Conversation Club for Level 3 (Low-Mid Intermediate) ESL Students

  • Before the lesson, my sponsor teacher handed me a copy of the lesson plan before giving me a brief rundown of what she had planned before the students came in. After I understood what was to be done for the class, my Sponsor Teacher began ensuring all of their props were accounted for before beginning the lesson.
    • It was nice to see the teacher double check that they had everything they had intended for the lesson, this way they can adjust the activities accordingly if something was missing.
    • Since the teacher wanted to model how they wanted classes to be conducted, I did mostly sit back and do more observation than teaching this time. However, I did my best to support the teacher and students in the class while taking a secondary position this time around.
  • As the students pooled into the classroom and got comfortable in their seats, the teacher began an ”introductory activity” of just asking the class what their topic for the week is, which this time was Age and Longevity. Once the students answered, they explained that we will be doing a few speaking activities based on the topic.
    • I liked this because it starts student engagement as soon as they’ve become comfortable as well as lets them know what the plan is for today/the lesson.
  • The first activity was Two Truths and a Lie. The teacher starts by explaining that they’ll be listening to each of the 3 statements a few times, then once everyone understands the statements we’ll go around the circle and ask them a WH question to see if we can figure out which one is the lie.
    • Originally after we do this first round, we were all to come up with our own 2 truths and a lie, but since this example round went longer than anticipated the group worked more on coming up with questions to try and figure out the lie.
  • At first students struggled to come up with questions, but after the teacher and I came up with a few examples the activity went fairly smoothly with some repetition of the statements sprinkled in throughout the student’s questions.
  • This next activity included a few flash cards with numbers on them and a squishy ball. Each student must say their age (the number on the card) and what they like to do at that age before tossing the ball to another student to then do the same thing. After handing me the flashcards, the teacher explained the rules to the students and began with an example by doing the activity themselves. “I am __ years old and I like to___” before tossing the ball to a student.
    • Some of the students needed a bit of coaxing, but once they got the hang of it, the activity went over pretty smoothly.
  • The next activity was a question sheet of up to 12 question. Students were then given oversized dice to roll, and the number they got was the question they then read aloud and answered. Originally, this was something to be done in two groups, but seeing as the class was really comfortable on the beanbag chairs and the couches in this particular classroom, the teacher decided to keep it as a group since students might not have much for motivation if they were to move from their current places.
    • This activity was much more the class’ speed. They got the hang of it really quickly, and some were excited about the questions pertaining to how this concerning age might be regarded in their home cultures. Something like this might not be a bad idea to re-introduce to these students with a different topic if I struggle to come up with ideas for lesson plans in the future.
  • The closing/final activity was pretty unique as I’d never seen one like it before. Here the teacher had prepared little strips of paper with questions related to age on them. Each student was to introduce themselves to another, ask their age, and then ask them their question on the slip of paper. Once both parties had said their pieces, they were to switch papers and find a new partner.
  • The students had a fair amount of fun with this as snickers and laughter could be heard coming from the mingling pairs. There were enough slips of paper that I could also participate and help students find their answers with critical thinking questions.
    • I’m glad that with this last activity the teacher got them up and moving around, especially since it was now nearing the end of class time and the students did not end up moving around as much as the teacher had originally planned.