October 14, 2013, 12:26:56 AM


Author Topic: Variety of Short Conversation Activities  (Read 1416 times)

Offline dms72784

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Variety of Short Conversation Activities
« on: October 28, 2011, 12:24:02 PM »
Attached are a variety of short conversation activities for more advanced English speakers. Included are short debates, design tasks, role plays, riddles, and guessing games.

The activities work well in groups of 4 or 5 (some are designed specifically for 5). I have run these with three or four groups at small tables, each doing a different activity. You can have students rotate tables after a certain amount of time, though I find that different groups tend to go through activities at different rates, so it can be better to have multiple copies of each activity, and when a group finishes offer them another. This keeps you from having to force a group that is doing well at an activity to move on, and can allow you to move a group that isn't getting much from an activity on to something more productive.

I've found that the role-plays tend to be the most enjoyable for students.  Oh, by the way, the Senior Cop is the murderer for the Criminal Interview one.

I hope people can make use of these. They will definitely be too challenging for students with lower English proficiency levels, so be careful.

Offline therealdrag0

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Re: Variety of Short Conversation Activities
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2012, 03:27:59 PM »
Your ideas here are excellent. Thank you.

Offline dms72784

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Re: Variety of Short Conversation Activities
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2012, 03:47:30 PM »
No problem. I hope that you can find some use for them. Also some credit to my coworker Chris, who was involved in the creation of some of this.

Offline Kim2240

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Re: Variety of Short Conversation Activities
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2012, 05:36:39 PM »
Great thanks for the ideas. I think many of these can be applied as 5-7 minute bell ringers!!

Offline royalkitty

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Re: Variety of Short Conversation Activities
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2012, 10:45:37 AM »
Call students to the front of the class, mostly at random. (You might want to use a more outgoing seeming student first) Show the student an adjective, and they have to act it out for the other students to guess the word. No speaking allowed by the student doing the acting.
I mix together easy and difficult adjectives so the student talking doesn't know what kind he or she is going to get.
Easy examples - fast, happy, cold, sleepy, short
Difficult examples - wet, rich, lazy, late, smart

I've used this with students aged 12 to mid-forties and it works quite well. The students relax and get a good laugh out of it.

Offline royalkitty

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Re: Variety of Short Conversation Activities
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2012, 10:47:12 AM »
My friend Denise came up with this one. It's just a way to keep free-speaking classes going on those quiet days. Each student must say ten things they've done that day. Anything - I ate breakfast, I put on a sweater, etc. The next student must do the same thing but they can't say anything the previous student has said. They find it funny ( always a bonus) and gets them talking. It can also give you ideas for further discussion!

Offline yellowumbrella

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Re: Variety of Short Conversation Activities
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2012, 11:24:30 AM »
I really like some of these activities!
I'll be trying some of them today! Hopefully with success!!

 

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