Speaking Fluency Activities

10 Speaking Fluency Activities for ESLEFL Learners (Practical Classroom Ideas)

Improving speaking fluency is one of the main goals of English language learning. Fluency means speaking smoothly, naturally, and confidently — without too many pauses or hesitation. Teachers can help students become fluent speakers through fun, communicative, and meaningful activities.

Before exploring examples of speaking fluency activities, it’s important to understand where they fit in a lesson plan.

Fluency Activities and the Lesson Stages

In a typical grammar lesson plan, there are three main stages:

  1. Presentation:
    The teacher introduces the target language — for example, a new grammar structure or function — often using context, examples, or visuals to illustrate meaning.
  2. Practice:
    Students practice the target language through controlled or semi-controlled exercises. These are accuracy-oriented tasks, such as gap-fills, sentence transformations, or short guided dialogues. The focus here is on producing correct forms.
  3. Production:
    In this final stage, learners use the new language more freely and creatively in meaningful communication. The goal shifts from accuracy to fluency. Mistakes are tolerated as long as the message is clear and communication continues.

Fluency activities are therefore best suited for the Production stage.

They allow students to:

  • Consolidate what they’ve learned during the lesson.
  • Express themselves without focusing too much on grammatical correctness.
  • Build confidence and automaticity in speech.

In other words, lessons usually begin with accuracy-oriented teaching, and by the end, fluency is primed through communicative activities that encourage natural use of language.

Note: Fluency activities are not limited to grammar-based lessons. They are also essential in productive-skill lessons, such as stand-alone speaking lessons. These lessons often start with a dialogue or model text for reading and study, move on to the practice of target expressions or functions, and end with a production stage where learners use the target language exponents in free conversation or role-play.

Speaking Fluency Activities for ESL and EFL Students

Below are practical speaking fluency activities that can be used in ESL or EFL classrooms at various levels.

1. Find Someone Who…

Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Objectives: This activity helps students practice different target language points depending on the prompts used:

  • Find someone who has been to another country. → Present perfect
  • Find someone who likes cooking. → Likes and dislikes
  • Find someone who can play a musical instrument. → Expressing ability

Description and Implementation:

  1. Prepare a list or worksheet of 8–10 prompts related to the grammar or functions being studied.
  2. Demonstrate how to ask and answer one or two examples.
  3. Students move around the classroom asking questions to find classmates who fit each statement.
  4. They note down the names of people they talk to and any follow-up details.
  5. They report to the class their findings.
  6. Conclude with a brief feedback stage to share findings as a class.

Why it works:
It provides real communication, encourages repetition of structures, and builds confidence in asking and answering questions fluently.

2. Speed Chatting

Level: Intermediate
Objectives:

  • Talk about favorite things, tell a story, or use comparatives or superlatives.
  • Encourage spontaneous speech and reduce hesitation.
  • Help students express themselves quickly and naturally.
  • Develop confidence in short, informal exchanges.

Description and Implementation:

  1. Arrange students in two facing lines — Line A and Line B. Each student in Line A has a partner directly opposite in Line B.
  2. Explain that they will have short, timed conversations on different topics — similar to speed dating.
  3. Assign the first topic, for example:
    • Your favorite holiday destination
    • A memorable experience you’ve had
    • The best movie you’ve seen recently
  4. Give students 30 seconds to think about what they might say (no notes).
  5. Start the timer for 1–2 minutes. During that time:
    • Students take turns speaking — each should talk for roughly equal time.
    • Encourage them to ask follow-up questions, not just give short answers.
    • Example exchange:
      • A: “My favorite holiday was in Italy last summer.”
      • B: “Oh really? Where did you go exactly?”
      • A: “I went to Rome. The food was amazing!”
      • B: “I’d love to visit there someday.”
  6. When the time is up, signal the students to stop (use a bell, clap, or timer).
  7. Line B moves one seat to the right to form new pairs. The student at the end of Line B goes to the opposite end.
  8. Announce a new topic and repeat the process for 3–5 rounds.
  9. After the final round, have a short feedback discussion: ask which topics were most interesting or what new things students learned about their classmates.

Why it works:
Speed Chatting creates repeated, short bursts of communication that push learners to speak naturally without overthinking grammar. Rotating partners keeps energy high and ensures everyone interacts with multiple classmates, building fluency, confidence, and social connection in a dynamic way.

