Step Ten:  Free-Flow Open Group Discussion

The bell may be about to ring, but with luck, you have five minutes left in class. This time is definitely my favorite part of class. Tell your students to clear their desks and make themselves comfortable.  It’s time for some free conversation!  What’s this? Something unplanned?

Why, yes. You and your students have worked hard during the past forty or so minutes, moving through a fast-paced assortment of stimulating activities. They warmed up, got organized, learned a grammar lesson, went over homework, discussed some literature, did some oral presentations, a little memory work, a Guión series, and a bit or writing. (I know, they didn’t really do ALL of these steps … but surely they did MANY of them).

Now it’s time just to talk. See what’s on your students’ minds. Simply say: “Free conversation!” At the beginning of the year, students will stare blankly back at you, wondering what they are supposed to do. Prod them a bit: Ask what’s for lunch in the cafeteria, who won the soccer game last Friday afternoon, where the next dance is taking place, what the latest plot twist is on Desperate Housewives.  Someone inevitably will take the bait and chime back in. You want to make your students talk.  With luck, one of these topics will take off, and students will just chat.

Many days though, you have to be more resourceful. Turn the tables and tell your students to ask you, the teacher, a question.  Say that your life is an open book. Have your students ask whatever they want. Sometimes when I say this, I still get silence. No problem. When I get empty stares, I just start to ask myself questions!  “Señor Conner,” I say, “What is your favorite movie?” –“Thanks for asking,”  I respond, “It’s Rocky I.”  Students will laugh as I look around waiting for questions from them. If I don’t get one, I ask myself another question: “Hey, Señor Conner.  How are your children today?”
 “—Fantastic,” I say, “Would you like to see a picture of them?”  I pull out a picture. By now, my students have been shamed into coming up with some kind of question for me.  In time, free-flow questioning will catch on like wildfire.  It’s a matter of being patient, cheerful, and just priming the pump.

When a conversation does not take off, I have several tricks up my sleeve. Go back to the Groups of Two format. But now, instead of using lists of prepared questions, just give your students a simple topic. Tell them to talk about their favorite restaurant, their favorite singer, their plans for spring vacation. Have them switch partners after a minute of conversation.

Another great conversation starter goes like this: Pick up some item you have lying around the classroom: a box, a plant, a briefcase, an electric fan, an extension cord, a letter, a piece of chalk, a laptop. Plop it down on the floor in the middle of the classroom. Now ask your students to describe it.  I want them to use any vocabulary words they can muster simply to describe what they see physically: “big, small, long, short, heavy, light, expensive, brown, yellow, tiny, living, hard, rectangular, circular, strange, etc.” After they exhaust all adjectives, have them now describe how the object is used, what purpose it has: “for mailing things, decoration, cooling, plugging things in, for writing, for sending messages, for hiding things, for eating, etc.” You will be amazed how much your students will say. Together you will discover vocabulary your students wished they knew. If you want, you can write these words up on the board. This activity has led to some great…and unforgettable…discussion.  There have even been moments when it feels like a party game of charades!

These final minutes in class are a crucial time in a lesson plan. I have always thought that teaching language is a little like teaching swimming. At the beginning, a novice swimmer is only in the shallow end, perhaps even wearing a bubble or life preserver. As she improves, her life vest comes off, and she takes tentative steps to swim away from the side of the pool.  In time she is in the middle of the pool, on her own, yet within reassuring site of the pool’s edge.  Eventually a student, just like that swimmer, is on her own, frolicking in the deep end, perhaps even diving or doing cannonballs from the board!

This final activity, free-flow group discussion, inspires those who want to swim on their own to test the deep end. There is little structure, just a chance for those who are eager to dive in. There are plenty of ways you can encourage your more tentative students to test the waters at a pace that suits them. But this unstructured free time at the end of class can lead to some superb, fun-filled moments of learning.  It’s a wonderfully creative and upbeat way to end your class.

Step Ten: Review
What To Do

• Use the last minutes of class time for free-flow group discussion.
• Ask your students what’s on their minds, and encourage them to talk about it informally as a group.
• If your students have difficulty starting the conversation, jumpstart the process by asking yourself a question and then answering it.  Students always get a big kick out of this ice-breaker!
• Another way to jumpstart free-flow discussion is to choose an object from your classroom and ask students to describe it.  You may want to write some of the rich vocabulary they generate on the board.
• Ask direct questions to quieter students to include them in the flow of conversation.

Why It Works

• The informal nature of free-flow discussion adds humor, playfulness and spontaneity to the classroom.
• Students are always pleasantly surprised by their ability to communicate – even on topics they haven’t previously encountered.
• Free-flow group discussion enables students to enter the conversation at their own pace.
• As students participate in unstructured classroom conversation, their self-confidence soars…and naturally their interest grows.

The Big Picture

• At the end of a structured, an action-packed class, free-flow discussion is a reward for hard work and sustained attention.
• Students learn to trust their ability to communicate in a new language.
• Everybody is reminded that having fun enhances learning.
• Students realize that when you are having fun, it’s easier to take the risk of speaking.
• There’s no better way to accelerate language learning than by SPEAKING, SPEAKING, SPEAKING!