Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

Hello,

I'm teaching English at a school in Spain where I'm supposed to be a "conversation auxiliary" for every grade--3 year olds to high schoolers. I have the middle- and high-schoolers less often and less regularly than my younger students. Sometimes I have the whole class together (20-30 students), sometimes I have smaller groups from the class for a half hour or full hour.

We're supposed to speak about what they're learning in class but most of my students are not very good, or they are too embarrassed to even try. I get few responses when I directly ask questions. I'm looking for speaking activities or games that require little to no preparation or materials, and that encourage general speaking or can be adapted to cover different topics.

One great game that my students love is called the "forehead game." Write the names of famous people (singers, politicians, cartoon characters, etc.) that your students will know on post-it notes, and stick one on each student's forehead, so they don't see the name but everyone else does. (You may have the students write the names for their classmates, but this might take a while.) The students must go around in a circle and try to figure out who they are by asking yes or no questions--for example, "Am I an actress? Am I American?" This game is great because it involves everyone and students at different levels can play--and it's fun! But there's only so many times I can use that activity.

This website has been very helpful, I'd really appreciate any tips! Thanks!

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

Try looking into some ESL board games, especially those with cards. Some games allow you to change the cards.

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

I'm teaching teenagers of 10-16 and I've just tried a game which they really liked and above all it can be adopted to different topics. once you're teaching occupations write a list of different words on the board then ask them to choose a job but keep it secret others should guess what the job is. you can write the phrase you want them to use on the board for example I wrote "Are you a/an ...?" they'll have to use this question several times until they come up with the right answer. I taught yes/no questions through this game instead of explaining boring rule.
I wish it will help you, though it's so late!

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

Thanks, Scarletred. I think this game could be used to give practice in different grammar points.

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

you are really helpuful for teachers, thank you and go ahead

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

There are some conversational activities on the MES games page. There are board games, cards games, grammar games, and other single sheet printable activities. Most of the them were made for use with junior and senior high classes.

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

A game I play with the teens is called the shopping game. On the board I write " I went shopping and I bought..." and then I start off by saying I went shopping and I bought a book, then the next person has to say I went shopping and I bougha book, and a pen and so on sop they have to keep repeating the sentance on the board aswell as remembering all of the items.

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

I think this game would be pretty good. My students in China seem a little sheltered though. They don't know much about the media outside of China (they do know transformers, will smith, and sponegebob.) I think I would try this game with animals or jobs.

Animals. Eg. Can I fly? No! Do I have a long nose? Yes! Am I an elephant? Yes!

Jobs. Eg. Do I help people? Yes! Do I drive a car? No! Do I cut hair? No! Do I cook food? Yes! Am I a cook? Yes!

Actually, I think this game could be used with many things. People, jobs, animals...heck, even food, vehicles, and household objects come to mind. :D I'll give this a shot in one of my classes on Sunday. I've been teaching jobs. Last time I taught "i want to be a' and had practice with a board game I made. Board games are fun but I highly suggest using a die. All I had was a deck of cards and I let students draw a card from the stack (the numbers where 1-6). This went great until the end. A student accused another of cheating and hit another student (turns out it was true). I think if I used dice within the game that it would have been much easier. Normally, at the school we use an interactive white board and it has a die that we can touch and it'll roll...but this particular game had the students in groups of 3-4 with their own small board game. I'll get dice for everyone and it'll probably be much better. :D

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

Hello,

This must be difficult with the differences in age and skill level. You could do role plays where the students split up into groups of twos. Each group comes up with a conversation that follows the guidelines you come up with. These students will then do their dialogue for the rest of the class. The situations can range from a mom and daughter going on a shopping trip to a husband and wife fighting over the remote. Just right the requirements on the board in terms of what grammar you want to see in the role play. good luck.!

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

Here is one that I am using and having fun as both a youth director and as a mixer for a mixed level mixed age free ESL social at my office.

review different key direction phrases like: above ,below next to

then take five pictures from a magazine of models in different positions.

then as the teacher give your students commands to get them to pose as close to the picture as possible. Do this 1st to give them a idea on what to do.

Then select a more advanced student to replace you with a different picture. Depending on the picture you select the more complex the game can get.

Re: Conversation Activities for 12-18 year olds
 

AGO card game may be a good place to start -it can be played a little like uno, but it's designed and optimized specifically for EFL students, and has a lot of educational benefit -i.e. each number card contains a different, useful English question.
Here's the link: AGO ESL card game

cheers,
Ron