Best Conversation Activities For ESL Students

The importance of students conversing in English with one another is often overlooked. This lesson is about the best conversation activities for ESL students.

I find that my adult ESL students enjoy interacting with one another in conversation.

Use Google Translate

What I also find is that a lot of them enjoy speaking in their native language rather than in English because it’s easier and more relaxing for them.

I’ll bet it’s the same for kids as well.

That’s natural and normal.

However, the E in ESL/EFL/TESOL and others is for English. English is what we as teachers are teaching and what students are there to learn.

It stands to reason that we want them to speak in English as much as possible, not their native language.

How Do We Make That Happen?

First of all, I’m not sure there is a single answer to what is best when it comes to conversation activities.  I posit that any and all conversation in Engish is good, regardless of what may be considered better or best.

In my classes, there are generally two main groups of students:

• Chinese speaking students
• Spanish speaking students

It’s not to say those are who all the students are but they are generally 80-90% of the student populations in my classes.  The other 10-20% is usually a combination of a number of other languages.

I remember when I was a kid, one of my late father’s favorite sayings was:

“Divide and conquer.”

Although he didn’t mean it literally, there is value in that statement and I will use it here for the purpose of this lesson.

It’s normal for people to want to be with people who are like them and that’s what ESL students do.  They want to sit with others who speak their native language.

That can be an obstacle that stands in the way of their learning.

They need to get out of their comfort zone.

One way to do that is to pair students with someone who does not speak his/her native language.

When it happens naturally, that is, when they choose a partner whose native language is different than their own, it’s a wonderful and magical thing to watch.

If it doesn’t happen naturually, that is when the teacher needs to intervene and do his or her best to pair students with others who do not speak their native language.

By doing that, the language they have in common is English!

By dividing, we have conquered a major problem.

From there, we can move forward and it forces students to speak English with one another.

What Should They Talk About?

I won’t say it doesn’t matter what they talk about, but the truth is, it’s not that important what they talk about as long as they are trying to speak English with one another.

Having said that, it’s a classroom and we have lessons to learn and practice.

Conversations will be directed by the subject matter and the lessons we cover together.

Before I go further, I should point out that I teach beginning level ESL. Most of my students know little to no English. For more advanced levels where they know more English, what I say here may or may not be as important.

One of the things we spend a lot of time doing in my beginner class is translation.  We use a picture dictionary a lot to introduce words.

From there, I say the words or phrases in English and have them repeat after me.  Meanwhile, using Google Translate, I show the words or phrases in the different languages the students in my class speak.  Each time I show it in a different language, I either use the audio function of the translator or I say it myself in English and have them repeat after me.

At the very least, they’ve repeated the word or phrase in English at least three times, but it’s usually somewhere between four and six times, depending on how many different languages the students speak.

Once we’ve completed our translations and they’ve repeated the words, they attempt to write 1-3 sentences in English about one or more of the words we learned.

I encourage them to help each other and read what they wrote to each other, of course, in English.

After that, I display what they’ve written and depending on how much time we have, I will have students read aloud to the class what they’ve written as the others in the class can see and hear what is being read.

In every class, I try to allow at least 15 minutes, usually 30, and sometimes 45 minutes where they have a list of conversation starters that they will practice not only with their partner but usually 2-4 other students in the class.

I have them write the answers in complete sentences that the other students give them.

I strongly discourage one-word answers. I’d rather they give an incorrect complete sentence than a correct one-word answer.  That provides a teaching moment that we can all work on together.

Students learn as much, if not more, from other students, than from the teacher.

I believe that subconsciously, writing reinforces speaking and vice versa. They learn more in these exercises than they realize.

What Are Some Examples Of The Questions To Be Asked?

It really depends on what we are studying at the time.  The truth is, what they are asking and answering is not as important is how it applies to their real lives.

If the subject matter is relatable to their real lives, it will naturally be retained more readily than if it’s just rote dialogue.

We use the Ventures series of texts and they have a lot of pre-printed conversation starters that I make copies of and turn the students loose.

If I can’t find what I want with Ventures, I look elsewhere or I make my own that is pertinent to that day’s subject matter/lesson.

It’s wonderful to hear the laughter and other sounds as they try to make sense of the conversations they have with one another.

Here are some examples:

What Are Some Other Topics For Conversations?

As meaningful as it is for students to talk with one another, it’s just as meaningful to have conversations with the class as a whole and with the teacher.

What I like to do is to ask the whole class questions, which can be a variety of subject matter, although I always make it about something that we’re covering at that time or have covered in the past.

It’s not to say I won’t ask questions about subject matter we haven’t covered, but the only time I usually do that is to see what students know and don’t know.  I don’t want to embarrass anyone.  I use it to guide my lesson planning.

After I ask the whole class a question, I will ask specific students to answer. Some students are either afraid to make a mistake in front of the class or they really don’t know the answer.

Regardles, I will continue to ask specific students until someone answers correctly. If no one can answer correctly, I know we need to back up and cover the material more carefully.

However, usually at least some of the students know how to respond correctly and are all to happy to show everyone, including me, how much they know.

When I hear the correct response, I repeat it and have the entire class repeat it, sometimes several times, until I’m relatively sure most students, or preferably all the students know how to answer correctly.

I want them all to at least be exposed to the correct answer.

My point is, as the teacher, I’m part of the class.  Conversations with me are very important, if for no other reason than because I can model the question and the answer to serve as the guideline for how to say things.

One particular exercise I do with all classes at some point, is to ask questions that are commonly found on a job application.

Of course, we go over the contents, and I model the questions and answers, so they understand what the questions are and so they have time to figure out how to answer the questions as they apply to themselves.

Again, I ask the whole class each of the questions, one at a time and call on specific students to answer. Some students need help with how to answer.  That’s actually good.

As per what I said earlier, I discourage and generally don’t allow one-word answers.  I want them to answer in complete sentences.

This allows everyone to hear different ways to answer the questions.

For example:

• What job are you applying for?
• What was your last job?
• When did you work there?
• Why did you leave your last job?

There are many other questions I could ask, and there are many other topics besides a job application.

For example:

• Medical history questions
• Reporting an absence from work or school
• Talking about their family
• Talking about a vacation

Whatever the case may be, especially if we are preparing for a verbal test, I have them practice together with one another as well as with the rest of the class and me.

For the actual test, I record myself on Zoom and ask all the questions, usually leaving 20-30 seconds between each question to allow them to answer.  I record their answers as well.

I test them individually by sending them to another room as I press play on the computer to play the questions and their answers on Zoom, while I continue with the class.

The natural test-stress is normal, but it’s effective and it forces students to talk about real subjects that they can relate to and will probably actually need to answer the questions, if they haven’t already, in their real lives.

I grade each question using a rubric:

• Question was answered clearly-two points
• Question was answered somewhat clearly-one point
• Question was not answered clearly or not answered at all-no points

Here’s The Bottom Line:

There is not an absolute single answer to the question of what are the best conversation activities for ESL students.

All conversation activities have their place but, at the same time the ones the students can relate to in their real/everyday lives are the best kinds of conversations.

There is no reason to teach material that students can’t relate to or that they will never use in their lives.  It’s a waste of time

There are countless resources to choose from to use as convesation questions or starters. If I can’t find what I want, I create them myself.

I hope I have provided enough ideas and examples that both teachers and students can use to help them learn how to realisically speak in English.

Leave questions and comments in the box below this lesson and I will promptly reply.