Teacher Talk Time and Student Talk Time

Teacher Talk Time / Student Talk Time
By CotterHUE

Most teachers readily agree that the students should receive as much opportunity to speak as is
possible when learning English as a foreign language. This idea is especially true in the EFL
classroom, where students don't live in an English-speaking country. In such cases, the students may
only have the chance to practice English as a conversational tool during the sixty or ninety minutes of
the lesson. But whatever the situation, the more students speak in English, the better English speakers
they become.

But what should the balance be between teacher talk time and student talk time?
It's best to consider talk time in the following percentages. Students should speak for 70% of the
lesson. Teachers should speak for 30% of the time. Of course, some lessons may require longer
explanations on the part of the teacher. Or other lessons may only require a minimal amount of
explanation, and 90% or more may be devoted to conversational activities. But this 70/30 figure works
well as a goal in most classroom situations. Consider the following positive and negative examples as
well:
Positive:
1. The teacher praises students.
2. The teacher provides feedback, correction, and possible guidance.
3. The teacher presents information or gives instructions.
4. The teacher sets up and/or demonstrates activities.
Negative:
1. The teacher offers personal anecdotes that don't connect to the lesson.
2. The teacher speaks too quickly (or slowly) for the level of students.
3. The teacher offers too much correction.
4. The teacher explains the target language for too much.
5. The teacher excessively uses slang and fillers.

How does the 70/30 figure get affected by specific activities?
Listening activities, examples from the teacher, demonstrating an activity... all can affect talk time.

Let's look at some of the following examples to better highlight good use of talk time.
Effective:
1. The teacher reads a paragraph as part of a listening activity. The teacher speaks most of this time, as
he reads the monologue several times and asks comprehension questions. However, his talk time can


be deemed effective because the students get to practice their listening and comprehension skills. To
increase the effectiveness, though, the listening activity could segue into another activity. Maybe the
students could pick out idioms and try to use them in subsequent conversations. Maybe the students
could imagine subsequent events from the monologue, or rewrite it as a dialogue. Maybe the students
could summarize the monologue in their own words.
2. The teacher provides examples before eliciting a few more sentences from the class on a particularly
difficult grammar point. Although his talk time is quite high here, the class can better use the form and
function of the language. In other words, they know the structure of the target language, how to use it,
and why to use it. This translates into better and more accurate usage both later in the lesson and out in
the real world.
3. The teacher explains an activity's directions step by step, then demonstrates the activity with a
student. Last, he checks confirmation with a few questions, such as "What will you do first?" and
"How about after that?" Again, the talk time is high, but students can immediately begin the activity
without confusion.
How about student talk time?
A lot has been said so far regarding the teacher's talk time. For students, the most effective use of their
time occurs when they are actively using the target language. This can come in the form of drills early
in the lesson or as part of a meaningful conversational activity later. Be careful of the following
negatives, though.
Ineffective:
1. Students drill the target language throughout much of the lesson, and don't have the chance to use
the new grammar or vocabulary with previously studied material. Drills are great to set the pattern of
the target language, but students won't know how to use the language outside of these narrowly
defined parameters. If students are still practicing with drills towards the end of the class, then the

teacher may have introduced too much in the lesson. Retention will drop, and talk time will be
rendered ineffective.
2. Students don't practice the target language enough in drills, and so make numerous mistakes with
the grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and so on. If this continues during the whole class, then
students may not understand how to correctly use the target language. They will continue to make the
same mistakes outside of the class. Although the students may have spoken a lot during the lesson,
they used the target language incorrectly. Again, this translates into ineffective talk time.
3. The teacher talks or calls on students one at a time. Although the talk time for the class may be
roughly 70%, individual talk time is quite low. In a class of ten during a one-hour session, answering
questions one by one translates to six minutes of talk time for each student. This isn't enough of an
opportunity to speak and practice the material! A better course of action would be to pair up the
students, have them practice in drills and free(r) activities throughout the lesson. Two students
speaking in pairs for one hour would mean roughly thirty minutes each of talk time, which is a huge
difference!
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Think Tank
This Month's Think Tank Panel

Dorothy Zemach

Chuck Sandy

Curtis Kelly

Peter Viney

Marc Helgesen
November 2009

Topic: What Are Some Ways to Maximize Student Talk Time?

Dorothy Zemach

Modeling Student Talk
If I use the dictionary function on MS Word, I get these definitions for “maximize”: enlarge; and then
also make the most of.
I don’t always want students to talk more. Sometimes, I want them to listen, or to summarize briefly,
or to respond in writing. However, I do want to “make the most of” their talking time; in essence, to
talk better.


These days, many textbooks are set up to give students “communicative tasks,” where they speak
English to exchange information. Often, there is some sort of deed to be done—A has the information
that B needs, and B has the information that A needs, and they speak to exchange their information
and fill in their charts or solve the puzzle or whatever end goal there is.
Those can be enjoyable tasks, but the downside of overdoing them is that students get used to seeing
every speaking task as a sort of info gap: That is, there is information that must be exchanged, and so
once it is exchanged, the task is over. It’s a fine method for completing one’s “Find Someone Who”
worksheet, but it fails miserably for a discussion. Discussion questions look like they’re asking for
information (that is, students’ opinions on a topic, or answers to some questions), but so much more
goes on in a good discussion. Participants might make or respond to jokes, show off, show
understanding or sympathy, address new topics, search for new vocabulary, let off steam, learn and
teach information about the topic, express frustration, and so on.
Students get used to seeing every speaking task as a sort of info gap: That is, there is information
that must be exchanged, and so once it is exchanged, the task is over.
I remember one lesson in particular with a small group of trainees at Sumitomo Electric Industries
(SEI) whom I’d had in class for about six months. They had a good command of vocabulary and
grammar, they were lively and engaged, and of course they were happy to be in English class instead

of back at their desks.
We had a unit in the textbook on receiving visitors, leading up to office and factory tours; quite
relevant for these trainees, since they used English primarily for receiving overseas visitors and then
showing them around. There was vocabulary to be learned and dialogues to practice and functions to
employ, but first there were (as there often are in textbooks) some warm-up questions. In my mind,
they’d spend about 15 minutes on these warm-up questions (though I was prepared to go longer),
during which they’d bring up the necessary vocabulary that they knew, as well as signal to me what
they didn’t know. Also, I’d get a feel for their past experiences and needs.
There were two questions, more or less like this:
1) Have you ever received a visitor at your company? Who?
2) Where did you meet him or her?
As it turned out that day, I had four trainees in class, so I put them in pairs. And in each pair, the
“discussion” went like this:
A: Ah … B-san, “Have you ever received a visitor at your company? Who?”
B: Ah … yes. Sato-san.
A: OK. “Where did you meet him or her?”
B: At … Kansai Kuukou.
A: Airport.
B: Airport. OK, switch. A-san, “Have you ever received a visitor at your company? Who?”
A: No.
B: “Where did you…” Ah, so ka. “No.” (both laugh)
They looked at me expectantly. Time for the listening! Epic fail, as the gamers would say. I sighed.
The students were perplexed. They asked if they’d done something wrong. “It wasn’t what I was
expecting,” I said.
A nodded in understanding. “ ‘No, I haven’t,’ right?”
No, I said, it wasn’t the grammar, it was the information. True confusion now. “But … I only met


Sato,” said B, a bit apologetically. And I laughed. Naturally, they wanted to know what was so funny.
Well, we had time, so I thought, why not talk about it?

