How to Plan Effective Speaking Lessons in the ESL Classroom

How to Plan Effective Speaking Lessons in the ESL Classroom

Developing students’ speaking skills is a core part of English language teaching. Well-planned speaking lessons help learners build confidence, improve pronunciation, expand vocabulary, and communicate more fluently in real-life situations. However, planning an effective speaking lesson requires more than simply asking students to “talk in English.” You need clear objectives, purposeful activities, scaffolding, and a balance between accuracy and fluency practice. This guide explains step-by-step how to plan speaking lessons that are organized, engaging, and successful for different levels of learners.

 

1. Identify the Purpose of the Speaking Lesson

Every speaking lesson must begin with a clear goal. What do you want learners to be able to do by the end of the lesson?

There are two main types of speaking objectives:

1. Fluency-speaking objectives
   Focus on expressing ideas smoothly without worrying too much about errors.
   Example: Students can describe their daily routine for 2–3 minutes.
2. Accuracy-speaking objectives
   Focus on correct grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary.
   Example: Students can correctly use the past tense to talk about yesterday.

Think about what skill the lesson supports:

• Sharing opinions
• Narrating events
• Asking and answering questions
• Giving directions or instructions
• Using specific vocabulary
• Practicing conversation strategies (e.g., agreeing, clarifying, asking follow-up questions)

Tip: A clear objective guides your activity choices and helps you evaluate lesson success.

 

2. Choose a Relevant and Engaging Topic

Students speak more confidently when the topic is meaningful and interesting. Select topics that relate to their age, level, and real-life experiences.

Examples of suitable topics:

• Daily activities
• Travel experiences
• School or work routines
• Food and cooking
• Sports and hobbies
• Future plans
• Social media habits

Avoid abstract or culturally unfamiliar topics with beginner learners. For more advanced learners, more abstract topics (e.g., technology and society, ethical dilemmas) can be motivating.

 

3. Structure the Lesson Using the Three Stages of Speaking Practice

Effective speaking lessons follow a Pre-, While-, and Post-Speaking structure.

Stage 1: Pre-Speaking (Preparation)

The goal of this stage is to prepare learners with the vocabulary, context, and ideas they need before speaking. Without preparation, learners may feel lost or embarrassed, leading to silence.

In this stage, you can:

• Introduce key vocabulary
• Review useful sentence structures or phrases
• Show pictures, short videos, or real objects
• Give a small listening or reading task to build context
• Brainstorm ideas as a class

Example Activity:
Show pictures of a busy city and a quiet village. Ask students to list differences. Teach phrases like “In my opinion,” “I prefer,” and “One big difference is…”

Stage 2: While-Speaking (Main Practice)

This is the core speaking activity where students use the language in meaningful communication. Choose an activity that matches the objective.

Examples of While-Speaking activities:

• Pair interviews
• Role-plays
• Information gap activities
• Picture descriptions
• Group discussions or debates
• Problem-solving tasks
• Storytelling

Ensure:

• Students speak more than the teacher.
• Speaking time is maximized.
• Tasks are clear and achievable.

Monitor students, but avoid interrupting too much; take notes of errors to address later.

Stage 3: Post-Speaking (Feedback and Language Development)

After speaking practice, guide students to reflect and improve.

In this stage, you can:

• Give feedback on common errors
• Ask students to repeat the task with improvements
• Highlight useful vocabulary or pronunciation points
• Have students share results with the class

This stage supports both confidence and accuracy.

 

4. Balance Fluency and Accuracy

A good speaking lesson provides room for both:

• Fluency: encouraging students to speak freely and express ideas.
• Accuracy: focusing on correct grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary.

Too much correction can reduce confidence. Too little correction may encourage fossilized errors.
Use judgment based on the level and the goal of the lesson.

Recommended practice:

• During While-Speaking activities → let students speak with minimal interruption.
• During Post-Speaking stage → give targeted feedback and correction.

 

5. Use Supportive Speaking Scaffolds

Scaffolding makes speaking easier for learners, especially beginners. Examples include:

• Sentence starters
  I think… / I agree because… / My favorite…
• Conversation question cards
• Dialogue models
• Vocabulary lists
• Graphic organizers
• Visual aids

These supports help students organize ideas and avoid long pauses.

 

6. Include Interaction Techniques to Encourage Participation

Some students are naturally shy or afraid of making mistakes. Use techniques that promote participation:

• Pair work before whole-class discussion
• Rotating partners
• Think-pair-share
• Small group tasks
• Allow planning time before speaking

Setting clear expectations that mistakes are part of learning helps build confidence.

 

7. Evaluate Speaking Progress

Assessment should be ongoing and supportive. You can evaluate speaking by:

• Observing during activities
• Using simple rubrics (e.g., fluency, clarity, vocabulary, grammar)
• Recording students speaking for comparison over time
• Peer and self-evaluation

Do not rely only on grades. Give verbal feedback that highlights strengths and suggests small improvements.

 

Sample Speaking Lesson Plan Outline

Topic: Describing Daily Routines
Objective: Students can describe their daily routine using present simple tense.
Level: A2 (Elementary)

Pre-Speaking:

• Introduce and review vocabulary (wake up, go to work, have lunch, etc.)
• Show a daily routine picture and ask students to describe it.

While-Speaking:

• Students work in pairs and interview each other: “What time do you…?”
• Students create a short spoken presentation about their partner’s routine.

Post-Speaking:

• Volunteers present to the class.
• Teacher corrects common verb tense and pronunciation errors.
• Students repeat key phrases accurately.

 

Conclusion

Planning effective speaking lessons involves thoughtful preparation, clear objectives, engaging topics, and structured practice. When learners feel supported and motivated, they are more likely to speak with confidence. By using the Pre-, While-, and Post-Speaking structure, balancing fluency and accuracy, and providing scaffolding and feedback, you can create lessons that develop real communicative ability.

Well-designed speaking lessons help students build the skills they need to communicate in English beyond the classroom—with classmates, coworkers, friends, and the world.