Episode 40 - Authentic, Engaging, and Motivating Speaking Activities for Your English Learners
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In this episode, I build upon the tips I shared in episode 39 on how to set up your speaking lesson by sharing several speaking activities my students love. I share all about picture prompts for speaking, projects that will help your students take ownership of their learning, and of course, games! These are also great for mixed proficiency classes.

Speaking is so connected with listening and writing. While listening is a receptive skill, which is absolutely necessary in order to navigate school and life, speaking and writing are the productive aspects of language. They are also much more difficult to master because one needs to retrieve the information they already have and present it to the listener or reader in a way they can understand. Lots of students know English grammar, but feel like they can’t speak it because the rules of grammar are easy to memorize using worksheets. This is not the same as speaking.

In order to succeed with speaking activities, students need vocabulary, knowledge of how to put those words into sentences, basic grammar, and knowledge to apply. Picture prompts incorporate all of this. You can show pictures of familiar things like hobbies and ask questions like what do you see in the picture? Or what is the person doing? Students will begin with one word answers and eventually work toward full conversations.

The next speaking activity is Projects, which are great because they incorporate all other language domains (reading, writing, and listening). They allow students to go in depth on a topic and can give them an opportunity to practice for projects in other classes. Make sure to set parameters for what you expect from students in terms of format, structure, etc.

There are also several games you can play with students to practice vocabulary and speaking. Listen to the episode to hear about the specific games I like to use with my students.

What you will hear about speaking activities for your English Learners

• What makes speaking is so much harder than reading or listening
• How to use picture prompts to teach speaking and idioms
• The projects and topics I like to use to get my students speaking
• Games that allow students to practice speaking and get a little competitive

Resources

As mentioned in the episode, I am linking some useful resources!

• The ESL Teaching Roadmap) – membership community for middle and high school ESL/ELL teachers. As a thank you for listening, use code ESLPODCAST for 10% off when you join. 
• 25 Authentic Speaking Activities for Your ESL Classroom)
• Simply Ieva ESL Teachers Pay Teachers Store)
• Teachable Platform - Courses and Workshops)
• Follow me on Instagram) 
• Join the Simply Ieva Facebook Group)

You may also be interested in: 

• Episode 39: How To Teach Speaking to English Learners)
• How to teach ESL with Pictures )
• 3 Fantastic Speaking Activities That Will Make Your ESL Class More Exciting)
• )

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