“What is the purpose of these questions?” I asked.
They had the look of students expecting some sort of trick. “To know what visitors we met?” asked A.
No! Here was our problem. I explained that I actually didn’t care how many people they’d met, or
who, or where. The purpose of the questions was to bring up vocabulary and functions and grammar
necessary to talk about receiving visitors, and to talk about issues concerning visitors, particularly
international visitors, and to practice meeting visitors in English over and over again until they could
do it comfortably on their own.
Then, I modeled what I had been hoping for. I went over and sat with the students and role-played the
discussion myself, taking the part of both students, like this:
A: Hi, B-san. Receiving visitors. I don’t have much experience with that topic.
B: Really? I do.
A: Oh? Have you ever received any visitors?
B: Yes, only one time. But I think I’ll meet more in the future, because it’s part of my job now.
A: Who did you meet?
B: Mr. Sato from the Head Office.
A: Did you already know him?
B: A little. I hadn’t met him before, but I speak to him on the phone almost every week.
A: How did you know who he was, then? Did you make a sign with his name?
B: No, I knew his picture from (checks with imaginary teacher for vocabulary help, and gets it) the
Intranet.
A: Did he look like his picture?
B: Actually, not really. His hair was longer. But you know, he was carrying a blue SEI shopping bag.
So I knew it was him.
And so on. The students looked amazed. Truly. They’d had no idea, no idea at all, that this was what I
might want; just as I’d had no idea that they didn’t know. They weren’t being uncooperative; they
didn’t lack vocabulary or grammar or energy; they weren’t bored. They just didn’t know what my
expectations were, or even the purpose of the exercise. Once they knew what to do, they put the books
down and had a good 20-minute discussion on the topic, and ended energized for the rest of the lesson.
I’m a huge modeler now, and I don’t wait for things to go wrong first.
I’m a huge modeler now, and I don’t wait for things to go wrong first. Whether I want brief, focused

answers or a meandering discussion, I never want to turn students loose on a task if they don’t know
what its purpose is or how to do it.
Dorothy E. Zemach is an ESL materials writer, editor, and teacher trainer from Oregon. She is a
frequent plenary presenter at conferences, a columnist for TESOL’s Essential Teacher magazine, and
has written over 15 ESL textbooks, including Sentence Writing,Paragraph Writing,Success With
College Writing, and Get Ready For Business(Macmillan) and Writers at Work: The Essay
(Cambridge University Press). Current interests include the teaching of writing, EAP, business
English, testing, and humor in ESL materials and the profession.
Chuck Sandy

It's Not About Technique


Although I do have a variety of techniques that help maximize talk time for everyone in my classes,
those techniques really are not very important. They’re just little tricks I’ve developed over the years
and are hardly worth mentioning. I’ll share one of them with you, but I want to tell you right now: it’s
not about technique.
In my bag there’s always a small ball made of fabric. It’s colorful and soft and could never hurt
anyone. Whenever I ask a question in class I wait a few seconds and then toss it out to whomever I see
making eye contact with me. That person catches the little ball, answers the question, and then tosses
the ball on to someone else. It’s then that person’s turn. Sometimes I gently clap my hands and gesture
that I’d like the ball back for a moment to clarify something or make a comment or redirect the flow of
the work. The key here is playfulness and a spirit of fun.
The key here is playfulness and a spirit of fun.
I do this in small classes where students sit in a circle and in very large lecture classes where students
sit at desks arranged in long rows. Whatever the class size or situation, I usually find that after awhile
the physical ball becomes unnecessary. Until it does, I teach little strategies such as having the thrower
make eye contact with the person he or she wishes to toss the ball to and say that person’s name with a
rising intonation before throwing it.
As the catcher catches the ball, he or she holds the eye contact and says uh huh. Then the thrower goes

on to ask the question. In classes in which the focus is on oral communication this almost always
involves some sort of personalized language practice. In lecture classes it usually involves a response
to some sort of discussion question and so the strategy taught might be having the thrower say
something like What do you think about that? after making eye contact and saying the person’s name.
Then of course the catcher is going to need some hesitation device to use while figuring our just what
it is he or she thinks about that, so I teach students how to use Hmmm, let me think about that or well.
Now, just imagine you’ve thrown me the ball:
You: Chuck?
Chuck: Uh huh?
You: Do you think it's enough to just get students talking in English?
Chuck: Well ...
... to tell you the truth, no I don’t. I’ve been to plenty of classrooms where there’s a lot of talk going
on, but nothing much being said. In these classrooms the focus is on language rather than on people.
Lessons are built around the dialogue, the meaningful drill, the little role-play, and the fun game.
There’s a lot going on and it looks like communication -- but it really isn’t. It’s just craft and practice.
I wouldn’t encourage anyone to work at maximizing this kind of thing. Too often language teachers
see themselves as practitioners of a craft or facilitators of practice, armed with activities and tasks,
exercises and games all designed to maximize talk time. Too often, though, these very things designed
to maximize output, become a wall that blocks real communication.
In a recent study conducted by Anne Burns it was shown that output actually increased when students
were off task and communicating freely with the teacher.
I’ve been to plenty of classrooms where there’s a lot of talk going on, but nothing much being
said.
This is not to suggest in any way that teachers should dispense with activities, games, and tasks, but to
point out that it’s often the less structured moments of a class which prove to be the most fruitful and
that teachers should be aware of them and ready to follow such moments to where they lead. It’s also
to say that a good language teacher is no different than a good teacher of any other subject, for as any


good teacher does, a good language teacher creates a comfortable classroom with positive group

