Tips and Ideas for Conversation Class

Compositions that your students have written themselves can lead to conversation practice. You will not want to have students write them during the lesson, but you can make compositions focal points around which conversation is centered. Here are some useful techniques along these lines :

1. If students write compositions in their regular English course work, they can meet in small groups during conversation class to discuss what they want to write about, their plan of action etc.

2. Have the students bring their corrected compositions to the conversation class. Each student can read his material aloud to the class, with other students questioning him afterwards on points mentioned in his composition.

3. Read a student s corrected composition and have the class take notes. Then ask someone else to make an oral summary of the composition, talking from the notes.

Because the student often has difficulty in thinking of a subject to write about, here are some good topics you can use in your conversation class :

1. My hometown
2. My parents
3. My brothers and sisters
4. How I spent my childhood
5. How I met my husband / wife
6. My wedding day
7. My children
8. How I think children should be raised
9. What I want to give my children most
10. My home
11. My best friend
12. A happy couple I know
13. What I like / dislike about people
14. A person I will never forget
15. The person I admire most
16. The proudest day of my life
17. The greatest mistake of my life
18. An interesting dream I had
19. A typical day of my life
20. My education
21. The teacher I liked the most
22. The subject I like best/least in school
23. My first job
24. What would I do if I had a lot of money
25. What do I do in my spare time
26. My hobbies
27. My favourite sport
28. My favourite movie
29. My favourite book
30. What would I do if I had 3 wishes
31. Food I like/dislike
32. Traditional dishes in my country
33. Where can I see myself in future
34. The musical instrument I would like to play
35. The best party I have attended

Taken from:
Effective Techniques for English Conversation Groups by Julia M.Dobson