Vocabulary

Objective & content

This sheet lists 15 speaking questions on tastes and favourites, such as What is your favourite food and why? and Where would you like to build a treehouse and why? Pupils choose one question and talk about it for one to two minutes. By the end, every A2 pupil has spoken continuously in English at least once. Nothing is written or scored.

Pedagogical guide

The hardest part of speaking practice is not the English, it is deciding what to say. A question decides that, which is why a pupil who freezes on an open prompt will talk for ninety seconds about a favourite film. The questions are about the pupil: nobody runs out of material on their own tastes, and nobody can be wrong about them, which lets a shy class start. Do not correct during the minute. Note two recurring errors and deal with them afterwards, with no names.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Read the 15 questions aloud and let pupils choose a number, or cut the sheet into strips.
2. (3 min) Model one question yourself for a full minute, so the length is clear.
3. (15 min) In threes: one speaks, one times, one asks a follow-up question at the end. Rotate.
4. (5 min) Two volunteers repeat their answer for the whole class.

Adaptations

[S] Let the pupil note three words on scrap paper before the minute starts, and shorten the turn to thirty seconds.

[A] Ban the first answer that comes to mind: the pupil must give a second choice and say why they rejected the first.

Materials & prerequisites

Print one sheet per group of three, with scissors if you cut strips and a clock or phone for timing. Nothing to prepare and nothing to hand in. There is no key, as every answer is the pupil's own.