Conversation Circle

Conversation Circle
The conversation circle activity is a great way to provide speaking practice with a focus on improving fluency. In this activity students form two concentric circles and take turns speaking to each other in incrementally shorter periods of time, forcing them to increase their rate of speech. Procedures:
 * 1) Divide class in half.
 * 2) Create a circle of chairs in the center of the classroom equal to half the number of students. The chairs must be facing outward. One student sits in each chair.
 * 3) The remaining students select an initial partner, forming a concentric circle around the seated students.
 * 4) Students practice a short dialog or survey for a predetermined amount of time.
 * 5) The teacher shouts switch at the end of the predetermined amount of time and all the students in the outer circle take a step to the right. (The seated students remain in the same place.)
 * 6) After a few rounds, reduce the time you give the students between having them switch partners.
 * 7) Monitor the students: look for errors in meaning, form, and pronunciation and note them.
 * 8) Perform delayed error correction on the board with the whole class using the errors you identified during monitoring.