Get ‘em Talking

Speaking ideas for MFL

Trapdoor

Students guess the correct ending and move to next sentence if they get it correct. If not it moves to the next student who has to start at the beginning.

(See next slide for example)

(1) Mon collège s’appelleRidgewood School.Hallcross School.Danum School.

(2) J’aimeles mathsl’histoirel’anglais (3) parce que

c’estfacile.

intéressant.amusant.

ennuyeuseirascible

méchante

(4) Je détesteles maths parce que le profest

(6) Ma matièrepréférée est

(5) Le dessin estplus ennuyeux que

l’histoirela technologie

les sciences

la géographiele sport

l’espagnol

j’adore apprendreles langues.

c’est très facile.

(7) parce que

Encore Une Fois

Similar to previous. One volunteer to leave the room. Rest of class agree on answers. The volunteer comes back in and begins to read and guesses which is the correct answer. If

they’re correct they continue. If incorrect they must go back to the beginning and guess again. Every time the volunteer gets the answer wrong, they must go back to the beginning and class says ”encore une fois”. This could then be done in

pairs.

(1) Mon collège s’appelle Ridgewood School.Hallcross School.Danum School.

First letter/syllable

Give the students the first letter/syllable of each word in a sentence. They have to figure out what the sentence could be and say it to their partner.

J V A B D L M

Je vais au bord de la mer.

Dominoes

Each student is given a ‘domino’ with a word/phrase in English on one end and another in the TL on the other end. One student starts reading out theirs in the TL and other students have to listen carefully to see if theirs has been read out. The whole class takes it in turns to read out their phrase in the TL until all of the cards have been read out.

dog gato cat vaca

Battleships

Jenga

Write numbers on the Jengatiles.These numbers correspond with questions/topics on a tasksheet.Students work in small groups and are given a Jenga set and a tasksheet.When students pull out the numbered tile they have to answer the question/talk about the topic.

Dice

Students roll the dice. Each number on the dice corresponds to a question/topic. Students have to answer the question/talk about the topic for a certain amount of time.

Say the next word

Provide students with a text. Read the text aloud then stop. Students have to say the next

word/next word in the sequence.

Against the clock

Time pupils to read out a paragraph/sentence.

Jigsaw reading

In pairs students are given the same text but with different words missing from each. Person A reads their text out loud to Person B while they fill in the blanks on their sheet. Then Person B does the same while Person A fills in the blanks on their sheet. So they get to practise their reading, listening and writing skills, as well as their speaking.

Elevens

Go around the room saying 1, 2 or 3 numbers in the target language. Number 11 is out.

Descriptions

A nice starter activity. Show some images to the students and in pairs they have to

describe them using as many words as they can.

Quiz Quiz Trade

Everyone has a piece of paper with a sentence and the translation underneath.

Walk around the room reading your sentence to other people. The other person translates. You then do the same with their card. If both people translate each others’ cards correctly you can swap.

Count the amount of times you have exchanged papers. Can you get more than 10?

RHUBARB

Students work in groups. Everyone has a copy of the text to read along. One person starts reading it… if they make a mistake, or someone thinks they do, they shout ‘Rhubarb and tell you what they think went wrong. If they are correct the student who shouted out ‘rhubarb’ takes over reading and wins a point for their team. If they hadn’t made a mistake, the student who was originally reading gets a point for their team and carries on reading.

Twelve

12 words/pictures on screen without written support. Pupils can say one or two numbers at a

time, starting at number 1. Whoever says the twelfth is out of the game. If a pupil cannot

remember the word, they are also out of the game!

Draw Something

• One student to draw an image on the board.

• Students to guess answers in TL.

Pass the box around the room.

When the music stops, pick out a piece of paper.

On each piece of paper is a theme in the target language.

e.g. ‘los animales’

Name an animal in Spanish, then pass on the box.

Pass the Parcel

Supermarket

Students play ‘I went to the supermarket

and I bought…’ using vocabulary learnt throughout the

lesson.

Make like/dislike and activity cards.

In pairs, students take it in turns to take a card from each pile and try to say the

sentence.

Me gusta nadar en la piscina.

E.G

Like/dislike

Running dictation

Place texts on the wall around the room. In groups students have to take it in turns to remember as much of the text as they can in 1 minute before returning to their table and dictating to the writer. The group with the text closest to the one on the wall wins.

Back to back descriptions

Students sit back to back. One student

describes an object/image to the

other who has to draw it.

Class sentence

Going around the room, each student has to say a word making up a

sentence/story.

Trivial Pursuit

Each colour represents a topic. Students have to

talk about that topic for a certain amount of time. If they manage it they can

colour in one of the triangles.

Spider Web

Think of one sentence using the vocabulary you have learnt today. Use a ball of string/ribbon. Students stand in a

circle and take it in turn to say their sentence and hold the string, making a

web around the room.

Vocab Tennis

Students work in pairs and take it in turns to bat vocab back and forth. Keep changing the topic

to keep them on their toes.

Articulate

Just like the board game. Students have a minute to describe as many words as possible in

the TL and their team members have to guess what they are describing.

Smarties

In groups students have a pack of Smarties and take it in turns to take one from the pack. Each colour corresponds to a topic/question. They

could talk about that topic for a certain amount of time/give vocabulary from that topic/answer

a question.

Map speaking activity

Good for talking about places in town, directions and prepositions. In pairs students have a

different map each and a copy of their partner’s with some places missing which they have to fill

in by listening to their partner’s description/asking questions.

Ball Repetition

Students throw the ball around the room repeating the word after the teacher.

Passez la bombe

Buy a kitchen timer and put it in a small black box. Put the timer in the box. When you play, set the timer for between 1-2 mins, put

into box and say a question you've covered recently which can have many different answers. Pass the

bomb to first pupil, who can pass it on when they've said an answer.

Whoever is holding the bomb when it goes off has to do a forfeit.

Ipadio

This is one from my Head of Department (@Toujoursmfl). In class or for homework ask students to record themselves on Ipadio. They

could then turn this into a QR code and stick this into their book for you to easily scan then mark.

You could even record your feedback and correct any pronunciation they struggled with.

Any more speaking ideas?

I’d love it if you would share them with me…