1. I sometimes use chat, conversations and show and tell speaking activities. I use the chat and the conversation when I start the class, as a warming-up as well as when we read a text, for example, and I see students are interested in the topic. Then I try to make them speak. I should say that I find really difficult to make teenagers speak in English.
The show and tell speaking activity works really good. Students have to think in a situation where they had to use English language and they have to show it by means of photographs, videos, etc. to their classmates. They also have to explain how they feel when they were using the English language. This activity works really well and makes students think of they learning process.
2. To solve the problems mentioned above I can’t just wave a magic wand. Students make lots of mistakes but we have to provide them a context to make these mistakes. I don’t check all the mistakes they make, it wouldn’t be communicative. I just check the most important mistakes and not all the time. What matters to me is that they speak. If I always check the mistakes teenagers would not talk at all.
Of course not all the students would participate. The teacher’s job is to ask them directly, but we have to give time to students. Each student needs his time and space.
When students aren’t interested in the topic as a teacher we have to reflect and change the way we select the topics or change the topic. We can start by discussing a topic and ending up discussing another. I think it’s not a big problem; the aim of the activity is to speak.
When students spend their time speaking in their mother tongue language I always remind them that we are in an English class by speaking and asking them questions in English.