It’s hard to start a conversation with someone who doesn’t know your language, but notice I said – HARD – not impossible. I currently teach a beginner level that expands from emergent English speakers to ones who are really knocking on the door of intermediate.
Getting these students to talk can be done best through modeling.
Model language for them through dialogues
Give students simple dialogues such as
Student A: How are you?
Student B: Good. How are you?
Student A: I’m good too.
Then proceed to leave some spots blank such as:
Student A: How are you?
Student B: Good. _________________.
Students: ______________________ too.
In this simple dialogue, students practice saying “How are you?” and answering in the most common way.
Modal Sentences
Let’s take a sentence like, “I have a ________.”
Then give students vocabulary words. (for example, animals.”
They can practice sentences like, “I have a cat.” “I have a dog.” “I have a turtle.”
If they are feeling confident, you can expand it too, “I have a white cat.” or “I have a big dog.”
Or “I have a sister.” “I have a daughter.”
Repetition through games.
Yesterday, I used this method in class. I gave students questions to answer about themselves, “Do you like sushi?” “Do you have a sister?” and they only had to answer with “yes. I do.” and “No, I don’t.”
At first this was simple, then students caught on.
Afterward, I was able to expand the answers to, “Yes, she does.” “Yes, he does.” and “No, he doesn’t.” and “Yes, she doesn’t” by having students tell me what the other person said. For example:
Me: Jose, do you have a cat.
Jose: No. I don’t.
Me: (Class) Does Jose have a cat?
Class: No, he doesn’t.
These three methods are helpful because they act as a support. Consider, if you were learning to ride a bike. You often need training wheel s before you begin so you can learn how pedals work, how to keep balance and how to steer . These methods are training wheels.
Around the World Learning 