Some would argue that in these days of text messaging, tweeting, video games and the like, our students are exposed to less face to face conversation than in generations past.  Yet foreign language teachers are charged with getting students to a point where they can converse in a second language.

Since my full switch to a proficiency-based classroom, interpersonal speaking has always seemed like the most difficult skill to teach.  That is just what I had to do with my Spanish 2 students this week.  We had worked on reviewing many of the key concepts about family that with which they should have left Spanish 1.

ACTFL says that Novice-Mid learners should be able to:

• Identify family words on a family tree
• List family members, their ages, and what they like to do
• Say what family members look like
• Say what family members are like

ACTFL says that Novice-High learners should have the added skill of being able to:

• Understand questions or statements about family
• Ask and talk about family members and their characteristics
• Describe family members

To me, this seems like something best assessed by a conversation.  We started by modeling a conversation about family in English.  I chose 3 students at random to participate in the conversation with me and the rest of the class was told to make observations related to to the questions "What is a conversation?  What does it look like?  What doesn't it look like?"

Here were some of there observations which definitely made them more conscious of what we were trying to achieve.

• unrehearsed, not pre-planned
• tend to follow a common theme or topic
• wide variety of back and forth questions, answers and comments
• reaction statements like "that's interesting", "that's terrible", "that's cool"
• shared responsibility to keep the conversation going and involve all members
• no rules as to who talks when

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We talked next about how our ability to hold a conversation in our first language (English) was obviously more advanced than our ability to do the same in Spanish.  Therefore, to make the goal attainable, we would have to control some factors that we may not have to in English.

Here were the goals we identified for our first Spanish conversation:

• Partial pre-planning and rehearsing
• Family theme
• Identify 4 common questions and answers
• Learn some positive and negative reaction statements
• All group members take part in conversation equally
• Q & A Tag Format

Based on our goals, I split students up into groups of 3-4 and developed this conversation cheat sheet which was given to each person in the class.

Something I always struggled with was how to encourage students to stay in the target language when I wasn't hovering immediately over their shoulders.  When we would have class discussions in Spanish, side conversations would break out in English.  My less motivated students would zone out while others were speaking and miss the benefit of the listening experience they could get from listening to their classmates and attempting to understand.  When my students spoke Spanish in partner activities, only the groups nearest to me would speak Spanish.  As I moved away to visit other parts of the room I could almost hear the sigh of relief as they awaited to return to English.  My experience with speaking had been so frustrating that many times I avoided speaking activities.  I felt guilty about that - after all, wasn't that was I was there to do?  Teach them to speak?  To communicate? 

I knew something had to change...

I needed to do the following:
1.  Make the speaking topics something that teenagers WANTED to talk about.
2.  Find a way to encourage them to stay in the target language when I was not right next to them.
3.  Find a way to quantify their participation that was fair and gave credit not just for speaking, but for listening to others as well.

It was easy to increase the interest level of my speaking topics.  After all, I knew exactly what teenagers liked to talk about in English - themselves (and the more than occasional gossip about others).  Including a social element, where my students became the topic of conversation, was vital.  They didn't want to talk about what "Marcos", some anonymous textbook boy from Costa Rica likes to do, they wanted to find out about each other.

I found a solution for the other two problems on my fireplace mantel.  I had a vase with those decorative glass pebbles in it.  I dumped the pebbles out and took them to school.  I instructed the students to take 2 pebbles from the jar as they walked into the classroom.  I explained to them that these pebbles were their points and that by the end of class they needed to have 5.  They could earn their additional pebbles by contributing to the conversation.  They could also lose pebbles by failing to remain in the target language.  They kept their pebbles visible on their desks and as we spoke, I was able to give and take pebbles without losing a beat in the conversation.  I did not have to give any verbal reminders to refrain from speaking English - I would just happen by their desk and remove a rock.  I was absolutely amazed at how much this changed the focus and environment.  The next day in class, the kids returned asking if we were "going to play the rock game" again.  The rock GAME?  They thought it was FUN? 

I am not even sure I can tell you exactly why this works, but it does.  At least in part I think it works because the control over the activity has shifted to the student.  They can control those rocks and how many they have, speak when they have something to say, and listen when they don't.  They are tangible, visible reminders of the expectations. 

The system isn't perfect but it has allowed me to get kids speaking and listening and having fun while doing it.  I will still have the occasional kid that would rather take his two rocks and sit happily with his/her 60% and never utter a word.  The rocks help me as well though.  As I circulate, I too can see how many rocks each student has and I invite the kids with fewer rocks into the conversation with direct questions.  It doesn't always work, but it works A LOT better than what I was doing before.