Compelling
Conversations:
 Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics
for ESL learners
and teachers
“Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall,
but wise words endure.”
- Edward Thorndike (1874-1949), American psychologist
English Language Learners Need Conversation
Practice
to Develop Their
Conversation Skills!
Conversation starters for English language learners and native
speakers often begin by looking at the immediate situation:
- What brings you here?
- How did you hear about this class (party/event/movie)?
- Where are you coming from?
- Who do you know here?
- Nice name. What does it mean? (if reading a name tag)
- Beautiful purse. Where did you buy it?
Yet breaking the ice just creates the opportunity to meet someone.
English language learners often find it just as difficult to keep a
conversation going. ESL students can learn to ask questions about
movies, books, traveling, or shopping – and create compelling
conversations.
- What's the last good movie you saw?
- Have you heard anything about (movie, TV show, website)?
- What have you been reading recently?
- Can you recommend any movies to see or rent?
- Where did you go on your last trip?
- What's the most beautiful place you've seen?
- What TV shows are popular in your country? Why?
- What music inspires you?
- How do use the internet? Can you share some tips?
As the conversation continues, students – like their teacher and
tutors naturally do - can move on to more personal questions.
- So, who chose your name? Why?
- Where do you feel most comfortable? Why?
- How do you release stress?
- What did you learn at your last job?
- What do you appreciate about living here?
- Have your habits changed in the last year?
- How would your friends describe you?
- What would you add?
Conversation remains a vital social skill for our English students.
Naturally, immigrants and international students want to fully
participate in their schools, their jobs, and their communities.
Speaking clearly in English allows individuals to express their life
experiences, insights, and perceptions in fluent conversations – both
inside and outside classrooms. Limited English fluency, in contrast,
often causes additional stress. "Speech is civilization itself," wrote
Thomas Mann, the great 20th century German novelist."It is silence
which isolates."
Therefore, conversation skills deserve far greater attention in
English language classrooms for academic, social, and cultural
reasons. Conversation skills also require practice, practice, and more
practice. So let's give our students more chances to express
themselves, share their experiences, and develop their discussion
skills in our English language classrooms - especially our high
intermediate and advanced students. Teachers need to create
encouraging, yet rigorous, classroom atmospheres where students can
learn by doing.
Speaking skills, I'd suggest, deserve at least as much attention as
grammar in our classrooms. Do students who know grammar, but can't
hold a conversation really speak English?
Conversation skills often matter more at work, at school, at parties,
and at home. Whether ESL students seek better work opportunities,
higher grades, or closer relations with native English speakers, our
students also want to become fluent in English. So let's meet both our
students needs and wishes, and add more conversation activities and
time to our ESL classes.
"English saved my life."
- Joseph Conrad (1857-1924),
English novelist born in Poland
Compelling Conversations provides quality, ready-to-use lessons that
lead to meaningful, memorable conversations both inside and outside
our classrooms. Students discover a wide range of ways to ask direct
and indirect, open and closed, simple and deep questions. The 500 plus
quotations on 45 timeless topics also emphasizes that intelligent,
even brilliant people often disagree and models effective, authentic
language. It also introduces many of the leading artists, writers,
philosophers, and scientists that colleges and universities often
expect students to know. Likewise, the 250 proverbs and idioms also
allow students to express themselves in colorful, powerful words - and
gives a nod toward traditional beliefs. The focused vocabulary, in
addition to introducing academic words, encourages students to speak
in a more sophisticated manner in their new, chosen language. This ESL
textbook engages, respects, and challenges students to share who they
are and who they want to become - in English!
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