by Ashley Louise Brown

At PronSIG’s Pre-Conference Event (PCE) on 07 April 2025, I presented a practical pronunciation activity that has enabled my students to boost their speaking confidence and practise suprasegmental features (for more details about these features, please check our June blog post). Inspired by its success in the classroom, I wanted to share it here for teachers looking to inject energy and creativity into their lessons.

Who is this activity for?

This activity is adaptable to all levels but is particularly effective with B2 (upper-intermediate) students. It is well suited for larger groups, but can work well with as few as four people.

What resources do I need?

‘Banana’ is incredibly lo-tech! All you need is a whiteboard, the activity prompts on a handout, pens and paper. You also need 60-to-90 minutes at your disposal to get the most out of ‘Banana!’.

How does it work?

The lesson is divided into four stages: the lead-in, then three stages that build on one another.

The purpose of the lead-in (5-10 minutes) is to set the stage for understanding the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication. Ask learners the question: how we communicate with one another? They are likely to say things like ‘we use Words! Gestures! Body language!’. These are the responses you are aiming for. Write the responses on the board, then write 7%, 38% and 55% on the board, too. Get learners to guess which percentages correspond to the importance of words, gestures and body language in communication. The table below shows the answers.

(N.B. Although these percentages are debated and apply mainly to emotional communication, they provide a useful springboard for classroom discussion.)

Now it’s time for the first activity, which focuses on Body language (10-15 minutes). Learners work in pairs or trios. They receive a scenario to act out without speaking, and their classmates must try to guess what is happening. Allow 3–5 minutes for preparation and encourage learners to assign roles and plan their movements.

Here is an example of a prompt designed for two students:

As you can see, the prompt is silly. The sillier the better! (Of course, being mindful of cultural appropriacy). In my experience, this task brings the class to life: learners enjoy guessing the scenarios and get a good chuckle watching the scenes unfold.

From a pedagogical perspective, this stage highlights the importance of non-verbal communication. More often than not, the learners are able to describe what has happened with significant accuracy, demonstrating that body language and facial expressions alone can convey meaning.

The second activity (10-15 minutes) builds on the first:  learners act out their scenarios again, but this time they can only say “Banana!” as many times as they like, experimenting with tone, pitch, and rhythm.

To ensure learners understand what is expected of them here, I advise demonstrating a scene yourself to model playfulness and encourage participation.

Pedagogically, this activity reinforces the idea that intonation can convey emotion, intent, and nuance. Using the prompt as an example, when the boyfriend is caught out he may say ‘banana’ more slowly to bide his time for a logical excuse; when the girlfriend confronts her partner with the evidence, the speed at which she says ‘banana’ (and the number of times she says it) may ramp up to indicate her anger and disbelief.

The fact the learners are saying ‘banana’ instead of coherent English allows them to remove the focus from grammatical correctness. For the final activity (35-50 minutes), we bring language in. Learners write a dialogue for their scenario and practice performing it. This is the most demanding stage cognitively for the learners but it is also where teachers can give lots of valuable feedback and support.

My tips for the execution of this stage are:

  • to circulate amongst your learners during the writing part to provide lexical support and grammatical feedback along the way;
  • to encourage early finishers to rehearse while you assist others;
  • to use the rehearsal part to provide some immediate error correction pertaining to intonation, rhythm, and delivery.

Once the scripts are ready, your students perform the dialogue. After, remember to provide lots of positive feedback and encouragement, in addition to some delayed error correction.

How can you tell if “Banana!” has worked?

You can often tell if it’s been successful by watching how your learners behave after the activity. Are they taking more risks with pronunciation? Do they play with intonation more freely? Are they speaking with less hesitation when performing in front of their peers? Even small shifts connected to these points are signs that the activity has gone beyond being just a fun moment in class and has genuinely boosted learners’ confidence and communicative flexibility.

It is important, however, to mention that the teacher’s energy drives the success of this lesson. If the teacher does not infuse the activity with enthusiasm, it can fall flat. Furthermore, if the teacher fails to provide some form of feedback and error correction along the way, learners who are skeptical of playful activities may question its purpose and usefulness.

Lastly…

If you wish to try this activity, click here for the full lesson plan and materials.

If you are a visual learner, click here for a video demonstration.

References

Mehrabian, A. (1972). Nonverbal Communication. Aldine-Atherton.

For more discussions, ideas and tips on how to teach pronunciation, please check our previous blog posts here. Don’t forget to leave your comments below and follow PronSIG on social media. 

Ashley Louise Brown is a PronSIG committee member and Assistant Webmaster. She is a DELTA-qualified teacher educator, CELTA trainer, and English Examiner passionate about descriptivist usage of language. She teaches English phonetics and phonology courses on various teacher training programs in-person and online. She has taught at institutions in the UK, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Canada. Her research interests lie in varieties of English, particularly regional L1 and global L2 varieties.