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<h1 class="title">Ten Conversation Activities (For Foundation,) and Twelve Conversation Activities (For Diploma)- Assignment I</h1>
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<ul class="student-assignment-overview">
 	<li><span class="title">Due</span> <span class="value"><span class="date_text"><span class="display_date">Jun 1</span> by <span class="display_time">12:59am</span></span></span></li>
 	<li><span class="title">Points</span> <span class="value">25</span></li>
 	<li><span class="title">Submitting</span> <span class="value">a text entry box or a file upload</span></li>
 	<li><span class="title">File Types</span> <span class="value">pdf, doc, xls, txt, and docx</span></li>
 	<li><span class="title">Available</span> <span class="value">Jan 6 at 1am - Jan 1, 2020 at 12:59am 12 months</span></li>
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Hello Everyone,

After reviewing the attached documents, and samples of conversation activities, your task is to design ten activities of your own. The idea is to come up with new ideas in teaching "Conversation Workshops -CW" through "Conversation Activities- CA." Conversation Workshops are generally where students engage in Listening and Speaking activities (supervised and directed by a teacher) to improve their Comprehension, Speaking Fluency, Pronunciation, and their use of Vocabularies &amp; Grammar. Workshops are aimed to complement the Listening and Speaking parts of the Four-Skills teaching method of CLT Communicative Language Teaching approach where the Grammar, Reading, and Writing sections are introduced in a more structured class commonly known as the Grammar Class. The Lesson Plans used in a Grammar Class should typically correspond and relate to the Lesson Plans used on a Conversation Workshop that would refer to the corresponding Grammar Lessons. Lesson Plans for the Conversation Workshops are called "Conversation Activities." Such activities may or may not happen in the same class. Teachers are allowed to take the students on a field trip, use a computer lab, use a basketball court, or any other environment that can influence rapid improvements of students conversation skills. Teachers must surely double check with their school's administration on external school activities arrangements. Note that Conversation Activities can also be inserted in specified time periods within a Grammar Class. For example, each activity can be 30 to 45 minutes and start right after a 45 to 60 minutes Grammar and Reading class. Please follow the directions in the attached material, and to get a better idea, please review the samples.

In addition to the attached material, more samples and ideas can be viewed at <a class="external" href="http://www.iteslj.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.iteslj.org<span class="screenreader-only"> (Links to an external site.)</span><span class="ui-icon ui-icon-extlink ui-icon-inline" title="Links to an external site."><span class="screenreader-only">Links to an external site.</span></span></a>

Your primary task is to understand the set-up of a conversation activity, and design 10 activities of your own along with material and visual support. (Pictures, maps, video links, etc.) These are very similar to regular 4-skills based Lesson Plans except the Grammar, and the Writing. That means the conversation activities may include Reading, Speaking and Listening. Each activity should be 30-45 minutes.

<em><strong>TESOL Foundation Students need to submit 10 Conversation Activities. </strong></em>

<em><strong>Diploma students need to submit 12 Conversation Activities. </strong></em>

<a title="TESOL- Teaching Conversation &amp; CA Assignments" href="https://learn.canvas.net/courses/1646/pages/tesol-teaching-conversation-and-ca-assignments" data-api-endpoint="https://learn.canvas.net/api/v1/courses/1646/pages/tesol-teaching-conversation-and-ca-assignments" data-api-returntype="Page">Module #3: Teaching Conversation</a>

<strong>Conversation Activities Guideline</strong>

<em>A Practical Approach to Conversation Activities &amp; Workshops in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.</em>

