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Conversation Strategies
Pair and Group Activities for Developing Communicative
Competence
+ David Kehe
Peggy Dustin Kehe with illustrations by Andrew Toos
PRO LINGUA ~ ASSOCIATES
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Pro Lingua Associates P. 0. Box 1348 Brattleboro, Vermont 05302
USA Office: 802-257- 7779
Orders: 800-366-4 775 Email: [email protected]
WebStore: www .ProLinguaAssociates.com SAN 216-0579
At Pro Lingua, our objective is to foster
an approach to learning and teaching that we call Interplay, the
interaction of language
learners and teachers with their materials, with the language
and the culture, and
with each other in active, creative, and productive play.
Copyright @ 1994, 2004, 2009 by David Kehe and Peggy Dustin
Kehe
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, or stored in an
information storage or retrieval system without permission in
writing from the publisher.
ISBN 0-86647-189-8
This book was designed and set in type by Arthur A. Burrows.
Adobe Century Schoolbook is the type face used for both text and
display. It is a digital adaptation of one of the most popular
faces of the 20th Century. Century's distinctive roman and italic
fonts and its clear, dark strokes and serifs were designed, as the
name suggests, to make schoolbooks easy to read. The original,
elegant type was cut in 1924 by Morris Fuller Benton for the
American Type Foundry of Elizabeth, New Jersey, (the largest and
one of the most distinguished type foundries in the United States
from 1892 to 1993). It was adapted by Monotype in 1928, and since
then many "Century" and "Schoolbook" faces have been developed, as
typesetting and printing technology have evolved from Linotype and
film to digital type. The book was printed and bound by Boyd
Printing Company in Albany, New York.
Printed in the United States of America Second edition, sixth
printing 2009 51,000 copies in print.
+ iv +
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Introduction This book is a collection of activities for pair
and small group
conversation practice. It is designed to be used with a wide
range
of intermediate level students of English as a second or
foreign
language. The format of the activities puts the focus on the
stu-
dents, rather than the teacher. At the same time, the activities
are
designed to be nonthreatening to even the most reserved
students.
They are also enjoyable for both students and teachers, and
they
are easy for any teacher to implement.
A special feature of these activities is that they will
develop
strategic conversation skills. These are skills that go along
with
linguistic and sociolinguistic skills (grammar, vocabulary
and
usage). Strategic skills help the speaker/ listener keep a
conversation
going to its natural or desired conclusion. These skills
include:
+ beginning a conversation + clarifying something + interrupting
someone + rephrasing something + correcting someone + eliciting
information + soliciting attention + repairing a conversation +
summarizing a conversation + escaping from a conversation + ending
a conversation
v
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vi + Introduction
The format of this book is quite simple. Each activity has
three
parts: a teacher's introduction, a student's introductory
exercise,
and pair or small group practice.
+ The teacher's introduction is very short. It is located in the
Appendix.
+ The student's introductory exercise focuses on the words and
expressions students need to carry out the activity. The
students can do this individually and then check it with a
partner.
+ The pair or small group practice makes use of information-gap
and other interactive formats.
It is not necessary to follow the order of the activities in
this
book. Each activity is complete and does not depend on
another
activity. However, Activity 1, "Rejoinders," is a good place to
be-
gin, because the rejoinders can be used in virtually a// of the
other
activities. So jump in and start talking, OK?
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Contents + Introduction +v Activities + 1
1. Rejoinders + 1
2. Follow-up Questions +5
3. Confirmation Questions + 9
4. Clarifications
with Question Words t 13
5. Keeping or Killing the Conversation t l 7
6. Expressing Probability +21
7. Interrupting Someone + 25
8. Echoing Instructions + 29 9. Polite Requests,
Responses, and Excuses + 33
10. Getting a Response + 37
11. Soliciting Details +41
12. Responding with Details +45
13. Making Comparisons +49
14. Finding the Right Word + 53
15. Exploring a Word t 57
+ vii
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viii + Contents
16. Correcting Someone +61
17. Eliciting Confirmation +65
18. Starting and Stopping a
Conversation t 69
19. Beginning and Ending
a Phone Call + 73
20. Expressing Opinions t 79
21. Making a Group Decision + 83
22. Discussion Connectors +89
23. Summarizing t 95
24. Conducting a Formal Meeting t 99
25. For Fun: Find the Strange Word t 103
26. Volunteering an Answer t 108
27. Applying All the Conversation Strategies 1
Review-Fun t 113
28. Applying All the Conversation Strategies 2
Review - Emotions t 11 7
29. Applying All the Conversation Strategies 3
Review - Advisors t 122
Appendix t 127
+ General Procedure for All Activities + 127 + Teacher's
Introductions for the Activities + 129 + On Strategic Competence t
145
+ Index to Conversation Strategies + 14 7
