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How to Teach Reported Speech

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1.6.-How to Teach Reported Speech – Review – Practice & Lesson plan
Teaching students reported or indirect speech can be complicated by the all the changes that are required when moving from direct speech into reported speech. First off, students should understand that reported speech is quite useful in conversational English as relating what someone has said using "quote" and "unquote" is awkward at best. A further aspect of reported speech is encouraging students to use other reporting verbs beyond "say" and "tell".
Introducing Reported Speech
Start with Tenses
I find it best to start off with simple examples in which changes are only made in tense. For example:
Write on the Board:
Direct Speech
Tom said, "I enjoy watching action …show more content…

Both Jack and I commented that Peter was a lucky person indeed.
Exercise 2: Ask you partner the following questions making sure to take good notes. After you have finished the questions, find a new partner and report what you have learnt about your first partner using reported speech.
What is your favorite sport and how long have you been playing/doing it?
What are your plans for your next vacation?
How long have you known your best friend? Can you give me a description of him/her?
What kind of music do you like? Have you always listened to that kind of music?
What did you use to do when you were younger that you don 't do anymore?
Do you have any predictions about the future?
Can you tell me what you do on a typical Saturday afternoon?
What were you doing yesterday at this time?
Which two promises will you make concerning learning English?
As students become familiar with the reported speech, introduce a wider range of reporting verbs to help students move past "say" and "tell".
There are a number of other reporting verbs which can more accurately describe what someone has said. These verbs take a variety of structures. The following list gives you reporting verbs in various categories based on sentence structure. Notice that a number of verbs can take more than one form. verb object infinitive verb infinitive verb (that)

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