Here’s something you might try with higher level / age groups. Give them some of the phrases in groups (don’t do them all in one session) and ask them to come up with ways in which these sayings might or might not be true and whether they agree with them. This can lead to a whole class discussion. The activity helps develop the six elements of critical thinking that will help improve reading comprehension:

* Interpretation
* Analysis
* Inference
* Explanation
* Self-regulation
 
Amor vincit omnia
Love conquers all.

bonitas non est pessimis esse meliorem
It is not goodness to be better than the worst.

exitus acta probat
The result validates the deeds.

errare humanum est
To err is human.

fabas indulcet fames
Hunger sweetens the beans.

facta non verba
Deeds, not words (Actions speak louder than words).

fallaces sunt rerum species
The appearances of things are deceptive.

flat justitia ruat coelum
Let justice be done through the heavens fall.

in vino veritas
There is truth in wine (truth is told by him who has drunk wine).

lex non distinguitur nos non distinguere debemus
The law does not distinguish and so we ought not distinguish.

legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus
We are slaves of the law in order that we may be able to be free.

multum in parvo
Much in little.

memento mori
Remember that you will die.

mendacem memorem esse oportet
It is fitting that a liar should be a man of good memory (liars should have good memories).

mens sana in corpore sano
A sound mind in a sound body.

minima maxima sunt
The smallest things are most important.

nemo liber est qui corpori servit
No one is free who is a slave to his body.

non est vivere sed valere vita est
Life is not being alive but being well (life is more than just being alive).

non semper erit aestas
It will not always be summer (be prepared for hard times).

non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum
Do not take as gold everything that shines like gold.

ne quid nimis
Nothing in excess.

nemo dat quod non habet
No one gives what he does not have.

non est ad astra mollis e terris via
There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.

nosce te ipsum
Know thyself .

omnia mutantur nos et mutamur in illis
All things change, and we change with them.

omnia causa fiunt
Everything happens for a reason.

parva leves capiunt animas
Small things occupy light minds (small things amuse small minds).

pessimum genus inimicorum laudantes
Flatterers are the worst type of enemies.

possunt quia posse videntur
They can because they seem to be able to (they can do it because they think they can do it – the power of positive thinking).

proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris
It is human nature to hate a person whom you have injured.

perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim
Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you.

quod me nutrit me destruit.
What nourishes me also destroys me.

qui tacet consentire
Who is silent gives consent.

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Who will watch the watchers themselves?

radix omnium malorum est cupiditas
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Avarice is the problem, money itself is not evil.

respice, adspice, prospice
Examine the past, examine the present, examine the future (look to the past, the present, the future).

sic transit gloria mundi
So passes away earthly glory.

sedit qui timuit ne non succederet.
He who feared he would not succeed sat still.

struit insidias lacrimis cum femina plorat.
When a woman weeps, she is setting traps with her tears.

timendi causa est nescire
Ignorance is the cause of fear.

tempus fugit
Time flies.

una salus victis nullam sperare salutem
The one safety for the vanquished is to abandon hope of safety (knowing that there is no hope can give one the courage to fight and win).

ut sementem feceris ita metes
As you sow so will you reap.

veritas vos liberabit
The truth shall make you free.

vincit qui se vincit
He conquers who conquers himself.

vir sapit qui pauca loquitur
That man is wise who talks little (know when to hold your tongue).

verbum sat sapienti
A word is enough for a wise man.

vox populi vox dei
The voice of the people is the voice of god.

Students go round asking questions and when they find someone who answers yes, they write that person’s name in the space next to the question they answered. This practices question forms in a variety of structures, but is limited. It can be made more communicative by students having to ask one or two follow up questions when they receive an affirmative response.

Have you got a pet?
Yes, I have.
What is it?
It’s a tarantula!
Oh! Has it got a name?
Yes. I call it Terry.

* Conduct a survey. Each student writes the name of every other student (or group of students if the class is large) in a list and goes round finding one thing they have in common with each other student. They note this down next to name on their list. Once they’ve found a particular thing they share, they move on to another name on their list. The same information cannot be written twice. So if I’ve discovered that Igor was born in the same month as me I do not ask Ivan “What month is your birthday?” I might ask “What’s your favourite colour?” or “Have you got a bicycle?”
* Guessing games. A has a card with a picture or name of a person, place or action. B has to guess what’s on the card by asking questions. This can be done in several ways in pairs or groups: A mimes what is on the card, can only answer yes or no or starts off by giving a clue.
* Celebrity Interview. Students pretend to be a famous person and are interviewed.

