49 ESL Conversation Games & Activities - Jackie Bolen 2020

Phone show and tell
English conversation games and activities for all levels

Skills: Speaking/Listening

Time: 10-15 minutes

Level: Beginner to Advanced

Materials Required: Students’ phones, optional PPT image of a photo from your phone

In small groups of 3-5, each person chooses one image on their phone to share with the group. They should show the image and discuss what’s happening and why they chose to share it.

To make it interactive, each student in the group should think of 1-2 follow-up questions to ask based on what they saw or heard. Hopefully this will lead to some interesting conversations.

The teacher can act as a time-keeper if students are doing this activity in small groups. I find that around 2-3 minutes per person works well.

Tips for Increasing Interaction:

Requiring students to share what they learned about someone in the class gives some serious motivation to listen and pay attention! For example, “I learned that Min-Ji has a really cute dog named Bingo who is six years old.”

Procedure:

1. Optional: in advance, prepare a ppt of an image from your phone.

2. Divide students into groups of 3-5 and ensure that any students who don't have a phone are divided evenly among the groups.

3. Show the ppt and tell students that it is a picture from your phone. Discuss the picture; tell what is happening and why you chose to share that particular picture.

4. Instruct them to take out their own phones and give them 2-3 minutes to choose a photo to share with their group. If students don't have a phone (rare in most countries),

instruct them to talk about something important to them or an interesting place they've been.

5. Each student can ask a follow-up question or two.

6. (Optional) Reported speech option as students share something they learned.