Free ESL Speaking Activity Grade 5

Grade 5 Travel and Transportation Speaking Activity: How Do You Get There?

About This Resource

A three-part speaking activity that gets Grade 5 English learners interviewing a partner about everyday travel, writing about what they learned, and surveying classmates in a whole-class mingling task.

Overview

This activity moves students from a controlled, guided interview to more independent classroom mingling. In Part 1 (Travel Interview), partners take turns asking how the other gets to four familiar places - school, the market, a friend's house, and the nearest big town or city - using a dialogue frame and recording their partner's answers in a table, giving every student a real reason to use the target vocabulary and the "How do you get to ___?" question form. Part 2 (What Did You Learn?) asks students to write two sentences reporting what they found out about their partner's travel, turning spoken practice into a short written record. Part 3 (Find Someone Who...) turns the room into a mingling survey: students stand up, ask classmates travel-related questions, and collect names in a grid - a lively, low-pressure way to get every student speaking to several different classmates in English.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Travel and Transportation
Category: Speaking
File Type: PDF
File Size: 50.9 KB
Published: 05 Sep 2026
Downloads: 0

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Grade 5 45-55 Minutes Speaking

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to ask "How do you get to ___?" using correct word order.
Students will be able to answer with "I go by ___" or "I walk" and give a simple reason.
Students will be able to write sentences reporting how a partner travels.
Students will be able to ask classmates travel-related questions and record their answers during a class survey.

How to Use This Resource

Use this activity after the Travel and Transportation Vocabulary PowerPoint and Flashcards have introduced the target vocabulary, as suggested in the Lesson Plan's Main Activity stage. Pair students for Part 1 and model the dialogue frame with a confident student first, answering honestly about your own commute. Move to Part 2 once most pairs have finished interviewing each other. For Part 3, give students space to stand and move around the room, and set a time limit (5-8 minutes works well) so the mingling stays focused. Collect the sheets at the end as a quick record of speaking participation.

Classroom Activity Ideas

After Part 3, bring the class back together and ask a few volunteers to share one thing they learned about a classmate ("Arun goes to school by motorbike taxi.") - this gives a natural, low-pressure opportunity for third-person practice using real information the students just gathered themselves.

Differentiation

SUPPORT: Provide the dialogue frame on the board throughout the interview for students to refer to, and allow these students to complete Part 3 in a pair rather than alone.
ON-LEVEL: Students complete all three parts independently within a normal lesson period.
CHALLENGE: Ask students to add a follow-up question of their own to the Part 1 interview (for example, "How long does it take?") and note their partner's answer.

Assessment

Circulate during Parts 1 and 3 to listen for correct question formation and appropriate use of "by," and use the Travel and Transportation Grading Rubric to record a more formal score if needed. The completed Part 1 interview table and Part 2 sentences can also be collected as a written record of the activity.

Teacher Tips

Before Part 1 begins, model the full dialogue frame once yourself with a confident student as your partner, so the class hears the complete exchange - question, answer, follow-up question, reason - before attempting it in pairs. Grade 5 English learners manage multi-turn interviews much more confidently after hearing one complete example.