help to stick to English and avoid mother tongue.

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How to Teach Phrasal Verbs to ESL Learners: Strategies, Lesson Plans, and More

• May 14, 2024

This guest article was written by TEFL Lessons , a lesson plan provider with free and subscription-based ready-made ESL teaching materials.

The ability to understand and use phrasal verbs is essential for fluency, comprehension, vocabulary expansion, and cultural integration in English-speaking environments. However, TEFL teachers often struggle to explain them, and students find them difficult to grasp or recall. Read on to discover why phrasal verbs are so challenging, get strategies for how to teach phrasal verbs to ESL learners, and download some phrasal verb lesson plans for ESL teachers, which will make teaching phrasal verbs a breeze!

If you’re a new TEFL teacher, you might first benefit from familiarising yourself with the basic rules for phrasal verbs. Learn more about phrasal verb rules.

Why are phrasal verbs difficult to teach?

There are many reasons phrasal verbs can be difficult to teach and learn. From idiomatic meanings to translation difficulties, there are a variety of challenges to overcome for both the teacher and learner. Here are some of the reasons phrasal verbs are challenging.

• Translation Issues: Phrasal verbs often lack direct equivalents in other languages, making them challenging for learners who rely on translating directly from their native language.
• Similarities: It is easy to confuse several phrasal verbs, as many use the same verb, but the meaning changes depending on the particle; for example, take on , take off , take over , take up , and take away .
• Multiple Meanings: Phrasal verbs frequently have multiple meanings. For instance, take off can mean to remove clothing , depart or leave (airplanes), suddenly become successful or popular , and mimic or imitate someone or something . It’s no wonder that students find this challenging!
• Idiomatic Meanings: Several phrasal verbs have idiomatic meanings that cannot be deduced from the individual words. For instance, the phrasal verb make up means to become friends again after an argument , but the meaning is not obvious from the individual words.
• Overload: English has a vast number of phrasal verbs, and learning them all can feel overwhelming.

How to teach phrasal verbs to ESL learners: 11 effective strategies and resources

1. stress the importance of learning and using phrasal verbs..

Phrasal verbs are a fundamental component of the English language and are used extensively in daily conversation, as well as in literature, newspapers, magazines, and online content. No doubt you have encountered or will encounter students who insist on sticking to alternative verbs. While this strategy may allow them to say what they wish to some extent, it’s important to remind them that it won’t help when it comes to comprehension. There is also a misconception that phrasal verbs are only used in informal settings. While it is true that they are more common in informal English, they can also be used in formal settings. There are, for example, several phrasal verbs that are used in business- and work-related English.

• Resource : The following phrasal verb lesson plan focuses on work-and-career-related phrasal verbs. Download the lesson plan here: Phrasal Verbs Related to Work & Career .

2. Introduce phrasal verbs to lower-level students with the use of visual aids.

Basic phrasal verbs such as get up and sit down can and should be introduced to lower-level students. Using visual aids such as pictures, diagrams, videos, or gestures can be particularly useful when illustrating the meaning of phrasal verbs to lower-level students.

• Resource s: The following handout (free) and basic phrasal verbs lesson plans (pay to download) all utilize images for introducing the grammar rules for using phrasal verbs. Download them here: 50 Common Phrasal Verbs , Basic Phrasal Verbs (1) , and Basic Phrasal Verbs (2) .

3. Introduce phrasal verbs based on certain themes.

Examples of themes for introducing phrasal verbs include emotions, work, travel, and so on. This method helps learners organize and categorize the verbs, making them easier to remember and use correctly.

• Resource : The following free resource focuses on phrasal verbs related to holidays and travel. Download the lesson plan: Phrasal Verbs Related to Holiday and Travel .

4. Provide examples in context.

By encountering phrasal verbs in meaningful contexts, students are more likely to remember them and use them appropriately. Materials that include phrasal verbs used in context, such as dialogues, listening comprehension exercises, and reading texts, are all helpful. You should encourage learners to guess the meaning of each phrasal verb based on context clues or familiar words. Authentic materials such as movie clips, songs, news articles, and podcasts that feature phrasal verbs are also great options for providing context for higher-level students.

5. Use a variety of exercises when teaching a set of phrasal verbs.

In addition to facilitating understanding, using a variety of exercises provides the repetition required to help your students memorize phrasal verbs. You could start by asking the students to try to guess the meaning of phrasal verbs highlighted in a reading text or dialogue; next, they might match these same phrasal verbs to definitions provided; then, they could do an exercise where they need to fill in the gaps in sentences with the correct phrasal verb or the correct particle.

• Resource: For a phrasal verb lesson plan that follows the above pattern, check out the following resource: Phrasal Verbs Related to Crime and Punishment .

6. Provide lots of opportunities for practice and production.

It’s essential that once students have been introduced to a set of phrasal verbs, they are given sufficient time to practice them in a variety of ways. This might include speaking tasks like role-playing activities that simulate real-life situations where phrasal verbs are commonly used or conversation questions that feature phrasal verbs. Written practice might include simple sentence creation or writing a dialogue or paragraph that incorporates a given set of phrasal verbs. Practice activities that relate to the students’ own experiences, interests, or goals are especially useful, as personalization makes the learning process relevant and more meaningful.

