The following are four well-tried and tested teaching ideas suitable for teenagers or adults. They can be used with any level from pre-intermediate upwards. They all involve minimal preparation on the teacher's part but provide maximum speaking practice and lots of fun for the students!

Block of flats

Level:
Pre-intermediate up
Aims:
To practise speaking skills
To practise writing letters of complaint
To practise reported speech
Materials:
None
Time:
30-45 minutes
Preparation:
None

Procedure:
1. Draw a block of flats on the board, showing 4 empty flats.
2. Elicit from the students who the occupants of the flats are: their names, ages, jobs, hobbies, etc. Write this information on the board.
3. Explain that all the neighbours have an irritating habit. Elicit what these could be and write them on the board.
4. Students in pairs now act out a role-play. The teacher nominates each student to be one of the neighbours. They imagine that they have met on the stairs and the conversation starts "I've got a bone to pick with you!".
5. The students then change partners; they imagine that they meet another neighbour on the stairs and they tell them about their meeting with the other neighbour. They start the conversation with "You'll never guess what X just said to me!"
6. The students write a letter of complaint to their landlord, complaining about their neighbour.

Possible follow up
You can use this as a bouncing board for other writing activities - describing people, letters of advice, etc.

Matchmakers

Level:
Pre-intermediate up
Aims:
To practise speaking skills
Materials:
A picture for each student in the group - you need an equal number of pictures of women and men. Try to find funny pictures and preferably ones where they "match" into incongruous pairs.
Time:
30 minutes plus
Preparation:
None

Procedure:
1. Give each student in the class a picture and stress that they mustn't show it to anyone else.
2. Students make notes privately about their person - they decide a name, job, personality and interests.
3. Students stand in two lines facing each other - people holding pictures of women on one side and people holding pictures of men on the other facing them.
4. Explain to students that they all work for a telephone dating agency and that they are looking for a partner for their "client" (i.e. their photo). They must talk to the person facing them to find out as much as they can about their "client". If they think there is a possible match, they should write done their name. Stress that they mustn't show their picture to anyone! (Remind them that they're on the telephone). Give them 3-4 minutes.
5. Students change pairs - to do this, the line of women stays still and the "men" move one person to their right. They then repeat stage 4.
6. Repeat stage 5 until all the "women" have spoken to all the "men".
7. Tell the students that they must now decide which person would make the best partner for their client - they find that person's "agent" and sit down next to them.
8. Agents show each other their "clients" and decide where they should go for a first date - they don't show the rest of the class yet.
9. Student show their "couple" to the rest of the class and describe where they'll go for a first date.

Alternatives
After stage 7, the students write a letter, pretending to be their "client" - they introduce themselves to their "partner" and suggest a meeting.

Acknowledgment: this is based on an idea from Andrew Nye.

Describe your photo

Level:
Pre-intermediate up
Aims:
To practise speaking
To share personal information and therefore build classroom dynamics
Materials:
None
Time:
10 minutes
Preparation:
None

Procedure:
Ss draw a large rectangle on a piece of paper.
Tell them to imagine that this is a favourite photograph - write on the board:

- Who's in the photograph?
- What are they/you doing?
- Where was the photo taken?
- What were they/you doing just before the photo was taken?
- What happened after the photo was taken?

In pairs, students interview each other with their questions.

Suggestion
You can use this as a lead in to the FCE/CAE speaking exam, getting students to think more in depth about photos.
Acknowledgment: Adapted from Mario Rinvolucri The Recipe Book page 41 Pilgrims/Longman

Level:
Pre-intermediate up
Aims:
To practise speaking activities
To practise vocabulary related to crime
Materials:
A strip of paper for each student
Time:
45 minutes, but it depends on class size
Preparation:
Write each of the following onto a strip of paper - you need one for each student. If you have more students, you will need to make up some more!

• You killed your neighbour's cat
• You murdered your English teacher
• You ran away with your best friend's wife
• You found your wife/husband in bed with another woman and killed her/him
• You robbed a bank
• You failed your medical exams but continued to practise as a doctor by forging your certificates
• You committed arson
• You found out your boss was having an affair and blackmailed him

Procedure:
1. Tell students that unfortunately, they are all dead (!) and they are in limbo, waiting to find out whether they are to go to Heaven or Hell. However, there is another problem - in their lives they have all done something wrong. They are now going to find out where they will go.
2. Give each student a card - deal with any vocabulary they're unsure of.
3. Put students in pairs - they must tell each other what they have done. They should find out from their partner 1) what they did 2) when they did it 3) how they did it 4) why they did it 5) how they died. Students have 5 minutes to do this.
4. Students sit in a circle - each takes it in turn to say what they've done. The rest of the group must ask them questions to see how repentant they are. Each student has 5 minutes - at the end the class votes on whether each person is going to heaven or hell.