In many ESL textbooks, you’ll probably notice that many of the activities are more focused on accuracy. This makes a lot of sense. They’re easier to set up, and they’re also easier for the teacher to evaluate.However, we need to incorporate fluency activities into our language classes as well. Retell the story is one way to do that!
Story retell activity
There are lots of story retell activities to consider trying out but this one is my favourite. Keep on reading for all the details about how to use it with your students to get them speaking more quickly in English! It works well for an in-class activity or you may want to consider it for online English teaching.
Retell the Story
Skills: Speaking
Time: 15-20 minutes
Level: Beginner to Advanced, 8+
Materials Required: Timer
This is a fluency activity which can be done with beginners by having them introduce themselves. Higher level students can tell a story they know or recap a story that was covered in class. Give the students a bit of time to think about what they’re going to say; the lower the level of students, the more time they will need.
Working in pairs, each student will tell the same story three times. The first time, they will each speak for one minute. Then, have the students switch partners. With their second partner, each person will tell the same story, but add more detail, so they speak for two minutes.
Again, everyone will switch partners. The third time they tell their story, everyone should speak for three minutes.
You might need to reduce these times for beginner students if they are struggling to keep talking. With an advanced English class, you might want to reverse the order to 3-2-1, in order to help them focus on retelling only the most important parts of the story and working on fluency.
Teaching Tip for Retell the Story:
An orderly way to have students quickly switch partners for this activity is to have only half of the students move. If your students sit in rows, have even numbered rows move up one seat. If your students sit in blocks of four, number the students 1-2-3-4, and instruct which numbers to switch seats.
You can also make this into more of a listening activity by requiring the person who is listening to the story to think of between 1 and 3 follow-up questions (depending on the time you have for the activity).
Retell story activities
Procedure for this Story Retelling Activity: 3 2 1
- The teacher can do a demonstration, telling either a story or introducing themselves.
- Divide students into pairs after giving them a minute or two to think of a story to tell.
- Tell students which partner will go first (ie: students on the right) and start the timer for one minute. When time is up, start the timer for the second partner.
- Instruct the students who spoke first to move to the seat in front of theirs (or according to your classroom configuration), set the timer for two minutes, and complete round two.
- After both partners have had a turn, have the same students move again, set the timer for three minutes, and complete round three.
- (Optional) Have the student who is listening ask some follow-up questions during this story retell activity
More Ideas for Story Retelling Activities
If you’re looking for some more ideas for story retelling that won’t put your students to sleep, try out some of these fun ideas and tips:
- Give students a reason to retell the story
- Provide some structure for students
- Let students tell the story in a way that makes sense to them
- Consider using some props, photos and sticky notes
- Use a story puzzle
- Do a news interview activity based on the story
Retelling a Story Worksheets
There are lots of great resources online that you might want to consider using with your students. Here are some of the best retell a story worksheets:
Like One of the Best Retelling Story Activities?
- Bolen, Jackie (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 185 Pages - 03/10/2016 (Publication Date) - CreateSpace Independent...
Yes? Thought so.
It’s certainly one of the best retell activities if your students want to speak more fluently. If you like this ESL speaking activity that focuses on fluency, then you’re going to love this book over on Amazon: 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults.
There are dozens of top-quality activities that you can use in your classes today. The best part is that the book is well-organized into sections: reading, writing, speaking, listening, 4-skills, review, icebreakers, etc. so that you should be able to easily find what you’re looking for in just a minute or two.
The book is available in both digital and print formats. The digital one can be read on any device by downloading the free Kindle reading app.
Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office as a handy reference guide. Or, take a copy with you to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go.
Yes, it really is that easy to have more interesting and engaging English lessons. Check out the book for yourself here but only if you want to get yourself a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life:
Another Speaking Fluency Activity
Besides Retell the Story, Just a Minute is another one of my go-to activities for practicing speaking fluency. You can learn more about it here:
Have your Say about this Fluency Activity for ESL Students!
What are one or two of your favourite activities to help get your students speaking English more fluently? Or, what do you think about this story retell activity? Leave a comment below and share your tips with us. We’d love to hear from you.
Also be sure to give this article a share on Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.
Last update on 2025-05-14 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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