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ESL Speaking Activities · CEFR A1-A2

20 ESL Speaking Activities for Beginners

Twenty speaking activities for A1 and A2 classes, each with the language it practises, numbered steps, a variation and a note for large classes. Most need nothing but the learners themselves.

  • CEFR A1-A2
  • Speaking
  • No materials needed
  • Large classes
  • 20 activities

About these activities

They are grouped by what they are for: quick warmers, pair work, whole-class mingles, and longer tasks for the end of a lesson. Every one has been written so that you can run it straight from this page.

Running speaking with beginners

  • Model it first, then check. Do the activity once with a strong learner in front of the class, then ask an instruction-checking question: Do you write, or do you speak? Do you ask one question or two? A beginner class goes silent far more often from not understanding the task than from not knowing the English.
  • Give the language before the task, not during it. Put the two or three question forms on the board and drill them once. Beginners cannot invent Did you go ...? while also thinking what to say.
  • Let them plan quietly. Thirty seconds to think, or to write three words, doubles what most beginners say. Notes, not sentences.
  • Do not correct while they speak. Write down two or three mistakes you hear and deal with them afterwards, on the board, without naming anyone.
  • Expect some first language, and set a limit rather than a ban. "English only for these three minutes" works; "never use your language" does not.
  • Change partners. The same two learners talking every lesson stop listening to each other. Move one row along, or one line rotates.

Quick warmers: five minutes or less

For the first minutes of a lesson, to get everyone speaking before anything else happens.

1 Two truths and one lie

  • Time 5 minutes
  • Learners work Whole class, then pairs
  • You need None

Language Present simple and past simple statements; Is that true?

  1. Say three sentences about yourself. Two are true, one is not: I have two sisters. I lived in another country. I can drive.
  2. The class guesses the false one and you tell them.
  3. Learners write three sentences about themselves, one false.
  4. In pairs, they read their sentences and guess. Each guess needs a reason: I think number two is false because ...

Variation For A1, give the three sentence frames on the board: I have ..., I can ..., I like ...

Large class Keep it in pairs, then ask three or four learners to tell the class one sentence and let the class vote by hands.

2 Three words about yesterday

  • Time 4 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs
  • You need None

Language Past simple; time expressions

  1. Write three words on the board about your own yesterday: bus, rice, phone.
  2. Tell the class the three sentences behind them: I took the bus to school. I cooked rice. I lost my phone!
  3. Learners write three words about their yesterday - words only.
  4. In pairs, they swap papers, guess the story behind their partner's words, then hear the real one.

Variation Use last weekend, or last holiday, for more to talk about.

Large class Works as it stands: everyone speaks at once in pairs. Collect two or three stories at the end.

3 Stand up if

  • Time 4 minutes
  • Learners work Whole class
  • You need None

Language Present simple questions; short answers

  1. Say a sentence: Stand up if you walked to school today. Everyone it is true for stands up.
  2. Ask one standing learner a follow-up question: How long does it take?
  3. After three or four of yours, learners take over and say their own Stand up if ... sentences.

Variation For classes that cannot move, learners raise a hand or hold up a pen.

Large class Better with a big class than a small one: you see the whole room answer at once.

4 The question ball

  • Time 5 minutes
  • Learners work Whole class
  • You need A soft ball, or a rolled-up paper ball

Language Wh- questions; personal information

  1. Put six question words on the board: What, Where, When, Who, Why, How.
  2. Throw the ball to a learner and say a question word. They make a question with it and ask any classmate.
  3. That classmate answers, then throws the ball on and says a new question word.

Variation Name a topic as well as the word - Where ... food - so questions stay on one subject.

Large class Throw only within one half of the room, then swap halves; or pass the ball hand to hand along rows.

5 Countdown from ten

  • Time 3 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs
  • You need None

Language Fluency: any known language, spoken without stopping

  1. Give a very easy topic: your family, your street, food you like.
  2. Learner A speaks for ten seconds without stopping. Then B does the same.
  3. Repeat the same topic for eight seconds, then six. The aim is to say the same things faster and more easily, not to say more.

Variation Let learners choose the topic from three you write on the board.

Large class No change needed. Time the whole class at once with your watch.

Pair work: ten minutes

Every learner speaking for half the time, with a clear task and an end point.

6 Spot the six differences

  • Time 10 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs
  • You need Two similar pictures, one for each learner in a pair

Language There is / there are; prepositions of place; Has your picture got ...?

  1. Give A picture one and B picture two. They must not look at each other's picture.
  2. Put the language on the board: In my picture there is ... Is there a ... in your picture?
  3. Pairs find the differences by speaking only - no pointing, no showing.
  4. Check as a class: which pair found all six?

