Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom. If this is your first time here, then read the Teacher's Guide to Using These PagesIf you can think of a good question for any list, please send it to us. Home | Articles | Lessons | Techniques | Questions | Games | Jokes | Things for Teachers | Links | Activities for ESL Students Would you like to help? If you can think of a good question for any list, please send it to us. If you would like to suggest another topic, please send it and a set of questions to begin the topic.
Copyright © 1997-2010 by The Internet TESL Journal Pages from this site should not be put online elsewhere.Permission is not required to link directly to any page on our site as long as you do not trap the page inside a frame. Take a photo and…. | The eltpics ideas site for teachers. How to teach conversational lessons. Hello, there. This post was written to share my favourite resources aimed at conversational lessons – both online and face-to-face. I hope you find it useful. The first minutes of the lesson are meant to arouse your students’ interest. You want to ‘hook them’ into conversing with you. Setting the scene can be done through a short fascinating video or an interesting image. In order to maintain your students’ interests, attempt to pick topics or situations that appeal to their age and if possible interests.
After a topic is selected it is important to ensure that your student(s) do not write down their ideas. At this stage the teacher should monitor the student’s production, taking into account the content and form. At this stage focus on the content and probe your student’s comprehension and new language discovery. Give feedback – It is crucial to provide feedback that is oriented to the student’s goals.
And the sub-skills? Ready-made speaking lesson plans 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 1. 2. Random Emoji Generator. An ELT picture is worth a thousand words -Five ideas for using images for your classroom « Cecilia Nobre ELT Blog. Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words…how about a picture with cool funky effects made especially for classroom use? That’s worth a few hours planning! I love playing with images, as you can clearly see on these “masterpieces”: Here are 5 activities to get your students engaged and willing to speak in class.
They are suitable for all types of classroom dynamics: pair work, group work or private students. 1. Have you seen Ikea’s brilliant advertising campaign where they renamed some of its products according to the most common relationship problems that were googled in Sweden? This activity is ideal for A2 students and above. How? 2. Using an online Photo Editor ( or ), the student should prepare a collage using 4 types of pictures, then students are supposed to tell a story of each one in the classroom. This is mine: Pictures Categories a) The last picture they posted on Facebook or Instagram 3. 4. 5.
Ask Answer Add - A Speaking Activity to Help Learners Maintain a Natural Conversation. Ask Answer Add - A Speaking Activity to Help Learners Maintain a Natural Conversation Ask Answer Add is one of my favorite speaking activities and requires no resources in class. It is a very straightforward exercise and I’m sure it will really help your learners build their speaking skills and learn the invaluable skill of maintaining a conversation. The premise is quite simple, and it is suitable for any level of learner. In fact, I have been using this with a group of lower level non-English majors and with different class of higher level English majors and I have had equal success in both classes. Ask The idea behind the activity is very simple. The first step is to place the learners so that they are sitting or standing in pairs and facing each other.
What’s your favorite food? Answer Start with just one question and let the learners know that they are going to ask this to their partner. A. Add The student answering the question should then add some extra information. A. A. A. The Secret Door - Step Through To The Unknown… | Safestyle UK. FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT | ELT-CATION. If I’m trying to keep a conversation going and you aren’t doing your part, I’ll stop.Unknown.
If you’re looking for a nice activity to jazz up your conversation class, you are in the right place. You will not waste your precious time on reading how important showing interest for keeping a conversation going is or why your learners should get some practice of how to do it before they step into the big world of real conversation. You will discuss that all with your students in Step 1. Step 1. Brainstorm with students how they usually show interest in a conversation.
Step 2. Tell students they are going to watch but not hear a conversation between Sheldon and Amy from the Big Bang Theory. Step 3. Get feedback. Step 4. Now show the video extract again, but this time with the sound on. Step 5. Get feedback. Interjections Echo-questions Echo words Wh-questions Making a personal response Handout: Showing Interest Step 6. Pair students and ask them to pick any part of the following nursery rhyme.
Step 7. SPOKEN GRAMMAR MATTERS | ELT-CATION. Principal: Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. Billy Madison: Okay, a simple no would’ve done just fine.**** The other day I came across an article describing quite an interesting language awareness initiative promoted by a school in London. I doubt such restrictions might help develop students’ abilities to express themselves appropriately in formal situations, yet the intention of making sure that the language students are using is not restricting them is certainly worthwhile.
No ‘innit’ cos it ain’t in the coursebook. EFL students have been somewhat restricted and made to keep to standards of written English when speaking for years. Activity 1. – Good? Activity 2. Activity 3. 20 снимков невероятной природной красоты. Завораживающие и удивительные фото невероятной природной красоты. Красота, неподвластная человеку.
Одно из самых необычных природных явлений в мире. С августа по апрель - это обычный парк, а весной талая вода с гор затапливает его на 4-8 метров. И так каждый год. Это оптический эффект в атмосфере, выражающийся в возникновении горизонтальной радуги, локализованной на фоне лёгких, высоко расположенных перистых облаков. UNDER STRESS | ELT-CATION. Nothing teaches a language teacher better than their own foreign language learning experience. The class is over. Dobar dan. Kafe Bahus. Hvala. – Teacher! – Yes, Marko? – You sound like Google Translate! Like Google Translate? Sentence stress (*contrastive stress) it often overlooked in coursebooks because it is a common feature of languages. So, the good news is we know it all already.
So, how do you practice ‘common sense’? Here are a few activities on contrastive stress that may be used with general or business English classes. Who ate the cookies? Get your students to look at the image and ask to read our loud the sentence “I never said I ate your cookies”. I never said I ate your cookies I never said I ate your cookies. I never said I ate your cookies.
I never said I ate your cookies. I never said I ate your cookies. I never said I ate your cookies. I never said I ate your cookies. Sentence_Stress (Note: there may be more than seven meanings if we stress more than one word) Insert a word E.g. Yes Yes YES! How to Teach Sentence Stress. Speaking aids. Probably you agree that these little things make a lot of difference and it is with good reason why people spend time, money and energy to get the right small objects to help them put themselves and their loved ones into the right mood. Why use speaking aids Post-it notes Walls Coloured paper Small objects To control turn-taking As metaphors Conclusion Why use speaking aids In contrast, we often expect that our students have the right mood to speak without having anything that would help them to be in the right mood to speak, or any prompt that would help the flow of ideas. These small prompts or small speaking aids get especially important when children get into the age when they want to speak about themselves more than e.g. about the little animals or fairies in a tale.
In this article, I will give you some ideas what little objects to use and how to use them so that students aged 12 upwards find speaking easier and less stressful. Original idea by Karen Sekiguchi. GOING GRAPHIC: 4 SQUARES FOR BETTER SPEAKING. Silentium est aurum (“silence is golden”).Or is it? If we google “teaching speaking in English”, we’ll get over 66,300,000 search results with numerous tips, fabulous games or tricks how to get learners speaking – all pointing out the same frustrating tendency showing that many learners are either timid speakers reluctant to participate in any conversation, or that despite mastering the language, as attested by a great number of grammar and vocabulary exercises thoroughly done by the learners in class, their speaking still lacks fluency and coherence. The latter is sometimes ignored at lower levels. However, speaking is about both fluency and coherence. Coherence is about linking ideas together – just like in a paragraph or essay.
This means organising what you say so that your answer is “a whole“. All the bits within it fit together. This should be familiar from writing. What do we start with? We need 4 squares Step 1. Choose a topic and put it the center box. Step 2. Step 3. Step 4. How to help English learners use linking expressions. Would you like to help your learners speak more coherently? Svetlana Kandybovich, the latest winner of the British Council’s Teaching English blog award for a post on speaking skills, suggests some useful classroom activities. Learning to speak a language might seem fairly straightforward in principle: first you learn the words, then you form sentences using the correct grammar, finally you string the sentences together. Voilà! – you’re fluent. However, the formula 'grammar + vocabulary' is not enough to become a competent speaker of English (or any other language).
Even when learners can make themselves understood, and use correct grammar and vocabulary, you often get the nagging feeling that something is missing from their conversation. The importance of coherence We get the sense that a text (spoken or written) is generally coherent when it makes sense through the organisation of its content. Just as with any skill, the ability to organise what you say into a whole can be taught. Ethical Dilemmas Archive. #1: Jeff's best friend is getting into some pretty risky behaviors, including dangerous drugs. What can Jeff do to help his friend? #2: Jennifer knows her parents won't let her go to "the big party" if they find out the host's parents are out of town. Should she lie about it? #3: What's the difference between cheating on a math test and lying about your age in order to save money on a movie ticket? #4: Julia's best friend has turned against her and is now organizing the other girls to bully and isolate her.
What can Julia do? #5: Corey is drunk and stuck at a party thirty miles from home with nobody sober to drive him. Cube Creator. Thought Questions: A question that makes you think is worth asking… Chestnut ESL/EFL Thought Questions: A question that makes you think is worth asking… ‘At the cusp of a new day, week, month, or year, most of us take a little time to reflect on our lives by looking back over the past and ahead into the future. We ponder the successes, failures and standout events that are slowly scripting our life’s story. This process of self reflection helps us maintain a conscious awareness of where we’ve been and where we intend to go. ‘Reflection is the key to progression..’ READ ARTICLE (TITLE SOURCE): Marc and Angel Hack Life Lesson Idea: Create flash cards with these Thought Questions and use them on a day with no lesson plan! Rate this: 2 Votes Share this: Like this: Related Film English -Apricot (Childhood Memories)In "ADVANCED" Dealing with Peer PressureIn "ADVANCED" LIFE LESSONSIn "BEGINNERS" ← Prev Next → Got something to say?
Leave a Reply About Me Chestnut Esl- Poverty Resources Featured Posts The Louis Braille Story April 8, 2014 Learning about Amusement Parks Follow. Language In Use. It is great to show and offer students many examples of English language in use. Meaning, students appreciate that there are many ways to say the same thing and like to see the "nuance" of the English language. Here are some images showing different ways / expressions to communicate a similar thing. Might be handy. Also, view as a slideshow or you can purchase and edit in ppt.
If interested in this kind of approach, you might be interested in my ebook "Get TALKing" which has 28 lessons all based around language chunks. Disney Presents: Simon's Cat. Bot. Drama in the ESL Classroom - Home. Games with Flashcards. Hello everybody :) I thought I ´d open up a little post about games. I often have parents or other teachers come to me asking me what to do with flashcards (except for showing them to the kids). So I thought maybe we could do a little collection of ideas that everybody can benefit from? My ideas usually are: - "What ´s missing" (put all the cards in one line, have the students close their eyes and take away 1,2,3 cards - they have to guess which one is missing) - charades (one student picks a card and acts out what he/she sees either with gestures, mimics or sound, the rest of the class is guessing) same can be done with drawing - if teaching small groups and I sometimes hide the cards in the room, call out a card and the student ´s have to look for the right one (to make things easier with the picture side up, to make it harder, down) - "guess what it is" (I cut a small hole in a paper and hold it over a flashcard so only a little part can be seen, the students have to ask which card it is)
Free Flashcards | Free ESL Flashcards | Free Printable Flash Cards.