1. PEARSON LONGMAN ESL
STRATEGIES AND
CONVERSATIONAL ACTIVITIES
TO IMPROVE SPOKEN LANGUAGE
Conversation activities that can be adapted to Pearson’s
Side by Side/Focus on Grammar/Reading Power/All about
the USA
CYNTHIA S. WISEMAN, EdD – PRESENTER
SPONSORED BY PEARSON

2. AGENDA
• Introductions
• Communicative Language Learning
• Strategies/activities to develop listening/speaking
skills
• Applications: Side by Side/Focus on
Grammar/Reading Power/All about the USA
• Reflections

3. INTRODUCTIONS
“What was one of the best lessons that you have done
in an ESL class? What was the activity? What made it
good?”
Let‟s form 2 circles, the same number of people on the
inside as the outside.
Introduce yourself to your partner and describe the best
ESL lesson that you have done. Explain what made the
lesson good.

4. CONSIDERATIONS IN SPEAKING AND
LISTENING INSTRUCTION
• Communicative Competence
• Interactive use of textbooks

5. LEARNING OUTCOMES OF SPEAKING
INSTRUCTION
• A working knowledge of language system for
communicative competence, e.g, grammar,
vocab, sounds
• Able to use that knowledge of language system in
real time to produce speech that is…
• fluent – naturally flowing
• intelligible -- understandable
• interactive – serve communication with another person
• contextually appropriate – „the right thing to do‟
• Learn coping strategies for acceptable
communicative competence, e.g., asking for
clarification, asking someone to repeat

6. TECHNIQUES/STRATEGIES TO
DEVELOP SPEAKING/LISTENING SKILLS
• Brainstorm: Techniques for
developing communicative
competence?
• Using the textbook interactively

7. •What is the focus of •How learners can learn
teaching/learning for this language knowledge &
lesson? how to use the language?
•Active Reading
•Response Writing, e.g.,
Reflections
•Communicative activities
Txtbk: Readings?
Topic
Exercises?
Functions
Scope and Sequence
Grammar
Table of Contents
Vocabulary
Teacher's Guide
Before opening the Pre-reading/pre-writing
textbook: exercises
Engage Ss with topic Pair/group: personal
experiences
Build on Ss‟ language
Vocabulary:
Scaffold presentation presentation/practice
of new knowledge
Dictations
•How can I structure •How can I assess what has
dynamic activities that been learned?
require engagement with •Assessment
the language, with the •Evaluation
topic, with other students,
•Reflection
and with the teacher?

8. LISTENING/SPEAKING ACTIVITIES FOR
COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
• Vocabulary
• Total physical response, e.g., giving/acting on
commands, Simon says, interview & fill out
applications
• Dictations (cloze, s-s, keyword)
• Group/pair work
• Describe and draw/build
• Information gap/jigsaw activities
• Problem-solving activities
• Games (scavenger hunt, bingo, concentration,
jeopardy, Hangman, etc.)

9. SIDE BY SIDE, UNIT 13
• Topic: occupations
• Related topics: help wanted signs/ads
• Functions: expressing ability, looking for a job,
asking and answering questions
• Grammar: can/have to

10. VOCABULARY
• Brainstorm – use students‟ linguistic knowledge
• Question forms: e.g., Can you type?
• Modals: can & have to
• Names of occupations
• Authentic materials
• Language in want ads & job descriptions
(internet/newspaper)
• Internet sites: games, handouts, flashcards
http://www.mes-
english.com/flashcards/files/people2_cards.pdf

11. Actor

12. Actress

13. Astronaut

14. Carpenter

15. Cashier

16. Construction
worker

17. Dentist

18. Engineer

19. Plumber

20. Reporter

21. Secretary

22. Security
guard

23. Soldier

24. Veterinarian
(Vet)

25. Waitress

26. Optician
(Eye doctor)

27. Dancer

28. Farmer

29. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…
• Describe what this worker does every day.
• 6:30
• 8:00
• 9:00
• 12:00
• 3:00
• 5:00
• 7:00
• 10:00

30. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF …
• Find large magazine photos of people at work (housekeeper,
nurse, homemaker, farmer, mechanic, cashier, teacher,
waitress, etc.) (Mount these pix or laminate them for repeated
use.)
• Model for the class by selecting a photo and describing the
routine daily activities of that person.
• Let each learner select the photo of the person they want to
describe.
• Give learners a simple daily timeline, e.g., 6:30 am, 7:00, 8:30,
10:00, 12:00 pm, 3:30, 5:00, 6:00.
• Give learners time to prepare to describe what this person‟s
daily routine.
• In pairs, each partner orally describes the daily life of the
worker they chose.
• For additional practice, create new pairs or select certain
learners to describe the worker‟s routine to the entire class.

