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Ideas for "Conversation" class

INDIA | Friday, 7 December 2007 | Views [5243] | Comments [9]

Ann teaching at Tibet Charity

Ideas for ‘Conversation’ class

·Most important – Strive for 85% ‘student talk-time’ (15% ‘teacher talk-time). That is, give the students as many opportunities to speak to each other & to the class, as possible!

·Use warm-ups at the beginning of every class - gets everyone up, moving, talking and learning about each other.

·Come with ideas for conversation – don’t take up classroom time by having the students trying to think of things. There are GREAT ideas in the books in the teacher’s room & on the Internet.

·Present new material, such as simple conversation, written out on the board. Beginners will have a pattern to follow and advanced students can add to what is on the board.

·Write new vocabulary on the board every day and practice pronunciation. As a class, repeat together several times and then in pairs, and then again in new paired-groups. Also, ask them to tell you how many syllables are in each word & as a class, clap out the syllables.

·Listen carefully to student pronunciation when they are doing group work. If you hear mispronunciations (do not correct the individual), write it on the board & go over these at the end of class with everyone.

·Songs – print out lyrics to songs that are easily understood - slow English (Beatles, The Carpenters, folk music, children’s songs) & use an mp3 player (or i-pod) with speakers.

·Games – students LOVE card games (‘Cheat’ (bullshit) & “Apples & Apples”) & any other interactive English speaking games!

·Celebrate - It is fun to bring cookies/drinks to celebrate ‘anything!’ (someone’s birthday or someone’s leaving to go back home, etc.)

Tags: teaching english

Comments

1

Hey Ann,
Congrats on your ideas for teaching! You ARE an excellent Teacher of a Foreign Language!
Want to hear more about your experience. When are you coming back home?
Hugs from Argentina

Tuky Jan 6, 2008 10:17 PM

2

Dear Ann,
I'm Maria from Jambi Indonesia. I'm teaching teens and adult conversation class, and I found it is so difficult to make them speak. Most of the students only answer the questions in a simple way. But I also have some students who are really talkative. sometimes they don't even give opportunity to the other students to speak. What should I do.

Maria Damanik Apr 2, 2008 7:09 PM

3

Hi Maria,
So nice of you to leave a comment & honor me with a question! As I am new to teaching, I am sure there are many suggestions (hundreds of web sites too!)out there that may be far better than the ones I give you, but the suggestions that come to mind are:

If the class is a mixture of both teens & adults, try to find out from them, what they are interested in - take suggestions & then have a debate between 2 teams - debate highly controversial subjects, but start simple such as: Team 1 - tells why apples are better than oranges. Team 2 tells why oranges are better than apples.

You didn't say what level of English they are, but typically conversation classes are mixed & that is OK. I pair the higher level with a lower level of fuency - have them introduce themselves & tell 3 things about themselves - one is a lie. The other has to guess which one of the 3 things is a lie.

A more difficult debate can be - teams discuss traditional medicine versus western medicine - each team presents their arguments to the group.

So many interesting activities to do as 5 minute warm-ups - get them all standing up & interacting with each other - singing, dancing, or playing a card game - that forces them to talk to each other.

If you need more ideas - try the internet - you can also have the students bring a story to share as well, the list goes on....

annanderson Apr 3, 2008 11:53 AM

4

pls i need your assistance on the following questions
how many syllables are there in the word'conversation" and "foundation"

adekunle olatunji fatai Jun 22, 2008 3:49 AM

5

con-ver-sa-tion has 4 syllables
foun-da-tion has 3

annanderson Jun 22, 2008 10:08 AM

6

Hey, I tracked you down on the internet. I googled ann anderson tefl...and success!

It was fun to meet you again at the MSP airport. God is good...his world is smaller every day...lets keep in touch.

Joy to you and Chuck.

Steven

Steven DeBernardi Jul 12, 2008 3:45 AM

7

Hi, thank you so much for the ideas. I am quite a newbie in the teaching world and these are great for any level of classes, you've also highlighted some pretty important mistakes I have been making!

N

Nikita Langley Nov 26, 2010 4:56 AM

8

Nikita, Thanks for your comments! It is so much fun teaching when you have a plan, the students have fun, they are learning, AND they are appreciative! Even with the best plans though, some days it just may not work! Just enjoy the successes and learn from the students! It is definitely worth it! Thanks again! :)

ann Nov 26, 2010 5:17 AM

9

Quite a newbie in the teaching world and these are great for any level of classes, you've also highlighted some pretty important mistakes I have been making more difficult debate can be - teams discuss traditional medicine versus western medicine - each team presents their arguments to the group.

dakuro Jun 30, 2011 2:32 AM