Lesson Plans: Direct & Indirect Speech

Using reporting verbs in polite business communication

Reported speech to report on meetings

Common small talk questions, taboo small talk questions, and ones in between that need to be made indirect, with embedded questions presentation and practice.

A fun dice game and grammar presentation to show the different meanings and uses of different embedded questions, including suggested topics for indirect questions speaking practice

Three fun reporting verbs activities with students guessing, spotting lies and finding things they share with the help of suggested sentence starters, including verb patterns after reporting verbs presentation.

Four fun prepositions that collocate with verbs to report speech practice games, including pairs/ the memory game/ pelmanism, a faster card game of snap, and two storytelling tasks.

Two fun reported questions speaking games, starting with small talk and with a grammar presentation in between.

Conversation questions for free speaking practice of indirect speech, including both personal questions and opinion questions.

Students try to remember and report back a conversation that their partner really had - good for controlled communicative practice, personalisation, and students getting to know each other.

A lying game for fun oral practice of indirect speech, with an optional grammar presentation, with suggested typical conversations to report.

Mini-presentations for indirect speech free speaking practice, with suggested presentation topics and suggested follow-up questions for the people listening.

Typical confusions with reported speech review through labelling diffences in meaning and synonyms, including backshift and no backshift, and different reporting verbs.

Typical phrases, names of events, reported speech, reporting verbs and cultural differences practice, starting with a guessing game and with an indirect speech grammar presentation.

Verbs for reporting speech with the same and different meaning, including common mistakes with reporting verbs.

Five card games to practice reporting verbs plus gerund, plus infinitive, etc, with both controlled practice and freer speaking practice activities.