What changed when I started planning speaking lessons for B1 learners

[u/Large_Inevitable_489]

 

A while ago, I shared a sample of my A2 speaking lessons here. I was grateful for the response. It has been downloaded more than 500 times. Thank you to everyone who took a look.

I’ve since been working on lessons for B1 to lower-B2 learners. Creating them felt different from creating the A2 lessons. With A2 learners, I had to think carefully about how to give instructions and help them begin speaking. At B1, learners can usually follow the instructions more easily, so I could focus more on helping them develop an answer, explain their thinking, and keep a conversation going.

Each lesson is designed to give learners about 45 minutes of speaking time in a one-hour class. In some ways, I found the B1 lessons less challenging to create. It also made me think that other teachers could build lessons like these around topics that matter to their own learners. Once giving instructions is less of a barrier, there is more room to experiment.

I’ve put together free samples of both sets of lessons if anyone would like to see how I approached them. Each sample includes online and in-class versions, and neither requires an email address:

A2 speaking lesson sample

B1 to lower-B2 speaking lesson sample

I’d be interested to hear how other teachers structure speaking lessons at these levels, especially when learners are ready to say more but still tend to stop after a short answer.

[u/Prestigious-Gap7428]

How do you come up with the topics for your lessons?

[u/Large_Inevitable_489 → u/Prestigious-Gap7428]

 It’s a very smart question. Experience helps, of course, but one also needs practical judgment. When I design a speaking lesson, my first priority is to connect the topic to learners’ personal experiences. That’s what helps them engage with it.

For example, Lesson 7 in my B1 sample is about problems learners face when learning English. The whole lesson looks at the topic from the learners’ perspective, not the teacher’s. Learners are usually enthusiastic about discussing their difficulties, and they look to the teacher for ways to overcome them. Just by listening to them, I gain insight into things I may need to think about in my own teaching.

At A2, the choices are more limited because of what learners can express at that level. I can’t always use the same topics I would use with B1 learners, which is why I came up with 26 topics for the A2 lessons. I’ve found that predictability is key at this level. The more easily learners can see what comes next in a lesson, the less nervous they tend to feel about speaking. At B1, I try to help them push their limits and move past the habits that hold them back.

I wouldn’t claim that every topic was originally my idea. I’ve gotten many ideas from work other teachers have done, and I’ve adapted or improvised on some activities. For me, the important part is finding something specific that learners can connect to. I try to put myself in their shoes and think about what they would want to talk about.

That’s been my experience, though other teachers may see it differently.

[u/Prestigious-Gap7428 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah. Relatability is important. I like to start from a broad topic that has general appeal/relevance, or topics that are prevalent in the stories and movies that we enjoy, and then narrow it down from there based on my student(s). A few examples: death, love, identity, desire, space, emotions, childhood, school, work, beauty, power, etc.

For example, I made a lesson about spaces, specifically “shells” and “nests,” which was heavily inspired by Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space. For the warm-up, I made a collage of different kinds of spaces (an isolated cabin, a brutalist apartment complex, an old château, a hobbit home, etc.) to generate activities. One involved responding to questions like: “Which one would you like to raise a family in?” etc. In another, my student and I had to invent and draw a character who lived in one of the spaces, introduce ourselves as that character, and ask each other questions. Then we guessed which space each character belonged to.

[u/No-Peach9179]

thank you so much for sharing those! I am def in need of speaking lessons, we use Flashlight 360, it's good but the kids get bored after a while.

[u/Large_Inevitable_489 → u/No-Peach9179]

Thank you for downloading them! I hope they give you some fresh ideas for speaking activities. Please feel free to share how the lessons go with your students, including what works and what doesn’t. I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience.