[Eric18]

"What gets tested, gets taught" is an American teaching proverb.

Unfortunately, many standardized ESL exams - at least in the United States - focus more on passive skills like listening, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar than speaking or writing. Testing conversation skills takes more time, money, and resources. As a result, many ESL courses and programs spend far too little time teaching conversation skills.

Another factor limiting the number of conversation classes, in the public education programs like adult education and community colleges, is many potential students prefer to work as soon as possible. Programs, therefore, focus more on lower levels where speaking skills remain too weak for more in-depth conversations.

As somebody who has taught several conversation classes and many more English classes in community colleges and adult schools, I have found that systematically planning lessons is very helpful. You can't just pick a random topic of personal interest. Know your students and pander to their interests. If you have a film student or musician, create a lesson that appeals to them. Some topics, however, hold wider interests.

You also need to create a wide range of questions, scaling from the simple and direct to more complex and philosophical. You also want to anticipate vocabulary needed - and probable "good mistakes" in terms of words easily confused.

Several popular books combine short lists and a few vocabulary words. Heads Up and Conversation Book 1 and 2 - being the most popular. When I taught an Advanced Conversation class at Santa Monica Community College, students didn't want to spend money on books with a handful of questions and vocabulary words.

As a result, I ended up creating worksheets with 30 questions and 10 vocabulary for the class that meet two hours at a time, twice a week. I found that adding several proverbs and quotations, from a variety of perspectives, to introduce a topic - and some vocabulary - made students more comfortable, added a more academic quality to the lessons, and introduced new vocabulary. Conversations also tended to be more interesting, engaging, and memorable when students had a chance to reflect a bit before working in pairs or groups.

I compiled those conversation lessons, on 45 different topics, into a book called Compelling Conversations:Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics a few years later while between teaching gigs. You can find sample chapters at Home .

You will, I suspect, find that you need some set format to keep the class moving. While other instructors might be able to just wing it, I have always found advance preparation - even over preparation - very helpful. This approach is especially important when the class content seems - superficially - very simple.

Balancing accuracy and fluency will remain an issue. I tilted toward fluency in the discussions, noted student errors, and shared "good mistakes" with the entire class after a group discussion of the topic. This indirect method of correction works far better with adult students, particularly professionals and seniors who may have "dignity" issues.

If I had the pleasure of teaching a strictly conversation class again, I would add videotaping to the class routine. You might, for instance, conduct mock interviews and post them on a class website for self-evaluation and peer-evaluation. Students are often learn a great deal about their communication styles and English skills from watching themselves on video.

Teaching conversation can be a very satisfying experience. Enjoy!

[EnglishTeacher79]

Hi Eric,

I bought your book about 1-2 weeks ago. What I'm looking for in addition to your fantastic book is what you said was needed: "some set format to keep the class moving". That is, besides the book, I'd like to know how to use it. How would I be able to use a book like yours if a person can't wing it? What would be your suggestions. What kind of framework would you suggest to go along with the book to get the class moving throughout the 1-2 hours class. I'd be grateful for some suggestions.

thanks

[Eric18]

It's a great question.

One simple trick is assign the conversation "text" as homework for the following class. You can ask them to circle their favorite five questions and be prepared to talk about those questions in the next class. This advance notice allows them time to look up new words, reflect on their lives, and prepare.

Likewise, with lower level students, the sheer number of questions can be overwhelming. Therefore, I let them pick and choose a few questions and stick to those questions. Sometimes I will, in a small class, "organize" the discussion so each student asks another student one question - and circle around the entire class. That opening allows students to both hear the questions out loud before feeling any pressure to answer. Then students can pair up with more confidence.

Writing a proverb on the board is a nice way to begin the class discussion. I also like paraphrasing activities with both the proverbs and quotations, although that often requires advanced students. You can ask them to explain the meaning, if they agree, and why. I keep the focus on short responses, but groups seem to handle paraphrasing better than pairs.

Reviewing and expanding on the vocabulary after introducing the topic is also helpful with intermediate students.
You can also group students in 3-4 instead of pairs to reduce the performance pressure on lower students. You can also ask students to write down five nouns and five verbs on a topic. For "Dogs and Other Pets", an intermediate group might list "bone" "bark" "collar" "leash" and "tail". For each noun, I'd ask for verbs that can be used with the noun. What does a dog do with a bone? Even lower level students can generate vocabulary - and you can use this to relaunch the discussion if the material is too advanced. (By the way, I often "confess" to students that I don't love my neighbor and I do love my dog.)

Further, I've found that you need to close pair interviews after 20-25 minutes and return the group together for a class discussion. You ask questions, elicit feedback, and ask further questions.

Throwing in some minimal pair work - and building vocabulary - also helps. In hindsight, I should have included some minimal pair drills. These allow you to focus on some pronunciation problems, but in a safe, accessible format.

Finally, let a student choose a topic each week from the 45 topics. They enjoy having the choice, and you can even ask them to introduce the topic adding a presentation element to the conversation class.

The book works better with advanced students - and when students feel comfortable disagreeing with each other in a civilized manner. You get to create that classroom ethos.

Hope that helps!