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Using Conversational Grammar

To truly communicate, you must be able to use conversational grammar, which is different from standard grammar because it is based on how people actually talk. It features small chunks, mostly clauses and single words, as opposed to complete sentences. Here is an example.

Jack: Hi, what’s up?
Jane: Not much.
Jack: Headed to the bookstore?
Jane: Yeah. Have to buy my art course supplies.
Jack: Oh, good! Glad I ran into you! What do we have to buy?
Jane: Colored chalk, ah, sketch pad. Hmmm, charcoal sticks.

[solo3]

Teaching conversational grammar does present its problems and I have found that setting up these types of classes can be a lot of work. When they go well, it's great but when they don't, well, let's just say sometimes you wonder if there was something else you could be doing. However, most of the times I find such conversational classes enjoyable to do, especially when you're able to get the students to feel comfortable enough to start talking about something of interest.

[eric18]

Teaching conversation classes remains a distinct pleasure - and challenge. You need to both encourage participation with engaging materials and provide meaningful feedback in an indirect, yet clear, manner to maintain the educational value too.

I often walk around the class joining conversation and taking notes. Yesterday, for instance, a Korean student mispronounced the word "rang" as "reng" so I responded to the question with the correct sound, but made no direct correction to help everyone save face and feel comfortable. After all, the focus is on the actual conversation.

Yet when the group conversation activity on advertising slogans was over, I reviewed several "good mistakes" in grammar and pronunciation that I heard. I mentioned rang and the class practiced similiar words: bang, gang, fang,- and yang. As usual, I often advise students to speak slower, pronounce the word endings, and open their mouths more. Just adding ten minutes of casual feedback emphasizes the educational nature of the class - and moves it beyond just a conversation club to practice speaking.

By the way, here is a typical conversation lesson from my class from my book Compelling Conversations that combines questions, vocabulary review, idioms, and quotations. You can find other free lessons at www.compellingconversations.com.

Enjoy your conversation class. They can be wonderful places for sharing insights, experiences, and reflections.


“I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948), Indian political leader and philosopher
7
BEING YOURSELF
Sharing Perspectives

From consulting charts and reading palms to taking personality tests and reading self-help books, people love to describe themselves.

1. Which three adjectives would you use to describe your personality?
2. Are you shy or outgoing? When are you most outgoing?
3. Are you daring or cautious? In what ways?
4. Are you usually patient or impatient? Can you give an example?
5. Are you quiet or talkative? When are you most talkative? Least?
6. Would you call yourself a leader or a follower? Why?
7. Are you generous or selfish? Are you too selfish or over generous?
8. In what ways are you rigid? In what ways are you flexible?
9. In what ways are you traditional? In what ways are you modern?
10. If pessimistic is 1 and optimistic is 10, what would your number be on the scale? Why did you decide on that number?
11. On a scale of 1-10, how assertive are you?
12. Is your personality more like your mother or your father?In what ways?
13. Which color would you use to describe your personality?
14. Which animal would you use to describe yourself? Tiger? Mouse? Why?
15. Do you believe in astrology? Which sign are you in the zodiac? Does the pattern of this sign match your personality?
16. Which animal year are you according to Chinese astrology? Does this fit?
17. Have you ever taken a personality test from a magazine or online? Was it helpful? Was it fun? Was it accurate?
18. Which season of the year best describes your personality? In what ways?


20 • www.Compellingconversations.com
Vocabulary
Please circle the words that you know. Ask your partner or teacher for the meanings of the other words.
character....................................................................................................
patient........................................................................................................
talkative......................................................................................................
generous.....................................................................................................
rigid............................................................................................................
flexible........................................................................................................
autumn.......................................................................................................
zodiac ........................................................................................................
accurate......................................................................................................
optimist......................................................................................................
pessimist.....................................................................................................
nurture.......................................................................................................

THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES…
1. Do you think our personalities are set when we are born?
2. Can we change our personalities? How?
3. How has your personality changed in the last ten years?
4. Which three words would you use to describe the personality of your best friend?
5. How are your personalities similar? How are your personalities different?
6. Why do you think opposites are sometimes attracted to each other?
7. Some cultures define personality in terms of the elements: Would you say you are primarily air, water, fire, or earth? Why did you choose that element?
8. Which three qualities do you think of as yin (feminine)?
9. Which three qualities do you think of as yang (masculine)?
10. Can you name one yin quality and one yang quality which describe you?
11. How might being raised in poverty influence someone’s personality?
12. Do you think being born in extreme wealth would change your personality? How?
13. If you had been born in another country, do you think your personality would be different? How?
14. Can you think of somebody with a good personality and bad character?
15. What is the difference between one’s personality and one’s character?

Remember…
Be encouraging
Make good mistakes
Be yourself


Q u e s t i o n s A n d Quotations On Ti m e l e s s To p i c s • 21
16. Are you primarily an extrovert or an introvert? Why do you say that?
17. Do you think nature (biology) or nurture (our circumstances) are more important in shaping our personalities? Why do you say that?
18. What are your best qualities?
Quotations
Circle the quotations you like.

1. “Know thyself.”—Socrates, Greek philosopher (470–399 B.C. E.)

2. “The man of character bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.”—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.), Greek philosopher and scientist

3. “This above all: To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”—William Shakespeare, playwright (1564–1616)

4. “Character is much easier kept than recovered.” —Thomas Paine (1737–1809), writer and revolutionary

5. “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”—Oscar Wilde (1856–1900), English playwright

6. “Some people with great virtues are disagreeable, while others with great vice are delightful.” —Duc de la Rochefoucauld (1613—1680), French philosopher

7. “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” —Carl Jung (1875–1961), Swiss psychiatrist

8. “The Doc told me that I had a dual personality. Then he lays an $82 bill on me, so I give him 41 bucks and say, ‘Get the other 41 bucks from the other guy.’ ”—Jerry Lewis (1926–), American comedian

9. “I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property. —Norman O. Brown (1913–2002), American scholar

10. “Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.”—Erich Fromm (1900–1980), American psychologist

11. “I am absolutely convinced that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward. The example of great and fine personalities is the only thing that can lead us to fine ideas and noble deeds. Can anyone imagine Moses, Jesus, or Gandhi with the money bags of Carnegie?”—Albert Einstein (1879–1955), Nobel Prize winner in Physics

12. “Generous people are rarely mentally ill people.” —Karl Menninger (1893–1990) American psychiatrist

ON YOUR OWN: What do you like about yourself?
Write a postcard to a stranger which celebrates yourself and your strongest traits.
_________________
Shalom

Eric
eric@compellingconversations.com

"In America, nobody says you have to keep circumstances somebody else gives you."
Amy Tan, Asian-American writer

[cristina]

I use for conversation classes. Just ESL classses, don't know about helping them teach Math or whatever. Here have some site about the matter.

http://iteslj.org/questions/ - just general conversation questions

http://esl.about.com/od/conversationlessonplans/ - spend some time looking aroud this site. It has a lot of stuff, but it's kind of a labyrinth so it takes some time to see everything.

[Lexicon]

There is one major flaw with this thread:

You don't TEACH conversation classes.

Your job in a conversation class is merely to keep the discussions going. As a teacher, you simply feed a new word or phrase in when the students hit a stumbling block. Also, positively reinforced grammar correction can be added in, but more than anything, the teacher's role is completely passive.

The best thing you can do is to talk to your students and find out what they are actually interested in. Find topics that they will get excited about (not some what are you hobbies, or if you were wealthy, or if you could go anywhere... bullshit).

Find a topic that the students will likely engage in a debate or heated (or at least interested) conversation over. Then assign them a reading before that class meeting and include vocabulary relative to the topic to be discussed.

Then just sit back and let them talk.

That's really all there is to a conversation class. You have to remember they're there to talk among themselves, not to talk to you, or to hear you talk.
_________________
The first step to teaching is realizing that you don't know nearly enough yourself.

My Blog: http://calleteach.wordpress.com