Fun with speaking: making milkshake and English-speaking videos

An excellent combination of reading comprehension, rewriting the text and oral presentation

There's a reading passage about how to make milkshake in the textbook, which provides an excellent opportunity for the students as well as I to have fun using English with a series of activities. They practiced skills of reading, writing and speaking all at once, which also paved the way for building that scenario simulation classroom. 

1. Mind mapping

With the reading passage about how to make milkshake, students create their own mind maps and are able to summarize the text with their own words.

2. Comprehension questions

With the mind maps created individually, students can make at least three legitimate questions about the text so that T can call on some to answer.

3. Rewriting the recipe

With the original recipe in the textbook, students work in groups of four to rewrite it, with pictures, icons or charts added to the step-by-step procedure.

4. Let's shake it

With the revised recipe, students work in groups of four to prepare the ingredients and blenders in order to make their ideal

5. Video making

With screen capture software, students working in pairs are able to present in English about how to make milkshake and record their oral reports in order to make English-speaking videos.

Based on those students' positive feedback, I know they enjoyed this variety of tasks that helped create a meaningful communicative purpose. Moreover, I also took a step further to train more students how to make simple English-speaking videos.