ESL conversation classes are an extreme sport. Without a good plan, it’s easy to crash and burn. The trick is to get students engaged by presenting interesting topics that compel them to talk. Get them speaking in no time with a walk on the wild side of work.
Level:
Students with a Lower Intermediate level of speaking or above.
Aims:
Increase speaking fluency by challenging students to verbalize their decisions. Encourage student questioning and curiosity.
Materials:
You’ll need a stack of 30 index cards with the following professions written on them.
Cruise Director, Yoga Instructor, Stuntman, Brain Surgeon, Secret Agent, Skydiver, Daredevil, Race Car Driver, Olympic Athlete, Telephone Psychic, Professional Nose, BMW Test Driver, Chocolate Taste Tester, Brew master, Rock Star, Personal Stylist, Clothes Buyer, Beauty Queen, Lion Tamer, Celebrity Chef, Mountain Guide, Lifeguard, Funeral Director, News Anchor, Toll Collector, Movie Critic, Photographer, Travel Writer, Party Planner, ESL Teacher
Activities:
Arrange the students into groups of 5 or 6. Small groups work better than one large group for conversation classes as it increases the amount of students who actively participate in conversation. Students are often too nervous to contribute if the teacher stands at the front of the room and asks them a question.
Divide the index cards between the groups. Instead of pre-teaching the vocabulary, you should circulate during the activity and answer questions as necessary. This will increase the students ability to feel comfortable asking for help, something which is difficult for many Chinese students. Once the cards are distributed, the groups should work together to place the cards in order from Most Dangerous to Least Dangerous. Each group has a different set of occupations so they will not be able to listen to the conversations of the other tables. At this point, the students should be calling you over to explain some of the vocabulary and describe what the job does. When this happens, address the group individually as to not disturb the flow of the other groups’ conversations.
Once students have had a chance to put the careers in order, you will want to sit with each group individually and have them explain their answers to you. Discuss each career one by one and have each student give an explanation for each career and its rank. Be sure to ask follow up questions. If one group finishes early, you can tell them to use the same jobs but put them in order from Most Interesting to Least Interesting. Also, depending on time available, you can have the groups switch vocabulary cards and have them do the same activity.
Warm Down:
Ask students which jobs they would most prefer to do and why. Since not all the groups have been exposed to the same vocabulary, have the student explain their chosen career if other students do not understand.
