Roxana Garcia Bertani • I am using this method with great success http://myenglish.ucoz.es/publ/information/chumingo_points/10-1-0-38

Not just for business purposes but also to stimulate spontaneous interaction. Most conversation is between two people. So, why speak in front of a classroom? You must feel like they are waiting to interrupt you. A boss making a mistake in front of a secretary. A girl making a mistake getting boys to giggle. Avoid the stress and create as much One to One as possible.

The fear from talk is not only a big obstacle before students of English as a second language but is also before those of the first language.
It even prevents one from learning or acquiring many language and life skills. That is why I am calling for creating homogeneous groups inside conversation classrooms where all students feel that they are equal in making mistakes and can start from similar learning lines. Pushing students into real life situations such as presentations before real audience or taking them in a real trip where they find themselves forced to use their learned language would also help us defeat the fear inside students of ESL/EFL. one more point is that students should learn speaking through "the talking circles technique" which organizes students' efforts in this regard and provide all with equal opportunities to speak freely without being afraid of negative feedback.

Carolyn Campbell • I find that breaking the students into small groups to work together on a project helps them with speaking in the classroom. Then I have then share their results with the class. Since my students speak a variety of native languages, I'm able to pair them with someone who doesn't speak their native tongue, so they have to speak in English. I realize that most classrooms don't have that luxury. In that case, I found that doing an in-class group activity with some guidance from me at first helps, as many times they may not have the vocabulary to join the conversation.

Christine O'Neill • I've found that students love talking about food! But any topic based on their personal experience works, but even more than that, based on their needs. If they have a need to communicate a message then they will focus on the message, rather than their errors. So all the usual kind of information gap activities we use in Communicative Language Teaching will work.

The other secret is breaking down any activity into its tiniest steps, and giving them lots of time to practice in order to build up confidence, including old-fashioned drilling for pronunciation. I use a lot of dialogue building, in which I elicit directly from the students to the white-board a complete dialogue, based on some practical, real-life situations. After they've been drilled in the pronunciation of the conversation, chorally and individually, they are able to practice in closed pairs, then open pairs, and then with their own variations. After such controlled speaking activities they develop confidence quickly and enjoy the occasions in which you set them loose to speak freely about their own personal experiences. It works for me anyway!