Many ESL students are great on paper. After years of hard work and endless hours of study, they can read and write in fair to excellent English. Then you ask these same students a question beyond, "How are you today?" They pause, frantically whispering to each other behind their books before blushing and saying, "Sorry! No understand." They may be great at grammar, but when it comes to English conversation, many students still consider themselves beginners. They want to improve their speaking skills, but getting them to say anything is difficult. Surveys can be a fun way to engage a class. They can be focused on the interests of your students and used to hammer home useful vocabulary or key pronunciation. To design and use surveys in your ESL class, follow the guidelines below.

Know your audience. What ages are the students you are teaching? Why are they taking this class? What is their level of English? The number of years a student has spent studying English is not an accurate measure of their ability to speak or understand the language. The only way to know is to engage them in casual conversation. Try talking with them outside of class or ask their other teachers.

Learn your students' names. It can be a fun first week lesson. In some countries, ESL class sizes are quite large, with more than 100 students per class. Try anyway. And commit to memory any student who makes an effort to communicate. To stand up in front of 100 of your peers and attempt to speak in a foreign language takes bravery.

Find out what they are interested in and what words they know that pertain to the subject. To do this, you will have to listen closely to the words your students choose as well as the most common words your foreign co-workers use when speaking to you.

Design a survey based on things everyone seems to have an opinion about, such as "things that annoy me" or "bad habits" or "rude people." Every culture has assorted standards as to what constitutes these behaviors and it can be engaging for students to discuss the differences. Your survey should have at least 12 questions that cannot be answered with "yes" or "no."

Pre-teach useful vocabulary prior to presenting the survey. Give useful examples and real-life situations in which these words could be used. Try to connect current vocabulary to prior learning.

Read surveys out loud in class. Translate any words that may cause difficulty in either usage or pronunciation into the student's native language. Be sure to explain any slang terms.

Give the survey as homework and use it as the starting point for the following lesson. This will give your students a chance to think about what they would like to say and to practice their responses.