31. REALIA
• Application form
• Telephone
• Answering machine/tape recorder
• Want ads
• Resumes

32. ROLE PLAYS
• Responding to want ads
• Making an appointment for interview
• Researching for a job/position
• Interviewing: employer gets card with job
description & asks “Can you…?” & applicant
answers
• Filling out an application

33. GAMES
• 20 questions: “I‟m thinking of an occupation.”
• Jeopardy: This job requires carrying a gun to stop
crime.
• Concentration: matching word with picture or
responsibilities with job
• Categorization/classification: jobs by field (e.g.
healthcare or law or classify responsibilities by job)

36. MATCHING EXERCISES
A. • 1. Eye _______
• 2. Arm ______
B.
• 3. Hand ______
C.

37. Game Show: Jeopardy: Parts of the
body, ailments, actions
Ailment Actions Body Parts
10 This is a pain What we
dollars in my head. have to
do for the
dentist
20 A rise in my What we
dollars body cannot do
temperature in soccer
.
30 I go to the What we
dollars dentist when do in the
I have this shower
pain.

38. PRACTICING USING THE VOCABULARY
• Total Physical Response (TPR) Act out the
vocabulary. Give students commands using parts
of the body.
– Raise your hand.
– Touch your toes.
– Scratch your arm.
– Put your hands on your hips.
– Clap your hands.
– Put your hands on your head.
– Cross your arms.

39. SPEAKING ACTIVITIES
• Describing a picture
• Class story using language experience
• A day in the life of my friend
• How did you learn to do that?
• 20 Questions: My favorite gift
• In the News
• Picture story sequence
• Dictations for discussion
• Dialogue Dictation
• Dictogloss

40. PICTURE DESCRIPTION
• Put students in pairs sitting back-to-back
• Give Student A a picture
• Instruct Student B to draw the picture that Student A
is holding without looking at it.
• Student B must ask questions about the picture
• Students compare the 2 pictures after the activity
and explain how they are alike and different
• Side by Side, 2, map on p. 80
• Side by Side, 1, pp. 64/65 – Amy‟s and Edward‟s Apt

41. CLASS STORY USING LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
Has anyone been to the doctor lately? Would you tell us
what happened?
• One student volunteers to tell a story related to the
topic of focus, e.g., getting sick and going to the
doctor (Side by side, 1, unit 15, p. 141).
• Another student (or the teacher) writes the story,
word by word, sentence by sentence as the student
tells the story.
• Teacher aids student(s) in reading the story aloud.
• Teacher/students ask/answer questions about the
story.

42. HOW DID YOU LEARN TO DO THAT?
• Create a grid of skills/activities that adults are likely to do. Teach the
vocabulary to students beforehand.
• Prepare index cards, each listing one skill/ability:
• use a computer
• Operate a cash register
• operate a sewing machine
• repair cars
• decorate a cake
• iron clothes
• drive a car
• Change a tire
• change a diaper
• Model describing how you learned a particular skill/activity.
• Distribute a card to each student. Give students time to construct their
answer.
• Distribute the grid of skills/activities, one to each student.
• Ask students to stand and circulate around the room, asking each partner
they interview “Can you …..?”
• When the answer is yes, the interviewer asks, “How did you learn to do
that?” And writes that person‟s name in the box with that activity/skill.
• Encourage students to use follow-up questions.
• Students can talk about what classmates are able to do.

43. Can you….?
use a computer Drive a car Bake a cake
Operate a cash Change a diaper Speak another
register language
operate a sewing Change a tire Wash dishes
machine
repair cars Iron clothes Do the laundry
decorate a cake Cook a pizza Ride a bicycle

44. 20 QUESTIONS: MY FAVORITE GIFT,
ANIMAL, OCCUPATION,…
• Explain that you once received a gift that has become your favorite.
Say that you would like learners to ask you questions in order to get
details about the gift. The questions must be yes/no questions.
• Answer each question and write the question on the board. Provide
additional questions and your answers as needed.
• When finished, describe the favorite gift in full, including all the answers
to the questions as a demonstration of organized, elaborated speech.
Then put learners in pairs. The first member of the pair thinks of a favorite
gift. The second member of the pair asks questions about the gift using
the questions on the board as necessary. The first member answers each
question one by one and finishes by describing the favorite gift in full.
• Members of the pair switch roles so each person has a chance to ask
and answer questions about a favorite gift.
• For additional practice, conclude by asking certain learners to describe
their favorite gifts to the entire class.
• Additional themes Pairs can speak about their favorite house, teacher,
birthday celebration, trip, etc.

