u/Plus-Work6242

Hi everyone 👋

I’ve been experimenting with ways to increase speaking participation in my A2–B1 classes, especially with students who tend to stay quiet or rely on short answers.

I designed a communicative lesson around expressing opinions using home design and interior decoration as the topic.

The idea was to create a structured speaking flow that gradually pushes students from guided responses to freer discussion.

The lesson includes:

visual prompts (different room styles)
vocabulary support for describing spaces
opinion + agreeing/disagreeing practice
speaking cards for controlled practice
a final “design your perfect room” discussion task

What I’m trying to evaluate is whether this kind of structure actually helps students:

become more comfortable expressing opinions
move from controlled to freer speaking
stay engaged during longer speaking tasks

For those of you teaching similar levels:

Would this structure work in your classes?
How do you usually encourage more spontaneous speaking?
Would you change anything in the progression?

Would really appreciate hearing how others approach this 😊

Hi everyone 👋

I recently started creating more communicative, speaking-focused ESL lesson materials for my online students (mostly teens and adults on platforms like Preply-style tutoring).

I’ve noticed that many learners struggle with expressing opinions naturally in conversation, so I built a lesson around that skill instead of traditional grammar-heavy worksheets.

This one is based on the topic home design/interior decoration and includes:

guided speaking activities
vocabulary support for describing rooms
opinion + agreeing/disagreeing practice
printable speaking cards
a freer discussion task

It’s designed for A2–B1 learners and meant to be very low-prep for tutors (basically ready to use in a 1:1 lesson or small group class).

I’m still improving my materials and would really appreciate any feedback from other ESL teachers or online tutors:

Does the structure make sense?
Would you use something like this in your classes?
What would you improve?

Happy to share more details or the resource if anyone is interested

Trying to improve speaking participation with A2–B1 students — does this lesson structure actually work in your experience?

I created a communicative ESL speaking lesson for A2–B1 learners – would love feedback from other tutors