In the years I have taught EFL/ESL conversation classes, I’ve noticed how difficult it is at times to get students to have a conversation in English. In light of that, I’ve developed a free EFL/ESL conversation activity/game that provokes conversation and gets students to speak in English. In “Finish the Statement”, the teacher comes up with open-ended statements and the students finish them. This EFL/ESL conversation activity/game works great as stand-alone material or together with an EFL/ESL coursebook.
Step1: Pick a theme/topic.
Step 2: Come up with several open-ended statements that connect with the topic. For example, if the topic were “describe yourself”, two open- ended statements could be “I like…” or “My strengths are…” Write the topic and statements on the board/flipchart.
Step 3: Tell students they’ll need to complete the statement. Everybody should give a different ending. For example, an ending could be, “playing football, eating pizza.” and, to the open-ended statement “My strengths are…” an ending could be “working in a team, knowing how to communicate.”
Step 4: Go around the room and elicit different responses from students. Make note of any mistakes made during discussion and/or any improvements that could be made. Go over them with group.
Step 5: Have a discussion about the topic.