dynamics where spontaneity is valued and everyone has a chance to be heard.
In addition, like all effective teachers, the effective language teacher uses relevant, intriguing materials
as a springboard and not as a means to a particular end. Such materials allow for digressions and leave
room for spontaneity and allow both teacher and students to ask real questions of value which go as far
as possible beyond the simple comprehension questions most of us rely upon.
Therefore, the effective language teacher, like all effective teachers, thinks about the types of
questions he or she asks and realizes that it’s not the teacher’s voice in the classroom that’s central, but
the voices of students.
Finally, like all the best teachers, the effective language teacher is approachable outside of class as
well as in. I’ve found that one of the most effective ways of increasing communication and
maximizing talk time has been to arrive in my classroom early and to stay late -- then later to leave my
office door open.
If you want to maximize talk time, just remember this: it’s not about technique. Now, would you
please toss someone else the ball?
Chuck Sandy is a teacher, teacher trainer, ELT author, essayist and poet who has most recently
coauthored the Active Skills for Communication series with Curtis Kelly. He also recently completed
work on a second edition of his popular upper-intermediate level series Passages Second Edition with
Jack Richards, and is coauthor (with Jack Richards and Carlos Baribsan) of the junior / senior high
school level series Connect. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and schools around the world
where he most often speaks about the joys of project work and the need for materials and practices that
promote critical thinking.
Got Facebook? Then, join Chuck (and Curtis) and over 1800 dedicated teachers from around the world
on the global teachers discussion page for an ongoing conversation about education.
Curtis Kelly

From Task Analysis To Reward Analysis
This month’s question, “How do you maximize student talk time?” is an interesting one. I am going to
make a few assumptions. I’ll assume a) the talking is done in pairs or groups (otherwise a choral
reading is the best answer) b) the talking is interactive (otherwise speech-giving will suffice), and c)
the talking is communicative, meaning that the listener does not know beforehand what the speaker

will say (otherwise, the best answer is dialog reading). In short, we need to think about how to keep
students talking in conversation or discussion activities.
The traditional answer for this question, and still a good one, is to do a task analysis. Task analysis
means analyzing what the students are instructed to do by breaking it down into its parts and
examining each. For example, how many steps or actions are needed to complete the overall task? Are
the instructions clear enough for the learners to know exactly what to do? Is the task comprehensible
in their culture? Are the graphics relevant? Do students have the language needed to complete the
task? Is the environment conducive for doing so, such as the seating arrangement, noise level, etc.?
Are there any other factors that might interfere with task completion, such as a task that embarrasses a
learner, or problems with partners?
Usually, when an activity fails, the cause can be explained by one of the reasons above. The students


might not know what to do because the instructions are vague, or because they never did anything like
this before. They might start in English but slip into Japanese because the activity is poorly scaffolded,
or because they can’t see what the teacher wrote on the board.
There are dozens of possible flaws that can bring an activity to a halt, and in my experience they are
hard to predict. That is why I insist on testing each activity in class before putting it into a textbook. I
remember trying an activity once where students were supposed to discuss which of their classmates
they thought was the “smartest.” Most of them tried to find the “thinnest” member of the class. More
recently, I asked students to talk about their favorite foods with a partner. I modeled the activity and
wrote a few of my own examples on the board. I later noticed that about a third of the students were
just using the phrases I had written on the board, thinking that this was the task, presumably because
they almost never talked about themselves in high school English classes.
However, there are other times when the mechanics, instructions, and all the other task bits are good,
but the activity still fizzles out. The students just do the minimum and quit. At times like these, it is
easy to blame the students for not engaging, but the real reason for the halt is that the activity doesn’t
have enough “pull.” They just comply with the “push,” and do the minimum necessary to get it over
with. In this regard, task analysis is a bit weak at determining the level of engagement an activity will
engender. It occurred to me recently, while studying the neuroscience of learning, that we need

another means of evaluation as well, which I like to call “reward analysis.” Because of the way our
brains work, the inherent reward of the activity not only “maximizes student talk time,” it also
maximizes acquisition.
Consider. The brain evolved as a tool for survival. As a result, our brains are highly selective in
what they pay attention to and retain.
Consider. The brain evolved as a tool for survival. As a result, our brains are highly selective in what
they pay attention to and retain. In fact, we have great difficulty paying attention to or retaining
anything that is not personally relevant, either directly, or metaphorically. As neuroscientist Read
Montague says, and as advertisers know, the things that really catch our attention are death, sex, and
food. (The first two are taboo, so that is why many textbook activities deal with eating.) Well, we can
expand this list to include other areas, but the trick is to make sure that the topic is relevant to the
learner, not just to the teacher or institution. How many times, for example, have you heard a teacher
complain: “They don’t study. Don’t they realize how important English is for their future?” Of course
not, at least not at the gut level, because they haven’t experienced that future yet, even if we have.
So, how can we use reward analysis with Japanese high school and college students to maximize
talking? Assuming the level, instructions, graphics, and all the other task components are right on,
what kinds of topics will keep students engaged?
Knowing that our learners like sports, shopping, movies, etc, is a good start, but these topics alone are
not the end. You can just as easily put a class to sleep by having them discuss the French movie John
bought for his hockey player friend. Instead, knowing why they like sports, shopping, and movies, etc.
is the crux. And the reason is that they are going through what developmental psychologists call
“moral development.” As I have discussed in other Think Tank articles, moral development is the
greatest sociological/psychological task all teens face. It means finding themselves, establishing their
identities, by determining what they think is right, who they like, finding goals, etc. It is driven by
their intense biologically-based need at this age to gain autonomy. We can do better than just saying
they like sports, shopping, and movies; we can say they like these activities because they have a need
show their competence, to express themselves, and to figure out the rights and wrongs of the world.
This is also why many of them are so attracted to English, because it represents a counter-culture of
independence. (… and classes taught by native speakers, not because they are non-Japanese, but
because of the types of activities they tend to use lets students interact.)