45. DIALOGUE DICTATION
• Select a short, level-appropriate dialogue from a textbook
that is pertinent to the life skill topic or subject matter currently
being studied. (What‟s the Forecast? Or What Time is It?, Side
by Side p. 133/4)
• Separate the lines of the dialogue into Student A and Student
B parts, putting the lines on separate sheets of paper, leaving
blank lines between.
• Put learners in pairs, sitting across the table.
• Learners alternately dictate their lines of the conversation until
both members of the pair have the entire dialogue.
• Remind learners to use clarification strategies during the
dictation (Could you please repeat that? Please speak slowly.
How do you spell that? Is this right?)
• Learners then practice the dialogue together.

46. IN THE NEWS
• Read aloud a short news story. (“The Present,” True
Stories, pp. 70-71)
• Ask students to generate questions about the story, using
the WH-question words. Write the questions on the
board.
• Put students in pairs or groups.
• Read the story aloud again.
• Ask the students to ask and answer the questions orally
from the board.
• To give students practice understanding non-face- to-
face speech, record the article on cassette and play the
cassette rather than reading the article aloud.

47. PICTURE STORY SEQUENCE
• Copy the picture story sequence from the textbook (True
• Cut the pictures apart and mount (True Stories, p. 38-39).
Make enough sets for each pair of students in the class.
• Shuffle each set so the pictures are out of sequence.
• Before handing out the picture sets, read aloud the complete
text.
• Distribute the sets of the pictures. Read the text aloud a
second time while learners arrange the pictures in order. Read
the text aloud a third time so learners can check their work
and make any revisions.
• Ask learners to check their work by looking at the picture
sequence in the textbook and reading the captions under
each picture. (Gather the cut sets for reuse.)
• Learners can write the story sequence for homework and retell
the story the next day in pairs using only the pictures.

48. TRUE STORIES

49. DICTOGLOSS
1. Choose a short passage or dialogue. The passage might only be 5-10
sentences long.
2. Before reading the passage to students, set the scene. If the passage is a
dialogue.)
3. Before the first two readings, instruct students to listen and try to remember.
Then read the passage twice at fairly normal speed, not pausing between
sentences.
4. Before the third reading, tell students they may jot down key words and
phrases (not every word). Then read the dialogue a third time, slightly more
slowly.
5. Have students try to reconstruct and write down the passage as best they
remember it. Tell students they need not use exactly the same words as the
original, but the meaning should not be different and the English should be
grammatically correct. (This can be done either individually or in groups.
Individually takes less time; groups provide opportunity for speaking practice
and mutual assistance.)
6. To check students' work, one option is to write the original on the board and
have students check their own work. As they check you can circulate and
answer questions, particularly on the grammatical accuracy of what they
wrote. A general question-and-answer time may also be helpful. Another option
for checking is to have groups write their passages on the board, but this can
be slow.

50. INTERNET RESOURCES
http://iteslj.org/v/ei/clothes2.html
http://visual.merriam-
webster.com/astronomy/celestial-bodies.php
www.wordle.com

51. Wordle
•Create colorful graphic
representations of texts based http://www.wordl
on word occurrence from any e.net/
given text.
•Feed in the text either by
copy and paste or by
specifying a URL
•Analyze text and creates a
colorful representation with
more frequently occurring
words appearing much larger
than less frequent words.
•Adjust colors and designs to
suit your taste.

