Conversation Classes
 

Any ideas for Conversation Classes for adults?
I have to start these classes with high school teachers of different areas in order for them to be able to teach for example MATH in English soon.
HELP ME!!! :confused:

This is akin to musical chairs, but you will have to do some work, BUT this is something you yourself can keep and then use over and over again.

1) Get 3x5 index cards & cut them in half - have at least 20 halves for 20 questions, but you can make as many as you want/need beyond that.
2) On each half, write a question, but try to avoid yes/no types. (ie: What is your fave movie? Why? Would you get a tattoo? Of what?) Obviously, you questions will be determined by the level of your class.
3) Put all the question cards in a small bag - likea make-up bag with a zipper.
4) Find a dorky cheap hat & have a radio/cd player to play music.
5) Sit your students in a circle. Give the bag to one student & the hat to another.
6) Play music. Students have to keep passing the bag & hat around until you stop the music. (5-45 seconds)
7) The person w/ the bag pulls out a card & reads the question. The person w/ the hat has to answer the question.
8) You can then take the card away or put it back into the bag - your choice. Then continue on w/ the game.

This can be used as a 5 minute filler or as a 15-20 minutes convo exercise. Either way, it challenges the students and forces even the shy students to step up to the plate!

**You can also make the questions into review questions for an upcoming test. ie: history facts; math equations; grammer points; definitions; etc

Thanks a lot!

One idea if they will all be teaching different subjects is to break them into groups and present lessons to their group members for their subject.

Let's say you have a group with a history teacher, math teacher, social studies teacher, science teacher and a physical education teacher. Then have the history teacher (for example) teach a short 15-20 minute lesson on history entirely in English. Have the "students" take notes, ask questions as if they were younger students and so on. The history teacher could also give the group a very short assignment, activity or something along those lines.

Before you present the activity make sure the teachers understand that this is a "mini" lesson and to review what they want to accomplish in the lesson. Also, make sure the entire "lesson" takes place in English. Challenge your students to only speak English so they get comfortable teaching with English that way when they are teaching their students they will inspire confidence. If they have to keep resorting to their native language the students will feel less comfortable or able to learn a new subject through English.

Another thing all teachers like to learn are some good games that use English. Teach a handful of games to your teacher-students that they can use in their classroom. If possible, do the games with them so they know how fun they can be. Teachers are always looking for fun and engaging activities to use in class.

Lastly here are a few games I have used with university/adult students that you might try:
Listening Activity for Adults
Two Truths & a Lie
Jeopardy

I hope this helps. Let us know how it goes and what worked for you.

Eric

Many, many, many thanks! I had thought of something like this but this widdens my vision a lot!
THANK YOU!

Cool! :)

Here are some sites I use for conversation classes with adults. Just ESL classses, don't know about helping them teach Math or whatever:

http://iteslj.org/questions/ - just general conversation questions

http://esl.about.com/od/conversationlessonplans/ - spend some time looking aroudnt this site. It has a lot of stuff, but it's kind of a labyrinth so it takes some time to see everything.

http://bogglesworld.com/adultesl1.htm - Lesson plans for adults. Low and intermediate level.

Hope that's some help. I have more saved on my computer at work, I'll put them up later.

Sounds FUN!
 

Sighisoara,
Great game. I can't wait to try it, too! Thanks!

Karen