Fluency Activities
INDIVIDUAL LONG TURN ACTIVITIES (SUMMARIES)
Individual long turn activities, or “summaries” are extended utterances which may take the form of:
the student describing objects in the classroom or of an illustration or picture
the student talking through action series (with or without an illustration from the Illustration Book) –
particularly for use with verb tenses
abstract summaries: What do you do at the office? What happens when it rains?
themes: What do you think about traffic in the city? Do you think spending money on trips is a
good idea or not?
We could turn the summary into a game, e.g. ‘Just a minute’, where students have to speak about a
topic for a particular length of time.
presentations from the students on particular themes
summaries by the student of the discussion so far or the results of a meeting simulation
Features to keep in mind about Individual Long Turn activities:
No matter what the student’s level is, he/she must be prepared in advance by the instructor. At a
beginner level, the instructor will perhaps gives a model or asks a series of questions and answers to
elicit the summary. At higher levels we can simply say: “please give me a summary of the
text/story/situation.” The preparation for a Presentation by the student will be similar to the
preparation for a simulation or role play.
The student functions on his/her own (choosing his/her own form and sequence of statements),
without intervention by the instructor until after the summary.
In a group class students should practice in pairs. This increases participation.
ROLE PLAYS & SIMULATIONS
Role plays are unrehearsed and longer conversational exchanges that give the students opportunities to
communicate within near-to authentic situations. There are a whole variety of different role-plays within our
course materials, from short role-plays which are part of introducing a topic, to longer role-plays that are the
result of preparation and practice.
Possible role-plays include:
Ordering dinner in a restaurant
Booking travel arrangements
Complaining about bad service
Checking in/out at a hotel, etc.
Simulations are extended role-playing activities – they are more complicated and involve students in
analyzing information, often from role-cards. Because of the increased complexity, we give the students
time to prepare their roles, and role cards for simulations often include a lot of information, such as
authentic material with multiple angles, e.g. marketing, financial, or legal information.
Simulations are often for students with a higher proficiency level, again because of their complexity, and
they are often designed for group classes rather than private lessons. Again, because the situation is more
complex, a student in the group is usually chosen to coordinate the activity.
Simulations are often recorded, so that students can review and focus on the language they used.
Possible simulations include:
A meeting simulation, based on a situation that the students will experience in real life
Take-over negotiations;
Radio station news show;
TV interview show;
Panel job interviews, etc.
Instructor Resource – Presentation Techniques – 1-12-2011 1
Procedure for setting up role-plays & simulations:
A good procedure for setting up a role-play or simulation is:
Preparation (pre-task)
Warm up, e.g., using pictures, a brief discussion of the theme.
Offer, review, and refresh potentially useful vocabulary, grammar, phrases, and questions
Enactment (task)
Create the scene & assign the roles
For simulations, allow students time to prepare and study their role-cards
First enactment – a realistic role play
Possibly add some kind of ‘conflict’ or ‘complication’ during the role play
Instructor remains to the side of the action, and notes mistakes that need to be covered during the
feedback session
First Analysis (post task)
Focus first on POSITIVE feedback.
Students and instructor review the performance. The instructor encourages self-correction and
reinforces any important vocabulary or expressions needed.
Instructor elicits or draws students attention to further expressions they could have used
The review and analysis is very often followed by a second role-play. Students switch roles and the
instructor perhaps reassigns characters according to student interests, or adds another complication and
have them carry out the role-play again. This is then followed by a second analysis, and the instructor may
also assign follow-up work, as homework.
Variations on the role-play theme for group classes:
There are a wide variety of possible variations – the role-play itself can involve just two people, or an entire
class. Often you will vary the format spontaneously – based on the situation and needs of the class. Below
are listed some possible variations:
Two students act out their roles, and when the instructor claps and points to a student in the ‘audience’,
s/he has to take over the role.
The students could be told this beforehand, so that if they feel that they could contribute to the role,
they can clap and jump into the role – or even suggest another student who could join in.
Two students sit or stand opposite each other. Two other students each sit or stand behind them, and
whisper what they have to say to each other. The instructor (or a student familiar with the process) can
set the context. This activity is called Dubbing and is a lot of fun!
Students call out situations that are a bit ‘difficult’ and the other students have to act it out. For
example, a host, who has slaved over his roast beef, serving his polite vegetarian guest. We call this
one 'A Sticky Situation.'
The process of thinking up situations and writing them on cards could be set as homework before the
lesson – this can be used to customize the lessons to the students’ particular situations and language
learning goals.
PAIR AND GROUP WORK ACTIVITIES
1. Information-gap Activities: Information gap activities, where one student has information that the
other wants, match our ‘real life’ communication process, e.g. getting information, asking prices, etc.
In class, students work in pairs or move around the room, trying to match or find missing information to
complete a worksheet or a task set by the instructor –students ‘interview’ each other to get the missing
information they need.
2. Describe and Draw / Arrange: Describe and draw activities are a form of information gap activity –
this is a fun variation that is likely to appeal to students with visual/spatial intelligence.
Students work in pairs – one describes a map, layout, or drawing they have, and the other tries to
recreate this. Again, describe and draw activities have a match in ‘real life’ communication – examples
include: describing ideas to an architect; taking down directions and tracing a route, telling a group of
new employees about the structure of the company, place of work, etc.
Instructor Resource – Presentation Techniques – 1-12-2011 2
3. Interviews and icebreakers are good ways to start classes and match the ‘social talk’ that we use
when we are trying to get to know other people, e.g., at parties, at a conference, at the start of an
interview, etc. Using icebreaker activities also helps to establish a good group dynamic and encourage
students to learn cooperatively, working together.
Students interview each other and then present the collected information about the other student to the
whole group. Interviews can be adapted to fit a wide variety of lesson goals, e.g., interviewing about
likes and dislikes, opinions on a variety of topics, past experiences, etc.
4. Problem Solving: In our ‘real world’ lives, we use the thinking skills associated with problem solving all
the time. Problem solving also motivates students to work through activities and tasks – their focus is
on finding the best solution and successfully reaching the desired outcome.
During problem solving activities, students work together to agree on a solution to a problem, e.g.,
• The instructor tells a dramatic story of a disaster such as a bus crashing/ breaking down in the
Rocky Mountains, far from any civilization. The learners get a map and some notes and must plan
out what they can do to survive
• The group have to reach agreement on where to go on vacation: pairs work out itineraries for a
destination of their choice (within a fixed budget), everyone presents their proposal and the group
votes on the trips to select one
• Students meet to decide what to do about a colleague whose normally outstanding performance is
low due to personal issues
Instructor Resource – Presentation Techniques – 1-12-2011 3
