IT WORKS

IN PRACTICE
More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all worked
for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and then send us your own
contribution. The contributors to this issue will each receive a digital subscription
to Modern English Teacher.

REPORTED SPEECH ACTIVITIES tense changes when they report the questions and
answers. Give the pairs about ten minutes to do the
Katarzyna Kępińska, Wrocław, Poland activity, then ask them to swap roles.
Here are three activities involving reported speech that I use ■  ring the class back together and ask two or three
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with my students:
people to report back on what they learnt. Encourage
1 Job interview them to talk about the interviews and decide whose
■ Write on the board If you weren’t a [job title] what would you interview they think was the most challenging.
be and why? Tell the students that they are going to discuss
2 Famous quotations
this question with a partner, using their own jobs. (With
students who do not yet have jobs, the question could ■  ive the students about five minutes to search online
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simply be What job would you like to do and why?). Put the for some quotations by famous people. Ask them to find
students into pairs and give them five or six minutes to two quotations which they agree with, and two which
discuss. Then bring the class back together and ask two or they don’t agree with.
three students to summarise any similarities or differences ■  ut the students into pairs or small groups and ask them
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they found between themselves and their partners. to tell each other about their quotations using reported
■  ow ask the students to imagine that they are actually
N speech. For example: Oscar Wilde told us to be ourselves
doing the job they talked about. Tell them that they had a because everyone else was already taken, but I completely
job interview for it about a week ago. Ask them to work disagree with this. It’s not always possible to be ourselves
individually and to write down a minimum of five questions in all circumstances. For example, ...
that the interviewer asked them. Before the students start Give them ten to 15 minutes to discuss their quotations.
working, it is a good idea to elicit a few possible questions, ■ In a feedback session, you could ask the students which
in case they struggle to come up with ideas. was the most controversial quotation discussed.
■  ell the students that they now have five minutes to write the
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3 Reporting verbs
answers which they gave the interviewer. Here, too, it might
be a good idea to provide them with a few examples first. Note: It’s a very good idea to give the students an example of
what they need to do at every step of this activity.
■  ut the students back into pairs and explain that one
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student in each pair is to play the role of a friend who asks: ■  sk the students to write down one or two problems
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So how was the interview? The other student must tell which people might have. These can be real or made up,
them about it, reporting the interviewer’s questions and the eg not being able to concentrate at work.
answers which they gave. Demonstrate the activity with a ■  ut the students into pairs and tell them to imagine that
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confident student, and make sure they make the necessary they have the problems they have noted down, and to
ask their partner for advice. They must also listen to their
partner’s problems and give them some advice.
■  sk the students to change partners and to tell the new
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partner what the problem was (eg I asked Denise how I
could ...) and what advice they got, using reporting
verbs whenever possible (eg ... and she suggested
looking at ...).
■  ime permitting, the students could be told to ask their new
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partners for advice on their problems. The activity could
continue in this way, with the students having to report
different advice to every new partner they work with.
■  sk some volunteers to tell the class about the best
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advice they got. n

30 Issue 135 • July 2021 www.etprofessional.com

 IT WORKS IN PRACTICE

FLY ON THE WALL

Christine Jayasinghe, Colombo, Sri Lanka
This is a generic open-class speaking activity that can be used
at any stage of a lesson where peer interaction is called for.
In this learner-led activity, all the students in the class discuss
their answers to a completed task together, while the teacher
takes a backseat. The students practise the speaking subskills
of leading a discussion, inviting ideas, voicing opinions,
agreeing and disagreeing, interrupting politely and closing a
discussion. In the virtual classroom, it makes a nice change
from constantly assigning the students to breakout rooms;
it would be equally useful in a face-to-face environment.
■  o set up the activity, tell the class that they are going to
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discuss their answers to a task (which they have already
completed), while you are going to be an observer: a ‘fly on
the wall’. In an online class, this can be effectively achieved
by turning off your microphone (and your camera, too, if
you wish). Either ask for a volunteer or select a student to
lead the discussion. It is also useful to give them a time
limit. The students then begin the discussion.
■  ne of the ground rules for the success of this activity is
O ■  n extension of this activity is Flies on the wall, where
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that the discussion leader must ensure that participation some of the students can choose to be observers along
is even and that all the students in the class get the with you. They make notes and report on aspects of the
opportunity to have their say. They can achieve this by discussion, such as whether all the students got an
calling on each one by name at least once during the opportunity to speak, whether the names of the
discussion. Although being called upon to speak can be participants were used, etc.
stressful for weak students, giving them some useful
language chunks to use can help them get over any The benefits of this activity are many:
initial reluctance. 1 T
 eachers generally opt for pair or small-group
■  he first time you do this activity, it is a good idea to
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provide some useful functional language to help the inhibitions they might have about speaking. However,
discussion run smoothly. For example: speaking out in a large group is a useful skill in itself.
Making one’s voice heard in a non-threatening
■  pening the discussion: Let’s look at the first sentence.
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environment will empower the students to transfer that
What have you written?
skill confidently to the outside world.
■ Giving answers/opinions: I think ... I’ve written ... I put ...
2 W
 eaker students can feel encouraged to, first, speak up,
■ Agreeing: That’s right. I’ve got that too. I think so too. and then, take on the role of leader by observing stronger
■ Disagreeing: I don’t think that’s right. What about …? peers participating and directing the activity. The
■ Inviting ideas: What do you say / think about that? semi-structured nature of the activity, using chunks of
language that can be repeated for any class task, helps
■ Interrupting: Can I say something? Can I add something?
them gradually overcome their reticence.
■ Expressing indecision: I’m not sure about that.
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 y encouraging contributions from all participants, the
■ Arriving at a decision: So, do we all agree that ...? activity fosters inclusion and rapport within the class.
■ It is best to feed in the functional language slowly, as and 4 T
 eachers can use the Fly on the wall technique as a tool
when necessary. Otherwise, the students could feel for the formative assessment of speaking skills and
overwhelmed. This is also an opportunity, especially with target language, both for individual students and for the
higher-level students, to activate dormant language and class as a whole.
extract structures that they already know.
5 It promotes oral fluency and the meaningful use of
■  hile the discussion is taking place, listen in and take
W language to achieve a specific goal.
notes on how it is conducted, such as commenting on the
6 It would work with both young learners and older
leader’s performance, the contributions made by other
learners at pre-intermediate level and above.
students, examples of incorrect language and examples of
good language use. When the discussion has ended, ask 7 O
 nce students are familiar with how Fly on the wall
the leader to present the class’s conclusions. You can then works, it is quick to set up and easy to run.
use your notes to provide quick comments on the 8 In the virtual classroom, technical problems sometimes
discussion before going on to give further feedback on the prevent students from joining breakout rooms. This
task they were discussing. activity helps overcome that issue. n

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