All ESL, or English as a second language, lessons should ideally contain one or more interactive activities. These activities encourage students to communicate with each other in English in order to complete a task and thus provide practice of a specific language point or of the language in general. The more ideas for interactive activities an English language teacher has, the more successful her lessons are.

Why Might You?
Students practice using the second conditional. Write on the board, "Why might you..?" Invite students to suggest 10 outlandish actions to complete the sentence. For example, students may answer "paint yourself orange" or "swim with sharks." Write their answers on the board also. Divide students into pairs. Students take turns asking each other a question and respond appropriately. For example, for the question, "Why might you drink blood?" a student might respond, "I would drink blood if I were a vampire!"

Shouted Dictation
Students practice listening and speaking. Divide the class into pairs and ask each pair to sit at opposite sides of the room. Give one student from each pair a text appropriate to the class' language level. This student dictates his text to his partner, who writes it down. Since the students are far apart and several students are speaking at once, this activity encourages them to pronounce words accurately and loudly and to listen carefully. Award points at the end of the activity for the accuracy of the text each pair has produced.

Cut-up Lyrics
Students practice listening and reading. Divide your class into groups of three or four and give each group the lyrics to an English language ballad which you previously cut into individual words and phrases. Play the ballad for your students, who then attempt to put the words and phrases in the correct order. You will probably need to play the song three of four times. When everyone has the lyrics in the correct order, play the song once more and encourage students to sing along.

Passive Politicians
Students practice forming sentences using the future simple passive tense. Tell the class to imagine they are politicians hoping to win an election. Divide the class into pairs and ask each pair to write down 10 things, using the future simple passive, that they promise will happen if they come into power. Examples include "The national debt will be reduced," "Smoking on the streets will be made illegal" and "Poverty will be eliminated." After 15 minutes, stop the activity and ask each group to read its sentences to the class. Award points, if you wish, for grammatical accuracy and for the most imaginative sentences.