Do You Like to _____? | ESL Speaking Activity

Are you looking for a simple, fun ESL speaking activity for beginner-level students, one that doesn’t require any preparation or materials except some paper? Yes? Thought so. All teachers need a few of these in their back pockets, right?

Keep on reading for all the details you need to know about, “Do you like to?,” a fun ESL activity that’s very interactive for children or adults. And the best part? It’s a 4-skills activity, which is kind of like the holy grail of English teaching. I love this activity and I’m sure your students will too.

Do you like to ___? ESL Speaking Activity

Skills: Speaking/listening/writing/reading

Time: 15 minutes

Level: Beginner-Intermediate

Materials Required: Strips of paper (or students can make their own)

Age: 10+

Give each student five strips of paper. On each piece of paper, they write something interesting about themselves. Then, collect them, mix them up and distribute them back to your students (three per student).

At this point, everyone stands up and goes around the class asking questions to try to find the owner of each paper that they have. If someone is done early, you can give them another paper from the reserve pile that you have.

For example,

“Do you go to _____ middle school?”

“Are you a twin?”

“Do you love to play soccer?

More advanced students can ask 1 or 2 follow-up questions based on what they’re learned about their partner.

To follow up the activity, ask the class what the most interesting thing they learned about someone was.

Teaching Tips for this ESL Speaking Activity

Students need to write down interesting and unique things about themselves. For example, “I go to XYZ university” is something that every other student in the class will say yes to so it is not a good thing to use. Basically, mention to students that it should be something that they might not have in common with the other students, or perhaps only 1 or 2 other students would say yes to.

Some better examples of unique things include:

• I usually go hiking on the weekends
• My family loves camping and we go every summer
• I love to eat chocolate ice cream almost every day
• My favourite computer game is XYZ
• I’ve watched Forest Gump more than 10 times

Another reason to consider this activity is that it can appeal to various types of learner styles within a single activity.

Procedure for “Do you like to___?”

1. Give students five strips of paper (or they provide their own).
2. Students write down one interesting thing about themselves/paper.
3. Collect papers and redistribute them (three per student).
4. Students stand up and go around the class, asking their classmates, “Do you have a twin brother?” “Can you play the piano really well?” based on what is on their papers.
5. If it’s a match, they get one point and that paper is “finished.” Optionally, you can require higher-level students to ask 1-3 follow-up questions before they get a point.
6. If a student finds all their matches, they can get one or two more papers from you from the reserve pile (why each student writes five papers, but you only hand out three of them).
7. Follow up this activity by asking students what the most interesting thing they found out was.

Do you Like this ESL Speaking Activity?

Yes? I hoped so.

Then you’re going to love this book over on Amazon: 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For Teenagers and Adults. It’s lesson planning made easy, guaranteed. Stop wasting time searching around on the Internet for activities that you can actually use with your students.

Just open up the book in the few minutes before class to find a fun, interesting activity for your student to do. All the activities are low prep or no prep and require very little in the way of materials.

Available in a Variety of Formats

The even better news is that the book is available on both print and digital formats. The (cheaper!) digital one can be read on any device by downloading the free Kindle reading app.

You can keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office for a quick reference guide. Or, take the digital version with you on your phone or tablet for lesson planning at your favourite coffee shop. It really is that easy to create fun, interesting ESL lessons for your students.

Get your Copy Today

Do you need some ESL awesome in your life? Who doesn’t, right? Then this is the book you’ll need to pick up.

Check out 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for yourself over on Amazon:

Is there an Audiobook Version?

That’s a great question and we’re happy that you asked. There most certainly is an audiobook so you can get some inspiration for your speaking classes when you’re exercising, doing housework on in the car.

The even better news is that you can listen to it for free. You get a free book when you sign up for an Audible account, so why not make it this one, right?

Learn more about it here:

—>39 ESL Speaking Activities Audiobook<—

Another Fun ESL Speaking Game

Need another idea for the ESL/EFL classroom? Board games are one of my favourite 4-skill activities that are heavy on speaking. Find out more about how I use them with my students here:

Have your Say about this ESL Speaking Game

What are your thoughts about Do you like to___? Have you tried this out in your classes? Also, check if your students know the difference between spoken English and written English. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2025-07-11 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API