One of the challenges that language learners face is that they will inevitably become a part of conversations with the spontaneous production of language. Authentic conversations don’t always flow neatly from one topic to another in a way that accommodate a language learners’ levels and needs. When learners are in such situations, they can feel demoralized about their language abilities, no matter how hard they have worked and how much progress they have made.
I came across an activity in a workbook when I taught at an institute about 10 years ago, and it piqued my interest. It not only engaged students in small talk and in a spontaneous conversation with one another, but it also added a gaming element that made it an enjoyable activity.
Before going further, I should give some context. This activity and the example I provide is suitable for students at the B1 level or higher. I’ve used it with in-person classes in a group class of four adult students. This was before the pandemic, and given that I have almost all individual classes I haven’t had the opportunity to experiment with this in online classes.
In order for this activity to be successful, there are a few considerations. First of all, the words on the list should be a part of their active vocabulary; that is, they should be able easily produce in their speaking. In addition, students should have already had experience speaking in class and feel comfortable talking with their classmates. Last but not least, the activity should be framed as a fun way to practice the production of spontaneous language and maintaining a conversation in English.
Setting it up
To start, you can explain to the students that you’re going to do a role play with two students. One of them is arriving to a job interview, but they have to wait. The other person is an employee at the company that is taking a coffee break. The person for the interview starts making small talk with the employee, and they have to keep the conversation going.
That part is straightforward, but there’s an additional element. Each person has a secret mission: they have been given a list of words that they have to get the other person to say. For each word they get the other person to say, they get a point. Each person is allowed to say the words that the other person needs to say.
When I did it, the two other students in the class and I took notes during the conversation. I put the time at five minutes for the conversation, but it can be changed.
Here are the instructions I provided for each student:
Person A
You are arriving to a job interview, but the interviewer isn’t ready for you. Make small talk with one of the employees while you are waiting. During that time, try to get him or her to say the following words. You can say the words.
| green | take | desert | Europe | boat |
| monkey | February | chemistry | shower | application |
Person B
You are on a coffee break at work and someone has arrived for a job interview. Make small talk with him or her while they are waiting for their interview to begin. During that time, try to get him or her to say the following words. You can say the words.
| yellow | bring | forest | Asia | plane |
| elephant | June | geography | shave | advertisement |
During the activity
I created a checklist to keep track of the words each person said, and the other students in the class also got the checklist. This was a great way of helping the other students stay engaged and work on their listening skills; there was actually a word that one of the students said that I didn’t catch when I was taking notes!
The conversation can also be recorded to listen later and take notes of any grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation to review in a future class. At the time I didn’t have the technology to do so, so I was limited to taking notes of it during the conversation.
In terms of engagement, being a spectator to the conversation was quite interesting. Since the other students and I knew the words on each person’s list, we were able to see how each person tried to guide the conversation in one direction or another based on their word list. At times it was hard to hold in our laughter as someone danced around a word that was on the other person’s list or one person made multiple attempts to get someone to say a particular word.
Debriefing the activity
After the activity, there’s a lot to talk about.
I find that it’s valuable to ask the role play participants how they felt doing the activity. It’s also interesting to hear from the other students in the class about their perspective about the conversation. This gets students thinking about their language abilities and how their perceptions align with their reality. (Issues like grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation will come later.)
After that, I then ask each participant to guess the words that were on the other participant’s list. This gives an idea of how well tuned into the conversation they were, and it can even be a way of offering bonus points that they weren’t expecting.
Last but not least, we then look at each person’s list of words and see how successful they were in getting the other person to say those words.
If students ask for feedback about corrections I will provide it. Once all students have participated in the activity once, I then create a review based on the their errors.
Conclusion
This activity is student-centered and a great way to help students practice spontaneous conversation in a fun way. It’s most suitable for level B1 and above, and the number of words and the chosen words can be adapted based on your context.
If you’ve used something like this or this activity in your classes, leave a comment below and share your experience. Thanks for reading!