Discussions and debates
Group discussions are better than whole class ones as more people have the chance to speak and do so at normal volume. It may be a good idea to appoint a chairperson for each group whose job it is to ensure everybody in their group contributes.
The prompt and topic for a discussion can be anything:
* Current events. (You can use newspaper headlines, articles, graphs and visuals either in paper form or tape an item from the TV news. (It doesn’t have to be in English. If the class speaks the same mother tongue you can use local material.) If you’ve got a smart classroom, you can just show what’s on CNN, BBC World or select something from You Tube.
* Provocative or controversial topics. Be aware of the local culture and sensibilities here; some topics may be considered too sensitive or inappropriate to discuss.
* Simulations and role play. The difference is that in the former the students are themselves in an imaginary situation and in the latter they are someone else. Here’s a simulation: Let’s imagine there’s an empty space in your town or area. What do you think should be done with it? This can become a role play by giving each student a card; for example:

Students in both cases have to give opinions with reasons and try to persuade their group to support their suggestion. Here are a few more topics where students discuss in order to come to a consensus:

A debate is more formalized, with teams being given a statement such as This house believes that technological progress improves peoples’ lives or This house proposes that cars should be banned from city centres. Students are divided into teams of for and against and prepare their arguments, after which a spokesperson is appointed from each team to present their case. This can be done in front of the whole class with the class voting for the view they agree most with at the end by putting their hands up.
The whole class can have the same topic or each group be given a different one.

Projects and speeches. Students either individually or in pairs choose a subject they are interested in; research it and give a short talk on that subject to the class. They can use visual aids or make a power point presentation if they wish.

Short speaking activities. These can be done in groups or students can take it in turn to come up to the front of the class. In either case assign every student to team A or B. Each student in turn is given a topic, has 10 seconds to think about it and then a minute to talk about it. If they can keep going for the full minute, they get a point for their team. Some examples:

* The person I most admire
* The best film I’ve ever seen
* My worst nightmare
* Something I would never do for any money
* The best country to live in
* My ideal job
* If I were king / president…
* Mobile phones
* The English language
* Ice cream

Advanced classes might like to try this playing by the rules of the radio show Just a minute. Divide the class into groups of around four with a chairperson and a stopwatch timekeeper. The chairperson gives one person a topic card and that person has a minute to try and talk about it without repetition, hesitation or deviation from the subject. They are allowed to repeat the words on the card. Any time one of the players thinks the speaker repeats, hesitates or deviates, they say beep and the timekeeper immediately stops the watch. The beeper says which of the three rules the speaker broke and if the chairperson agrees, the same topic passes to the beeper, who has the remaining seconds to continue. If the chairperson disagrees with the beeper, the speaker who was interrupted continues. A point is awarded at each beep; either to the speaker if the interruption is unsuccessful or to the beeper if they are successful. A point is also awarded to the person speaking at the end of the minute when the timekeeper says stop. The chairperson then gives a card to another player to begin the next round. Here’s an example:

Other activities
* What happened next? Students in groups are dealt out several picture or word cards each. One student puts down a card and begins a story involving the picture or word on their card. The next student puts down one of their cards and continues the story and so on round the group until the last card is put down to finish the story. Tell students they must use a verb to continue the story each time they put down a card. The cards do not have to be of any specific story so there are no “right” answers; the students make the story up as they go along using their imagination.

* Tell us a joke.

“What’s the name of your dog?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never asked him.”

“Why do birds fly south in the winter?”
“Because it’s too far to walk.”

Everybody knows some jokes in their own language. Get students to share them using English.

* Tell us why. Give students a list of questions. They have to come up with an answer (silly answers accepted). Here are some on the natural world.

Why is the sky blue?
Why is the sea salty but rivers are not?
Why does the sun look bigger at sunset?
Why do icebergs float?
Why do camels have humps on their backs?

Getting students to talk in class is a matter of creating an atmosphere where people are willing to personalize – open up about themselves and their views, and imagine – put themselves or a fabricated self in another situation. The subject matter has to be engaging and challenging and there has to be a reason to talk.

Such interactions and activities may be different to those our students have encountered in their own educational system. They may find themselves for the first time encouraged to do these things, so you might expect an initial reticence.

