Free talking sessions in A1?! Getting low-level students to talk can be a daunting mission. They might be shy; they might not know what to say or how to say it. Because of this, sometimes, in our eagerness to cover all the required material, we neglect to give our students time to talk. I don’t mean answering questions. And, although doing scripted speaking exercises has immense value, it’s still a script. So how do we get our beginning-level students to speak more freely?
What is free talking time with low-level students like?
I had a class request to have “free talking” time every day. Sounds great, doesn’t it? That depends. How comfortable are you with long, drawn-out silences broken only by the sounds of students shifting uncomfortably? Free talking sounds easy, but if you’ve tried it with low-level students, you know the reality. It can suck, big time!
When the silence deafens you…
Have you ever had a class that quickly finished everything you painstakingly prepared for it and then were left mentally flailing about trying to figure out how to fill the time? Well, I certainly have!
In fact, during my class’s very first ever free talking session, I had a list of twenty questions to ask in case there was a lull during the 15 minutes we had agreed upon. Well, that lull raised its ugly head before the first two minutes were up, and I used up the questions before we’d hit the 5-minute mark!
So, we just need a much longer list of questions for free talking, right?
Uh, no. That won’t work either, and I know because I tried that. I spent HOURS on the internet looking for lists of questions back when the internet was dial-up. It never seemed to matter how many questions I had. Students would give a quick, simple answer and be ready to move on to the next! Once you realize that the daily free talking session requires more prep time than the rest of the day, well, do I even need to finish that question? Or is your stomach already churning?
After my first class, when students answered all of the yes/no questions with just that–a yes or a no, I thought I had the answer. Simply avoid any yes/no questions, and I’d be fine, wouldn’t I? Uh-uh. Unless you have students willing to put the spotlight on themselves, you’ll have just as much time left on the clock when you run out of questions. They’ll still answer the questions as briefly as possible. And honestly, with low-level students, can you blame them?!
Relax–the students will do the heavy-lifting!
Eventually (and no, I’m not going to admit how long it took me to grasp this), I realized that I was going about it the wrong way. I was doing ALL the work. Just like we can’t learn English FOR our students, we shouldn’t be working harder than our students.
So, do this!
For those in-person classes:
- Get a Jenga game (or tumbling towers).
- Have your students make a list of 10-15 information questions that they can ask a classmate. Discourage them from working together to prevent them from all having the same questions.
- Go over whatever rules you prefer for the game. Mine are: Use only one hand. Do not switch hands during your turn. Do not take from the top four complete floors. Students will take turns removing one block and placing it on the top.
- After the first student removes a block and places it on top, she/he can ask one question of any student of her/his choice. That student then asks the same question of another student and so on until all students have answered the question (in a small class). If you have a large class, limit the repeats to 2-3 students. Now, that second student, who was the first to answer, has a turn to take another block and ask another question. Repeat.
Read more about using this game to create unlimited adult ESL games here.
For those online classes:
- Get a pair of dice. (use more dice if you have more than 12 students in the class)
- Have your students make a list of 10-15 information questions that they can ask a classmate. Discourage them from working together to prevent them from all having the same questions.
- Explain to students that they will choose a number between one and twelve (or whatever is the highest possible number for the number of dice you are using). You will roll the dice, and whoever guesses the closest number without going over it is the “winner” and gets to ask a question.
- Once the roll winner has been determined, she/he can ask one question of any student of her/his choice. That student then asks the same question of another student and so on until all students have answered the question (in a small class). If you have a large class, limit the repeats to 2-3 students. Roll the dice and see who is next to start the question line.
Focusing the Questions for Free Talking
I like to leave the question topic free for the first time. This works as a great ice-breaker to let everyone get to know each other a bit more as they can ask general questions like names, where they are from, favorite color, etc. I quite often began a new class this way to give everyone a chance to get to know each other as well as informally evaluate their English ability.
Sometimes I assign a random topic, but I really like using the same topic that we’ve just covered in our books. Doing so lets them practice using the vocabulary and expressions that they’ve learned (or the grammar concept) and gives me a chance to assess how well they understood everything.
Oh yeah, and to raise the stakes a bit, I sometimes tell students that they must either sing a song or recite a poem in their first language if they cause the tower to tip over if we are using a tumbling tower game. ^_^ It’s a fun challenge to participate in as well!
Naturally, students won’t want the burden of always creating the questions themselves. Coming up with questions in another language is challenging–you don’t want to always put that on their shoulders, but do you really want to spend all YOUR time creating questions? Check out my discussion topics line. I’ve got you covered.
Read more about speaking classes in adult ESL!
- Improving Speaking Skills when Grammar & Vocabulary AREN’T the Problem
- Discussions: How to Ensure All Your Adult ESL Students Participate
- One Effective System for Creating Discussion Groups
- Everyday Role Plays Perfectly Tailored for Adult ESL: 3 Easy Steps
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