25 ideas for increasing student
talk in lessons
Student talk to
demonstrate
learning, grappling
with concepts.
Extended
contributions to
demonstrate fluency
and good Standard
English.
Student debate and
discussion.
Student talk as
rehearsal for writing.
No pens lesson
Does what it says
on the tin.
Students
demonstrate all
learning through
talk. Don’t even
bother with the
title and aim.
Describe it!
(whole lesson)
Show students a
picture related to the
topic.
Ask them to give an
extended description
using key words,
terms.
Award points for
length of contribution
and the number of
key terms used.
What’s the link?
(whole lesson)
Give students a
number of pictures or
words and ask them
to explain possible
links.
Gimme 5 (whole lesson)
Extend students’
thinking by asking
them to come up
with 5 ideas /
reasons / examples
when they answer
questions. Not just
one.
And another thing (whole lesson)
Run along-side
Gimme 5.
Nominate students
to be in charge of
adding another idea.
They have to add to
what has already
been said.
The power of why (whole lesson)
Simplicity itself. Every time
a student gives an answer
to a question ask them the
question “why”.
Variation – nominate
students to be the kingpins
of why – if someone in the
class answers a question,
they ask for more info by
asking “why”.
Question master (whole lesson)
Similar to the Power of
Why.
Nominate students to be
Question masters
throughout the lesson.
At any point, they can ask
a question of the teacher
or the rest of the class.
Question starters might
help.
News broadcast (plenary)
An old favourite.
Students create a 1
or 2 min summary
of learning in the
style of BBC News.
Class coach (whole lesson)
A great pre-learning
activity. Nominate a
class coach – they are
in charge of giving the
class a pep-talk at the
beginning of the
lesson, reviewing
learning half way
through and summing
up at the end.
Conversion classics (plenary)
Students verbally
convert or recount
information from the
lesson into a different
form. Ideas include a
story, a rap, a poem, a
motto etc.
Just a minute (plenary)
Like the radio programme
of the same name, students
are asked to attempt to talk
on a given subject for a
minute without, hesitation,
repetition, deviation.
Persevere with this one –
once they get the hang of it
they don’t stop talking!
Walk and talk (plenary)
Take students outside
the classroom (or just
around the classroom).
Every time they change
direction, they have
change topic, share new
facts or ideas.
Visual talk (starter)
Provide students with a
drawing of the aim of a
lesson. Get them to
explain what they think
they will be doing.
Thinking talk (starter)
Start your lesson with a
thunk or a thinking
starter.
Allow students to share
as many varied ideas as
possible.
Student teachers (whole lesson)
Not to be confused with a
class presentation.
Students are asked to
teach an idea/concept or
series of facts they have
learnt. They do this by
providing activities for the
class to complete – it
could be a quiz, a game
etc.
Drama revision (plenary)
Another old classic.
Ask students to create a
drama scene where they
demonstrate a concept,
an idea, a process or
information. You could
restrict groups or give
varying instructions to
add interest.
Teacher no speak (whole lesson)
A more high risk activity.
An entirely teacher silent or
partially silent lesson.
Instructions are on the
whiteboard and students
have to ask and answer one
another’s questions and
queries to complete tasks.
Taboo (plenary)
An old favourite.
Students have to get their
team to guess a word by
describing it, without
using the prohibited list.
Eg the word is apple.
They cannot say apple,
red, fruit, pie, cider or
core.
Helpline (whole lesson)
Stand back to back
One student rings the helpline where they ask for
more information what
they have learnt. The helpline has to explain the idea
/ concept or information.
Being back to back is key as
it focusses students on the
words they are using.
Not-clever-speak (plenary)
Explain the concept or
ideas from your lesson
using none of the
language or
vocabulary you have
learnt.
Dictogloss
Develops listening skills
as well.
Give students
information verbally, then
see how much they can
remember straight away,
after 20 mins and at the
end of the lesson.
Prove me wrong (whole lesson)
Write a series of
incorrect facts or
assumptions about the
topic. Students have to
prove you wrong.
Change it (whole lesson)
This is a substitution or expansion
exercise. Begin with a single
simple sentence “the situation
was unstable”. Get all the
students standing up. Each
student has to add words or
substitute words to the previous
sentence. You can provide them
with help for lower ability groups
such as “because”; “however”.
Lesson commentary (whole lesson)
Select 4-5 students who will
act as lesson
commentators. Allocate
each of them one part of
the lesson. Their job is
watch everything that is
going on and provide a 1
minute commentary at the
end of the task.
Spot the lie / Spot the truth
Similar to radio / TV quiz
shows. Students have to
sneak one lie or one truth
past their classmates. It
can be played in teams or
as a whole class. The lie
or truth should be
embedded in lots of
information so it is less
easy to spot.
50 questions in 50 minutes
(whole lesson)
Aim is to only ask
questions during the
lesson. Write 50
questions that will
guide students through
all the learning.
Empower them by only
asking questions and
proving they can do the
rest.
Picture to draw (plenary)
Ask students to devise a
simple line drawing
representing learning. They
then need to describe how to
recreate this line drawing to
the rest of the class, without
showing them the picture.
This task focuses on
instructions and clear
explanations.
Postcard home (plenary)
Verbal version
of the writing
exercise.
Students work
in pairs to create
a 20 word
summary of the
learning (use
fingers to help
keep track).
KWL chats (whole lesson)
Verbal version of the
writing activity.
Students discuss and
explain: K - What do I
know? W - What do I
want to know? L - What
have I learned?
Who am I? (what/when am I?)
Old classic.
Give students a post-it
note. They write a fact, a
character, an item from
the topic on it and stick
on the forehead of
another student.
Students have to work out
what their post-it note
says by asking questions
of the others around
them.