7. Utilize games, puzzles, and quizzes.

In addition to the practice exercises mentioned above, charades, crossword puzzles, word searches, and quizzes are all excellent ways to practice and review phrasal verbs while bringing an element of fun into the classroom.

• Resources: Check out the following phrasal verb games and puzzles: Common Phrasal Verbs Crossword (B1) , Phrasal Verbs (Act or Explain) , and Phrasal Verbs Board Game .

8. Spend sufficient time focusing on use when you encounter a new phrasal verb.

When you come across a new phrasal verb in the course of a lesson, it is not enough to simply provide a definition. You should always model a few examples that demonstrate appropriate usage and make the students aware of the grammar rules. E.g., Is it a separable or inseparable phrasal verb? Is it transitive or intransitive?

9. Don’t overwhelm your students by introducing too many phrasal verbs at once.

In general, around 5-10 phrasal verbs per lesson for beginners or elementary students is plenty. At higher levels, you can increase the quantity, but always make sure that you are providing ample opportunities for practice, reinforcement, and review.

10. Make time in class for error correction.

This is particularly important at lower levels. Common errors include separating an inseparable phrasal verb, confusing phrasal verbs that have the same main verb but different particles, and using a phrasal verb in an inappropriate context. In order to help students overcome these errors, you should use on-the-spot correction during writing and speaking activities. It’s also helpful to make a note of errors the students make during a class activity. You can transfer any sentences containing errors to the board, and then have students discuss each sentence in pairs and try to identify the errors. Finally, elicit students’ ideas before highlighting errors and explaining correct usage with examples in context to reinforce learning.

11. Encourage learning and reflection outside of class.

Reading, watching films or TV series, and listening to podcasts in English will allow your students to encounter phrasal verbs in natural contexts. Suggest that your students keep a notebook, where they can record any phrasal verbs they come across inside or outside of the classroom, along with their meanings, contexts, and example sentences. Finally, recommend using phrasal verb apps for extra practice.

At TEFLlessons.com , you can access a plethora of useful phrasal verb lesson plans and worksheets. Register for a free account to download more than 100 free resources !

Get 20% off a 12- or 6-month membership to TEFL Lessons with the promo code INTRO20 and access the TEFL Lessons library of 460+ ESL teaching resources.

Our diverse, global community of contributors includes experts in the field, Bridge course graduates, online and classroom-based teachers worldwide, and Bridge faculty and staff.

Classroom Objects PowerPoint

Download this classroom objects PowerPoint and use it in class today. This PPT is great for teaching classroom objects and related classroom vocabulary to kids and beginner English language learners. It includes 15 classroom object words with pictures and a fun quiz at the end to review. See below to download this PowerPoint for free, and check the bottom of the page for related resources.

Related Resources

For more free materials for teaching classroom objects, check out these related resources: Classroom Objects Lesson Plan Classroom Objects Guessing Game Classroom Objects Worksheets Classroom Objects Flashcards Classroom Objects Quiz

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• English Speaking Listening Gcse Topics

English speaking and listening GCSE – 80 topic ideas

PDF and PowerPoint

Years 10-11

The English speaking and listening GCSE component involves students preparing and delivering a formal spoken presentation on a specific topic, lasting around ten minutes.

English speaking and listening GCSE presentations can take various forms, such as talks, debates, speeches or dialogues. Pupils must plan and organise them and invite questions at the end. The performance is graded holistically on a competency basis: Pass, Merit, or Distinction.

Topic ideas PowerPoint

This download features a PowerPoint featuring 80 topic ideas to inspire your students. There’s also a PDF version too for easy printing.

The topics cover a wide range of interests and allow students to explore different aspects of spoken language, meeting the requirements of the GCSE Spoken Language Endorsement.

The topics are engaging and directly relevant to pupils’ lives and communities, touching on current trends, societal challenges and personal experiences. There are ideas for discussing issues like mental health, social media and inequality to encourage critical thinking and personal reflection.

As well as social issues, there are also topic ideas for the following areas:

• Environmental issues
• Health and wellbeing
• Science and technology
• Arts and entertainment

We’ve also included a smattering of humorous topics which are likely to engage even your more reluctant students. These ideas are designed to be light-hearted and relatable, ensuring that students can have fun while delivering their presentations.

Browse more speaking and listening topics .

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FREE Email English Worksheets

Email english is an interesting topic for most esl classes and is especially useful for business english students who may be required to write emails in english for work. before starting this topic, get a sense of the extent to which students use email and english either at work or in their personal lives. busy teachers have submitted 33 worksheets on this topic. you can use this worksheet in a lesson about polite business letters for your adult upper-intermediate students. a thorough introduction of the topic and key vocabulary would be necessary before attempting this assignment. in the first section, students have to rearrange words to form accurate sentences while in the second section, students rewrite a business letter in a more formal and polite way. business english students will appreciate the importance of politeness especially when it comes to emails which can often be misinterpreted. that worksheet focuses on business emails but there are others that would be appropriate for younger or non-business students too. to view them, simply look through this section and download ones that look interesting; all of the worksheets are free and printable so do not feel obligated to use the first one you see. read more... ...less.

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