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This blog presents a curated collection of 12 engaging ESL speaking activities designed to foster fluency, confidence and interactive skills in learners.

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There are a variety of activities for teachers to engage their K-8 classrooms with students who have English as their second language. English Second Language (ESL) is also referred to as English Language Learners (ELL) or English Learners (EL). Effective language learning involves active engagement, especially in spoken communication. This blog presents a curated collection of 12 engaging ESL speaking activities designed to foster fluency, confidence and interactive skills in learners.

Whether you're an educator seeking innovative classroom exercises or a language enthusiast looking for fun ways to practice speaking, this resource can offer a diverse range of activities suitable for various proficiency levels. Dive into these interactive exercises that can help transform language learning into an enjoyable and enriching experience.
In This Article:
1. Introduction Song

Singing can be an active way for English Language Learners (ELL) to practice their skills. Introduction songs are great for almost any classroom with younger learners, as they can be icebreakers that potentially help students get to know one another while also seeing how fun learning can be in the classroom. Introduce yourself to your students by singing your name, then instruct them to follow one-by-one until everyone has introduced themselves to the class.

2. Interviewer

When it comes to ESL activities for students, this can be a great option that may encourage students to get to know one another while also becoming more comfortable speaking English in the classroom. Set students up in pairs or small groups and instruct them to interview one another. Their questions can be based on their current abilities or any topics you are covering in class. Beginner students can ask one another about their families and interests, while more advanced students can ask questions that let them practice using the past tense.

3. 20 Questions/Guess Who

Similar to the activity mentioned above, this activity can help students ask questions to find a specific answer. One student will choose a person or object and keep it a secret from the rest of the class. Then, other students can ask yes or no questions to determine what the selector has chosen. The group only has 20 questions, so they need to choose their questions carefully to win.

4. Poll the Class

Take a class poll by asking students which one they prefer out of two choices. Topics can relate to colors, animals, pop culture or anything else that might interest your students. Give students a chance to discuss why they prefer one choice over the other and see where the conversations go. This may even lead to a debate and other activities for ESL students.

5. Short Speeches

Each student will have 30 seconds to one minute to give a short speech to the rest of the class. These speeches can be prepared in advance, giving students an opportunity to plan exactly what they want to say. You can make things more challenging by creating a random list of topics and have each student select a topic then give a speech on the spot without preparation.

6. Describe and Draw

Break students up into pairs, then instruct one member of each pair to draw a picture that they keep hidden from the other member. The drawer must then describe their drawing to their partner, who must try to draw the same image themselves without looking at the original image. This is a fun way to help students practice their abilities to describe various items in English.

7. Teach a Class

This is similar to the short speech activity but may require more preparation. In pairs or groups, students must pick a topic that they will teach the rest of the class about for a designated period of time. Students must prepare what they will say and how they will use the classroom space during their time as the teacher. Encourage students to ask the presenting group questions about their topic once their presentation/class is complete.

8. Group Storytelling

Have students sit in a circle and tell them that you will be creating a story as a group. You can start the story with a few sentences, then choose a student to continue the story however they want. You can set a specific amount of time or give each student a few sentences before moving on to the next storyteller in the group.

9. Choose Your Words

Write vocabulary words down on strips of paper then fold them in half and place them in a bowl or container. One at a time, students will come to the front of the class and pick a few strips of paper out of the bowl. They must then tell a short story that incorporates the words they have chosen. Students can choose all the words and look at them before starting their story, or you can make the activity more challenging by telling students when to choose a new word as they are telling their story, then have them incorporate that word into the story as they go.

10. Guess the Word

This is another activity that requires you to come up with vocabulary words and write them down on strips of paper. It is similar to charades, except instead of silently acting out the word, the student will have to use other words to describe the word they have chosen. The other students must try to guess what the chosen word is. Whoever correctly guesses the word will be the next person to choose a word.