So, with reward analysis, we can identify the topics that sustain student interest: those that let them
share what is personally meaningful. However, even more important than “topics” for satisfying their
deeper psychological needs – the need to bond, to gain self-esteem, to discover, and others – are the
activities themselves. In my 30 years of teaching Japanese learners, I have found that having students
make something, solve a problem, figure something out about life, and most importantly, share
something meaningful with peers, gets the most mileage. In concrete terms, that might mean having
them discuss something that changed their life, explain a childhood experience, propose a class party,
discuss the kind of partner they want, solve an information gap mystery, negotiate a fashion remake,
and so on.
Making students feel creative, smart, cared about, or self-aware, is the basis for every activity I
write.
Indeed, making students feel creative, smart, cared about, or self-aware, is the basis for every activity I
write, whether for a textbook or for just my own use in class.
Curtis Kelly (EDD) is a specialist in adult education, writing and speaking instruction, and brain-based
learning. He has given over 250 presentations and written 17 books, including the Writing from
Within and the Active Skills for Communication series. Got Facebook? Then, join Curtis (and Chuck)
and over 1800 dedicated teachers from around the world on the global teachers discussion page for an
ongoing conversation about education.
Peter Viney

Maximizing Student Talking Time
Twenty-five years ago I was at a conference in Germany. I was speaking, and one of my fellow
speakers was something of an ELT guru, who shall be nameless. Then any lesson observation notes in
teacher training kicked off with Student Talking Time vs. Teacher talking Time. Now this particular
guru was a great advocate of paired and group activities, and on minimizing the intervention of the
teacher into all that communication in English which was naturally taking place in his imagination.
About three hundred people attended his talk and three minutes in, we were told to get into groups of
four. Seven or eight minutes later, we’d assembled our groups of four amidst much confusion. We

couldn’t agree which handout we’d been told to work our way through, because we’d all forgotten it
during the fuss of assembling a group and noisily shifting our metal chairs. So we argued about that
for a few minutes. It was too noisy for us to be able to ask our guru. We argued in English, we were,
after all teachers of English. Handout settled, we worked ten minutes before we were stopped, and the
guru spoke for two minutes. Incredibly, given the size of the audience we were told to assemble in
new groups. Five minutes more of shuffling chairs and negotiating ensued. We then went through a
list of questions about maximizing student talking time. Five minutes before the end of the talk, we
were told to assess what we had learned today … in the groups, of course.
My group of German high school teachers were furious. They had paid to come to the conference, and
they had travelled a long way. They had not come to talk to each other, like they said, but to listen to
native speakers and hopefully to glean ideas from the experts. They had taken the trouble to read the
guru’s book in advance, and had discussed it. They all taught at the same school and had travelled
together in the same mini-bus. They wanted to hear him talk. They were kind enough to say they were
lucky to have been in a group with one of the very few native speakers in the room (me), but they
dismissed the guru as “a really bad teacher.” I admired their confidence. So often in similar situations,
I’ve watched teachers being perplexed, worried, and finally dismissive of the experts, but still feeling
glad to have basked in the light of the guru’s presence. The German teachers simply saw that the
Emperor was wearing no clothes.


The most appropriate medium for communication between one and three hundred is a lecture. It’s not
impossible to do pair work with three hundred, though group work is really too complex to set up
unless you have a “cabaret” seating arrangement where people are already seated around tables in
small groups. When I was teaching in Britain in the 70s and 80s, my students had four lessons a day in
classes of fifteen, plus two supplementary “lectures” a day. These lectures would be with ten classes
assembled together, and they took place in a lecture room. We didn’t actually do “lectures” but we
used to have short acted out dialogues with two teachers; students listening to and then singing English
pop songs; or the BBC “On We Go” video series. We did repetition, drills, questions and pair work
with one hundred and fifty. The proportion of pair work to teacher-centred work is the important
factor. My ELT guru had it around 10 to 1. With very large numbers, I’d reverse that.

Maximizing Student Talking Time (MSTT) has become a mantra, often repeated without
analyzing the content.
Maximizing Student Talking Time (MSTT) has become a mantra, often repeated without analyzing
the content. It is a given that MSTT is a “good thing.” But, as usual, you should question all received
wisdom. Does it mean Student Talking Time, or Student Vocalizing Time? I’ve seen very teacher
controlled classes with lots of student vocalization (repetition and drilling) but I wouldn’t call that
“conversation” though it is “talking.” Teacher controlled interaction questions are Student Talking
Time. (Do you like tea? Ask him. Ask me. Ask her about coffee. Ask him about hot chocolate, etc).
More often, it means pair work and group work.
The main question though is how to deal with “talk about what?” Students won’t hold forth in a
foreign language without a model, a clear task, and motivation. This should be self-evident. At one
point, I had to watch and evaluate twenty or thirty people teaching every summer. I still laugh at the
memory of the most highly-qualified candidate, fresh from earning an Applied Linguistics doctorate.
Confronted with a class of Arab beginners, his task was to introduce adverbs of frequency for the first
time in his life, and with material of his own choice. Among the things he said in the first ten minutes
were “Let’s brainstorm some adverbs of frequency! Get in pairs and make a list” and “Ali, What do
you think about adverbs of frequency?” He then asked them to underline the adverbs of frequency in
an authentic piece from The Guardian newspaper. He didn’t have a clue about who he was teaching,
and was singularly insensitive to student looks of total incomprehension. At the end of this, one of the
few lessons where I had to fight the urge to just stand up and take over, he asked, “Any questions?”
With remarkably good inflection and with a hint of bitterness one student just said “Are you a
teacher?” The candidate was even more perplexed when I said I’d been introducing adverbs of
frequency to beginners for years, and had only used the words “adverbs of frequency” a few times in
initial lessons.
Talking won’t ‘just happen’ and it is but one factor in lessons that should involve listening, reading,
moving about, doing things, writing a few words, getting involved in the content of a text, listening to
grammar explanations, looking at pictures and diagrams, watching things acted out, watching things
demonstrated, singing, maybe yawning a bit, and laughing sometimes too.
As a postscript, Total Physical Response (TPR) suggests that beginner students benefit from a silent
period of comprehending, and responding to instructions, before being exposed to potential ridicule

and embarrassment while getting your tongue around those weird foreign noises. I’ve often said that
TPR is akin to becoming an expert footballer by sitting on a couch watching football on TV rather
than playing it. Even so, some TPR activities will boost confidence, and learning will be taking place
without vocalizing, but with a classroom we can do better.
Peter Viney is the co-author of IN English:, Survival English / Basic Survival, Handshake, Grapevine,
and Streamline. He has written thirteen video courses, and has recently finished work on a major video


self-study project. He lives in Poole, UK. Peter and Karen Viney’s website is at www.viney.uk.com　
Peter’s forthcoming book is Fast Track to Reading published by Garnet Education.
Marc Helgesen

