Introduction:

These are two board game activities to talk about physical appearance and personality. They can be used together or separately, and are a great way to help students practise speaking and develop fluency, as well as prepare for FCE /CAE and CPE speaking exams.

Also I find these games extremely useful since most of us are now teaching online. You simply display a board game on the screen and that’s a speaking activity sorted for you 😉 Do not forget to feed students new vocabulary throughout the activity and obviously draw their attention to any mistakes they might be making. You could always prepare a thematic vocabulary list and send it to the students before the class or even ask them to research the topic themselves and then teach others some new words they have learnt.

As always encourage students to ask each other questions and comment on each other’s responses. Do not let it be a monologue. I often tell students that if I asked them the same questions outside the classroom, the conversation would flow much more naturally so aim towards that and have fun.

Level: B2+

Objectives:

1. To practise speaking about physical appearance and personality.

Materials (Click on the worksheets below to download the PDF files):

Procedure:

1. Put students in pairs or small groups and give them a copy of one of the board games or display it on the screen for everyone to see.
2. The teacher throws the dice twice – the first throw indicates which column they should use, and the second throw indicates which row, to obtain the question.
3. The player(s) must then answer the question in as much detail as possible. Encourage students to ask additional questions and ask for clarification and further explanation. As I said in the introduction, do not let it be a monologue but a starting point for a great conversation.
4. Switch to the second board game when/if appropriate. 
5. At the end, ask students to give you three new things they have learnt about their classmates.

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