10 Speaking Games to Boost Language Skills

The more I talk with my mom, the more I catch myself copying her catchphrases. (It’s really fun to sing, “Home again, home again, jiggity jig!” to yourself when you come back from a long day at work. Trust me.)

Undoubtedly, your students have picked up on catchphrases you use or slang from their friends. Speaking with others changes the way we talk and changes how we learn. That’s why speaking games in the classroom are so crucial in shaping your students’ language skills.

Introduction: Why Speaking Games Matter

This study and many others prove that the more students talk in class, the more they learn and remember. Speaking games are clever tools to get students talking, and by extension, learning. The more students practice speaking, especially in guided games and discussions, the more confident they grow as they realize they have valuable contributions. Students learn to overcome nerves about speaking aloud through more exposure.

We recommend the following 10 speaking games. Some don’t require a lot of preparation, and others are more advanced, giving you a good variety to choose from. We will also provide reflection tips and remote learning opportunities. Now we’re talking!

Recommended Games & Activities

Two Truths and a Lie

Tried and true (or false). This works best in small pairs, where students share three “facts” about themselves, and their classmates can ask questions and try to sleuth out which of the statements is a lie. Not only does this one cause a lot of laughter, but often students get creative with their wording, trying to trip up their classmates with tricky phrasing. This is a great low-stakes exercise, and you can start playing the game from day one.

Taboo

In this game, you can either assign a word or let students come up with their own word, which will become the “taboo”. Only one person is allowed to know the taboo. They then have to describe the word without using the taboo, rhyming, or spelling out the word. These verbal charades help students engage more meaningfully with word definitions. Just be careful, because "ichthyosaur" might have you guessing for a looooong time.

Back-to-Back Drawing

This is a good speaking exercise for students who are less chatty and more artistic. Have students pair up (this works best with groups of 2-3) and sit back-to-back. Assign a speaker and a drawer. The speaker describes an animal, a scene, or maybe even their own face, and the drawer has to try to accurately depict the drawing. Afterwards, the drawer reveals their artwork and it gives students a chance to reflect on the clarity of their instructions, or possible misunderstandings. Expect lots of laughs!

Photo Story

Transform your students into storytellers! Give them a picture, and let them tell the class the backstory of the image. A picture of an egg on the shore becomes the treacherous tale of a chicken traversing the hot plains to see the ocean and find her little chicks a beautiful home. I feel the tears welling up already.

Chatterbox

Each student speaks for 30 seconds without stopping on a given topic. The catch? No filler words! Any time you hear “um,” “uh,” “like,” or other filler words, reset the timer. Some lowball topics include pets, friends, or playground games. To up the ante, try to get them talking about a book or recent lesson you’ve taught.

What’s the Word?

Give students a pretty difficult word that they don’t know. Then ask them to define it convincingly, taking a guess based on other words it sounds like or familiar roots within the word. They’ll be tickled pink to try defining words like “fartlek.”

Impromptu

This is a classic theater exercise that students of any age will get excited for. Assign a random prompt to a group of students, allow for a minute or two of prep, and then let them deliver their skit. Reenacting jeopardy, roleplaying as a lawn mower and the flowers, taking the wrong dog home from the dog park: the possibilities are endless. Bonus points for convincing accents (or barking).

Dragon’s Den

“Sell me this pen.” Your students can still test out their sales pitches on one another. They can roleplay with imaginary objects or get creative with their school supplies. Assign a seller and a buyer. The more skeptical the buyer, the better. Watch your students try different appeals to convince their classmates; you’d be surprised how quickly they get into character.

Secrets, Secrets

Give a student a topic to speak about and a word that isn’t relevant to the topic at all. Let them talk either in small groups or to the class, and at the end of their speech, let students make guesses about what the “secret word” was. The speaker learns how to connect unrelated ideas and speak naturally, and the audience practices active listening.

Onion Storytelling

Each student is tasked with contributing one sentence to a story (each sentence is like another layer of the onion). This is particularly fun when you split into groups and come together to listen to each other’s wacky stories. Experiment with giving students free rein, or use a prompt to get everyone started in the same place. When students get to create their own stories, you’d be surprised how interested you are to hear how they end.

Differentiation & Adaptations

If your students are younger or shy speakers, feel free to give them sentence prompts and examples for each of these games. Do a “warm-up” or practice round to help students get comfortable. Using vocabulary banks or giving students specific speaking prompts instead of letting students pick any topic can also keep classroom discussions school-appropriate.

Most of these games can be played with the whole class, but sometimes it’s more productive to split into smaller groups. Partner pairs and small groups give everyone a chance to speak, and can lessen the pressure of speaking to the whole class. You know your class best. Try out all kinds of pairings until you find the one that works best for your students, or keep switching it up to give them a variety of speaking experience.

If you teach virtual or hybrid classes, it’s all the more important to make sure students are talking with one another. Utilize breakout rooms for small improv groups, allow students to write their guesses for secret words in the chat, or create a shared slideshow full of storytelling photos.

Debrief, Reflection & Feedback

Prompt students to reflect on their experience with speaking games. This can help them appreciate their capabilities, and help them uplift other students. Here are a few useful prompts:

• How did others surprise you? How did you surprise yourself?
• What strategy did you learn? How could you improve that skill?
• What confused you at first? How do you understand it now?
• Who gave the funniest story?
• What word did this game make you think of differently?

Giving their peers feedback can help students recognize the items they should be working on. Make sure that when reviewing each other, students offer two “stars” and one “wish.” For every piece of constructive criticism, a student should offer two specific compliments. This helps build confidence while gently pointing out ways to improve.

Students can also complete a self-assessment to consider their clarity and vocabulary use during these games. Allowing students to grade themselves on activities like this can give them a sense of autonomy and allow them to honestly consider their participation.

Implementing Across a Unit or Term

If your students aren’t used to speaking in class often, start with low-risk, small-group games. As they build confidence and clarity, they will be excited to do more involved, whole-class exercises. Starting with one speaking game every week can help develop their skills and get them comfortable with the class. Pay attention to their favorites, and make sure to honor the games they get the most fun and productive conversation out of.

Speaking games are also pretty simple to connect with lesson content. Using games to guide discussions about new science lessons or the class novel. Challenge students to get comfortable pronouncing and naturally using new vocabulary terms in their speech.

Grading & Rubric

When considering how to evaluate students on their speaking, a good rubric considers fluency, coherence, vocabulary, and pronunciation. A high fluency score means that the student spoke smoothly, did not hesitate very much, and spoke at a normal speed. Coherence means the student made sense, and didn’t string nonsense words and phrases together. If you’ve given them certain words or phrases to use, their vocabulary score refers to whether they used the given word, and if the way they used it made sense. For difficult words, pronunciation can be a good indicator if students need more repetition and practice with new words.

Speaking games should be kept informal so that students can naturally participate. Using a specific rubric can help you assess the needs of your students, but we recommend giving grades to students based only on their participation. In certain cases, rubrics can also help you determine if a child should be recommended for speech and language therapy.

One, Two, Eyes on You!

Speaking games are a great way to keep every student engaged. These activities reward active participation, and students will see a lot of growth in not only their speaking skills but also their confidence. Speech often ties into social-emotional learning. Your students will be much more emotionally mature and better able to collaborate and communicate with one another after practicing and building their confidence through these speaking games.

This week, pick a simple speaking game to implement. Your students will have a blast, and you’ll be able to witness their growth in real time. But you might want to grab some earplugs in advance.

Once you’ve tried a speaking game, having students reflect can be the keystone piece of the puzzle to solidify their confidence and reinforce the lesson. Check out our reflection prompts for students.