1. Give students something to talk about

Avoid speaking activities based only on:

“Talk about your weekend.”

Provide a clear topic, question, situation, picture or problem that creates a genuine reason to communicate.

The more specific the task, the easier it is for students to participate.

2. Prepare language before expecting production

Sometimes students remain silent because they do not have the language necessary to complete the task.

Before speaking, activate useful:

• vocabulary
• grammatical structures
• functional language
• pronunciation
• expressions

For example, before a discussion, provide language such as:

“I agree because…”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“What do you think?”
“That’s true, but…”

This scaffolding can gradually be removed as students become more confident.

3. Personalise whenever possible

Students usually communicate more naturally when the topic relates to their own experiences, preferences and opinions.

After introducing a grammatical structure, use Personalisation (4.2) to transform it into communication.

For example, after teaching the second conditional:

“What would you do if you could live anywhere in the world?”

Grammar becomes a tool for communication rather than the final objective.

4. Maximise Student Talking Time

Whenever possible, interaction should move from:

Teacher ↔ Student

towards:

Student ↔ Student

Use pairs, small groups and Teacher-Guided Student Interaction (4.X) so that several students can speak simultaneously.

A teacher asking twenty students one question individually produces much less speaking practice than twenty students asking each other.

5. Teach students to extend their answers

Students frequently give the shortest possible response:

“Yes.”
“No.”
“I like football.”

Teach them to develop ideas:

Answer → Reason → Example / Detail

“I like football because I play with my friends every Saturday. My favourite team is…”

This becomes particularly important from B1 onwards and in Cambridge Speaking preparation.

6. Teach interaction, not just answers

Speaking is collaborative.

Students should learn expressions for:

• asking follow-up questions
• showing interest
• agreeing and disagreeing
• interrupting appropriately
• asking for clarification
• inviting another person to speak
• responding to another speaker’s ideas

For example:

“Really? Why?”
“What about you?”
“That’s interesting.”
“I see what you mean, but…”

The objective is to create a conversation, not a sequence of individual answers.

7. Balance fluency and accuracy

Not every speaking activity should have the same correction strategy.

During accuracy-focused practice, teachers can correct the target grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation more actively.

During fluency-focused activities, excessive interruption can damage communication and confidence.

A useful principle is:

Accuracy activity → Correct more immediately
Fluency activity → Monitor, take notes and correct afterwards

Teachers should know what the objective of the activity is before deciding when to intervene.

8. Give thinking time

Speaking immediately in another language is cognitively demanding.

Before asking for longer answers or discussions, allow students a short period to:

• think
• make notes
• recall vocabulary
• organise ideas

A few seconds of preparation can significantly improve the quality of the language produced.

9. Monitor actively

During pair or group work, the teacher should not simply wait for the activity to finish.

Move around the classroom and listen for:

• good language
• recurring mistakes
• communication problems
• vocabulary students need
• pronunciation difficulties

These observations provide material for feedback after the activity.

10. Use feedback as another learning opportunity

After a speaking activity, do not only comment on mistakes.

Highlight examples of good language you heard and then work on selected errors anonymously.

For example, write on the board:

“If I will have enough money, I will travel.”

Then use Eliciting (4.3):

“Can anyone improve this sentence?”

Students participate in the correction rather than simply receiving the answer.

11. Increase independence progressively

Speaking should progress from supported to increasingly independent production:

Model → Guided practice → Pair interaction → Freer communication

At lower levels, students may need sentence starters, vocabulary or teacher guidance. At higher levels, this support should gradually disappear.

The ultimate objective is for students to communicate effectively without depending on the teacher to maintain the conversation.

12. Practical Classroom Application

At Jolly Academy, we recommend creating regular opportunities for speaking at the beginning and towards the end of the lesson, in addition to any speaking practice that naturally occurs during the session.

These two moments can serve different purposes:

Beginning of the lesson → Retrieve previous learning + introduce or lead into today’s content

End of the lesson → Apply and consolidate today’s learning + finish with successful communication

This creates a useful cycle:

Retrieve → Learn → Practise → Communicate → Retrieve again

Speaking activities should not simply mean telling students to “talk about this topic”. They should have a clear objective, model, structure and time limit.

12.1 Speaking at the beginning of the lesson

A short speaking activity of approximately 5–10 minutes can activate English from the beginning of the class.

The questions should ideally connect previous learning with the content students are about to encounter.

For example, if today’s lesson is going to introduce vocabulary and language related to technology, we might begin with:

1. How much time do you spend using technology every day?
2. Which piece of technology could you not live without? Why?
3. Do you think teenagers depend too much on technology?

These questions are not random conversation starters. They activate relevant vocabulary and ideas and create a bridge into the lesson.

12.2 Set a clear speaking objective

Before students begin, decide what you want from the activity.

