Teaching a conversation club or conversational English classes?
You may find yourself taking a conversation group/club that
students choose to go to outside regular school hours. You may also find that
you have been asked to deliver ‘ conversational English’ lessons to scheduled
classes but have not been given a book or curriculum to follow. In either case,
the guidelines below may help you.
Keep it simple to prepare for and fairly consistent in
format. All you should need is a set or conversation cards or other prompts.
Have a look at these websites for useful materials and
adapt to suit the age, level and interests of your students.
Keep the resources to use for another time.
Some typical topics (choose according to the
age, level and interests of your students).
Sport
Basic procedure
- Establish the
theme of conversation club, for example:
- Brainstorm
words / ideas connected to the topic
- Dictate
words and get students to guess the topic.
- Give
an anecdote on the topic, invite students to ask you further questions.
- Use
visuals to set the scene.
- Pre-teach
vocabulary or language structures that may be useful to the students while they
are talking.
- Get
the students to read or listen to something on the topic and use this as a
springboard to further discussion.
Speaking task(s)
- Give
students time to ask you if they don’t understand.
- Students
work in pairs, groups or mingle to ask and answer questions / do the task.
- Encourage
them to extend from the question. Put useful language on the board as they are
talking.
- Give
feedback on the task.
Typical
conversational speaking tasks
problem-solving
roleplays
Teaching a conversation club or conversational English classes?
You may find yourself taking a conversation group/club that
students choose to go to outside regular school hours. You may also find that
you have been asked to deliver ‘ conversational English’ lessons to scheduled
classes but have not been given a book or curriculum to follow. In either case,
the guidelines below may help you.
Keep it simple to prepare for and fairly consistent in
format. All you should need is a set or conversation cards or other prompts.
Have a look at these websites for useful materials and
adapt to suit the age, level and interests of your students.
Keep the resources to use for another time.
Some typical topics (choose according to the
age, level and interests of your students).
Sport
Age
Travel
Beliefs and superstitions
Phobias
Music
City vs country life
Crime
Hobbies
Fashion
The Internet
Films
Honesty
Likes and dislikes
Food
Books
Memory
Work
Personality
Feelings
The environment
Opinions
TV
Men and women
Friends
Family
Behaviour
Technology
Relationships
Ambitions
Habits
Time
Phobias
Education
Happiness
Money
Motivation
Fame
Wishes and regrets
The English language
Health
Skills and talents
Time
Customs and festivals
Inventions
Basic procedure
- Establish the theme of conversation club, for example:
- Brainstorm words / ideas connected to the topic
- Dictate words and get students to guess the topic.
- Give an anecdote on the topic, invite students to ask you further questions.
- Use visuals to set the scene.
- Pre-teach vocabulary or language structures that may be useful to the students while they are talking.
- Get the students to read or listen to something on the topic and use this as a springboard to further discussion.
Speaking task(s)
- Give students time to ask you if they don’t understand.
- Students work in pairs, groups or mingle to ask and answer questions / do the task.
- Encourage them to extend from the question. Put useful language on the board as they are talking.
- Give feedback on the task.
Typical
conversational speaking tasks
problem-solving
roleplays
planning
ranking
discussion
surveys
games
casual talk
stories about yourself / people you know
narratives
quizzes
presentations
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