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[jwatts83]

Hi,
I have a question about adult conversation classes. As a part of my regular teaching internship I have to give conversation classes to the mainstream teachers at my school, whose native language is Spanish. The issue I�m having is that my class consists of two students with very different levels--one student has enough English that we can have a conversation, and she usually will stop and ask how to say what she wants to say in Spanish and then repeat it in English--and the other student doesn�t speak any English. Or at least, she is afraid to speak in English. So what are some good ways that I can make activities that they can both participate in? The class is supposed to be English conversation, for about an hour once a week. Today�s class it looks like I�m going to have the lower level student only & with her I�m not really sure where to start. This is my first time teaching ever, so any advice would be very appreciated. Thanks!

[spiral78]

My advice would be to recruit the stronger student to help involve the weaker one. Meaning, set conversations that they can have together in English, with your support (as little as possible). Perhaps the weaker one could negotiate with the stronger one for some information. Meaning tasks like 'buy the ingredients for some meal,' 'make hotel reservations,' arrange for a taxi, stuff like that. This way, the stronger student can both scaffold the speech of the weaker one and use his/her higher level of English to the advantage of both.

For your first class with the weaker student only, I'd take a current copy of USA Today. You can use, for example, the weather page, to help her talk about where she's from, holidays, weather terms, simple past tenses, futures, and a million other items - it can start at the very beginner level and work up to intermediate. You may find out what she really knows about English without the peer pressure of having a stronger student present. Above all, listen to her - don't talk more than you must!! (You probably realize this already )