Impromptu Drills

Year 9 Power of Speech • Impromptu • Drills

Impromptu improves through repetition, not theory. These drills are short, low-stakes and easy to run. Use two or three per lesson and rotate them across the unit.

Warm-up drills

Drill	How it works	Focus
Word association	Say a word; the next person says the first word they think of; continue around the circle.	Fluency and quick thinking.
Thirty seconds	Speak for thirty seconds on a random word.	Starting without preparation.
One-sentence story	Each person adds one sentence to a story.	Narrative flow.
Object in the room	Pick an object and speak about it for forty-five seconds.	Observation and specificity.
Why?	Make a claim; a partner asks “Why?” three times; answer each time.	Reasons and evidence.

Structure drills

Drill	How it works	Focus
PREP round	Same prompt; every response uses PREP.	Reliable structure.
Three structures	Same prompt; respond with PREP, past–present–future and problem–solution.	Flexibility.
Structure swap	A partner names a structure mid-response; you switch.	Adaptability.
No signposts	Deliver a response without “firstly”, “secondly” or “finally”.	Implicit structure.
One point only	Speak for sixty seconds with one point and one example.	Depth over coverage.

Recovery drills

Drill	How it works	Focus
Interruption	A partner interrupts at a random moment; recover and continue.	Composure.
Blank	A partner says “stop”; you pause, breathe and restart.	Pause and reset.
Prompt switch	A new prompt arrives halfway; bridge to it.	Flexibility.
Wrong word	You must use a deliberately odd word in the next sentence.	Thinking ahead.
Last sentence	A signal at ten seconds; close immediately.	Landing the ending.

Timing drills

Drill	How it works	Focus
30–60–90	Same prompt at three lengths.	Pacing.
Blind timing	Estimate your time, then check.	Internal clock.
Countdown	Visible timer; land the close before zero.	Time pressure.
Cut and keep	Deliver at 90 seconds, then cut to 60 without losing the point.	Editing under pressure.
No filler	Count “um”, “like” and “you know”; reduce them.	Clean speech.

Audience drills

Drill	How it works	Focus
Eye contact zones	Look at three zones during a response.	Connection.
Back row	Speak to a listener at the back of the room.	Projection.
Question answer	Take one question after a response and answer in under thirty seconds.	Responsiveness.
Hostile face	A partner listens with a neutral or sceptical expression; continue.	Composure.

Running a carousel

Set four stations with different prompt types.
Students rotate in pairs; one speaks, one listens.
Each round is sixty seconds with thirty seconds of feedback.
The listener names the structure and one strength.
After four rounds, students choose the response they want to revise.

Feedback that helps

“I noticed you paused before the example, and it made the point clearer.”
“You used PREP; I could hear the four parts.”
“You recovered well when you lost the thread.”
“The opening was specific; the close returned to it.”
“One next step: slow down the first sentence.”

Activity: design a drill

Choose one skill you want to improve.
Design a two-minute drill for it.
Explain the rules and the focus.
Run it with a partner.
Revise the drill based on what happened.
Teach it to another pair.

Short and often beats long and rare. Three one-minute responses in a lesson will do more than one ten-minute performance at the end of the unit.

Common errors

Turning every drill into a competition. The aim is fluency, not winning.
Skipping feedback. Practice without reflection can entrench habits.
Only drilling with confident students. Everyone needs turns.
Using the same prompt type. Rotate to build flexibility.
Ignoring timing. The clock is part of the skill.
Making the drills high-stakes. Low stakes produce more attempts.

Next, study delivering an impromptu to put the drills into a full response. The teacher notes offer planning and differentiation advice.