It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that there’s no better way to reinforce children’s speaking skills than role-play! Children’s enthusiasm for acting out a role in a game-like context helps them to overcome any inhibitions they may feel about speaking in English and paves the way for fun and natural learning!
This time, our 2nd graders were offered the opportunity to practise buying groceries within a colourful grocery store set up in our classroom for this purpose! The idea for this topic originated in language content already covered in our coursebooks (such as food vocabulary and grammar notions related to countable and uncountable nouns).
Colourful ‘task cards’ with instructions on what our students had to buy, printouts of their desired groceries as well as printouts of the coins needed for the transaction with the shopkeeper - all the essential elements of imaginative play - have made learning more engaging and ignited our students’ enthusiasm!
Helping our students learn to express themselves fluently and confidently is of paramount importance to us. Everyday practice confirms that game-like activities which bridge the gap between the content we learn in class and real-life communication challenges are the best way to turn our learners into confident speakers of English!