<strong><u>A) Designing Conversation Activities</u></strong>
<ol>
 	<li><strong><u>I) Designing Conversation Activities:</u></strong></li>
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This practical approach is an introduction to design Conversation Activities that can be used in Conversation Workshops &amp; Group Classes of more than two people.  The idea is straightforward and to the point. To have a conversation we need a Subject. Once a topic is selected, we then need to know few parameters to design a Conversation Lesson.  Following are important points to be considered in a conversation class.
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 	<li><strong><u>The Number of Participants/ Students.</u></strong></li>
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Based on the number of participants an activity can change its time duration, the flow of conversation, participations of students, time sharing of each student, and even the presented material.
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 	<li><strong><u>The Level of Students &amp; their basic knowledge in the selected language.</u></strong></li>
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Students’ language levels will make a significant impact on the selection of a conversation activity, and its presentation. Lower levels tend to be at ease with basic vocabularies (i.e., greeting, shopping, etc.,) intermediate levels would prefer more challenging vocabularies such as daily conversation on tabloids/ journals, and advanced level students would prefer professional topics within the academic contexts. Depending on the selected vocabularies each subject can be presented at various levels from beginners to the advanced. Depending on their levels, use of material can also be modified. For instance, beginners tend to understand a conversation much better when they hear it &amp; see it; hence the use of video or YouTube programs can be advantageous.  On the other hand, advanced students may further benefit from reading an article in a newspaper, or listening to the news on the radio, and discussing the topics in the class. A class with multiple levels of students is best to be corrected for their levels or avoided, but if you were in such a class, the suggestion is to carry on with intermediate level.
<ol start="3">
 	<li><strong><u>Average Age of Students.</u></strong></li>
</ol>
Depending on the students’ age, to grasp students’ full attention class activities can be modified &amp; tuned to the subjects that would be more appropriate for their age.
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 	<li><strong><u>Knowledge of Professional &amp; Educational Background &amp; Interests.</u></strong></li>
</ol>
To plan and present a relevant Conversation Activity in class, knowledge of students’ interests is essential.  They can then practice and learn vocabularies that they will be facing in their work or studies.  When a Chef, a Waiter, and a Pilot are in the same class, your best activity would be the ones dealing with Food/ Menu and its process of serving in a plane. This way they can all relate to the subject. Although it’s not always easy to link the subjects, as teachers, we do our best in using our imaginations.
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 	<li><strong><u>Knowledge of Student’s First Language/ Mother Tongue &amp; Cultural Background.</u></strong></li>
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Students often have different language backgrounds. As mother tongues can be different while learning a new language, they can all have slightly different accents. Knowledge of their original language will assist teachers in improvements &amp; corrections of students’ accents. Spanish speaking students have the habit of reading &amp; sounding “LL” as “Y”, reading “J” sometimes as “Y” and sometimes as “KH.” “RR” often is read as “L.”  In Japanese “R” is read as “L” so “Radio” would sound like “Ladio.” In Portuguese “R” is read as “H” and that can make “Rock &amp; Roll” to sound like “Hock &amp; Hole.” In Arabic, the words “CH” and “P” or “G” such as in “Gabriel” or “J” such as “Julie” (<em>French</em>) do not exist. Arabic sounds such as “Gh,” “Kh” &amp; “Dh” do not exist in English. These can explain some of the accent related issues. A professional teacher can significantly benefit from this knowledge and guide students to the right directions of accent correction.  In addition to the above, knowledge of cultural background can assist in selecting conversation activities that would not be offensive or disrespectful in certain cultures. Cultural knowledge can also serve in classroom management and understanding interactions of some students.  In certain cultures, taping on the shoulder as a sign of good work &amp; encouragement is acceptable. In some other cultures touching is incredibly awkward, unprofessional, and sometimes even rude. For instance, in most parts of Asia women do not shake hands with men and politely keep a certain personal distance.
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 	<li><strong><u>Time Duration Specified for the Conversation Activity.</u></strong></li>
</ol>
Now that we have the necessary information, we need to know how much class time is designated to the Conversation Activities. Some classes are exclusively conversation classes, and some others are full Grammar Lesson classes with some short periods selected for communication. In general, a Conversation Activity should not last more than 45 minutes. When an exclusive Conversation Workshop class can last one to two hours, then each class may have 3 to 4 Conversation Activities.
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 	<li><strong><u>Environment of Practice (Native or non-Native area/ Classroom, Online, or Phone)</u></strong></li>
</ol>
A native speaking environment is always a preferred place to learn a language and practice conversation. However, due to their jobs, school, or other obligations, most people cannot travel. Teachers can facilitate this matter by providing a simulation place within the classroom or online. The material used in a native environment is slightly different than non-native classes. To learn about shopping, in a native speaking country, a class can take a field trip right to the market, the mall, or a bazaar, while in a non-native area all must be conducted in a classroom or online using videos and role-plays.
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 	<li><strong><u>Methods Used in a Class (Par-Time, Intensive, Immersion, CLT, Audiolingual, etc.)</u></strong></li>
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A conversation activity must also consider the methodologies applicable to a particular class. As you are aware, TPRS, Montessori, CLT, Audiolingual, Berlitz, Immersion, and Intensive teaching approach all differ in their styles of activities and homework follow-ups.
<ol start="9">
 	<li><strong><u>Available Material (Audio Visual Material, Computers, Books, and Journals, etc.)</u></strong></li>
</ol>
Based on availability of proper lighting, computers, Wi-Fi, CD Players, TV &amp; DVD Players, in-class network connections, available books and journals, and all other material that might be needed for a particular activity, the class presentations can and will vary. For online use, one must consider if students have full Internet access or should activities be downloadable for offline usage. Assuming the activity is about Cars and Types of Cars and their special gears, teachers must present the class with pictures, articles, website links, YouTube videos, or any other tool that can assist students through conversation.
<ol start="10">
 	<li><strong><u>Goals, Terminal Objectives, and Enabling Objectives of Each Activity.</u></strong><em> (</em><em>Vocabulary Use, Accent corrections, Pronunciation, Listening, Speaking, Particular Subject practice and education, fluency in use of grammar in conversation, cultural familiarity, etc.)</em><em>
</em></li>
</ol>
The overall goal of Conversation Activity must be clear. If you aim to improve your students Pronunciations &amp; Fluency in a certain topic (i.e., Fishing, Cooking, etc.), you must then clearly identify this goal.

