Purpose

• To improve fluency, spontaneity, and adaptability in communication.

• Mirrors real-life situations where learners must engage in short, purposeful conversations.

How It Works

1. Set Themes: Teacher provides a list of conversation prompts (e.g., school subjects, hobbies, cultural traditions, environmental issues, technology, global challenges).

2. Pairing: Students sit in two rows or a circle. Each student faces a partner.

3. Timed Conversations: Each pair has 2–3 minutes to converse in the target language on the set theme.

4. Rotation: After the time is up, students rotate to a new partner and begin a fresh conversation on a new theme.

5. Reflection: Students jot down new vocabulary or expressions they learned from peers.

IB Connection

• Builds interactive and receptive skills for the Individual Oral (switching interlocutors and adapting).

• Encourages interpersonal strategies (asking for clarification, paraphrasing).

• Reinforces varied contexts and registers required by IB descriptors.

Objective: Promote active listening, teamwork, and sharing of ideas while practicing the target language.

How it works:

1. Divide the class into “expert groups.”

   • Each group receives a different short text, article, or cultural case study (e.g., about education systems, climate change, or cultural traditions).

2. Expert preparation.

   • Students work together to summarize their text, highlight key vocabulary, and prepare 2–3 discussion points.

3. Jigsaw groups.

   • Students are reorganized into new groups with one “expert” from each original group.

   • Each expert shares their text’s summary and discussion points, teaching the others.

4. Whole-class reflection.

   • Groups compare insights, note similarities/differences, and apply new vocabulary in a closing activity (e.g., a debate, mind map, or written reflection).

Benefits:

• Builds collaboration and interdependence (everyone brings unique knowledge).

• Encourages language practice across all skills: reading (original text), speaking (teaching peers), listening (to other experts), and writing (final reflection).

• Enhances confidence and fluency in sharing complex ideas.

1. The students will separate into small groups (3-5 students) and read a preparing or contextualizing short text.

2. Each student will create one open-ended question about the theme and will proceed to have a 15 minute discussion where they will take turns posing their questions as well as answering.

3. Students will also practice using follow-up questions such as: Can you explain this further?

4. The goal is to encourage communication in different settings and concerning different topics, with no need to reach a consensus.

1. Students will listen to a small oral text, such as a speech, vlog, podcast, etc.

2. Based on its defining characteristics, they will identify the text purpose/audience, as well as text type.

3. After they complete this task individually, they will discuss in the larger group what their perceptions were, and what led them to classify the texts as such.

4.They can also reflect on questions such as the following: What are the main characteristics I would change in order to transform it into a different text type?