B1 Speaking Activities
64 printable speaking activities · B1 (Intermediate)
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B1 speaking activities
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About B1 speaking activities
B1 speakers can deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling, enter unprepared into conversation on familiar topics and give brief reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Fluency starts to matter as much as accuracy.
Worksheets cover discussion questions, role plays, problem-solving and decision-making tasks, and photo descriptions. Exam-style tasks follow the four parts of B1 Preliminary Speaking: a short interview, describing a photograph individually, a collaborative task in which candidates discuss options and reach a decision, and a general discussion on the same topic.
Teacher copies include functional language, model answers and extension questions. Print or download as PDF, or share a class link students open without an account.
Teaching tips: B1 speaking activities
- Teach paraphrase strategies such as It's a kind of... for describing objects in photos when learners lack a word.
- In collaborative tasks, require students to ask their partner's opinion before giving their own.
- Give learners a phrase list for agreeing and disagreeing politely and monitor for its use.
- Record a pair doing a task and use it for class feedback on interaction, not just grammar.
Questions teachers ask
What are the four parts of B1 Preliminary Speaking?
An interview, an individual long turn describing a photograph, a collaborative task discussing options, and a general discussion related to that task.
How long should a B1 photo description be?
In B1 Preliminary, each candidate talks about their photograph for about one minute, describing people, place and activity.
Can these activities be used outside exam classes?
Yes. The discussion and role-play tasks work in any general English B1 course.