How to Effectively Engage Students in Speaking Activities
By Shihling Jeanette Chui
Cheng Kung Senior High School
Thanks to the emphasis on English education from the authorities, most tenth
graders in my school are equipped with better speaking skills than the students before.
However, most teachers are troubled with how to effectively engage their students in
meaningful speaking activities within limited class time. The following are two
activities that I use in English Listening and Speaking class, which meets once each
week for 50 minutes. In the first class, I introduce what’s on the syllabus for the
semester in order to help students prepare earlier.
I. Self-introduction
1. Prelude
Because the tenth graders are all freshmen, they don’t even know their
classmates at the beginning of the semester. In the first period of the class, we spend
about 10 minutes playing a game called “Find Someone Who”. On students’
handouts are ten questions about their’ hobbies, likes and dislikes, and past
experiences.(Please see Appendix 1.). Students need to move around the classroom
to ask their classmates these questions. Only those who answer “yes” to the
questions can sign their names on their classmates’ handouts. They should ask
different people different questions. English is the only language that can be used to
communicate. When time is up, the teacher can check students’ answers and ask
further questions. This would help students get a rough idea about who their
classmates are.
I also supply the students with useful adjectives describing personality and
characteristics about different star signs (Please see Appendix 2). Then, we discuss
what information is usually included in our self-introduction. 5 minutes before the
break, I explain how to make a good speech by paying attention to the speaker’s
eye-contact, posture, volume and the time-limit.
2. Pre-activity preparation
Before their speeches, students are required to hand in their scripts to me one
week before their speeches. I not only correct the grammatical errors in their scripts
but also write questions on them to help students enrich the content of their speeches.
Besides, students need to think of three questions based on the speeches. This will
enable the audience to listen carefully while someone is making a speech since I
usually ask those absent-minded students to answer questions in class.
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3. Making self-introduction
After students get their corrected scripts, they need to memorize the content
when introducing themselves on the platform. There are 15 students making their
one-minute self-introduction speeches each week. Before introducing themselves, I
will collect the speakers’ scripts to see if they make any improvement in the content.
While someone is making a speech, he will hear the warning bell once when he
spends 50 seconds. The bell will ring twice when he spends 1minute. The speaker
will be asked to stop his speech immediately when it takes 1minute and 30 seconds.
After each student finishes his speech, I will ask three questions to the audience.
4. Students’ feedback
Although students may complain about the stress they feel before their speeches
(In fact, some of them get so nervous that they need to go to the bathroom right before
their speeches! Some even forget how to continue their speeches when they are
interrupted by the warning bell.), they are pretty happy that they can make successful
speeches by getting feedback from their attentive audience. For one thing, the
audience enjoy these speeches when they find someone having the same hobbies as
them. For another, the audience can learn from those good speakers, which can be a
strong motive for them to improve their speaking ability.
5. How to evaluate
There are two scores students get for each of their speeches. One is for the
script and the other is for their performance on stage. If the students add something
to their speeches or partially rewrite them after getting their corrected scripts, they
will get extra 5 points for bonus. The speeches are evaluated according to the
speakers’ volume, body language, eye-contact, and how well they can recite the
speeches.
For those who get the correct answers to the speakers’ questions, they
will be given bonus points.
II. Song Introduction
Many teenagers like to be in by listening to English songs. It would be a
wonderful to encourage students to learn English through songs. In addition,
students might be interested in teaching their classmates. That’s why I bring this
activity to my class.
1. Pre-activity preparation
Ten students will make their 2-minute song introduction each week. Students
need to prepare handouts with typed lyrics for their audience. In their introduction,
they can include the explanation of the lyrics, introduction of the singer or the
composer and the background of the song. Then, they can teach the whole class to
sing the song. Just as what they do for self-introduction, performers are supposed to
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hand in their scripts with three questions for the audience one week before their
performance in order to have them corrected and make copies for the audience.
2. How to evaluate
Students also get two scores in this activity, one for their handouts and the other
for their performance. In order to add extra fun to the performance, those who would
like to sing the song with the accompaniment of musical instruments will be give
bonus points. Those who get the correct answers to the speakers’ questions will be
given bonus points.
It is time-consuming and troublesome for teachers to correct those
ungrammatical scripts before students’ speeches. Yet, it can guarantee the quality of
students’ speeches and avoid wasting time and embarrassing students when they
forget to prepare for the performance. Besides, being required to answer questions
can train students to pay respect as well as close attention to the speaker. It is worth
the time and effort to see students dedicate themselves in making a good speech and
feel proud of themselves through the above activities.
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Appendix 1
Find Someone Who……
Walk around the classroom and find someone who says “yes” to the following
questions. Write both the English and Chinese names of one person in each blank.
**One person’s name can only be filled in the blank ONCE!!
1. Find someone who likes ice cream. ________________________________
2. Find someone who likes baseball. _________________________________
3. Find someone who has a girlfriend. ________________________________
4. Find someone who can play the piano.______________________________
5. Find someone who hates English __________________________________
6. Find someone who knows how to cook. _____________________________
7. Find someone who doesn’t live in Taipei City. ________________________
8. Find someone who has been to a foreign country.______________________
Where did he go? ____________________
9. Find someone who has a sister. ____________________________________
10. Find someone who likes to watch cartoons. __________________________
Self-introduction
What can you say in your self-introduction?
Your family, interests, personality, _____________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
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Appendix 2
Your Personality
Adjectives which describe personality:
Positive
Negative
cheerful, easy-going, creative, innocent,
athletic/ active, adaptable, passionate/
enthusiastic, considerate, kind/ pleasant,
optimistic, open-minded, balanced,
moody/ melancholy, critical/ opinionated/
biased, dull, aggressive, lazy, rigid,
passive, self-centered, unfriendly,
pessimistic, narrow-minded/
reserved, humble, sensitive, mature,
romantic, elegant
conservative, crazy/ mad, loud, arrogant/
conceited, insensitive/ unemotional,
childish, serious, rude
Adjectives which describe appearance
Physical Description
Body type
Hair
Height
fat, thin,
short, long, curly,
tall, short,
average, slender
straight, wavy
average
Age
young
Color: black, brown,
Eyes
big, small, round,
Color: black, brown,
blue, green
blond, red, dyed
Zodiac Sign
Birthday
Aries
The Ram
March 21-April 19
Taurus
The Bull
April 20-May 20
Gemini
The Twins
May 21-June21
Cancer
The Crab
June 22-July 22
Leo
The Lion
July 23-Aug. 23
Virgo
The Virgin
Aug. 24-Sep. 22
Libra
The Balance
Sep. 23-Oct. 23
Scorpio
The Scorpio
Oct. 24-Nov. 21
Sagittarius
The Archer
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Capricorn
The Goat
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
Aquarius
The Water
Carrier
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Pisces
The Fish
Feb. 19-Mar. 20
What is your zodiac sign?
Characteristics
What adjectives can best describe your personality?
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