11. Spot the Lie

With this activity, students are likely to have fun while also learning about one another. Instruct each student to write down three facts about themselves - except only two of them should be true. The third "fact" should be something that is not true. One at a time, students will read all three of their statements randomly. The other students must then work together to figure out which of the three statements is not true.

12. Describe the Photo

This activity is simple yet offers a great opportunity for students to practice their English skills, both speaking in front of a group and taking part in conversation. You can put together a list of photos or ask your students to bring in photos they have taken. Then have students stand in front of the class and describe their photos. They can talk about different elements of the photos themselves or describe what happened that day. Other students can ask questions, opening the space for conversations.

Prepare for a Future in ESL Speaking Activities

The Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with an Emphasis in English as a Second Language is a degree program at Grand Canyon University that can help you prepare for a future you may find rewarding. Earning this degree can be a great option if you are passionate about helping young people master the English language and gain useful skills in all aspects of their education.

This degree program covers a variety of topics, including adolescent development, cultural differences and cross-cultural studies, student engagement, educational trends and more. This program can help prepare students for teaching positions in preschools, kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools and secondary schools. Earning your degree can help prepare you to teach students through ESL speaking activities, such as the activities for English language learners as discussed above. To learn more about this program, fill out the form at the top of the page to speak to a university counselor today.

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activities for english language learners

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If you're interested ESL teaching, read through our list of ESL speaking activities for your classroom. Earn your teaching degree with a focus in ESL at GCU.

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In this blog, we’ll explore 15 interactive presentation games that can make your presentations more dynamic, memorable, and enjoyable for your audience.

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15 Interactive Presentation Games to Engage Your Audience

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From quizzes to polls, captivate your audience and make your presentations unforgettable with 15 interactive presentation games.

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12 Fun Speaking Games for Language Learners

Activities that will get students talking in a language they’re still learning.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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The goals? To make your students actually speak in English and have fun doing it.

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TOP 20 ESL games to get your students talking! - Linguish

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Let’s Talk About: 4 Activities for Oral Language Practice – TeachersFirst Blog

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As teachers, we have the unique opportunity to witness the transformative power of authentic spoken communication practice in our students. This not only cultivates essential language skills but also nurtures confidence, creativity, and learner agency. Today, let’s embark on a journey of exploration with four cross-curricular engaging activity ideas that harness student voice while fostering oral proficiency. So, let’s get ready to amplify their voices and see them blossom!

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Written by

Deborah K. Reed, Ph.D

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Iowa Reading Research Center - The University of Iowa

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Editor's note: The following blog post first appeared in "Crayons, Pencils, and Keyboards-A Blog By Learning Without Tears." Dr. Reed is presenting "Bridging the Language Gap: Strategies to Build Oral Language Skills" on October 7, November 10, and December 1, 2021, in conjunction with Learning Without Tears' virtual professional development.
Reading is based in language, so it may not be surprising that kindergarteners with strong oral language ability tend to develop reading skills more readily and are more accomplished readers in later grades (Roth et al., 2002). Even in fourth grade, students demonstrate better capabilities for recognizing words in print when they have oral familiarity with them (Mitchell & Brady, 2013). Although many animals use a system of sounds to communicate, the breadth and complexity of language is uniquely human (Beecher, 2021). Children must be able to perceive, understand, and produce not only words, but also the ways those words can be used in phrases and sentences. This includes different forms of words (e.g., singular and plural nouns, adjectival and adverbial forms, verb cases and tenses, etc.), multiple meanings of words, and the order in which words should appear to convey an intended message. In addition, children must understand how to modify their language to fit a social situation. Thus, competence with language takes time to develop and lots of experiences during which children can test and refine their understanding (Bybee, 2010).

Teachers can leverage the time that children spend in school to support the language learning of all students. However, this may be particularly important for students who have less linguistic knowledge than their peers or who have language difficulties (Komesidou & Hogan, 2020). Fortunately, language can be taught both implicitly and explicitly throughout the day if teachers take three basic steps.

