Self-Care Advice: Group Activities for the ESL Classroom
Speaking Activities for ESL Students
Facilitate guided discussions in the classroom through these new group activities for ESL learners focused on practical skills. For learners with a higher level of English proficiency, challenge them to explore new topics in their new language. Build up learners’ practical skills through materials that focus on real-world communication. The speaking activities can be used as the centerpiece of a single lesson or topic, or as a smaller part of a larger module.
Free ESL Speaking Materials
To help teachers incorporate more student talking time into their lesson plans, FLOW Speak offers free ESL teaching materials focused on conversation skills and group activities. These ESL activities are ideal for adult and young adult English learners. Based on everyday life, these speaking activities will generate interesting conversations on various topics as part of their English learning journey.
Group Activity: Self-Care Advice
Engage your intermediate students in a conversation about self-care and mental health. In small groups, students will have the opportunity to share their recommendations for dealing with mild to moderate mental health concerns. This activity will help initiate conversations around self-care, mental health, and resilience in the ESL classroom.
At a CEFR B2 level, students are ready for more complex discussions including sharing opinions and cultural traditions surrounding mental wellness. Happiness is a shared, and often collective pursuit. Help your community of learners advise their peers with their personal knowledge on how to achieve it.
How to Implement ‘Self-Care Advice’
Facilitate group conversations about self-care and mental wellness in your intermediate English classroom. This lesson, aimed at CEFR B2, focuses on giving advice and suggestions for self-care practices. In groups of three, students will take turns giving and receiving advice based on a problem prompt that is causing mental stress or strain. Students will use modals such as “should” and “could” to give their peers suggestions based on their own opinions, practices, or research. For example, students may recommend that their peers drink more water and less coffee, that they go for daily walks, or that they call their friend or family every week.
The teaching materials include a page of detailed instructions for teachers as well as the handout needed to facilitate the activity. The ‘Teacher Instructions’ page includes information on delivery, necessary materials, enabling objectives, and suggested homework. The suggested homework shares related FLOW Speak lessons that can be assigned after the activity for individual speaking practice to reinforce what was learned in class. The lessons related to ‘Self-Care Advice’ include the ‘Self-Care’ Conversation Lesson, the ‘Mindfulness’ Conversation Lesson, and the Bummed Lesson. If you are interested in learning more about using FLOW Speak lessons in your classroom, contact achieve@flowspeak.io.
Download the materials
FLOW Speak Activity - Self-Care Advice.pdf