How do we maximize student talk time?
There a French proverb that I like a lot:
The way to become a blacksmith is to be a blacksmith.
If you want to become a blacksmith, you don’t read about blacksmithing, you do things blacksmiths
do. The same holds true for becoming an English speaker – the students need to speak English to learn
English. English is not only the goal, it is also the pathway to that goal. Of course, nothing is as simple
as it is sometimes made out to be. Students need comprehensible input through reading and listening,
including comprehensible input from the teacher. And we know that giving a minute or two of “think
time” before a speaking task increases fluency, linguistic complexity, accuracy, and vocabulary
variety. And, of course, not every English class is a speaking class. But in conversation classes, the
students should be doing most of the talking.
If you want to become a blacksmith, you don’t read about blacksmithing, you do things
blacksmiths do. The same holds true for becoming an English speaker.
A couple years ago I was on sabbatical. One of my projects was to observe classes in a range of
situations around Japan, Korea, and Thailand. My publisher organized these so, in most cases, the
classes were using textbooks I had written. It was fascinating and delightful to see the ways teachers
took my materials and made them their own. Well, usually fascinating and delightful. In a very few
cases, I observed classes where it was clear the teacher really didn’t know how to organize a speaking

class. In most of those classes, there was a constant babble from the teacher – if comprehensible input
is i+1 (the learners current level plus a slight increase), this was more like i+50. The students were left
clueless about what to do. They also got very little practice actually using English. It was a shame.
These were teachers who I know wanted the learners to succeed and, in most cases, were students who
did, too.
It made me want to do what writers to: write something. I wrote a couple skill sheets about ways to
maximize student speaking time. I wrote them so the publishers rep’s would have something to give to
teachers, especially those teachers who were new to teaching English or who may not have had much
training. I’ve revised the skill sheets here to make them less tied to any particular textbook.
I’m leaving them in “skill sheet” form, rather than the usual prose of this blog because I thought the
“bullet point” approach may be more useful for busy teachers. Have a look at them here:
Maximizing Learner Speaking Time
How to Maximize Learner Speaking Time
The first suggests the basic ideas. The second one (How to maximize…” gives more step-by-step”
suggestions. I hope you find them useful. If you do, feel free to copy them to share with colleagues.
Marc Helgesen is professor at Miyagi Gakuin Women's University, Sendai and adjunct at Teachers
College Columbia University MA TESOL Program - Tokyo. He is an author of over 100 articles,
books, and textbooks including the English Firsthand series and has lead teacher development


workshops on five continents. Marc also maintains the ELT and the Science of Happiness website to
distribute ELT/Positive Psychology downloads and a website for various presentation handouts.

/>
Maximizing Student Talk Time
Mid Year Conference
January 22nd, 2007
Presented by Masahiko Mikami & Brett Stendell

 Warm-Up
 Theoretical Considerations for Successful
Speaking Activities
 The Basics—Phonics!
 A Look at Suggested Activities
 Assessing, Tinkering & Presenting
 A Room Full of Teachers
 Conclusion

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Warm-up: Find Someone Who………….………………………1
Why Encourage Speaking?..………………………………….2-3
Some Basic Theory……………………………………………..4-6
Phonics…………………………………………………………….7-11
(Suggested Activities)
Warm-Ups………………………………………………………..12-16
Short Activities, 15-20 minutes………………………….17-24
Extended Activities (Over Several Classes)…………25-28

Contact Information:

Brett Stendell @ Atago Junior High School
Phone: 022-225-7458
email:
Masahiko Mikami @ Atago Junior High School
Phone: 022-225-7458
email:

I. Warm-up:

Find Someone Who…


Formulate questions which will solicit affirmative answers to the prompts provided below (for
example, “Do you have a blue bicycle?”). Continue asking the question until you find someone who
can answer “yes” and then write that person’s name in the space provided. Add two more questions of
your own at the bottom of the list.
____________________ has a blue bicycle.
____________________ can play the guitar.
____________________ teaches in Matsushima.
____________________ has a birthday in the fall.
____________________ has lived abroad for more than one year.
____________________ has children (or a child).
____________________ ate at a restaurant last weekend.
____________________ has taught English for more than 10 years.
____________________ commutes to work by bicycle.
____________________ has been to more than 10 countries.
____________________ is the youngest child in the family.
____________________ can speak Spanish.
________________________________________________________.
________________________________________________________.

II. Why Encourage Speaking?
Oral Communication and Japanese students: Evidence of a Problem






(Non)conversations with students outside of class
“How are you?”
(Same response.)
“How old are you?”
(Lost look.)
“What are your hobbies?”
(Looks to friend.)
Students’ inability to form questions
(“What do you like colors?”)

 Outside of the “target grammar” structure of the JHS classroom, students are generally
unable to carry the most basic conversation. I believe that one reason for this is because they
have been taught to rely too heavily on form (accuracy) and not enough on communication
(fluency).
 Long-term vs. Short-term memory Retention…Dangers of Flashcards
 Reading Aloud as “Speaking”

So how can we as English Language Teachers change this pattern? What are the
components of a “successful” Speaking Activity? With a partner who is NOT your
ALT/JTE, please list three things that you feel are important when designing Speaking
Activities.


Possible Reasons for the Communication Breakdown:
1. Teacher-Centered Classes
Solution:

Create student-centered activities.
Students should be doing most of the talking.
Teachers should step back and monitor.

2. Low Motivation for Students
Solution:
Use English everywhere: in the hallway, in the teacher’s room, with other English
teachers. Show students that English is real!
3. Real Life Situations in Class are Rare…Adherence to Textbook
Solution:
Make English tangible, not just another textbook to study.
Do role-plays & skits.
Include a cultural context.
4. Adherence to Form and Practice Patterns
(“Repeat after me…” “Read this sentence…”)
Solution:
Give students a chance to use the grammar by doing more communicative activities.
Continual isolation of the grammar prevents students from incorporating it into a
larger context.
5. Students Never Create Language
Solution:
Let the students be in charge of creating language.
Do more free-talking.
Begin each class with a conversation topic.
Other possible reasons…
• Few Opportunities to Use English
• Emphasis on Standardized Tests
• Students’ belief that English is 無理！

III. Points to Remember When Teaching Speaking
Speaking Activities should ideally allow students to use any and all language at their command, not
just a prescribed sentence pattern or grammar point.

WHY?



It allows students to “get the feel” of communicating in a foreign language. Simply reading a
target sentence off a piece of paper is NOT communicating (nor is it an effective Speaking
Activity as it does not activate the long-term memory).



It provides feedback. Speaking Activities allow the teacher and the students to discover which
points need review and which points have been successfully learned.



Good Speaking Activities should be motivating and should build confidence in the students. This
will encourage them to try harder.


FOUR things students need when being introduced to new language:
1.
2.
3.
4.

They must be exposed to it—--hear it used in context by the teacher.
They must understand its meaning—--know when to use it.
They must understand its form—--know how to use it.
They must use it. And use it again…and again----they must activate it.
 From How to Teach English. Harmer, Jeremy. Longman 1991.

