Summary
Highlights
Prepare different sets of questions for Student A and Student B, encouraging them to ask and respond to each other. This activity maximizes student talking time.
Create a list of questions for students to ask different classmates as they walk around the room. This promotes interaction and allows students to move.
Students sit with partners, ask several questions from a list for a minute or two, then switch partners. Encourage follow-up questions for more natural conversation.
Students collaboratively continue a story or an idea, with each student adding to the previous one. This is also great for practicing conditionals.
Students draw something, then are told they are on a deserted island and must persuade others why they should survive based on their drawing. They prepare arguments and plead their case.
Students explain a given word without using specific forbidden words. Scaffold the activity by first allowing helper words, then removing them to increase difficulty.
Students write two true statements and one false statement about themselves. Classmates then ask questions to guess the lie. Split students into groups to maximize participation.
Students work in groups to create an alibi for a fictional crime. 'Investigators' interview group members separately to find inconsistencies, promoting detailed storytelling and questioning.
One student sits with their back to the board (the 'hot seat'). Other group members are given a word or phrase and must explain it to the 'hot seat' student without saying the word itself. Can be competitive.
The teacher (or a student) thinks of an object, person, or place, and students ask up to 20 yes/no questions to guess what it is. Use groups to increase student talking time.
Before class, prepare paper strips with 'H' (human) or 'Z' (zombie), with a few 'Z's. Students have conversations and secretly shake hands. If a zombie rubs a human's hand, that human becomes a zombie. Students try to determine who the zombies are.