About this activity
Twelve conversational tasks with a technique applied: talk for sixty seconds about your favourite game; ask me three questions about my weekend; disagree with me politely about the best season; describe a movie without saying the title; interview me about my job with five questions; talk for two minutes with no topic given. The last one is the real test, since a technique that survives an unprepared topic has transferred.
How to use it in a session
Take real turns. The interview and question tasks require you to answer at length, which gives the student listening time and makes the exchange a conversation rather than a performance. Start with the prepared topics and end with the no-topic one; the difficulty is not the content but the absence of planning time. Fifteen minutes covers three or four tasks with genuine conversation.
What to listen for
Listen for technique use dropping as engagement rises. A student telling you about something they care about will stop monitoring, which is exactly what should happen eventually and is premature if it happens in week one. Watch the argue for more recess task, where emotion raises the rate and the technique usually goes first — that is the most realistic condition on the board.
Carrying it home
One real conversation a day where the adult does not finish sentences is worth more than any drill. Asking the family to hold the pause is the single most useful request you can make.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Third through eighth, for students who have a technique and need it to survive conversation.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve tasks play with no account.
- The technique disappears in real conversation. Is that failure?
- It is the normal stage between drill and carryover. Conversation loads attention, and a technique that is not yet automatic goes first — which is an argument for more conversational practice, not for returning to word level.