Encouraging students to speak

The three Ts
Topic
Task
Tool

Topic
Is it something that everybody in the class can relate to, to some extent?
Are the students capable of dealing with the subject on a meaningful level, or is their English too much of a handicap?
Is it something they might have talked, read or thought about much before?
How would you feel talking about the same thing in front of other people?

Ideas for topics
All the above criteria are met when learners talk about themselves.
Ask students to choose their own 'specialized subjects' and take five minutes each answering questions from the rest of the group / a small group about them.
Most people have a pet hate. A lesson based on the BBC TV program Room 101 works well.
Hand over some control to the students by suggesting a list of possible discussion topics at the end of a class and asking them to decide which they would prefer to talk about the following week.

Ideas for setting up speaking tasks
Take 'crime' as a topic.
Make role cards based on various stories.
Each student could write the headings Name / Crime / How Caught / Stupidity Rating 1-5
Taking a role, mingle and fill in this information for everybody they speak to within a set time limit.
Rank options in order of preference.
Role-plays can also encourage students to contribute.
Taking minutes.
The spoon.

Providing the tools
Many speaking games are wholly dependant on one grammar item or function. → Interrupting game.
Give people the tools to speak. → Cards saying I absolutely agree, I'm not so sure, I really don't think.
Activate the students' interest in the topic and get them thinking about it.
Pictures, especially photos, often generate hundreds of ideas with very little input from the teacher.
Realia works in a similar way to pictures.
Traditional warmers
20 Questions
What do you know about bananas?
I’m going on a picnic and I’m taking a …

Mentioned books:
Jim Scrivener, Learning Teaching Paperback
Penny Ur , Andrew Wright Five-Minute Activities:
A Resource Book of Short Activities