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Conversation group advice? | ||
Tags: Study Group | Conversation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5316 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 1 of 33 15 August 2011 at 2:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm writing to ask advice from people who have participated in language exchange or
conversation groups before. My experience with language partners has always been one-on-one, but today, I participated in a Japanese language exchange group for the first time. I'm not the one organizing the group, so I just sat back and let the host make all the decisions, but I really think a few things could be improved and I think the organizer would be quite open to suggestions. It was a fun experience, but it became apparent that something should to be done to better accommodate people of different levels. For instance, a complete beginner has little to gain from listening to a more advanced student ask questions. About 10 people came and the group was split in half, roughly according to ability, but this wasn't quite optimal. There must be ways to better take advantage of all these people eager to learn. I was hoping that other members who have participated in language groups before -- the kind where people just show up freely -- might have some advice as to how to manage all this in a more productive way. Edited by Arekkusu on 15 August 2011 at 2:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5065 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 2 of 33 15 August 2011 at 3:21am | IP Logged | ||
I don't understand how an organizer would even let this happen. Was it just a free-for-all where anyone can join the group? You mention it was broken down into two groups, but how were the two groups decided? And how were the conversational activities decided? Sounds kind of out of control. I guess I'm looking at this from a teacher's point of view and scratching my head. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5316 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 3 of 33 15 August 2011 at 3:52am | IP Logged | ||
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To his defence, the turn out was twice that of the previous week, the group has only been around a few
months and the organizer is a volunteer... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5065 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 4 of 33 15 August 2011 at 4:22am | IP Logged | ||
Whether or not the organizer is a volunteer or not really doesn't matter, I don't think. You haven't said what conversational activities were actually done, but surely you agree that there should be more than just splitting the group in two according to abilities, no? There's got to be some sort of control. A complete beginner wouldn't know how to string together even short sentences, let alone interact with intermediate and beyond speakers. Beginners need a lot of structure and guidance. And 10 people of widely differing capabilities just sounds like it's out of control. If the sudden growth of the group was unexpected and nobody envisioned complete beginners joining in with more advanced speakers, I would think a separate beginners group would be in order. If the volunteer doesn't have time to organize it, offer to organize it yourself. S/he would probably be grateful for the help. R. == Edited by hrhenry on 15 August 2011 at 4:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5782 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 33 15 August 2011 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||
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I have a lot of experience with private conversation groups, so perhaps my advice can be helpful.
Important: People should have the same or a similar language level! The group shouldn't have too many participants. Only the target language should be used in the group. The group has to a have a program of what has to be learned. In my private conversation groups we are only two people (but we could be 3 or 4) and we always start with private conversation and have a drink and eat some fruit. Then we work with texts which we prepared in advance and speak about their content. In English we read a business magazine and in Italian we read a novel in parts. A good time limit for such a conversation group is 1,5 or 2,0 hours. And a good regularlity is meeting once a week or once every two weeks. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 15 August 2011 at 10:06am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5316 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 6 of 33 15 August 2011 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||
Fasulye, I get the impression you are refering to a slightly different kind of group. On the one hand, we have no idea who is going to show up from week to week, and on the other, while the kind of preparation you mention is optimal, we simply can't expect all participants to have done so, and we will likely receive a mixture of prepared and unprepared people. You see, we can't tell participants what they must do before they come, especially since turnout is still fragile. However, I'd like to know how to deal with these differences efficiently, how to split groups, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5946 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 7 of 33 15 August 2011 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Fasulye,
What you're talking about sounds like a study group rather than a conversation group. There's nothing wrong with that -- it's just a different thing. Arrekusu, Are you just getting Japanese learners, or are you getting a good balance between Japanese and French (or English) speakers? Edited by Cainntear on 15 August 2011 at 5:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5316 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 8 of 33 15 August 2011 at 5:57pm | IP Logged | ||
We got a good balance of Japanese and English speakers this time, but there is no way to know who will turn up from meeting to meeting. Whatever system we settle on to make the meeting more efficient, it absolutely mustn't deter or discourage anyone from coming, even if they haven't prepared anything at all, because it's hard enough as it is to get enough participants to keep the group going. Once a member has come, it's possible to brief them about the possibility of preparing a session or bringing specific homework to the group. At the beginning of the meeting, after a few minutes of free talk, we could ask who needs a partner and who is willing to help. Whoever is left forms a single group -- or several groups depending on the numbers -- that will do free conversation. Nevertheless, I think the free talk sessions should have some kind of direction, such as suggested topics or debates. So far though, it looks like there are always newcomers, and there needs to be a balance between properly welcoming them, and making sure the group is not perpetually asking the newcomers about their situation, life, sttudies, etc. Presentations could be done before the groups split, but then I fear all introductions will be done in English by default. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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