Practical ideas to increase engagement and develop speaking skills

Have you thrown the

baby out with the bath water?

Pass the parcel

• Any language• Any level

• Pictures • Questions• Objects

Talk Dominoes

• Any level• Excellent starter – time it!• Excellent plenary – beat

starter time!• Include known and some

new language (PLTS)• English – target language• Target language – English• Q and A

* What’s your

name?

Comment Where do t’appelles-tu? you live?

Où habites-tu?

*

Dice

• Any level• Creating linked

sentences• Learning verbs • Linking random topics• Use 3 dice to include a

range of connectives

Faites des phrases!Extension: add or ask for an opinion.

1. Hier soir, j’ai…2. Pourquoi as-tu…3. Le week-end dernier,

ma soeur a…4. L’année dernière, nous

avons…5. Quand avez-vous…6. Il y a deux semaines,

mes copains ont…

1. … fait du ski dans les Alpes (?)

2. … joué au volley dans le parc (?)

3. … rangé ma chambre (?)4. … visité le Canada?5. …mangé au McDo?6. … acheté des cadeaux

de Noël pour tout le monde dans la famille.

Listen and categorise

numéro matière scolaire

opinion affaires scolaires

treize

L’anglais

super

Un styloUn crayon

difficile

La biologie

ungénial

Stand up sit down – listening for details

• Dans mon sac, j’ai beaucoup de choses. D’abord, j’ai des livres, mon cahier de français et un petit dictionnaire français-anglais. En plus, j’ai un classeur pour mon cours d’anglais.

• J’ai également une trousse de Bart Simpson. A l’intérieur, il y a un stylo bleu et un stylo rouge ainsi que des crayons de couleur. J’ai un petit bâton de colle tout neuf, ma calculatrice pour les cours de maths et des ciseaux. Bien sûr, j’ai aussi une règle de trente centimètres et quelques feutres.

• En dernier, j’ai mes vêtements de sport mais aujourd’hui, j’ai oublié mes tennis!

Odd One Out - ModelWhat is specific only to subject 1

Subject 1What is specific only to subject 2

What do

subject 1

and 2

have in

common

What do subject 1

and 3 have in common

Subject 3 Subject 2What do subject 2 and 3 have in common

What do they all have in common

What is specific only to subject 3

Odd One Out - ModelPlays an

individual Sport

Only blond person

Only woman

Prof

essio

nal

Spor

tsmen

Not brilliant at

their chosen

careers!

Married Couple

British Celebrities

Flashcards!

• Any level• Vocabulary modelling• Word, sentence, text

level• Multitude of

kinaesthetic games• Linking topics• Sequencing ideas

Role-play in the style of…• Blind date• On a roller coaster• A whodunit• The Simpsons• East Enders• A meeting with your

favourite singer or actor• Posh ‘n’ Becks• The Chipmunks• Mickey and Minnie

Record and Video!• http://www.voki.com/• http://jackiehowis.edublogs.org/2009/05/

• Audacity• Mobile phones• Easi-speak• Flip video camera

• Podcast!• Play recording in next

lesson and pupils continue the dialogue.

Make use of YouTube!

• Consider this for the perfect tense:• youtube activities\pub française - passé composé.wmv

• Or this to add bring description to life:• youtube activities\zidane pub grand optical.wmv

• Inject some fun!• youtube activities\dansez avec igor.wmv

• Everyone’s heard of Pigloo: exploit it!• Highlight: rhyming words / opinions / adjectives /

infinitives etc.

Other top activities to engage…• Race to write down 10 words on a given topic (show-me boards)• Find someone who… - Number of statements on the whiteboard or on

cards, pupils have to circulate around the class in order to find a person who fulfils the statement.

• Find your partner (beginning/end sentence match; Brad / Anglelina etc, a kilo / of bananas; I love whodunits / because I like mysteries.