1. Speak in Complete Sentences

In typical conversations, it is not necessary-and often not natural-to speak in complete sentences. Because conversations occur in a shared context, not all referents need to be named. For example, consider this conversation between two people standing in a library.

Marcus: Where did you put it?

Chang: On that shelf.

Marcus did not have to identify "it" as a book or provide the title of the book because the context was sufficient for Chang to understand the target of Marcus's question. Likewise, Chang did not have to reply in a complete sentence. He merely needed to indicate the location where he placed the book, and he likely gestured to the shelf while responding.

If this same scenario occurred in a classroom where Marcus was Chang's teacher, Marcus could offer implicit language learning by guiding the conversation as follows.

Marcus: Where did you put the book of poems you were reading?

Chang: On that shelf.

Marcus: I see that you did put the poetry book on this shelf. Thank you!

Speaking in complete sentences models different ways that language can be used to communicate the message. Marcus used an interrogative sentence to ask the question and a declarative sentence to restate Chang's answer. These sentence types require the words to be put in different orders ("did you put" versus "you did put"). Marcus also modeled different word forms by referring to the "book of poems" and "poetry book" in the two sentences. When these interactions occur naturally each day in school, Chang will become more familiar with the words and sentence structures that he eventually will encounter when reading. In addition, teachers who are conscientious about using more concrete, explicit, and accurate language can improve the comprehension of students with oral language difficulties (Hollo & Wehby, 2017).

2. Maintain a Topic

Although some of the interactions that occur during the school day naturally involve short conversations, teachers can build opportunities for students to participate in talking more extensively about an interesting topic. This can be done during whole- or small-group time when teachers ask students open-ended questions about the topic, but conversations also can occur between peers during dramatic play activities with adult support (Roskos & Christie, 2013). Rather than merely providing costumes and props for children to play an adult role, structured dramatic play presents a scenario that requires students to make choices and decisions. The following example scenarios for students suggest how teachers might offer children direction to have more meaningful dramatic play that will encourage a wider range of language use.

Helicopter pilots: A family's pet dog got lost on a mountain [or in a desert or field, depending on the terrain that would be familiar to students]. You have to rescue the dog. Think about how you will find the dog and how you will bring it to a safe location where its family can meet you.

Construction workers: You need to build a new bridge over the river [or a lake, bay, or highway]. Think about how you want the bridge to look and what you will need to build it. The people who will use the bridge will want you to make sure it is safe and strong.

Paleontologists: You found a new site where dinosaur bones are buried. Think about the kind of dinosaur you found and what you will have to do to uncover all the bones without breaking them. The museum where you will take the dinosaur bones will want your help putting them together again.

These kinds of structured activities involve a form of child storytelling, which can foster understanding of narratives (Nicolopoulou et al., 2015). Participating with peers in acting out their story increases the amount of time that children spend talking as they both use and hear advanced language. Children have to practice taking turns talking with their peers, and they have to sustain the topic in their conversation until bringing it to a logical conclusion.

3. Interact With Students Around Books

One of the most recommended practices for building students' oral language is reading aloud a storybook (e.g., Wasik et al., 2016). Hearing the language in a high-quality storybook potentially could support implicit learning, but the real value of reading the book is that it provides a basis for explicit instruction in both vocabulary and comprehension. In other words, the effectiveness of a read aloud depends on what is read and how it is read.

Choosing Books to Read Aloud

There are different types of books available for literacy instruction, so it is important to choose books aligned to the purpose of the lesson. For example, decodable readers (texts that introduce words and word structures in a carefully planned scope and sequence) should be used when the intent is to reinforce phonics instruction and provide opportunities for early readers to apply their phonics skills with connected text. If trying to help students learn unfamiliar concepts or practice new comprehension skills, then leveled readers (books intended to match the current reading ability, age, or grade of a student) may be appropriate. Both decodable and leveled readers control the language of the text, restricting it to ensure success when students are reading independently (Cheatham & Allor, 2012; Glasswell & Ford, 2011; see our previous blog post for more on decodable and leveled readers). Therefore, they are not appropriate for improving oral language, which relies on exposure to vocabulary and sentences that are just beyond the students' current abilities.

