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Compelling American Conversations Teacher’s Edition

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ISBN-13: 978-1512226751
ISBN-10: 1512226750

Compelling American Conversations Teacher’s Edition

This English Teacher’s Guide to Compelling American Conversations provides teaching tips, feedback suggestions, extension suggestions, and supplemental exercises so you can help teach speaking skills in a relaxed, confident manner.

How do you we get our intermediate English language learners to speak more in our classes? How can we help prepare American residents by choice develop the conversational skills to become future American citizens?

These questions inspired Compelling American Conversations: Questions and Quotations for Intermediate American English Language Learners. Since 2012, the versatile speaking skills textbook has found its way into several English as a Second Language and English language development classrooms.

Words can often have multiple meanings, and the term “intermediate English language learner” is no exception. Compelling American Conversations was written with this recognition to offer various ways of helping English students develop and deepen their conversation skills. Compelling American Conversations (CAC), an exceptionally flexible ESL textbook, makes adding speaking skills relatively easy in a wide range of classroom environments. This Teacher’s Guide will help English teachers – and tutors – working in adult education programs, community colleges, Intensive English Programs, literacy centers, and international student offices.

Compelling American Conversations helps English language learners feel more comfortable in English. It will also help your students become more fluent in English. This teacher’s guide provides detailed suggestions on how to effectively teach each lesson, anticipate “good mistakes” from students, and provide feedback. It also includes several new activities for each chapters so you can extend the lessons, adapt to both stronger and weaker students, and add explicit pronunciation and vocabulary training.

“Be curious, not judgmental.”

— Walt Whitman (1819–1892), American poet

Learn more about Compelling Conversations

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Chapter from

Compelling American Conversations: Teacher's Edition

Making and Breaking Habits

Chapter 3

Practicing Job Interviews

Chapter 12

Seeing Our World With Photographs

Chapter 15

Search and Share Exercises

Higher Fluency Standards For American ELL Students

Therefore, we deliberately chose to emphasize speaking skills and fluency in Compelling American Conversations. Each chapter includes:

  • Two sets of partner interview questions on each topic
  • Discussion activities to explore, explain, and clarify
  • Search and share online activities where students select materials on specific topics, summarize and evaluate the video/article, and introduce to small groups of classmates.
  • Short writing tasks (asking questions, brief answers, paraphrasing)

Speaking English – in and out of the Classroom

We also include academic vocabulary and more philosophical questions because American immigrants deserve the same level of sophisticated materials which international English as Foreign Language (EFL) students enjoy in the stronger international high schools.

  • Focused vocabulary for both practical and academic purposes
  • Conversation starters and flexible homework activities
  • Paraphrasing American proverbs – and others from around the world
  • “Agree/Disagree and explain” reaction exercises to classic and modern quotations often used to prepare for TOEFL and IELTS exams

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Compelling American Conversations!

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Discounted single copies of Compelling American Conversations for Intermediate English Language Learners are available directly from Chimayo Press with Paypal.

To Order Class Sets

Please contact us directly to discuss an order. Call 1-855-ESL-Book (1-855-375-2665) and 310-390-0131 outside the U.S. and Canada, or Email laurie@compellingconversations.com.

We offer free shipping on orders for 50+ copies.

0-24 copies – 40% off

25-49 copies – 50% off

50+ copies – 60% off

Give your English students a choice and a voice!

“Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud."

— Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), German-Swiss novelist and Nobel Prize winner

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FAQs

Frequently
Asked
Questions

Because there is so much material, many community college teachers allow students to choose which chapters they want for group or class discussions. This choice increases motivation, gives learners a sense of control, and better matches the diverse interests found in community college classrooms.

Each chapter includes at least two question sets that move from simpler, more concrete questions to more complex, reflective ones. Students can start with the easier set to warm up, then move to the more sophisticated questions as confidence and fluency grow.

Yes. The flexible format allows students and teachers to mix and match question sets from different chapters. Classes might start with questions from one chapter, then bring in a quotation or proverb from another to deepen or redirect the conversation.

Students practice asking and answering questions, clarifying, giving examples, and responding to different viewpoints. This communicative work builds fluency, listening comprehension, and confidence in extended discussions and small‑group tasks.

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