FCE Speaking Activities
This post looks at two different FCE speaking activities to practice speaking skills with exam students, but both of these activities can be used with lower level students. These activities are easy to adapt and as such can be used regularly to practice for Part 2 and 3 of the FCE and CAE exams.
Wordle headlines
This activity is a great activity to practice speaking for the FCE but can be used with a number of levels. Activity Time: 5 – 10 minutes +Materials required: A wordle headline for each pair of students. Pre-prepared activity download.
Skills practiced: Speaking, listening, writing and reading.
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Method
1. Find a number of interesting headlines. I usually find interesting headlines at the following websites: The Telegraph The Huffington post Optionally, download this pre-prepared activity
2. When you find interesting headlines, copy and paste the headlines into wordle. You should have something like the example below. Make enough different wordle headlines for each group in your class.
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3. In class, put students into pairs. Tell the students that they are going to receive a headline from the news. Tell them that they must first unscramble their headline and then write it down. Don’t forget to tell them that they must use all the words to create their headline.
When they have made a logical headline using all the words, they must talk about what they think the story is about and what their opinion of the story is.
In The News
Activity Time: 5 – 10 minutes +
Materials required: A mini news article for each student. Pre-prepared activity download.
Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading.
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Materials required: A mini news article for each student. Pre-prepared activity download.
Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading.
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Method
1. Find some interesting articles, copy and paste the headline and the first few lines of the article into a word document or download this pre-prepared printable.
2. Give one article to each student. Tell them they have one minute to read the article. When they are finished, they must explain what their article was about to their partner and then ask their partner’s opinion about the article.
Give the students some useful vocabulary on the board. Remind them that this is the vocabulary needed in Part 3 of the FCE and CAE speaking exams.
Encourage students to speak for at least 2 – 3 minutes. Ask them to report back to the class about their opinions on the article.
Expressions for asking opinion
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What do you think of…?
What do you think about…?
How d’you feel (about…)?
What d’you reckon (about…)?
What’s your opinion of…?
(What do think about) that
What are your views on…?
What would you say to… / if we…?
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Expressing opinion
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I think……
I feel……..
I believe…….
As I see it……..
In my opinion…….
As far as I’m concerned……
My point of view is that…….
It seems to me that……..
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justawordinthegrandstory
says:Thanks! This was a great resource, and I will probably be using some of these this week!! Great post!!
Also, I’m now thinking about adapting the wordle headline activity to writing . . . hmmmmm . . .
David Mulcahy
says:@justawordinthegrandstory Thanks for your feedback. I’d be interested to hear any adaptions you make, so please keep me posted!
Thanks again.
antonio manolins
says:hello, this really helps me a lot, thanks very much, howewer, i´m giving classes to kids that don´t really have this level, i mean, they´re younger (4-7 years old), and they don´t have too much vocabulary, could you advise me what kind of plays would i use in class ? i really like yours but i don´t know how to adapt them to yourger kids that barely speak in their own languaje and other who just know some english words. Thank you again.
DavidM
says:Hi Antonio,
Thank you for your message.
You might find the following games helpful with very young learners.
https://staging10.eslkidsgames.com/2013/06/esl-animal-game.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=atfgHh7xS4Q
Other ideas:
Changing places Children sit in a circle. Go round the circle and give each
child a name e.g. apple, banana, biscuit, sandwich etc.. Say one of the
names. Children with that name respond by exchanging places with another
child in the circle with the same name.
Pass the secret! Children sit in a circle. Whisper a word to one child e.g.
Mouse! That child whispers the word to the child next to them and so on
round the group. The last child says the word that they have heard.
Listen and count! Clap, nod, or stamp your feet one, two or three times.
Children repeat the action and call out the number.
These are some suggestions. If you are teaching them a particular vocabulary set let me know and I’m sure I can give you many more ideas.
You can email me any time at admin @ eslkidsgames.com
All the best,
David