Said Ali, Teacher, Uzbekistan

This speaking activity for higher level beginners up to upper intermediate involves students working in pairs to make up excuses.

Procedure

• Ask students if they've ever had parties. If they have, tell them to share experiences with the class. If they didn't explain to them what a party is.
• Tell students to remember the last party they had. Some guests were invited but some didn't come.
• Divide class into two parts. A students who attended the party and B students who didn't attend.
• Tell the B students who didn't attend party to prepare their excuses for when they are asked for them.
• Tell A students who attended the party to ask B questions to find the reasons of not attending.
• Tell them to give a range of excuses in different ways. Otherwise they repeat one excuse every time.
• Be careful to keep the students changing partners. The A students could also tell the B student about the party.

Notes

• If you use this activity when you've just introduced a new structure that is appropriate here for example 'had to' or 'was/were', you will hopefully notice that students will use it without you having to prompt them.
• You can do some variations, such as excuses for not doing things on time or excuses for not keeping your word etc.

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