ARC: Authentic, Restricted, Clarification

Authentic…

Activities where language use is not restricted.
Students have an opportunity to use all of the language
they know to really communicate.
Restricted…
Activities that offer opportunities for language practice,
for improving accuracy, for testing, for display.
Clarification…
Teacher explanation; reference to a grammar book; etc.
 From “ARC: a descriptive model for classroom work on language” in Challenge and Change
in Language Teaching. Scrivener, Jim. Ed. Willis, Jane. Macmillan Heineman 1998.

Further Considerations for Assessing Students’
Communicative Abilities:
1. Accuracy…

How well is the language produced in relation to the
rules of the target grammar?
2. Complexity…
How ambitious is the language which students produce?
3. Fluency…
How well can students produce language in real time without undue pausing
or hesitation?
 It is important for us as language teachers to create situations which maximize the
chances for a balance between these different goals when planning speaking activities.
Argument in Favor of Targeting Fluency:
If too much attention is paid to specific language forms (i.e. targeted grammar) a particular mind set
will be induced in students. When pressure is applied to students to (a) conform to the use of certain
structures and to (b) use these accurately, the less likely it is that students will achieve acceptable

levels of fluency and use “riskier” language structures (26).
However, the problem is…
…that relying too heavily on a “communicative approach” gives students greater fluency but may be
limiting in the long-term. Students gain the ability to solve communication problems quickly using
chunks of readily available language, but may be unable to make measurable language progress in
terms of language precision over the long-term (22).

The biggest challenge….
What do we do with the low-level learner? How can we apply this to them?
 From “Second language acquisition research and task-based instruction” in Challenge and
Change in Language Teaching. Skehan, Peter. Ed. Willis, Jane. Macmillan Heineman 1998.

IV. Phonics…to help with Pronunciation!
The 1-nensei textbook jumps from the ABCs to “Hi, I am Yuki” with no intermediate step in between.
What this insures for students is an inability to spell and an inability to pronounce new words when
they are encountered. An understanding of phonics is crucial for good reading & writing and will
certainly help students when speaking. I would propose incorporating phonics into your lessons as a 5
minute warm-up, 1-2 times per week. It could be as simple as one new sound per week. This is a


perfect way to utilize ALTs who, as native speakers, will already have an inherent understanding of
phonics.
Some good websites for phonics teaching tips and/or free downloadable worksheets are the following:
www.readingtarget.com
vowel, consonant, blends, etc. worksheets
www.edhelper.com
assorted phonics activities worksheets
www.1-language.com/eslphonics/ similar to readingtarget.com
www.genkienglish.net
better for elementary school visits

www.dorbooks.com
lesson plans and ideas
www.mpi-j.co.jp/
phonics information in Japanese

Whether you want to teach phonics systematically or simply work on spot-checking difficult
pronunciation, here are some activities that will help students with common pronunciation problems.
1.
2.
3.

Word Trees
Pronunciation Game
Karuta is also an excellent way to practice sounds, words, or a combination of the two.
 Most important with all of these activities is to get the students to be the ones who do the
pronouncing / speaking!! The teacher should model correct pronunciation and then sit back and
let the students do the work.
4. Variation on the Word Tree:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Practice pronunciation of the words.
First, do the activity with the ALT pronouncing the words.
Then have students do the activity in pairs. The JTE and ALT should be monitoring and should
re-practice any words that are giving students problems.
Next, the students will be the ones to lead the ALT to the correct number.

The JTE writes a number on the blackboard. The students can all see the number but the ALT
cannot.
The JTE then calls on individual students to give the words leading to the correct number. For
maximum student involvement, each student should only give one word and then a new student
should be called on.

Music Questions:


What did you think of the background music? Was it distracting?

My thoughts about using background music during Speaking Activities:
1. Should make students more relaxed. Creates a casual atmosphere and students will hopefully be
less self-conscious about being overheard by the teacher or by their peers.
2. Effectively brings the activity to a close. When the music stops students are instantly aware that
the activity is finished. A less chaotic ending.
Things to avoid when using music in class:
1. Any songs that are too popular or that have Japanese lyrics. This will distract the students.
2. Too much volume. Music shouldn’t intrude on the activity.

Group Work Instructions / Questions:


1. Assess the activity and determine whether it is Authentic or Restricted. Is it designed to assist with
fluency or with accuracy? What sort of Clarification might students need to complete the activity
successfully?
2. Tinker with the activity if you think there are things that need to be expanded, changed, or dropped
altogether. As most of these activities are aiming for an Authentic use of language, do you think
there are times when Restricting the activity might be of greater benefit for students?
3. Present the activity using the seminar participants as your “students.”

Notes on Suggested Activities:





Want to re-think standard or commonly used activities. These are not meant to be the “endall” Speaking Activity, but rather a way to reshape common activities into more effective
Speaking Activities.
From warm-ups…to…short, 20-30 activities…to…longer, done-over-time activities.
Most are approached from an Authentic Use viewpoint.
Tried to include activities for a range of levels (from 1- to 3-nensei).

Three factors which affect language production:
1. Pressure of time will force learners to make use of language that can be readily accessed rather
than attempt to create language in real time.
2. The more students there are involved in a task, the greater the pressure there is on any one
student. The likely result is that students will focus on fluency to keep the conversation
moving.
“[Language users are] able to draw upon knowledge of the world, or of the immediate context…This
enable users to predict meanings, and therefore to reduce the need to focus on form, on grammar and
lexis, without compromising the capacity to express or comprehend meanings. In production,
incomplete utterances may be sufficient to keep the interaction moving along successfully…Speakers
may know that they have not produced impressive language, either for complexity or accuracy, but if
they expect that their interlocutors will understand anyway, then to fumble with form would be
disruptive to the meanings which underlie a developing conversation (20-21).”

Warm-ups:
Word Association & Definition Activities
Needs:

blackboard / whiteboard
Time: 5-10 minutes
Level: Any

Association 1:




Students sit face to face with a partner. Only one can face the blackboard.
Teacher writes the target word on the blackboard.
The student facing the board gives as many English words as necessary until the partner guesses
the target word.
For example,
If the target word is “apple,” the student giving the hints might say:
“Fruit.”
OR
“This is a fruit.”
“Red.”
OR
“This is red.”
“in Aomori.”
OR
“Many of these grow in Aomori.”
And so on until their partner guesses “apple.”

Association 2:



Students sit face to face with a partner. Only one can face the blackboard.
Teacher shows a target item (picture, drawing, or actual item) that can only be seen by the student
facing the blackboard.





The student who can see the target item will describe it for one minute. The goal is to say as much
as possible without stopping.
At the end of one minute, the student who was listening must guess what the item is.

For example,
If the target item is a picture of rice, the student describing the item might say:
“This is a food. It is very popular in Japan. Most Japanese people eat it every day. We use this to make
rice balls…” and so on until one minute has passed.

