Adapting -Extending- An Speaking Activity

Firstly, I found the activity “The times of my life” engaging as it includes personalization where students can talk about themselves; consist of whole-class and group work discussions; promotes using L2 speaking skills and is student-centered. Also, the activity itself is like a game and students can practice speaking in English naturally. Finally, as the discussion topics are related to students’ lives, they would be extra interested in listening and learning about each other’s stories.

I would use this activity but also adapt it, as well.

• Extending: Students only write years related to major events in their lives in the original activity but I would ask them to write more than that. For example, writing names and keywords related to their lives. These can be about their best friend’s name, favorite color, zodiac sign, pet’s age, the latest singer they discovered, etc. without any limitation. By sharing these, the discussions can take longer time, and stories of students’ lives become more in-depth. Additionally, according to the original activity, one student chooses a year written on one of the cards and just asks questions. I would change this and let the students guess the story first. I think this would make the activity more engaging and increase STT. Finally, I would add an extra step where students can choose a random card from a box that is written “Would you rather… or…?” question and answer it if he/she guessed correctly his/her friend’s card. As these “Would you rather… or…?” questions are fun to answer, students would participate more eagerly to have a chance to read and answer them. I believe this activity can become more enhanced and comprehensive by making these little changes.