Conversation with English learners can sometimes feel like pulling teeth. With the right tools, this crucial practice can be enjoyable for teacher and constructive for the students.
I swear by these practices having used them in conversations with elementary, high school, and adult students. These strategies work for online and in-person teaching. Continue reading to understand how to scaffold your conversation to meet your students at their level of English.
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1) Prepare
First, come into your lesson with questions prepared. You should have a few general topics to discuss with corresponding questions. Preparation is essential because once you write down the questions, you can easily see if the grammar is going to be too difficult for a student. If you ask a beginner student questions that include conditional (Would you rather…) and perfect tenses (Have you ever…), you will lose them. Trust me, I learned from experience. Ask early learners simple questions.
Preparing for a conversation with beginner learners also means bringing along props and visuals that are familiar and recognizable. When I am going into a lesson with a student who is brand new to English, you can bet I will have a bag of pictures and realia ready to use.
Here is how a conversation can go with a brand new student:
Do you like coffee or tea?
Show pictures.
The student may point to the picture of coffee.
Then, model. Point to yourself and say
“I like…” and point to the coffee.
Have the student try.
Now, you have taught this student 1 useful phrase (I like..) and two vocabulary words (tea and coffee). I promise you, this will make them feel amazing!
Working with advanced learners means bringing more challenging questions to the conversation. Did they just learn the present perfect? Ask a lot of these questions to give them practice using a new tense.
2) Choose a theme
No matter what age you are teaching, everyone can talk about themselves. Young children may not be able to talk about specific topics, but they have a lot of schema about their own lives and experiences.
3) Ask relevant questions
Ask relevant questions. It is awesome if you are passionate about marine biology, but not everyone can talk about that topic. Asking relevant questions means that you have prepared questions that most people have an opinion about. This looks very different depending on the age you’re teaching.
Elementary Learners (6-12): colors, school subjects, playtime, toys, friends, food, family, pets
Secondary Learners (13-18): hobbies, weather, family, friendships, beliefs, future plans, weekends
Adult Students (19+): culture, routine, work, family and friends, hobbies, news and current events, controversial issues, politics, religion
4) Sound like a parrot
Every time a student gives me an answer, I ask why. “Why” is the greatest extension tool for teachers. It stretches your students to dig for more vocabulary and grammar than they may initially use to answer. I have one student who now jokes, “I know you are going to ask why, so I will just tell you.” Ask why all the time and watch your students grow into confident speakers.
Happy teaching!
Annie