Communicative activities for reported speech

 

1. Class Gossip 🗣️
   Students work in groups of 3–4. One student says something about themselves:

   “I went to a concert last weekend.”

   Another student later reports it to someone from another group:

            “Laura said that she had gone to a concert the previous weekend.”

Encourage questions, statements and commands so they practise different reporting structures.

2. Chinese Whispers – Reported Speech
   Whisper a sentence to Student A:

   “I’m going to break up with my boyfriend tomorrow.”

            A tells B using reported speech:

“She said she was going to break up with her boyfriend the next day.”

B reports what A told them to C, and so on. At the end, compare the final version with the original. Usually hilarious!

3. Celebrity Interview 🎤
   Pairs: one student is a celebrity, the other a journalist. The journalist interviews them:

   “What are you working on at the moment?”
   “Have you ever lied in an interview?”
   “What will you do next year?”

Then students change partners and report the interview:

“She told me that she was working on a new album.”
“She admitted that she had lied in an interview.”

Great for said/told + reporting verbs.

We could use real interviews:

To Carlos Alcaraz   To Rosalía  To Javier Bardem    To the Javis about Bola Negra

4. You Won’t Believe What He Said! 😲
   Student A invents something surprising that somebody said:

   “My neighbour told me, ‘I saw a UFO last night.’”

            Student B reacts and asks questions. Then B tells another student:

“Nati’s neighbour told her that he had seen a UFO the night before.”

            The more ridiculous the statements, the better this works.

5. Find Someone Who… → Then Report It
   Students circulate asking questions:

   “Have you ever cheated in an exam?”
   “What did you do last Saturday?”
   “What are you doing next weekend?”

            Afterwards, they sit down and report three interesting things they discovered:

“Marc admitted that he had cheated in an exam.”
“Sara told me she was going to Girona the following weekend.”

6. The Rumour Game 🤫
   Start with a rumour:

   “Someone in this class is going to get married next month.”

            Students circulate, passing on rumours but must use reported speech:

“She told me that someone in the class was going to get married the following month.”

Y        You can deliberately introduce several rumours and see how much they change.

7. Police Interrogation 👮
   Groups of three: suspect + two police officers. The officers question the suspect about what they did last night. Then the officers compare notes:

   “He said he had been at home at 10.”
   “No! He told me he had gone to a restaurant!”

        Their goal is to find contradictions in the suspect's story. This is especially good for stronger             students.

8. He Said / She Said – Memory Challenge
   Put students in groups. Each person makes one statement:

   “I hate getting up early.”
   “I’ve never been to London.”
   “I’m going out tonight.”

            After everyone has spoken, no one is allowed to repeat their original sentence. Randomly                     ask:

“What did Júlia say?”

            Others have to remember:

“She said that she hated getting up early.”

For 2nd Batx, you can use Police Interrogation, Celebrity Interview, and Class Gossip,to practise reporting verbs (admit, deny, promise, warn, suggest, apologise, accuse, advise, insist...) rather than only said/told.

FUN COMMUNICATIVES GAMES WITH NO PREPARATION

1. 🔥 The Gossip Chain
   Students sit/stand in groups. Student A whispers something dramatic to B:

   “I kissed someone at a party last Saturday.”

            B tells C using reported speech:

“She said that she had kissed someone at a party the previous Saturday.”

        C passes it on. The last student says the message aloud. Compare it with the original — it usually         changes completely!

2. 🕵️ Alibi – Catch the Criminal
   Choose two students as suspects. They leave the room for 2 minutes and invent an alibi together. Then they are separated and the class interrogates them.

“Where were you at 9?”
“What were you wearing?”
“What did you eat?”
“Who paid?”

            Afterwards, students compare their answers:

“Marta said they had arrived at 8:30, but Pau told us they had arrived at 9!”

        Every contradiction = suspicious! This is probably my favourite for this age.

3. ☎️ Broken Telephone: Crazy Edition
   Give the first student a ridiculous message:

   “My grandmother told me she was going to become a TikTok influencer.”

        They whisper it to the next person using reported speech. Continue around the class. The final             student announces what they heard.

        For extra difficulty, include time/place expressions:

“I met your ex here yesterday.”
→ She said that she had met my ex there the day before.

4. 🤥 Two Truths and a Lie – Reported Version
   Each student tells a partner three things about themselves. Two are true and one is false.

           Then students change partners and report:

“Alex said that he had met a famous footballer.”
“He also told me that he'd never been on a plane.”

        The new partner guesses the lie.

5. 🎭 Famous Person Press Conference

        One student becomes a celebrity: Taylor Swift, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rosalía, MrBeast, etc. The                 class fires questions at them.

“Are you in love?”
“How much money do you earn?”
“Why did you cancel your concert?”

        The celebrity can invent completely ridiculous answers. Afterwards, teams have 60 seconds to                 remember and report as many answers as possible:

“She said that she wasn't in love.”
“She explained that she'd cancelled the concert because she was exhausted.”

        One point for every grammatically correct report.