How to Teach an English Conversation Class

A good English conversation class involves more than sitting around chatting. To teach English conversation well, you'll need to carefully plan and direct the class, yet make sure the conversation stays spontaneous and uninhibited. Learn how to teach English conversation so your students get lots of speaking practice and yet go home with new vocabulary words and a better understanding of grammar, too. Sample Agenda for 90 minute class: Welcome, introductions (use name tags at first and try hard to learn names) Review of weekdepending on size of the class, ask them to share one thing that they did during the past week. This will become a routine warmup. 20 minutes Role Playpretend a sample interaction, shopping, interviewing, etc. 20-30 minutes Idiom, proverb or slang examplethese are fun. After explaining the idiom, ask each of them to find a way to use the idiom in a conversation. Conversation subject starterspend most of the time here. Break into small discussion groups or pairs. Discuss for 20 minutes, then return to whole group and report. Find interesting topics in: Newspaper articles Political cartoons Photos Popular culture Holidays and traditions Wrap up and review **Do a grammar segment if the group expresses interest, but try and teach grammar in the context of a situation. For instance, you can use different verb tenses describing your aches and pains to a doctor, or expressing past and future employment goals. 1. Choose a topic and conversation format. You might choose to discuss an item from the news, or select from the conversation questions on the website http://iteslj.org/questions/ Political comics can be explained, an object or photo can set a theme. Consider whether the topic is suited to an open-ended discussion or whether you could use a problem-solving or decision-making activity, or role plays instead. 2. Define your goals. Before you start to teach the class, decide what you want the students to learn that session. You might want to teach phrases for expressing opinions or for disagreeing politely. 3. Give the students a reason to listen to each other. To make sure your students pay attention to one another, give them a goal they can accomplish only by listening to the other students. 4. Build your students' knowledge. Instead of interrupting to correct errors, add to what students say by suggesting new words and expressions. If someone uses a word in a way that's not quite right, repeat back their sentence in the correct form.

Most of our students want their grammar and pronunciation corrected, so model the correct usage. 5. Let the students get totally involved in communicating without corrections. Make a note of anything you want to review at the end of the conversation class or teach in later classes. Note errors or difficulties you overhear so you don't need to interrupt the conversation to make corrections. 6. Provide a sense of completion and accomplishment. When you have 10 or 15 minutes left, wrap up the discussion and finish the class with a focused review. Write problematic words or sentences you overheard on the board and ask students to correct them as a group. Go over the new vocabulary and idioms again. Congratulate students on what they accomplished during the class. Tips & Warnings Dont be afraid to tell a student: I didnt understand you. Please say it again. If a particular student seems unwilling to join in the conversation, give him space. He may be shy, confused about what hes supposed to say, lack vocabulary to respond or have a cultural tradition of listening passively to learn. Once you establish a relationship, you'll be better able to draw him into the discussion. Many otherwise confident people are intimidated by having to speak a foreign language. No one wants to appear stupid. Take care not to call attention to any individual's errors and try to keep a casual atmosphere. Share your attempts to learn another language, your difficulties and challenges. Remember that your students may have a wealth of knowledge that they cant express in English: be respectful. Introduce something fun: Play games. Role play. Practice job interviewing. Play travel agent and persuade the class to visit their home country. Discuss universal experiences: weddings, early school experiences, family life. How are American customs different from theirs? What do they like, what do they dislike about American life? Do not hold up American ways as the model of perfection: there are many ways to live. Topics to avoid: Sexmany of our students come from very conservative countries. Poverty Religionalways a point of contention One-child policy in Chinaavoid discussion topics about siblings Iran and nuclear armament; North Korea and nukes; Arab difficulties Drop anything that you sense is making your class uncomfortable. Emphasize our commonalities and make the class an enjoyable experience so that your students will want to return.