Speaking Archives - Page 2 of 2

As an English language teacher, it can sometimes be difficult to come up with engaging activities that will encourage your students to practice speaking. This is where story cubes come in! They are a fantastic tool for practicing speaking skills in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. In this blog post, weâ€™ll explore what story cubes are, how to use them in your classroom, and why they are such a great resource for students.

What are Story Cubes?

Story cubes are small, cube-shaped dice with different images printed on each side. They come in a set of nine cubes, with a total of 54 unique images. The images on the cubes range from simple objects like a tree or a sun, to more abstract symbols like a lightbulb or a heart.

How to use Story Cubes in the EFL Classroom

Story cubes are incredibly versatile and can be used in a variety of ways in the EFL classroom. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Speaking Practice:

One of the best ways to use story cubes is for speaking practice. Have your students roll the cubes and use the images they see to create a story. They can work in pairs or small groups to create a story together, taking turns to add new elements to the story. This is a great way to encourage your students to use English in a creative and relaxed environment.

Vocabulary Practice:

Another way to use story cubes is for vocabulary practice. Give your students a specific vocabulary set, such as action verbs or adjectives, and have them use the cubes to create sentences that incorporate these words. This is a fun way to reinforce vocabulary and help students to use new words in context.

Grammar Practice:

You can also use story cubes to practice grammar structures. For example, you could ask your students to create sentences using the present simple or present continuous tense, depending on the images they see on the cubes. This is a great way to practice grammar in a fun and engaging way.

Why are Story Cubes a Great Resource for EFL Students?

There are many reasons why story cubes are a great resource for students. Here are a few:

They Encourage Creativity:

Story cubes encourage students to be creative and to use their imagination. This is a great way to encourage students to think outside the box and to use English in a fun and engaging way.

They Foster Collaboration:

When students work together to create a story using the cubes, they have to collaborate and communicate with each other. This is a great way to build teamwork skills and to help students to work together effectively.

They Are Easy to Use:

Story cubes are incredibly easy to use. They require no preparation or advanced technology, making them a great resource for both teachers and students.

They Are Portable:

Because story cubes are small and lightweight, they are incredibly portable. You can take them with you wherever you go, making them a great resource for EFL teachers on the go.

Story cubes are a fantastic tool for practicing speaking skills in the classroom. They are versatile, easy to use, and encourage creativity and collaboration. Whether you use them for speaking practice, vocabulary practice, or grammar practice, story cubes are a great resource for students and teachers alike. So why not give them a try in your next class and see how they can enhance your studentsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ speaking skills!

Rory’s Story Cubes on Amazon (affiliate link) : https://amzn.to/3HmsfUb

Â

This is a review of a game which I use in class and I find particularly good for students to encourage speaking. It’s a type of game called a ‘hidden role’ game called One Night Werewolf. At the end of this post are 2 free themed downloadable adaptations of this game that I have made too.

It is by Bezier Games and you can buy a copy of it from here : https://amzn.to/3DqGjuC (this is an affiliate link that will support this site if you use it) or alternatively, if all your students have mobiles, you can play it online for free here : https://netgames.io/games/onu-werewolf/

How to play

The object of the game is to find out who is the Werewolf. There are two phases in the game, the night phase and the day phase. The night phase is first, followed by the day phase.

All students take a character card and there are 3 cards in the middle of the table. Each character has a different action during the night phase of the game and they do it in a set order as follows:

Werewolf – First checks if there are other werewolves. If there are not, they may look at 1 card from the centre.
Seer – Can look at one other player’s card, or 2 of the centre cards.
Robber – Changes their own card with another player’s card, then looks at their new card.
Troublemaker – swaps the cards of two other players. Doesn’t look at anything.
Drunk – Swaps their own card with one from the centre, but cannot look at the new card.
Insomniac – After all other actions have been done, they are allowed to look at their own card again to see if it has been changed.
Villager – Has no action.

There are other characters, but these are the main ones. Once you have played the game a few times, you might want to start adding more, but to start with, these are complcated enough!

Night phase

At the beginning of the night phase, all students close their eyes. There is a recording that plays on the accompanying app that you can play on a mobile phone, which tells each character when they should open their eyes, what they should do, and when to close their eyes again. It’s important that nobody cheats!

If you are using the mobile app, it does everything for you on the screen.

Day phase

Once the night phase is over, the day phase is a timed period – usually about 3 minutes, but you can set it as short or long as you like – where students can discuss who they are and what they did during the night.

At the end of the designated time period all players vote on who is the werewolf.

During the discussion, students might say thigs like… “I am the robber and I changed my card with…. and my new card was…” or “I was the Seer and I looked at 2 cards from the middle. They were the Robber and Villager.”

The werewolf must try not to be discovered, and the other players must try to discover who is the werewolf. The werewolf must therefore listen to other players and try and make up a plausible lie, whereas all the other players must listen to try and figure out who is lying.

It’s important that noone looks at their cards at all until after the discussion has finished and voting has been done.

It’s a great game for students from about 10 years old upwards. I’ve used it with 8 year-olds with some success, but it’s not usual for children of this age to have developed the mental skills to understand these types of games.

Free adaptations

I have made 2 adaptations of this game called ‘One Christmas Night’ and ‘One Dinosaur Night’ which are obviously Christmas and Dinosaur themed. You can download the PDFs and the accompanying audio recordings for both of these games on the links below.

If you want to see a video explaining the game, please check out my TikTok account… and maybe support me by commenting, liking or following me on social media (I post on Instagram a little less regularly too). I post videos about all the new materials as and when I upload them.

Enjoy! 🙂

Rory's Story Cubes

Present Continuous Conversation Game