Join the Dots Speaking

 Had fun (some of them rather too much fun) with Year 11 doing this easy and effective speaking activity today.

It was at the end of the lesson, and I put the words I like, I can, I have to, I want, I said, he/she said, I went... on the board. Pupils took it in turns to speak using the words. As they spoke, a pupil at the board listened out for any of the words and joined them up in the order they were used.

So in the example you can see, it was something like this (but in Spanish):

I like to to to the beach because I can swim in the sea but if I have to go with my family, I prefer to go to a café because I want to drink something. At the weekend I said, "I am going to the beach" and my dad said, "I don't want to". I decided to go on my own and I went swimming.

Then we look at the picture and try to decide what they have drawn. In this case, I'm not sure. We thought it was probably someone whose shoe laces have got tied together and has fallen over in the mud.

Then I can rub off the drawing, add more key words on the board, and ask another pupil to pick another topic to speak on.

So another pupil could say something like:

I went to McDonalds because I like to eat fast food, but if I go with my parents I have to eat a salad. I prefer to eat hamburgers. At the weekend I said, "I don't want a salad" but my dad said, "You can't eat a burger."

And we would end up with a different picture!

It can be easily adapted with different words, and pupils can work in pairs on paper instead of on the board.

It works really well. Pupils think how to make sentences while moving logically from one word to another in the order that best suits what they are saying. They get used to developing answers spontaneously, thinking what to say next that makes sense. They build answers that meet the key criteria of giving and justifying opinions, giving examples in past and future. And instead of having one fixed answer to learn by rote, they are confident making up answers on the spot from their repertoire of Spanish.

My lovely Year 11s started off picking their next word based on the logic of what they were saying. But they quickly worked out they could draw rude pictures on the board by carefully choosing what word to use next!