3. Story Chains

Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Objectives:

  • Promote storytelling and narrative fluency.
  • Encourage the use of sequencing words and connectors.
  • Foster creative thinking and collaboration.

Possible Language Points

Description and Implementation:

  1. Begin with one sentence: “One day, something strange happened in our town…”
  2. Each student adds one or two sentences to continue the story.
  3. Encourage the use of linkers (then, suddenly, after that, finally).
  4. Optionally, write the story on the board as it unfolds or record it for playback.
  5. Read or listen to the complete story at the end for review and enjoyment.

Why it works:
It motivates learners to keep talking without stopping, improving coherence, vocabulary use, and fluency in a playful, creative context.

4. Picture Descriptions

Level: All levels
Objectives:

  • Practice descriptive language and relevant vocabulary.
  • Encourage continuous speaking and use of fillers.
  • Improve observation and inference skills.

Possible Language Points

  • Present continuous
  • Describing things and people

Description and Implementation:

  1. Display a picture or photo (real-life scenes, people, or everyday activities).
  2. Ask students to describe what they see and what might be happening.
  3. Provide guiding questions:
    • “Where do you think this is?”
    • “What are the people doing?”
    • “How might they be feeling?”
  4. Encourage the use of fillers like Well…, Maybe…, I think… to promote fluency.
  5. Optionally, pair students to describe different pictures and compare their ideas.

Why it works:
Picture descriptions help students speak spontaneously using context clues, vocabulary, and grammar naturally in a low-pressure situation.

5. Role Plays

Level: Beginner to Advanced
Objectives:

  • Develop functional language for everyday situations.
  • Build confidence and fluency through realistic communication.
  • Practice intonation, pronunciation, and turn-taking.

Possible Language Points

  • Expressing complaints
  • Asking for and giving an opinion

Description and Implementation:

  1. Choose a situation relevant to the lesson’s goal (e.g., “at the restaurant,” “at the airport,” “making a complaint”).
  2. Provide students with short role cards or scenario prompts.
  3. Allow brief preparation time, then have pairs act out the conversation.
  4. Encourage improvisation and the use of polite expressions.
  5. Conduct feedback focusing on fluency and communication success.

Why it works:
Role plays simulate real-world speaking situations, allowing students to experiment with language creatively while developing natural flow.

6. Information Gap Activities

Level: All levels
Objectives:

  • Practice asking for and giving information in realistic contexts.
  • Develop clarification strategies (“Could you repeat that?”, “What time did you say?”).
  • Encourage authentic communication where students must listen and respond meaningfully.

Possible Language Points:
Information gap activities can be adapted to a wide variety of grammar and function lessons, for example:

Description and Implementation:

  1. Prepare two versions of a worksheet — A and B. Each version contains different pieces of missing information.
    • For example, in a train schedule:
      • Student A’s sheet is missing some departure times.
      • Student B’s sheet is missing arrival times.
  2. Pair students — one receives worksheet A, the other worksheet B.
  3. Explain that their goal is to complete their own sheet by asking questions and listening to their partner’s answers.
  4. Model one or two exchanges on the board before starting:
    • A: “What time does the train to Oxford leave?”
    • B: “It leaves at 9:45. What time does the one to London arrive?”
    • A: “At 11:30.”
  5. Encourage students to use follow-up questions and clarification if they don’t understand:
    • “Sorry, could you repeat that?”
    • “Did you say nine-forty or nine-fifteen?”
  6. Continue the interaction until both students have filled in all the blanks on their worksheets.
  7. When finished, they compare their completed sheets to confirm answers.

Example Scenario:
If the target language is prepositions of place, you can give each student a different version of a town map. Student A’s map has some buildings missing (e.g., the bank, post office), and Student B’s has others missing.
The interaction might go like this:

  • A: “Where is the post office on your map?”
  • B: “It’s next to the library, opposite the park.”
  • A: “Okay, got it. And where’s the bank?”
  • B: “The bank is between the café and the police station.”

Through this process, students negotiate meaning, clarify details, and practice real-life conversational strategies in a natural context.

Why it works:
Information gap activities replicate authentic communication where both speakers hold unique information. This creates a genuine reason to speak, listen, and clarify — the key ingredients for fluency development and communicative competence.

