Teach Conversational English 101 - How To Get Started

If you are hired to teach conversational English abroad, it’s pretty likely that you have no prior teaching experience or training. In fact, your school may just plop you into a classroom on the first day and say, “OK, go ahead and teach…”

While it’s not very professional for a school to skimp on teacher training, it happens, and you have to just make the best of it. Here are some basics for teaching conversational English that will help you get started.

Get Them Talking

Keep in mind that, with conversational English, the most important thing is to get your students using English. Keep this in mind while you’re planning your lessons. The more interaction the better.

At the beginning of your class, you might want to do some kind of icebreaker activity. You can make a simple interview and have the students interview and introduce each other. Make some questions easier and some questions harder, and this will give you a good idea of your students’ overall level.

You can also do an activity like “Find Someone Who..” Make a list of different things like “find someone who has a pet,” and have the students circulate around the class asking each other these questions.

One purpose of an icebreaker is to get the students acquainted with each other, but it can also give you a good idea of how much English they know.

Don’t Get Too Grammar Heavy

With conversational English, the emphasis is more on fluency than grammar. In many situations, your students may have already studied English grammar. They may have been beaten over the head with grammar since junior high school, and their grammar may be better than yours! So, the focus should be getting them to use what they know.

In the English teaching industry, these students are called “false beginners” because they already know lots of English but can’t use it in conversation. In your conversation lessons, focus on tasks to get them talking and using what they know, and teach them what they don’t.

Planning Your Lessons

As a general rule, lower level students should focus on tasks; higher level students should use topics and discussion. A task could be any kind of daily activity, like ordering food in a restaurant, giving directions, describing people or talking about food likes and dislikes. With higher level students you can work on current events, life experiences and deeper stuff.

You should tailor your lessons to your students interests and learning objectives. A business English class should focus on business vocabulary and situations. If your students are learning English as a hobby, you can teach them travel English, or English that pertains to their particular interests.

Whenever possible, use “real” English in the classroom. This means articles, actual conversations, movies and other things that aren’t textbook materials. When your students see real English in use, it will help motivate them and bring the English alive.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it is enough for you to get started as a teacher. Remember that nobody knows everything about teaching, and nobody expects you to know everything. There’s always some trial and error involved. Pay attention to your students and learn about what works and what doesn’t. Good luck!