It is important for ESL students to gain the confidence to use the language they have learnt when talking to native speakers. This article offers ways in which ESL teachers can help their ESL students to improve their ESL conversation and speaking skills.

Here are 5 ways in which ESL students can improve and gain the confidence to converse using the new language they have learnt in the ESL classroom:

1) 'Stand and Say': Before you start your ESL lesson, have the students stand up. Before they are allowed to sit down they must each ask you a question. The last one to sit down is the loser. This ESL activity is a great way to motivate the students to speak. They are in a hurry to sit down as they don't want to be last. Also they can improve their listening skills by listening to the friends.

2) ESL games: There are many ESL conversation games. A good one is to take the first letter from each word in a frequently used question. An example is "What is your name?" This would be WIYN? Write 'WIYN?' on the board. The students have to give a word for each letter and discover what the ESL conversation question is.

Another good ESL conversation game is to get two students to come up to the front of the class and ask each other questions. They take it in turns to ask and answer. The first student that is unable to ask or answer a question is out of the ESL game and the other student is the winner.

3) ESL Printouts: Print out a list of questions and put the students into pairs. One ESL student has the list of questions. They ask the other the questions and their friend answers. Students really enjoy this ESL activity and the opportunity to us the English they have learnt.

4) What is the question? The teacher gives the students and answer to a question. The students then have to put their hand up and tell the teacher what the question is. This is a great way to get the ESL students to practice asking questions. During class time the usually just answer questions that the teacher throws at them so this is an excellent opportunity to reverse that scenario.

5) Role-Play: This is key for the development of the students English language. The students act out events, such as going to visit the doctor. This allows them to practice using the ESl conversation in preparation for real life events.

Ed loves writing articles about many ESL and TEFL subjects. Come and visit his new web blogs at http://identi.ca/edearlblog and http://edearlblog.publr.com.