• Fact or opinion? (make it personal – students like the feeling you’re revealing things about your life to them)

• Write the best /most amusing paragraph you can using given words / linking two topics

• The loo roll game – ‘take as much as you like!’ – for each square, give a sentence on… (i) swap with a partner (ii) keep your own square (iii) multiply your number of squares by 2.

• Ticker tape activities – Use the ticker tape on your whiteboard: i) put in spaces or punctuation ii) select out all the colours / verbs / adjectives / opinons etc

A few more…• Memory Words – Teacher reads out ten words twice, pupils then write them down on

show-me boards from memory against the clock. Pupils then produce sentences using those words (see ‘Generation Game’ PowerPoint template to do this with visuals).

• Hot seating – A “volunteer” comes to the front of the class to answer quick fire questions from the audience. The rest of the class can tick or cross if they agree or disagree, this gives an opportunity for whole class assessment.

• Corners – Place statements in different corners of the room, pupils move to the statement which most applies to their opinion, or is the correct answer to a question the teacher asks.

• Taboo – Key words on cards, pupils have to describe to a partner the key word without mentioning the word itself.

• Blankety-Blank – Teacher reads out a statement with a blank, pupils write a word on show-me boards and bet on how right they are.

• Blockbusters – Key vocabulary blockbusters

• The percentage game – Teacher writes up 4 beginnings and 4 ends to sentences, all of which are interchangeable. A student tries to guess the full sentence the teacher has written down in secret. Teacher tells them if they have 100%, 50% or zéro. Another student then guesses, taking into account what the previous student has said.

• Traffic Lights – put statements about subject onto cards. Pupils sort cards into three piles; “I know” (green), “I’m not sure” (amber), “I don’t know”(red). Pupils could circulate to try and glean knowledge from classmates. They can then re-order the pile at the end of the lesson to show progress.

• Play teacher – Information/text given to pupils with deliberate mistakes, pupils have to correct them.

• Categorisation – Statements, key words belonging to different groups on cards, pupils categorise them into groups.

• Odd-One-Out – Pupils seek out differences and similarities between three or four different pictures, words, sentences or short texts. Pupils can then produce their own sets.

• Jeopardy – Answers put on OHP, pupils have to provide questions.

• Key word acrostics- Write a key word downwards on the board, pupils have to find words related to the subject which fit long ways across the key word.

• Any sort of competition!

And finally…

Teach patterns

jouer

faire

au foot

au tennis

aux cartes

de la guitare

du piano

de la natation

du skide l’équitation

les magasins

mes devoirs

J’aimeJe n’aime pasJ’adoreJe détesteJe préfère

Je vaisJe voudrais

J’aimaisJ’adoraisJe détestaisJe préférais

Je doisJe peuxJe saisJe veux

Je devrai(s)Je pourrai(s)Je saurai(s)J’aimerai(s) mieux

J’aurais dûJ’aurais préféré

AVEC…

PARCE QUE…

A MON AVIS…

J’ai l’intention de…

The verb paradigm pattern

• It is empowering to know that the paradigm of all verbs is always in the same order..

• Je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles

• Ich, du, er/ sie/ es, wir, ihr, Sie/sie

• This makes verb learning manageable!

Patterns in irregularities!

• Devoir

1. Dois2. Dois3. Doit4. Devons5. Devez6. Doivent

• Pouvoir

1. Peux2. Peux3. Peut4. Pouvons5. Pouvez6. Peuvent

• Vouloir

1. Veux2. Veux3. Veut4. Voulons5. Voulez6. Veulent

The pattern of questioning

• Focus on ‘est-ce que’ and how it turns a statement into a question.

• Start with a range of statements• Plot it backwards – add est-ce que• Hang on different question words at the front.

Avec qui • est-ce qu(e)Quand

je dois revenir

il aime apprendreles maths

nous faisons les devoirs.

Map from Memory

• Promotes memorisation skills• Encourages pupils to apply their

understanding of structure to improve their written accuracy

• A collaborative activity• Competitive and fun!