QUICK COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES
GUESSING GAME
A Tell one student to think of something from a given topic group (animals, clothes and accessories, the house,
food, etc.). Tell the student to give one clue at a time and ask the other students to guess the item.
B Tell one student to think of something from a given topic group (animals, clothes and accessories, the house,
food, etc.). Tell the other students to ask Yes / No questions about the item. Tell them to continue until they can
guess the item.
DICTATED DRAWING
Tell the students to each draw something. Depending on the vocabulary that you wish to revise, you can request
a person, a monster, a room, a street with places on it, etc. Then tell the students to work in pairs. Tell one student in
each pair to describe his / her picture to his / her partner, while the partner draws the picture. Encourage the student
drawing the picture to ask questions to clarify what he / she should draw. (Where is it?, Like this?, How many?, etc.)
Once the drawing is completed, tell the students to compare the original drawing with the dictated drawing. Then tell
the students to repeat the process and to do a dictated drawing of the other partner’s drawing.
SURVEYS
A Ask the students to suggest free-time activities (or unusual activities) and write them on the board. Then tell the
students to copy six of the activities from the list on the board and to walk around the classroom asking questions
to find a student who does each of the activities. Tell the students to find out at least one other piece of information
from the person who does (or has done) each activity (when he / she does (did) it, where he / she does (did) it,
who he / she does (did) it with, etc.).
B Tell the students to suggest typical school items and write them on the board. Then tell the students to copy six of
the items from the list on the board and to walk around the classroom asking questions to find a student who has
got each of the items. Tell the students to find out at least one other piece of information from the person who has
got each item (what colour the item is, how many of each item the student has got, etc.).
C Tell the students to write seven things that they are interested in. Then tell the students to walk around the classroom
and to ask questions to find someone else interested in each thing. The first person to find a student interested in
each thing wins.
PARAGRAPH DICTATION
Tell the students to work in pairs. Attach several copies of a paragraph to the walls of the classroom. You can use
a paragraph from a text in your Student’s Book or from any other source. Tell the students that the idea is for one student
from each pair to dictate the paragraph to the second student as quickly as possible, but from memory. Explain that the
first student should go to one of the copies of the paragraph, read a section and then go back and recite it for the second
student, who writes it. Once the whole paragraph has been written, the pair of students should go together to the copy of
the paragraph on the wall and correct their work. Point out that as they are working, the first student can point out and
help correct any mistakes that he / she sees.
MIME
A Divide the students into two teams. In turns, ask a student from each team to mime something (a routine or activity,
a verb, etc.). Tell the other team to guess what it is. Give one point for each correct answer given in a full sentence.
B Divide the students into two teams. Give each team a holiday destination. In turns, ask students from the team to
mime activities that they are going to do (or did, depending on the tense you wish to practise) on their holiday. Tell
the other team to guess the activity. Give one point for each correct answer given in a full sentence.
SENTENCE CHAIN
Tell the students something that you do every day. (I watch TV every day.) Then ask a student to repeat what you said
and to add another routine. Continue with each student repeating what was said before and adding another routine.
(I watch TV and ride a bike every day.) Continue until the chain is too long to remember. This activity can be used for
revision of different tenses (things you have done, did, are going to do, etc.).
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QUICK COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES
GUESS WHERE YOU ARE
A Ask one student to leave the classroom. Tell the class to choose a room in the house / place around town /
geographical feature. Then ask the student to come back to the classroom and to ask questions to guess the place
that the class chose.
B Ask one student to leave the classroom. Tell the class to choose a room in the house / place around town /
geographical feature. Then ask the student to come back to the classroom. Tell the other students in the class to give
clues until the student guesses the place that the class chose.
C Divide the class into small groups and give each group a strip of paper with the name of a place (room in the house,
place in town, geographical feature, etc.). In turns, tell each group to say four sentences about the place (what you
can do there, buy there, etc.), without mentioning the place. Ask the other groups to guess the place.
MAKE A SENTENCE
Divide the class into two teams. Tell a student from one team to call out a lexical group (food, clothes, parts of the body,
etc.). Tell a student from the other team to say a word from the group and use it in a logical and grammatically correct
sentence. Give a point for each correct sentence.
PLANNING A TRIP
Tell the students to work in pairs or small groups. Tell them to decide on a holiday destination. Then tell them to plan the
trip. Depending on the level of the class, you might ask them to choose the clothing that they will pack, make a schedule
for the trip (things they plan to do each day), make a list of the things they need to do to prepare for the trip (book hotels,
get a passport, …), etc. Ask them to present their plans to the class.
WRITE THE DIALOGUE
Ask the students to work in pairs. Tell them to choose a picture from their Student’s Book (it must be a picture with
people in it) or bring in pictures from magazines, newspapers, etc. for them to use. Tell the students to write a dialogue
that the people in the picture might have. Ask some of the pairs to present their dialogues to the class.