Question:
I just started teaching a very small ESL conversation class and I
would appreciate hearing how others have conducted classes like that.
The students are very intelligent professionals but tend to be rather
quiet and reticent to speak. This is especially difficult because I'm
not exactly a chatterbox! In my first class there were a few awkward
moments in which no one seemed to have anything to say, and I couldn't
think of any more questions. Is there any trick to minimize those
kinds of situations?
Another problem is that the three students are on such different levels.
One student would just *stare* at me when I would try to ask him a
question, and I would try rephrasing it in several ways, and he would still
just stare or answer "yes."
Does anyone have any insights on the best way to structure a conversation
class so that it goes smoothly and comfortably for everyone? Is it better
to be superorganized and have a subtopic for every 10 minutes? This class
is 1.5 hrs long, so I get the feeling that I won't be able to just go
with the flow and expect conversation to just happen and keep itself going
for that long.
Answer:
Look for these texts for your conversation class: Talkativities (very fun
text in class for High Beginning/Low Intermediate. Face to Face is good as
is Culturally Speaking - try to do lots of cross cultural comparisons -
that usually goes over very well.
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