7. The 4/3/2 Technique

Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Objectives:

  • Increase automaticity and speech rate through structured repetition.
  • Build confidence in delivering short monologues.
  • Encourage self-monitoring and fluency improvement over time.

Best for These Language Points:
The 4/3/2 technique works particularly well when learners already know the target structures but need to use them more fluidly in connected speech. It focuses on fluency practice, not accuracy correction. Examples include:

  • Past tenses — narrating personal experiences (“My weekend,” “A memorable trip”).
  • Future forms — talking about plans or predictions (“My plans for next year”).
  • Descriptive language — describing people, places, or routines.
  • Narrative sequencing — using linking words (first, then, after that, finally).
  • Functional language — giving opinions, agreeing/disagreeing, or expressing preferences.

Description and Implementation:

  1. Choose a familiar topic that allows personal expression, such as “My weekend,” “A hobby I enjoy,” or “The most interesting place I’ve visited.”
  2. Students prepare mentally (no notes) for about 1 minute.
  3. Student A speaks to a partner for 4 minutes, while the partner listens.
  4. They switch partners, and the same student repeats the talk for 3 minutes — aiming for smoother, faster, and clearer delivery.
  5. They change partners once more and repeat for 2 minutes, focusing on fluency and natural flow.
  6. Optionally, record the final 2-minute version to provide self-assessment or teacher feedback.

Example:
Topic: A hobby I enjoy

  • In the first round, the student might pause frequently to find words or recall details.
  • By the second round, they speak more confidently, using better linking phrases: “I started playing guitar when I was 12. At first, it was difficult, but now it helps me relax.”
  • By the third round, the story sounds smoother and more natural, as repetition reduces hesitation and increases fluency.

Why it works:
Each repetition reduces the cognitive load — the speaker no longer needs to think about what to say, only how to say it better. This pushes learners toward automatic, fluent speech, making it a powerful classroom fluency activity.

8. Discussion Circles

Level: Upper-Intermediate to Advanced

Objectives:

  • Develop discussion and debate skills.
  • Encourage extended speaking turns and active listening.
  • Practice functional language for expressing opinions, agreeing, disagreeing, and showing concession.

Best for These Language Points:
This activity is perfect for lessons focusing on:

  • Expressing opinions (e.g., I think that…, In my opinion…)
  • Agreeing and disagreeing politely (e.g., I see your point, but…, I’m afraid I disagree…)
  • Conceding points (e.g., That’s true, but on the other hand…)
  • Persuasion and argumentation (e.g., Have you considered that…, The main reason is…)
  • Functional expressions for debates and discussions

Description and Implementation:

  1. Organize students into small groups of 4–6. Arrange chairs in a circle to promote eye contact and interaction.
  2. Introduce a discussion topic that invites multiple viewpoints. Examples:
    • “Should mobile phones be allowed in class?”
    • “Is social media doing more harm than good?”
    • “Are exams the best way to measure intelligence?”
  3. Pre-teach or review useful expressions on the board or as a handout:
    • In my opinion… / From my point of view…
    • That’s a good point, but… / I agree to some extent… / I’m not sure I agree with that…
    • On the one hand…, On the other hand… / Even though I see your point…
  4. Set a time limit of 5–10 minutes per topic.
    Encourage students to take turns naturally and to use the target expressions actively during discussion.
  5. After time is up, ask one spokesperson from each group to summarize their group’s conclusions or differing opinions to the class.
  6. Optionally, follow up with a short reflection or feedback stage where students discuss which expressions they used and how confidently they expressed their opinions.

Example:
Topic: “Is social media doing more harm than good?”

  • Student A: “In my opinion, social media helps us stay connected.”
  • Student B: “That’s true, but I think it also wastes a lot of time.”
  • Student C: “I agree with both of you to some extent. It depends on how we use it.”

Why it works:
This activity promotes fluency and interactional competence. Learners use real-time negotiation of meaning, practice turn-taking, and develop the ability to express nuanced opinions — key components of advanced speaking fluency.

9. Describe and Draw

Level: Beginner to Intermediate

Objectives:

  • Strengthen speaking and listening fluency through clear communication.
  • Practice descriptive language and giving instructions.
  • Encourage teamwork and active listening in pairs.

