Consider these writing activities that can be used to facilitate speaking of the target language.
Free-Writing
The free-writing technique is one of the ways to make writing more like speaking. It is a pre-writing technique which encourages students to overcome their fear of the blank page and their preoccupation with correctness. By pre-writing is meant the first stage of the writing process, followed by drafting, revising and editing, when the purpose is to teach writing skills. In this case, however, since our aim is to facilitate speaking, we concentrate only on the first stage. Free-writing can be seen as the closest writing can get to impromptu speech.
Mapping
The goal is to generate and connect subtopics. The subject is placed in the center, and topics are added on extending lines as the writer thinks of them. So, if asked to speak on the “mapped” topic, the learner knows what to talk about, how to organize his/her speech and how to connect subtopics.
We discussed the benefits of free writing in a reading class at Salem State College. I tried it last year with my 8th graders by giving them a topic and time to write quietly. After finishing some of them volunteered to share with the class. Students liked the activity very much. I know they liked because in future classes they asked me to do it again. It was interesting to see how much students can write when they are asked to not to focus on grammar or spelling but just on putting their thoughts on the paper.