Looking for Some Comic Relief When Teaching Direct and Indirect Speech?

This resource is a great way to motivate students to practise recording dialogue. The use of direct (quoted) and indirect (reported) speech is a tricky writing skill and one that requires lots of repetition to perfect. 

This set of worksheets is designed for individual use. Students are provided with a page containing six individual comic frames – each depicting dialogue in speech bubbles. There is a corresponding worksheet for each of the frames. Students convert the dialogue shown in the comic frame into both a direct speech version and an indirect speech version. 

In completing the worksheets, students hone their punctuation skills as they place speech marks, commas and full stops in their sentences. There is also the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of ‘saying verbs’ when they re-write the dialogue. Encourage your students to broaden their vocabulary of synonyms for ‘said’ in their writing.

A Google Slide version is included for students to create their own dialogue to match the comics if they wish.

Scaffolding + Extension Tips 

In addition to individual student work time, use this worksheet as a:

• guided literacy group activity 
• homework assignment
• whole-class review (via smartboard.)

Support struggling students by limiting the amount of writing they have to do. They could simply complete either the direct speech version or the indirect speech version rather than doing both. Alternatively, do away with the writing altogether and work orally with the students. Several students could act out the scenarios while one person acts as a narrator.

After completing the worksheets, challenge your fast finishers to choose one of the frames and continue creating their own comic or narrative to match.

Easily Download & Print

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource. 

To save paper, we suggest printing the writing pages of this resource double-sided. 

Turn this teaching resource into a sustainable activity by printing on cardboard and slipping it into a write-and-wipe sleeve. Students can record their answers with a whiteboard marker, then erase and reuse. 

Additionally, project the worksheet onto a screen and work through it as a class by having students record their answers in their notebooks. 

Don’t stop there! We’ve got more resources related to direct and indirect speech:  

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