Best for These Language Points:
This activity is ideal for lessons focused on:

  • House and furniture vocabulary (e.g., bedroom, window, sofa, table).
  • Prepositions of place (e.g., next to, behind, in front of, between).
  • Colors and shapes (e.g., a red door, a round table, a blue wall).
  • People and actions (e.g., A boy is running. A woman is cooking.).
    It also reinforces listening for detail and clarity in speech — both essential for developing fluency.

Description and Implementation:

  1. Pair students — one is the Speaker, the other the Drawer.
  2. Give each Speaker a simple image related to the topic (e.g., a house interior, a park scene, or a person doing an activity).
    • You can use printed pictures, flashcards, or even draw simple sketches on paper.
  3. The Speaker describes the picture to their partner without showing it.
    • Example: “There’s a big tree in the middle. To the right of the tree, there’s a small bench. Behind the tree, you can see a house.”
  4. The Drawer listens and sketches based only on the verbal description. They are not allowed to look at the original image.
  5. After 5–7 minutes, the pairs compare the drawings with the originals and discuss differences.
  6. Switch roles and repeat with a new image so both students practice speaking and listening.

Example:
Topic: My Dream House

  • Student A (Speaker): “The house has two floors. There are three windows on the top floor and a big red door at the bottom.”
  • Student B (Drawer): draws according to the description.
  • After revealing the original, they laugh at the differences and talk about what went wrong in communication — a great natural feedback moment.

Why it works:
“Describe and Draw” pushes students to use language meaningfully and spontaneously. Speakers must choose vocabulary and structures carefully to be understood, while listeners develop comprehension and clarification strategies (e.g., asking, “Can you repeat that?” or “Is the door on the left or the right?”).

10. Story Cubes or Prompts

Level: All levels

Objectives:

  • Develop improvisation and connected speech.
  • Encourage creative storytelling and vocabulary recall.
  • Build confidence in speaking continuously and maintaining a narrative thread.

Best for These Language Points:
This activity can be adapted to focus on different grammar and vocabulary areas:

  • Past tenses (past simple, past continuous, past perfect) — for narrating events and experiences.
    • “Yesterday, I was walking home when I saw a cat on a plane!”
  • Present tenses (present simple or continuous) — for describing actions or ongoing events in a story.
    • “Now the man is running because he wants to catch the bus.”
  • Future forms (will, going to) — for predicting what happens next.
    • “He’s going to open the box and find a secret inside.”
  • Linking and sequencing words — first, then, suddenly, after that, finally, because, so, although — to connect ideas smoothly.
  • Descriptive language — adjectives and adverbs to make the story more vivid.

Description and Implementation:

  1. Prepare story prompts using:
    • Story cubes (e.g., with pictures of a key, a plane, a dog, a storm).
    • Flashcards or word slips (e.g., a cat, a secret, a storm, a mountain).
  2. Distribute 3–5 random prompts to each student or group.
  3. Explain that they must create a short, coherent story using all their prompts.
    • For example: “A cat found a secret map during a storm and flew away on a plane to find treasure.”
  4. Give students a few minutes to plan their ideas, then have them tell their stories aloud — individually, in pairs, or in small groups.
  5. After the presentations, classmates can ask follow-up questions to keep the conversation going.
    • “Why was the cat on the plane?” or “What happened after the storm?”
  6. Optionally, record or write down the stories later for reflection or error analysis.

Example: Prompts: a cat – a plane – a storm – a secret

Student story: “One night, a cat found an old diary with a secret message. The next morning, it decided to travel by plane to find the treasure. But on the way, there was a terrible storm, and the plane had to land on a small island…”

Why it works:
Storytelling naturally promotes fluency, narrative organization, and creativity. Learners must link ideas, use tenses consistently, and connect sentences smoothly, which strengthens their ability to speak continuously and coherently.

Tips to Improve Fluency in English

  • Encourage meaningful speaking, not just correctness.
  • Use timed speaking tasks to build confidence.
  • Provide useful fillers and transition phrases.
  • Record short tasks to help learners notice progress over time.

Final Thoughts

Fluency grows through frequent, low-pressure communication and opportunities to speak freely. These speaking fluency activities give learners the confidence and language practice they need to express themselves naturally and effectively.

You may also be interested in how to develop your students’ speaking skills

Tags: activitiesspeaking
Shopping Cart
Scroll to Top