When students are involved in the ways suggested above they may actually forget they are speaking in a foreign language. Probably my best moments as a teacher have been when I know I can leave the class in what to an outsider may seem a state of chaos but is in fact groups of people animatedly relating and laughing – singing their songs – in English.

1. Find the question
You or a student gives a name, date, place or reason and the rest try to guess the question to which that is the answer.

Examples:

Answer: Michael Phelps.
Question: Who has won the most Olympic gold medals?
Answer: Because it is a national holiday.
Question: Why are schools closed on…?

Points can be awarded for the correct question. The question must be the same as that thought of by the answer provider.

2. How do you do that?
Students have a minute to explain how to do certain things – make an omelet, download music, play snakes and ladders etc.

3. What’s my line?
Students imagine a job and describe a typical day in that job. After a minute the class guesses the job. The describer shouldn’t give the job title away by for example saying: “I fight fires” if they are describing a fire-fighter, but should say something more indirect: “Sometimes I get up very early and other days I don’t start work until the evening. Some days I get paid for just sitting around doing nothing, but I always have to be ready for anything. You never know when you might be called out…”

4. Keep going
Students in groups of 3 or 4 come up to the front of the class and are given a topic to speak on – e.g. fruit / holidays / elephants / green. Use a stopwatch to time them and tell them they have exactly one minute to talk about the subject. Designate one student to begin and give them a ball / pen to hold. When or if that student runs out of things to say, they pass the ball / pen to the next member of their team, who continues the topic without repeating what the first student has said.

5. Out of the box
Prepare a big box with lots of objects in it – the greater the variety of objects, the better. Invite a group of 4 or 5 students to the front. Give or get another student to give on object to each of the group. Tell them they have to make a story using the objects they are holding. Each student will speak for 20 seconds. Select one student (A) to start. After 20 seconds say “beep” as a signal for student B to take over telling the same story including their object in the storyline. Continue until the last student, who concludes the story.

6. Tell me more
Select a student (A) to come to the front and tell an anecdote – something they did recently. Select 6 other students to form a team to sit facing student A as a team. Give each of the team members one of the question words who, what, when, where, why and how written on cards. When A begins the team’s job is for each of them to interrupt him/her once by saying “beep” and ask a relevant question beginning with the word on their card. A provides the extra information asked for. If the team manages to ask all six questions within a minute, they win.

Example:
A: “Last night I went to the cinema…”
B: “Beep! Where was the cinema?”
A: “In Stadium Street. And I saw the film Slumdog Millionaire…”
C: “Who was the star of the film?”

7. Excuse me
Have two students come to the front of the class and give them a situation and each one a role. E.g. You are in a restaurant. You (A) are a waiter. (B)You are a customer. The students have a minute to improvise a dialogue.

8. Detectives
Two students (the detectives) leave the classroom while you tell the rest of the class (the witnesses) to answer any questions with either “Yes” or “No”. A question ending in any of the letters A- M is to answered “Yes”; those ending in N – Z are answered “No”.
Call the two detectives in to stand or sit at the front of the class. Tell them something has happened and it is their job to find out what it was and who did it in as much detail as possible by asking yes / no questions to the class.

Example:
Detective: “Was there a murder?”
Class: “No.”
Detective: “Did someone steal something?”
Class: “Yes.”
Detective: “Was it valuable?”
Class: “Yes.”
Detective: “Did someone in this class do it?”
Class: “No.”….

9. Word non-association
Have 4 students come to the front and divide them into teams of two. Team 1 begins by one student (A) saying a word. Their partner (B) then says a word which is completely unrelated. A continues by saying a word unrelated to what B has just said. It goes back and forth like this BUT if a member of team 2 can think of a connection between the words just said by team 1, they say “beep” and challenge, telling them the connection. If the challenge is accepted, team 2 takes over.
Example: Team 1 – student A: banana. Student B: car. Student A: horse. Team 2 – “beep – both can be forms of transport.” The challenge is accepted and team 2 continues.

10. Hangman



A student comes up to the board, thinks of a word and writes a line of dashes corresponding to the number of letters in the word. The class is divided into two teams which take turns to suggest a letter, by raising their hands and being selected to nominate a letter by the student at the front. Students are not allowed to shout out letters or words. If the letter fits, the student at the front writes it in; if not, they write the letter on the board and add a component of the hangman. When the last letter and thus the word is found, a member of the winning team takes over at the front and begins with a new word. The words may be freely chosen, restricted to words from the last unit of the course book or limited to topic areas.