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Once again I �m turning to you with a question, this time about conversation classes. I have a new student who urgently needs to do conversation. She can read and understand extremely well, but when it comes to speaking she can �t even make one sentence, the practice is completely missing. So since it would be my first time to do a complete course based on only conversation, I was wondering how you are handling such classes. Do you follow a special line or just choose topics that come to your mind, but don �t really have anything to do with each other, do you use texts or just start talking? I would really appriciate every single advice I could get Thanks a millioin in advance
I guess for her it would help if you started with a text which both you and she would read for next time and then talk about it - since her English is great but she hasn �t done speaking, give her time to prepare, so as not to be shy. What also helps a lot is using speaking cards on various topics (soooooooooo many at ESL printables) and pictures to describe.
I found myself in that same situation a few months ago with a new student.
Here �s the activities I �ve come up with so far:
1. Always start your classes asking your student routine questions such as
"how are you?" "how was your weekend?" "Do you have any plans for the long weekend?"... That �s always a good way to warm up.
2. Compare, contrast and cooperation activities:
- Find a set of pictures (in google images for instance) regarding a particular
topic. I started with TV. I got 4 pictures showing: a famous reality show, a
talk show, cartoons and documentaries (all of them portraying people.)
- Write a list of useful vocabulary and expressions to pre-teach. You should
also pre-teach expressions to express contrast such as:
"in this picture we can see.... whereas in the other"
"on one hand... on the other hand"
"in this picture there are.... while on these other 3 there are..."
- Then ask your student to compare and contrast these pictures for about 3
minutes. The idea is to point out the similarities and differences between the
4.
- Once this is done, ask a question that requires a personal opinion such as
"Out of these 4, which program do you like best?" (pre-teach personal
opinion expressions if necessary)
- Finally, do a collaborative task, in which you have to decide between the two
something. In this case the collaborative task was to decide how we would
schedule these programs if we were in charge of a TV station.
3. Discussion
activities are fun. The more extreme the more your student will feel the need
to talk. Try for instance an activity in which you have to decide in which European
country you are going to drop a meteorite, an atomic bomb, a plague�
4. Try
starting with a thought provoking reading. A shocking current affairs article
on a newspaper maybe. Then pose some questions for discussion. This works best
with small groups, but it�s good for student-teacher interaction too.
5. Keep in
mind that student tend to prefer to talk about nothing and everything. So, the
longer you can keep small talk (without forcing it) the better.
Good Luck
and tell me if you find something else that works (I�ve only been one month
doing this so, I could use some tips myself) Next Friday I�m going to try to perform
a dialogue from a play and see how that works =D
As my experience I always start my class by modeling a text, conversation or role play. For example the topic is "likes" 1. Asking Students prior � knowledge "what is your hobby?" 2. Modeling "I like watching movies in my leisure time. I like it because it �s fun. i like watching movies in the cinema with my family". 3. Reviewing "What do I like? Why do I like it? Where do I usually watch movies?" 4. Asking Ss � likes "what do you like to do in your leisure time?" "Why do you like it?" "Where do you usually do that?" 5. Working in pairs Let students work with their friends asking each other using the questions. Before you let them work, practice their pronunciation in saying the questions. 6. Whole-class Asking all Ss to ask each S in the class, still with the questions. 7. Presentation. If they are ready ask them to tell about what they like in front of their friends. I think they will have been ready because they have practice it many times with their friends.
That �s what i always do in my class: modeling-practicing-presentation. All Ss can get involved and speak well.
It �s difficult for a English student to produce out of the blue. They need some directions. Perhaps a topic that they can think about, then express their ideas. I have a conversation class with some lady engineers, now they are very diciplined and do what I ask. I usually set them reserch homework on the topic that we are going to talk about on the next lesson. It is good to include, reading,listening and writing as well as conversation activities. It helps them organize their thoughts. Here are some links of sites I use for my classes. Good Luck, I hope this helps.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ (over 1000 complete lesson plans for conversation classes:listening, speaking, writing and reading activities per topic by Sean Banville)
http://www.eslholidaylessons.com/index.html (over 1000 complete lesson plans for conversation classes:listening, speaking, writing and reading activities per topic by Sean Banville)
Forgot to mention. If you can get your hands on "OPEN FORUM" text books and audio (editorial:Oxford University Press) They are also a great source for conversation classes. They also have extra exercises on line that you can down load.
