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Top 10 Worksheets on Speaking Activities

Busy teachers all over the world have voted these 10 worksheets as their favorites. All you need to do is download and go and your students will be talking up a storm. Just click on the link to take you to the worksheets that you need, and be sure to vote for your favorites, too!

Try These 10 Most Popular Speaking Worksheets

1. 1

   What a Life: Speaking Activity

   In this fictional role play, students talk about events in an imaginary past. Students draw cards and take turns sharing something that they did in their imaginary past: see a UFO, star in a Hollywood movie, own a talking dog, and more. The other members of their group must then ask questions about that imaginary past. This group speaking activity is perfect for reviewing the past tense and introducing some unusual vocabulary.

2. 2

   Talk for a Minute

   This power point presentation is a fun activity that will challenge your ESL students to think on their feet and speak with fluency. Students select a random letter on the first slide, and one click reveals one of twenty-two topics they must talk about for one minute. You can use this activity with groups of students, partnering up for conversations, or as an entire class, having students stand up front for their one minute of speaking. Students should be able to use the simple past, present, and future tenses before trying this activity.

3. 3

   Zodiac Signs: Discussion Cards

   This print and go PDF provides a set of cards which describe each of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the positive and negative personality traits associated with them. To use these cards with your students, have each person read the card for their own zodiac sign. Then with a partner or a group, discuss how the personality traits on that card either coincide or contradict his or her own personality. Extend the activity by having students guess which sign each of their classmates is based on the personality descriptions on the zodiac cards. This activity is perfect for students learning how to describe people and their personalities.

4. 4

   Giving Directions and Places in Town Flashcards

   Print a set of these flashcards for each of your students, and they will be ready to talk about the places around town and how to get there. Give each person a large piece of paper and have everyone design a town using the places flash cards. Then, pair students up for a “driving tour” around their partner’s town. (Note: if you are teaching elementary school ESL, bring in some small toy cars to make the activity even more fun.) Each person uses the giving directions cards to help them direct their partner from one place to another in their town. This activity will give your students practice giving directions and using the imperative form in English as well as review around the town vocabulary.

5. 5

   Past Simple and Past Continuous Speaking Activity: What Happened on Vere Street

   In this partner speaking activity, students will describe where several people were and what they were doing when the accident happened on Vere Street. Print the worksheet and separate part A and part B for students. Students will then take turns explaining the information they have on their part of the worksheet and listening to their partner’s information, taking notes on what that partner says. Students will need some familiarity with the simple past and past progressive tenses as well as vocabulary around the town to successfully complete this activity.

6. 6

   Would You Rather – PPT

   This power point presentation introduces your students to sixteen different scenarios, some funny and some serious, in which they will have to choose one or the other option. After revealing each slide, have students move to one or the other side of the room, each side representing one of the choices on the slide. Then ask students to explain why they made the choice that they did. Students will need some familiarity with the conditional tense to get the most from this simple speaking activity.

7. 7

   All Conditional Sentences Speaking Cards

   With this simple set of print and go cards, students will choose a scenario from a stack of fourteen cards. They will then prepare an explanation of what they would do if they were in the given situation. These situational cards are designed for practicing the conditional tense. Use it as a group discussion activity or for presentations in class. The activity is also a good opportunity to do speaking evaluations.

8. 8

   Love and Relationships Speaking Cards

   Whether it’s St. Valentine’s Day or you are teaching a unit on relationships, this speaking activity might be just right for you. Print this set of discussion cards to use in a small group speaking activity, a class discussion, or an on the spot speaking challenge. Each card gives the student(s) a love or relationship themed topic on which to speak. The exercise was designed for students to take one minute to answer the question, though you could easily go longer if you so choose. This activity is also a good chance to review relationship and love vocabulary and a perfect ice breaker or time filler on the famous February holiday.

9. 9

   My Family Tree

   This printable worksheet set has everything your students need to talk about family relationships. The worksheet contains a sample family tree as well as twenty-six common family vocabulary words. Students work with a partner to complete two exercises about the family tree and then share about their own family using the vocabulary given.

10. q

    Introductions Board Game

    This simple get to know you game challenges students to talk about themselves for one full minute. You only need one print out for your class and a die to determine which topic students must speak about. Students roll the die two times to find their topic on the grid. They must then talk for one minute about that topic. All the topics are about oneself – families, hobbies, home, country, job, etc. After each person’s minute is up, their classmates get to ask follow up questions. This game will challenge your students to think on their feet and will also give your class a chance to get to know each other better. Try it the first week of class or save it for five minutes you need to fill another day.

Are your students talking? They will be once you print and go one or more of Busy Teacher’s favorite speaking worksheets.

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