Fun ESL Speaking Activities for Adults – Interactive Conversation & Fluency Practice
Learning any language gets easier when you speak it often and in different situations. That’s why this collection of ESL speaking activities is built around real conversations instead of textbook drills. Each task encourages adults to share ideas, react to new information, and keep a natural flow—skills they need outside the classroom.
You will find three activity types:
- Warm-ups that break the ice and get everyone talking within the first five minutes.
- Focused practice tasks that target specific functions such as giving opinions, clarifying, agreeing, or challenging politely.
- Freer discussions where learners choose their own direction, negotiate meaning, and use whatever language they have to reach a goal.
Most activities come with a printable set of prompts or cards, plus short notes on timing, group size, and simple variations for mixed levels. Many can be adapted for online lessons by sharing slides or using breakout rooms. No special materials are required—just pens, paper, and a willingness to talk.
Use the index to jump straight to a theme, or mix tasks to build a complete lesson: start with a quick mingle, move on to a structured practice, and finish with an open discussion. However you combine them, the aim remains the same: more student talking time and better fluency every session. With these ESL speaking activities at your fingertips, your classes will stay fresh, practical, and engaging week after week.
ESL Conversation Questions
Explore hundreds of discussion questions, organized into themed cards for easy printing and cutting out. You can also download for free the book 50 Conversation Classes which contains complete conversation class lesson plans so you’re ready to hit the ground running.
ESL Speaking Activities
Giving Opinions
Giving Opinions: Ideal for first classes with advanced students, this fun mingling speaking activity encourages learners to exchange opinions and cards with classmates.
Question Time
Question Time: In this easy-to-set-up group discussion activity, students take turns selecting a topic and gain confidence by moderating the conversation.
Old School vs New School
Students talk about school then and now. They share memories, compare old and modern subjects, decide which lessons children need today, and build a simple timetable together. Great for practising “used to” and easy modal verbs like “should” or “must.”
The World in 20 Years: Future Predictions
Using the simple future tense, students speculate about developments across various fields.
Show and Tell
Ask students to bring something that has a story— a souvenir, a photo, even a bus ticket. Brainstorm a few “object” words together, warm up with a quick picture-taboo round, then run a free “show and tell”: each learner explains why the item matters and answers classmates’ questions. Low-prep, student-led speaking that lets you mostly listen and feed in new language when needed.
Ask the Expert
Each learner writes 3 favourite topics on a folded name-card, then sits opposite a classmate who interviews them for 5–10 minutes. After a few rounds and a role-swap, everyone shares the most interesting facts they heard. Simple set-up, lots of real conversation.
Find Someone Who
A great mingling activity. Students focus on a particular grammar point such as present perfect or past simple and then try to find someone in the class who has the required information. The follow-up question is key to encouraging great conversations.
Questionnaires and Surveys
Students create surveys and questionnaires, using them to interview their peers and foster interaction.
Other Activities
Outdoor Activities
Escape the hot, stuffy classroom and reinvigorate your students with outdoor activities they’ll enjoy.
Lying Games
Encourage laughter and fun in the classroom with speaking games that challenge students to keep a straight face.
Dictation Activities
10 Dictation activities which you can use as an introduction to a wider speaking activity.
Online Speaking Activities
Check out our online-focused sister site learnhip.com for online speaking activities.
3 thoughts on “Fun ESL Speaking Activities for Adults – Interactive Conversation & Fluency Practice”
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Love this book! I will be taking an ESL teacher training course in a few months. In my present volunteer job, I’ve been asked to teach some English to the staff. They are all beginner to intermediate level. We are in a rural area of a poor country, so there aren’t many resources available, except what I can print out. Your book will help me do some fun conversation classes with them. Thanks for the great ideas!
This conversation class book is brilliant! I’m very happy both with the sample, which I got first, and the purchase of the whole book. I’ll be using it for years!
I`ve been using “50 conversation classes” since I started working with adult people and It`s great! We love them! thanks a lot!