53. READING POWER 2

55. SOCIAL ISOLATION
ADVANCED READING POWER, P. 80
For obvious ethical reasons, researchers cannot subject human
beings to experimental isolation. But research on the effects of social
isolation has been conducted on nonhuman primates.
Research with monkeys. Psychologists Harry and Margaret Harlow
(1962) observed rhesus monkeys whose behavior is in some ways surprisingly
similar to that of human beings in various conditions of social isolation. They
sound that complete isolation (with adequate nutrition) for a period of
even six months was sufficient to cause developmental disturbances.
When reintroduced to others of their kind, these monkeys were anxious,
fearful and defenseless against aggression.
The Harlows also placed infant rhesus monkeys in cages with an
artificial 'mother' constructed of wire mesh and a wooden head and the
nipple of a feeding tube where the breast would be. These monkeys, too,
were subsequently unable to interact with others. But when they covered
the artificial 'mother' with soft terry cloth, the infant monkeys clung to it,
thereby deriving some emotional benefit, which reduced developmental
harm. The experiment revealed the profound importance of the simple act
of cradling as part of parent-infant interaction.

56. How to use this with students
•Review/Summarize/Retell text
•Prediction
•Dialogue reconstruction
•Short poems / Haiku
•Text comparison
•Personal information
•Topic research tasks
•Learner training

57. CREATE A CROSSWORD
USING
WWW.ECLIPSECROSSWORD.COM
• Across
• 1. I have a bad _____ so I need to go to the dentist.
• 3. The doctor looks at our ____ to check our health.
• 4. I stand on my ______ all day long so they hurt.
• 6. She wears her ____ in a ponytail.
• 8. Use your _____ all the time to figure out a problem
-- think it through!
• 10. Close your ______ and go to sleep.
• 12. The witch had an ugly ____ with a hair growing out
of it on the tip of her nose.
• 14. Students must raise their ____ before they speak.
• 15. She has a beautiful gold watch on her ____.
• Down
• 1. Bend over and touch your ______
• 2. Open your _____ and eat your food.
• 5. She crossed her _____ for good luck.
• 7. PEOPLE GET ON THEIR TO PRAY
• 9. Cross your ____.
• 11. She used her ____ to get in front of the line.
• 13. Open your _____ and listen carefully to the
directions.

58. APPLICATION
•Side by Side
•FOG
•True Stories
•Reading Power
•All about the USA

59. SCOPE & SEQUENCE: SIDE BY SIDE
• Topics, Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Functional Communication
• Listening/pronunciation
• Writing
• Life skills, Civics, Test preparation

60. SIDE BY SIDE PLUS
BOOK 1, CHAPTER 1 “INTRODUCTIONS”
• Pairwork:
• Interviewing partner sitting back-to-back
• Introducing the partner to the class, w/ or
w/out script
• Registration Form (p. 6a) – one student fills it
out for another
• Group Work
• Introductions in groups of 3
• Games
• Scavenger hunt (Q&A to get to know
classmates)
• Hangman (to practice the alphabet)

61. INTRODUCTIONS (CONT’D)
• Visual Aids
• Map: Where are you from? I am from ___. (Find the
country on the map). Where is he/she from? He is from____.
• Brainstorm (vocabulary/questions)

62. BRAINSTORM FOR INTRODUCTIONS
• What's your name? • What do you like to do in your free time?
• Where are you from? What country • What was the last book you read?
are you from? • Do you like to cook?
• Where were you born? • Do you like baseball?
• Where do you live? What's your • What's your favorite food?
address? How long have you lived
there? Do you live in a house or an • Are you good at cooking/swimming/etc?
apartment? • How old are you?
• What's your telephone/phone • How tall are you?
number? • What are your hobbies?
• What languages do you speak?
• What do you do on Sundays?
• When did you start to study English?
• What is the nearest bus stop or train station
• How long have you been studying
English? to your house?
• Why do you want to learn English? • What kind of food/music do you like?
• Do you live alone? • What countries have you visited?
• Are you married or single? • Which sports do you like?
• What's your father/mother like? • What is your goal in life?
• Do you have brothers and sisters? • What jobs have you done?
Are they older or younger than • What's something you do well?
you?
• What do you do? What's your job? • Do you have any pets?

63. • Focus on
•GRAMMAR
• Fourth Edition

64. FOCUSED PRACTICE
• Check answers
with a partner.
• Read aloud with
a partner.

65. STEP 4
COMMUNICATION
PRACTICE
EXPANDED
Listening activities
provide natural contexts
and help students’
practice listening skills

66. NEW
Pronunciation Note
and exercise
prepare students for
speaking activities

67. NEW
Speaking activities
provide more
practice for
developing fluency

68. REFLECTIONS
• Am I satisfied with the listening/speaking activities in
my class?
• How might I incorporate more listening/speaking
instruction in my classes?

69. Q&A

70. THANK YOU
for your participation!