Large-class English teaching is an inexorable trend in many Chinese universities and colleges, which leads to a strange and serious phenomenon that most students' English is ironically but vividly described as "the dumb English". Therefore, cultivating students' communicative skills and developing their language competence has become a clear focus and an urgent task for all the college English teachers in China. This paper explores some useful speaking activities that can be adapted in group work in some way to suit Chinese learners. It suggests that it is necessary to reform the current instruction model in College English classes, and the group work can help develop the students' competence of English speaking.