Association 3:

One Sentence Definition

(Level: 3-nensei grammar...Relative Clauses)




Students sit face to face with a partner. Only one can face the blackboard.
Teacher puts a list of target words on the board.
Within a given amount of time (4-5 minutes is good), the student facing the board gives one
sentence definitions for as many words as possible using the following pattern:

“This is the person who teaches us English.”
(Target Word: teacher, Mikami-sensei, Brett-sensei)
“This is the place where we study English.” (Target Word: classroom)
And so on…
 Students can choose from the list freely, the goal being to complete as many words as possible.
 Any of the above Word Association games can be given a competitive edge by grouping students
in threes. One student faces the board and two face the student. The two facing the student try to
come up with the answer first.

Association 4:

Taboo Game

Needs:
Taboo cards
Time: 15 minutes (or longer if you like)
Level: Because of the taboo words, works better with higher
level students
• This is a word association game with the added bonus of team competition.
• Before class, make 2 sets of identical taboo cards. Each card should have a target word. Each card
should also have “taboo” words that students can’t say.
• Divide the class into two teams.
• Each team will select one person to go to the front of the classroom.
• Give each of the students at the front a taboo card (with identical target word).
• The object of the game is for the students at the front to get their team to say the target word before
the other team does.
• If students use Japanese, gestures, or any of the taboo words they are disqualified.
• Award a given number of points to the team who guesses the target word first and then rotate
students to the front.
Note:

This game can be adapted for 1-nensei or lower level students by eliminating the taboo
words and choosing easier target words.

Variations on BINGO
I.
II.

Phonics BINGO…Can be played using either letters or words
Vocabulary Review BINGO


 For both of the above, make groups of 4-6 students and have them be the ones to call
out the words. They can do this by going around the group taking turns. The teacher
should only be observing/listening to these activities. Students should be doing ALL
of the speaking (and listening).
III.
Question BINGO…This variation encourages student speaking through the formation of
questions.
How to play: Give students a bingo sheet similar to the one below. The “answers” on the bingo
sheet should pertain to both the JTE and the ALT. Make groups of 4-6 students. Students
formulate questions that they think will correspond with the answers on the bingo sheet. They can
then raise their hands and ask either the JTE or the ALT a question. If they get the answer they
were looking for (that matches the answer on their sheet) they can cross off that square. The object
is to make as many bingos as they can within a given amount of time. Although they are scoring as
a group, everyone in the group should be expected to ask a question.
A variation might include a bingo sheet with more generalized answers and then students can
circulate around the room asking anyone they like.
Yes, I am.

I have one.

September

6 months

I like jazz.

Soccer

No, I don’t.

Alaska

Winter

Yes, I do.

I went to Akita

No, I don’t.

FREE

Sendai

pizza

Yes, I can.

I have two.

Yes, one dog.

I like sushi.

100 yen

September 11

No, it wasn’t.

Interesting

Yes, it was.

English

Memory Game
Needs:
None
Time: 5-10 minutes
Level: Any, but can be particularly good for 1-nensei when
introducing new vocabulary
• This is a good activity for warming up and for improving memory.
• Divide class into groups of 5-6 students.
• Choose a theme for the game. For example, with 1-nensei this can be sports, food, school
subjects, school clubs, colors, etc.
• Introduce any new vocabulary and grammar as necessary. Ideally, you can pair this with the
target grammar in the text book.

Easy Version:
(Using “I like…” as the target grammar and sports as the topic.)
Students go around in a circle stating the previous students’ favorite
sports before stating their own. For example,
Daisuke:
I like soccer.
Megumi:
Daisuke* likes soccer. I like tennis.
Shin:
Daisuke* likes soccer. Megumi* likes tennis. I like hockey.
…
 Instead of using names, you can also practice using the pronouns he / she.

More Challenging Version:

The Shopping Game


The set-up is the same as above except now you will tell the students we are going shopping for our
class party and each student must buy something. Each student must buy something that starts with the
same letter as the first letter of his/her name. For example,
Yoko:
I will buy yoghurt.
Makie:
Yoko will buy yoghurt. I will buy mushrooms.
Taku:
Yoko will buy yoghurt. Makie will buy mushrooms. I will buy
tomatoes.
…

 A competitive element can be added by having all of the groups stand up. When one person in
a group makes a mistake, that group must sit down. The last group standing is the winner.

Dialogue Builds
Needs: Pictures as Prompts
OR, Nothing if Gestures are Used
Time: 10 minutes
Level: Any
 Teachers provide prompts in the form of pictures or gestures.
 Students create dialogues based on the prompts. This can be done with the whole class or in pairs.
 For example, look at the pictures below and create a dialogue.
Gestures can be used as well. For example,
JTE:
[walks in and waves to ALT].
Students:
“Hello.”
/
“Good morning.” etc.
ALT:
[waves back; looks worried].
Students:
“Hello, are you okay?”
JTE:
[Acts very tired / hungry / sleepy / etc.].

Who Am I?
Needs: Names of Famous People Written on Post-It Notes*
Time: 15 minutes
Level: 2/3-nensei
 Divide the class into groups of four students.

 Have students janken to decide who will be “it.”
 The remaining group members decide on the name of someone famous and write it on a Post-It
Note which is then stuck to the forehead of the person who is “it.” *Or, you can use the Post-It
Notes that you prepared before class if you are worried that students will not do the work
themselves.
 The person who is “it” must determine who he/she is by asking “yes” or “no” questions.
 Rotate the students so that everyone has a chance to guess.
 For a low-level class, you may want to provide some prompts on the blackboard to get them
started. For example,
Am I…
a man or a woman?
alive or dead?
a teacher / a singer / an actor etc.
old or young?
etc.
 To make this activity interactive on a larger scale, make one Post-It Note per student and have
them walk around the class asking anyone they like.


Superlatives Q&A Game
Needs: Superlative Questions written before class
Time: 15-20 minutes
Level: 2/3-nensei
• Divide the class into groups of 4-5 students.
• Give each group a list of 5-10 superlative questions that you will have written before class.
• If you want to increase the level of difficulty for this activity, you can have each group write
their own questions and then exchange the questions amongst the groups.
• Students discuss the questions amongst themselves.
• The winner in each group is the person who has the most “superlative” answers.
For example,

Question #1:
Who is the oldest?
Noriko:
My birthday is September 22nd.
Shige:
My birthday is August 4th.
Jun:
My birthday is April 19th.
Mariko:
My birthday is January 7th. I am the oldest!
Sample Questions:
1.
Who is the oldest?
2.
Who is the youngest?
3.
Who has the largest family?
4.
Who has the longest hair?
5.
Who has the smallest feet?
6.
Who has the dirtiest shoes?
7.
Who lives the closest to school?
8.
Who has the most CDs?
9.
Who is the fastest runner?
10.

