In the Reported Tweets ESL activity, students find what people have said on Twitter and report back to the class.
1+
10-20 mins
Setup
The students will need access to a smartphone/computer and an Internet connection.
Activity
- Students find one/multiple tweets from a famous person. If they cannot find one or are not familiar with using Twitter, they could just find a famous quote.
- The students take a few minutes to write those tweets using reported speech. For example, Donald Trump said that… .
- They then take turns reading their reported tweets to the class.
- Optionally, depending on your group and their selections, students could read the tweets without saying the name (using he/she/they/this person). The other students could then guess which famous person they think wrote it.
Target Language
In the Reported Tweets ESL activity, students can practise rewriting different grammar forms using reported speech. It’s perhaps most useful for familiarising intermediate students with the process of changing the tense, as it allows time for them to produce the required structure.
With more advanced groups you could adapt it by eliminating the writing part. The students would find and report the tweets without preparing them beforehand, with the other students then guessing the person (as suggested above).
For another celebrity-based reported speech activity suitable for advanced students, try 73 Questions.
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