Variation Draw two simple scenes on the board yourself, show one half of the class each, then rub them out.

Large class Two pictures serve the whole room: rows one and three get picture A, rows two and four picture B.

7 Interview and report

  • Time 10 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs, then new pairs
  • You need None

Language Questions and short answers; third person -s in the report

  1. Learners write four questions about free time: What do you do on Sunday?
  2. In pairs, they ask and answer, and write short notes.
  3. Change partners. Each learner now tells the new partner about the first one: Nadia plays volleyball on Sunday.
  4. Two or three report to the class.

Variation Give the four question stems for A1 classes, and let them add a fifth of their own.

Large class For the change of partner, one row stands and moves one place along; the last learner walks to the front.

8 What is in the bag?

  • Time 8 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs
  • You need A bag with five or six ordinary objects

Language Adjectives; It's made of ...; Is it heavy? Can you eat it?

  1. Hold up the closed bag. Learners ask yes/no questions to guess one object: Is it small? Is it plastic?
  2. Answer only yes or no until someone guesses.
  3. Then pairs play the same game: each learner thinks of an object in their own bag or pocket, and the partner asks up to ten questions.

Variation No bag needed: learners think of any object in the classroom.

Large class Do one round with the class, then let every pair play at once; you do not need to hear them all.

9 The shop

  • Time 12 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs
  • You need None, or price labels on the board

Language How much is ...? I'd like ... Have you got ...?; numbers and money

  1. Build the dialogue on the board with the class, line by line: greeting, request, price, payment, thanks.
  2. Practise it once all together, then in pairs, reading.
  3. Rub out five words and practise again. Rub out five more, and again, until most of the board is empty.
  4. Pairs swap roles and change what they buy.

Variation Change the shop to a café, a ticket office or a pharmacy, and the class builds a new dialogue with the same shape.

Large class Rubbing out from the board suits any class size, because the whole room works from one text.

10 Ordering the day

  • Time 8 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs
  • You need None

Language Daily routine verbs; first, then, after that, finally

  1. Learners write six things they did yesterday, in any order, as short notes.
  2. They swap papers. The partner must put the six in the right order by asking: Did you have breakfast before you left home?
  3. The owner answers only yes or no.
  4. Check: did the partner get the order right?

Variation For A1, give six verbs everyone uses: get up, eat, go, study, play, sleep.

Large class No change needed.

Whole-class mingles: everyone moving

For practising one question form many times, with many partners.

11 Find someone who

  • Time 10 minutes
  • Learners work Mingle
  • You need Six prompts on the board

Language Yes/no questions; short answers; one follow-up question

  1. Write six prompts: Find someone who ... walks to school / has a brother / can swim / watched television last night / likes mangoes / got up before six.
  2. Model the question: Do you walk to school? - Yes, I do. / No, I don't. Only a yes lets them write the name.
  3. Add the rule: after a yes, ask one more question and remember the answer.
  4. Learners find a different name for each prompt, then tell the class one thing they learned.

Variation Past simple version: Find someone who cooked yesterday.

Large class Rows instead of a mingle: ask the four people nearest you, then everybody moves one seat to the left.

12 Speed meeting

  • Time 10 minutes
  • Learners work Two lines facing each other
  • You need None

Language Personal information questions; repetition builds fluency

  1. Two lines face each other. Every learner has a partner opposite.
  2. Give a question or topic: your family. They have 45 seconds to talk.
  3. Call change. One line moves one place along; the learner at the end walks to the other end.
  4. New topic, 45 seconds. Repeat four or five times.

Variation Keep the same topic for three changes: learners notice they say it better and faster each time.

Large class Make four short lines instead of two long ones, in the aisles or around the desks.

13 Class survey

  • Time 12 minutes
  • Learners work Mingle, then whole class
  • You need None

Language One question form, many times; numbers and simple results

  1. Each learner chooses one question: How do you come to school? What do you eat for breakfast?
  2. They ask ten classmates and keep a tally.
  3. They write one sentence of result: Seven of ten learners come by bus.
  4. Each learner reads their sentence to the class; you build a simple table on the board.

Variation Groups of four take one question each, then combine their results.

Large class Ask ten people within two rows, not across the whole room.

14 Guess my classmate

  • Time 8 minutes
  • Learners work Whole class
  • You need None

Language Present simple descriptions; He/She has got ...; clothes and appearance

  1. Each learner secretly chooses a classmate and writes three sentences about them, without the name: She has got long hair. She sits near the window. She likes football.
  2. One learner reads their sentences.
  3. The class guesses. The learner who guesses right reads next.