Instead, high quality children's books should be used, particularly stories containing rich examples of vocabulary, sentence structures, and phraseology that are quite different from typical child-directed speech (Montag, 2019). Supportive illustrations help students understand the slightly more sophisticated language and can keep them interested in the story (Martinez & Harmon, 2012). In addition, teachers will deliver explicit vocabulary and comprehension instruction during the reading.

Explicit Instruction During the Read Aloud

Through careful planning, teachers can introduce vocabulary words encountered during the reading and pose questions that stimulate students' thinking about the text (Baker et al., 2020). Depending upon the length of the book, it is possible to pre-identify and explicitly teach students two or three new vocabulary words while reading the book. As part of this instruction, teachers should prepare a student-friendly definition for each word, which also might include another example of applying the word in a familiar context. Alternatively, the definition might include a non-example to help students distinguish the new word from a related word they already know. The example below is from the storybook Giraffes Can't Dance (Andreae, 1999).

Word: breeze

Definition: a breeze is wind that is light or gentle

Non-Example: The wind in a hurricane [ or in a tornado or sandstorm, depending on children's familiarity] would be much stronger than a breeze. The hurricane has strong gusts of wind, not the breeze in this story that is lightly moving the branches of the trees.

This information is then recorded on a sticky note and placed on the page where the word is encountered in the book. This serves as a reminder to provide the instruction at the appropriate time, and it decreases the pressure of conjuring a definition in the moment (Gibbs & Reed, 2020). In addition to the vocabulary instruction, comprehension questions should be prepared in advance, recorded on sticky notes, and placed in the book. The questions should be open-ended to require students to produce more than one-word answers and can be focused on narrative or comprehension skills. For example, students might be asked questions such as:

Is this character the kind of person you would want as a friend? What about the character makes you think that?

What problem does the character have? How do you think the character will solve this problem?

Why do you think the character did that? Would the story be different if the character had done something else instead?

Such questions allow students to practice their developing knowledge of narrative elements such as characters, conflicts, and events. Specific lessons on these skills can be delivered before reading the book and planned to cumulatively review previously learned narrative elements. Ideally, the comprehension questions also will provide students opportunities to incorporate the vocabulary words from the story in their responses.

Oral language instruction is not delivered in a specified time segment of the school day. Rather it is an element that can be built into everything that happens while children are at school-both through implicit and explicit learning opportunities. Taken together, these types of adult guidance not only improve children's oral language, but also their intelligence (Protzko et al., 2013). Hence, they have the potential for contributing to students' long-term success in school and in life.

Additional Resources for Teachers

Our eLearning module will help further your learning on how to teach oral language and develop students' narrative skills through interactive reading. The module includes a sample lesson plan, interactive activities, and videos from a real kindergarten classroom.

Our previous blog post offers a suggestion for helping students retell a story after a read aloud. The post includes a graphic organizer and links to recordings of Little Red Riding Hood in 17 different languages.

This resource from the United States Department of Education has ideas and tips for educators and family members for engaging children in conversations, using interesting words around them, taking part in dialogic reading, and more.

References

Andreae, G. (1999). Giraffes can't dance. Orchard Books.

Bybee, J. (2010). Language, usage and cognition. Cambridge University Press.

Komesidou, R., & Hogan, T. P. (2020). Preschool language precursors to later reading problems. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 46(3), 35-39.

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Incorporating Oral Language Learning Throughout the School Day

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Take three basic steps to implicitly and explicitly teach language to help develop this foundational skill for young students.