&nbsp;
<ol start="11">
 	<li><strong><u>The Enabling Objectives.</u></strong> (<em>Using the learned vocabulary and grammar to make a phone call, to reserve a flight ticket, to buy a concert ticket, to order food from the menu in a restaurant, etc</em><em>.)
</em>Once the goal is clear, you would try to achieve it through presenting Reading Subjects, related Vocabularies, related Listening Activity and Speaking episodes within the class. All these steps are parts of Enabling Objectives. Enabling Objectives are the baby steps taken to achieve a greater goal in a Terminal Objective.</li>
 	<li><strong><u>Conversation Activity, Direction, and Guide</u></strong>.</li>
</ol>
As a teacher, you can plan the class setup, start, follow through, pace, timing, vocabularies, the grammar used, and an instructional step by step guide in what you want to do in a class. This is broadly known as Lesson Plan but here we need it as a Conversation Lesson Plan, also called a Conversation Activity.  A Lesson Plan should have an introduction, objectives (enabling objectives), goal (terminal objectives), Topic of activity (Subject), and a guide in how to complete it. It will then follow with Vocabulary introduction, and any other related Reading, Listening or Videos. Once the material is transferred to students, it’s now the time to start the actual conversation or activity.

<strong>B<u>) Conversation Activity Assignment:</u></strong>

After going over the attached samples of conversation activities, <strong><em>Your Assignment is to design 10 Conversation Activities with 30 to 45 minutes’ durations each</em></strong>. By considering the twelve parameters above, your conversation activities would be more aligned with the TESOL Canada Standards of Lesson Plans.

Some attachments are samples of Conversation Activities, and some other are samples of full Grammar Lesson Plans. Although they all seem different, they maintain the uniform pattern of above parameters through both the activities and the lesson plans.

For any additional assistance, please email your course coordinator.

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