Variation Use famous people or characters the whole class knows, if pointing at classmates would be unkind in your class.

Large class Play in groups of six so that everyone gets a turn in the same ten minutes.

15 The chain story

  • Time 10 minutes
  • Learners work Groups of five or six
  • You need None

Language Past simple; sequencing words

  1. Give the first line: Yesterday, Rafa found a bag on the bus.
  2. Each learner in the group adds one sentence, going round the circle.
  3. The story stops after two rounds, and the last speaker must end it.
  4. One group tells the class their story.

Variation Write six words on the board that must appear somewhere in the story.

Large class Groups work at the same time without you listening to each; ask two groups to report.

Longer tasks: fifteen minutes and up

For the end of a lesson, when learners have the language and need to use it for something.

16 Plan a day out

  • Time 15 minutes
  • Learners work Groups of three or four
  • You need None

Language Let's ... / Shall we ...?; agreeing and disagreeing; times and places

  1. Each group plans one day out together with a small budget you set.
  2. Give the language for agreeing: Good idea. I think so too. I'm not sure.
  3. Groups decide where to go, when to meet and what to take, and write six lines of plan.
  4. Each group tells the class its plan; the class votes for the best day out.

Variation Plan a class party, a school trip or a welcome day for a new student.

Large class Only three or four groups present; the rest hand in their plans or display them on the wall.

17 My photograph

  • Time 15 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs, then whole class
  • You need Learners need a photograph on their phone, or they draw one

Language Present continuous; past simple; in this photo ...

  1. Learners choose one photograph and think about three things: who is in it, where it was, why they keep it.
  2. In pairs, each describes their photo for one minute while the partner listens without speaking.
  3. The partner then asks three questions.
  4. Two or three learners describe their photo to the class.

Variation No phones: learners draw a simple picture of a place they remember.

Large class Keep it in pairs; hear three volunteers at the end.

18 The alibi

  • Time 20 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs, then whole class
  • You need None

Language Past simple questions and answers; times

  1. Two learners leave the room, or turn away, and agree a story: where they were together yesterday evening, from six to eight, and what they did.
  2. The class prepares questions: What time did you arrive? What did you eat?
  3. The two are questioned separately. The class listens for differences between the two stories.
  4. Did the stories match? If not, where?

Variation For A1, limit the questions to five, and give them on the board.

Large class Run it in groups of six: two make the story, four ask. Every group plays at the same time.

19 Show and tell in sixty seconds

  • Time 15 minutes
  • Learners work Small groups
  • You need Learners bring one small object, or use something they have

Language Describing; explaining why something matters

  1. Each learner has sixty seconds to show one object and say three things: what it is, where it came from, why they keep it.
  2. Give two minutes of quiet preparation time and allow three words of notes only.
  3. In groups of four, each takes a turn; the group asks one question each afterwards.

Variation Everyone speaks about the same kind of thing - a photo, a coin, a key - so the class hears the language many times.

Large class Groups of four, all at once: twenty-four learners all speak within ten minutes.

20 The job interview

  • Time 15 minutes
  • Learners work Pairs
  • You need None

Language Can you ...? Do you like ...?; abilities and simple experience

  1. The class invents one simple job together and lists four things the worker must be able to do.
  2. In pairs, one is the manager and one the applicant. The manager asks about the four things.
  3. Swap roles and change one thing about the job.
  4. Each manager says whether they would give the applicant the job, and why.

Variation Choose a job the class finds funny - a dog walker, an ice-cream taster - to keep it light.

Large class No change needed: every pair works at the same time.

Questions teachers ask

What if the class will not speak at all?

Start with pairs, not the whole class: a learner who will not speak in front of thirty will speak to the person next to them. Give thinking time first, and make the first activity one where the right answer cannot be wrong, such as Two truths and one lie.

How do I stop them using their own language?

Set a short limit - three minutes of English - rather than a rule for the whole lesson, and give the English they need on the board before they start. A beginner switching languages is usually missing a word, not being lazy.

Should I correct mistakes while they are speaking?

No. Note two or three mistakes and put them on the board afterwards, unnamed, for the class to correct together. Correcting during the task stops the speaking, which is the thing you are trying to build.

My class has fifty learners. Which of these still work?

All of them. Every activity above has a line for large classes: most turn into pair work done by everyone at once, with two or three pairs reporting at the end. You do not have to hear every learner to make the activity worth doing.

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About this collection

Written by RCF English to the RCF English international standard: levelled by the CEFR, original throughout, and suitable for classrooms in any country. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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