Who has the most boyfriends/girlfriends?
Pros of this Activity:
 Great activity to review the use of superlatives.
 Great way to introduce new superlative vocabulary.
Cons of this Activity:
 Students have a tendency to read the question in English but then give their answers in
Japanese. Careful monitoring can prevent this.

How well do you know your classmate?
Needs:
Paper and pens
Time: 20-30 mins.
Level: Any level, but works best with 2/3-nensei


•
•
•

•
•
•
•

•

Divide the class into groups of 5-6 students.
Choose one student in each group who will be the Target. It is probably best to choose the
student with the strongest English but anyone who isn’t overly shy will be fine. You can have
the groups choose their own Target if you like.

Give the students five minutes to find out as much as they can about the targeted student. They
will do this by asking as many questions as they can in English. For example, “What is your
favorite color?” / “How many people are in your family?” / “Do you have a pet?” etc. The
point is for students to gather as much information as they can in the five minute period.
During the Q&A time, designate one student to be the Reporter. This person will record all of
the targeted student’s answers. I usually tell students to think of this as taking a memo.
Japanese is fine. One word answers are fine.
When the five minutes are up, all of the Targets will come to the front of the classroom.
Targets will sit in desks facing the rest of the class.
Next, the JTE & ALT will ask questions.
The Targets write their answers on a piece of paper and the groups write what they think their
Target’s answer will be on a piece of paper. There should be a time limit set for writing the
answers. If students are only writing one word, then one minute is enough. If you want them to
write in complete sentences, more time should be given. Groups and Targets will
simultaneously reveal their answers.
If the group’s answer matches their Target’s answer, then that group scores _X_ number of
points. To discourage the Targets from signaling to their groups, I usually have them put their
heads down on their desks after they have written their answers.

For example,
ALT/JTE:
“What is your favorite color?”
Target writes:
Blue.
(Or, My favorite color is blue. if you want them using complete sentences).
 When the answers are revealed, if the Target’s group also wrote Blue, they

receive points. If they wrote Red, they receive no points.

Information Gaps

Needs:
Information Gap Sheets
Time:
15-20 minutes
Level:
Any
Information Gaps are activities where two speakers have different parts of information that together
make up a whole. Because they have different information, there is a “gap” between them. This “gap”
forces students to communicate in order to complete the whole.

Examples of Information Gaps:
1. Describe and Draw… Pairs either have two different pictures or two parts
that together comprise one complete picture.
2. Story-Telling Using Pictures… Each student has a different picture which they must describe to
the group. Then together, the group decides the order of the pictures thereby creating a story.
3. Any Pictures or Grids that require additional information.
See, Does Yumi Play the Drums?
Who’s Who?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Simple Filler Activity):

Reverse Criss-Cross
Needs:

None


Time:
5-10 minutes
Level:
Any

Surely everyone has played the game Criss-Cross before…
To encourage student speaking and a “freer” use of language, change roles and have the students be
the ones to ask the questions. To make it more challenging, you might want to put a limit on the
question patterns. For example, students can only ask “Do you like…?” two or three times before that
question becomes off-limits.

Student Self-Introduction Speeches
Needs:
None in class; student prep before class (homework)
Time: 10-15 minutes
Level: Any, but great for 1-nensei
• Before every class, have 4-5 students come to the front and give a short self-introduction
speech.
• The idea is that over time, students will build on the number of sentences they are able to
present.
• Students in the class should listen and take notes about the speeches.
• After the speeches, the ALT/JTE should check comprehension by asking questions to the class.
• For increased difficulty, the teacher can assign individual students to be the ones responsible to
ask the questions after the speeches.
For example,
Weeks 1 & 2 might be three sentences:
In weeks 3 & 4, add a sentence or two:

“My name is Yosuke.”
“I am from Japan.”
“I am 13 years old.”
The above again plus…
“I play soccer.”
“My favorite food is sushi.”

And so on…
 This activity can run for about 8 weeks, in which time students should ideally be able to say 810 sentences about themselves. If used with 1-nensei, a good time to begin is after the summer
holiday because they won’t have enough vocabulary before that time.

Variation on the Above:

Topic Speech

Before class, prepare about a half-dozen different Topic Cards. Any topic that students can reasonably
handle is fine. Give each student a Topic Card. For homework or in class, students will prepare a oneminute speech that they will later present to the class. As with the above, 4-5 students can present on
any given day. After all of the students have given their speech, you can prepare new Topic Cards and
increase the speech time to two minutes, etc.
 You can also make this a pair work activity for maximum student involvement.

Diary Conversation
Needs:
Diary sheet (see below)
Time: 20-25 minutes
Level: 2/3-nensei
 As homework or in class, students fill in the diary sheet in response to a specific question. For
example, “What did you do yesterday?”
 Next, students will make pairs and exchange their diary with their partner.
 Students will read their partner’s diary and have five minutes to think of possible questions.
Students should be allowed to write down their questions if they want but not read them when the
time comes to make a conversation.





Decide on the order (focus on one student’s diary first) and initiate a conversation. After 3-4
minutes, switch roles and work with the other student’s diary.
This activity will become easier for students if repeated over time.

Blank Diary Sheet:
Name: ______________________

Date: _______________________

Sample Diary Sheet:
“What did you do yesterday?”
Name: _____Taro Yamada______
Date: ____January 22nd____
After school, I went to Jiro’s house.
We played computer games there.
After that, I went home and ate dinner.

A Sample Conversation might look like this:
Student A:
Student B:
Student A:
Student B:
Student A:

Good morning, Taro.
Good morning, Keisuke.
What did you do after school yesterday, Taro? (Q1
I went to Jiro’s house.
(A1
Oh, really?

(R1
What did you do there?
Q2
Student B:
We played computer games.
A2
Student A:
That sounds like fun.
R2
What did you do after that?
Q3
Student B:
I went home and ate dinner.
A3
Student A:
What did you eat?
(Ability to expand)
Student B:
I ate a hamburger and a salad. (Ability to expand)
Student A:
Mmm, that sounds good…
R3
 It is this ability to expand the conversation that we are ideally striving for as it shows student
comprehension. However, I would start simply and only expect students to work with the three
sentences as they see them. As students progress—and if this activity is used with some degree of
regularity—I would start to expect more, especially from the 3-nensei. Basically, if students get to
the “expand” stage I would consider it a bonus, but certainly not an impossibility.