Running Conversation Groups

No teacher wants to be the only one to talk in a group and students should feel that they are being allowed sufficient space to express themselves so teachers and students both enjoy the class. Here are some tips when running those classes or getting them to run smoothly:

1. Keep the topics interesting and applicable.

   If you are going to bring up a conversation on rocket science to retired ladies that might not carry over well in terms of a continued class discussion.

2. Make sure that the room is well ventilated.

   Believe it or not a room that is stuffy and crowded will tend to put people asleep. A lack of oxygen supply will tend to keep them active.

3. Have a conversational piece to match the grammar point that you want to stress.

   Often enough the teacher does not match the two and the student is at a lack to see any correlation. He might also feel that he is wasting time in your group or that you are being disorganized.

4. Get the student to talk about himself and learn a little bit about his classmates first.

   Read more in Languages

   « 10 Tips on Pronounciation

   What is “Query”? »

   Familiarity makes groups work much better than just heading into a conversation on a formal topic tight away.

5. Encourage the body language that the student uses to express him or herself.

   If the student is ill at ease speaking try to discover if he uses some body movement when he speaks in his native language so that he will feel more comfortable when speaking in English.

6. Get the student to try and get the sense of a paragraph he reads before discussing a topic so that he able to summarize it or put it into his own words.

   This will help indirectly especially if he has to do an entrance examination into a school that will test his reading comprehension.

7. Apply the same exercise in no. 6 to an oral activity.

   This way a student will learn to summarize a verbal message, oral reading, speech or dialogue in his own language rather than just reiterating it.

8. Get the student to be able to talk about events or happenings

   Starting from article headlines and also work backwards. That is, get the student to attach correct title headings to conversational pieces

9. Help the student to interpret tables, charts, graphs and maps

   …so that he is comfortable being able to relate to them in English and ask and answer questions in English regarding them

10. Try to avoid sensitive topics such as those relating to sex, politics and religion if you are working with sensitive people.

    Those three are especially difficult to manage in groups where someone is sensitive to a particular issue relating to one of them or feels slighted because he thinks the teacher or another person is being biased.