What can we teach in a conversation class?

I recently turned down an invitation to teach a conversation class because it didn't sound to me as if it had clear objectives. I like my students to be able to set real targets to work towards and 'conversation' sounded just too vague. Then I got a surprise. A business client, who has language training by telephone, told me that she found her biggest difficulties were not in business meetings but on the social occasions when she has to entertain her English-speaking counterparts, suppliers and customers. 'I just can't make conversation,' she said, 'I haven't got the vocabulary; I just don't know what to say.'

So I started thinking about what would be the content of a conversation class. First I had a look at what the web had to offer. Perhaps the most useful resource is a list of conversation topics with appropriate questions to be found in the what would be the content of a conversation class. First I had a look at what the web had to offer. Perhaps the most useful resource is a list of conversation topics with appropriate questions to be found in the TESL Internet Journal. However this topic-based approach is aimed more at stimulating individual class members to talk than at teaching the interactive nature of a group conversation.

So then I set about planning an outline of my own. First I would need to look at the cultural implications of a cross-national conversation. I would ask my students to define any areas that would be culturally sensitive - this might include such fields as religion or politics. Having decided which topics are best avoided, I would, with their help, then draw up a list of subject areas that they would find helpful. This would generate the lexical fields for the course and give me pointers as to useful material to stimulate responses. This is the simple part I think.

However, the next stage would be to analyse what kind of language behaviour characterises a conversation. After all, conversation, as I have said, is interactive. It is not enough to be able to talk about a given topic, you have also to be able draw people in to express their ideas and to be sensitive to the times when you need to interrupt or change the subject. To help students structure a conversation, therefore, I came up with the following toolkit to help them out of difficulties:

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