For example:

Objective: Give an opinion + explain why + provide an example + respond to your partner.

For a B1 group, we might tell students:

“Don’t just answer the question. Give your opinion, explain why and give an example.”

Speaking activities should normally have a time limit. With B1 students, around 3–5 minutes for a short pair/group discussion can often be sufficient, depending on the task.

Leaving an unfocused conversation running for too long can lead to repetition, loss of purpose or increased use of Spanish.

The principle is:

Give students enough time to develop the task, but stop it when productive practice starts to decline.

12.3 Model the expected performance

Before asking the whole class to complete the activity, demonstrate what a successful response looks like.

Take one of the questions:

Do you think teenagers depend too much on technology?

Provide or elicit a strong B1-level response:

“I think teenagers depend too much on technology because we use our phones for almost everything. For example, many teenagers use them to talk to friends, study, watch videos and even when they are eating. However, I don’t think technology is always bad because it can also help us learn.”

The objective is not for students to memorise this answer. It provides a clear model of the quality and development expected at their level.

Ask students what makes the answer effective:

“Did I only answer yes or no?”
“Did I explain my opinion?”
“Did I give an example?”
“Did I add another perspective?”

Students should gradually learn to recognise the characteristics of a successful answer themselves.

12.4 Build the answer together

After modelling, ask a student — preferably not always one of the strongest — to answer another question.

For example:

Teacher: “Which piece of technology could you not live without?”

Student: “My phone because I use it every day.”

Do not immediately replace their answer with a better one.

Ask another student:

“What could we ask to make this answer longer?”

Students might suggest:

“What do you use it for?”
“How often do you use it?”
“What would you do without it?”

Then continue developing the response as a class.

This demonstrates an important speaking skill:

Answer → Develop → Ask → React → Continue

Students learn that a conversation is not a sequence of isolated answers. They need to listen and build on what other people say.

After that, I will ask another student (usually strong or motivated) to recapitulate the information elicited from the student creating a complete answer.

12.5 Students practise

Students then work in pairs or groups of three.

Give clear instructions and a clear time limit:

“Discuss the three questions. Everyone needs to speak. Develop your answers and ask follow-up questions. You have five minutes.”

For activities in which individual extended turns are important, give each student approximately 1–2 minutes of meaningful speaking time, adjusted according to level and task.

The teacher monitors rather than dominating the conversation.

Listen for:

• use of the target language;

• development of answers;

• interaction;

• recurring errors;

• useful vocabulary;

• successful examples of language.

Do not interrupt every mistake during a fluency-focused activity.

12.6 Give students a reason to listen

Before they start, tell students:

“Afterwards, I’m going to ask you what your partner said.”

After the discussion:

“Lucía, what did Carlos say about technology?”

“Sean, what was Marta’s opinion?”

This changes the task significantly. Students are no longer waiting for their turn to speak; they have a reason to listen actively to their partners.

It also provides useful practice in reporting and paraphrasing what somebody else has said.

12.7 Feedback and repeat

After the first attempt, give brief feedback.

For example, write some useful language on the board:

Giving reasons: The main reason is that…
Giving examples: For example… / For instance…
Reacting: I agree, but… / That’s true, although…
Follow-up: Why do you think that? / What about…?

You can also address one or two common errors heard while monitoring.

Then repeat the activity, either:

• with the same partner;

• with a different partner;

• with a new but related question.

The second attempt should not simply repeat the first. Ask students to improve something specific:

“This time, develop every answer with a reason and example.”

or:

“This time, ask at least two follow-up questions.”

Repeating a speaking task after feedback can be particularly valuable because students have another opportunity to retrieve the language and improve fluency, accuracy and complexity rather than receiving feedback they never use.

12.8 Speaking at the end of the lesson

Reserve approximately 10–15 minutes when appropriate for students to use the language they have worked on during the session.

The final speaking activity should connect directly with the lesson objective.

For example:

Lesson: Second Conditional

“If you could change three things about your town, what would you change and why?”

Lesson: Travel vocabulary

“What makes a perfect holiday for you?”

Lesson: B2 environmental language

“Which environmental problem should governments prioritise and why?”

This allows students to move from:

Learning the language → Practising the language → Using the language

It can also provide the teacher with useful evidence of whether students can use the day’s learning with greater independence.

Suggested Classroom Routine

A practical speaking sequence can therefore be:

1. Set 2–3 relevant questions

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2. Explain the speaking objective and time limit

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3. Model one strong level-appropriate answer

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4. Analyse why it is successful

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5. Elicit an answer from a student

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6. Other students suggest follow-up questions

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7. Pair/group speaking

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8. Students report what their partners said

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9. Teacher gives brief feedback

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10. Repeat with a specific improvement target

The purpose is not simply to increase the amount of talking in the classroom. It is to develop better speakers and better listeners through structured, purposeful interaction.