Involving Everyone Lesson Communication & Social Skills Ideas for Practising Functional Expressions
At a Glance Students will: ü develop fluency with functional expressions ü develop metacognition skills ü learn about the cultural aspect of participating in conversation ü practise listening skills		Purpose: To develop fluency with functional expressions; especially in order to involve everyone in a conversation. Materials: Handout Functional Expressions 4. Preparation: (5 minutes) photocopy handouts for students Time: initially, one class period; can be used as a short exercise in following classes.
Teacher’s Notes	Procedure 1. Introduce the expressions in Functional Expressions 3. 2. Ask students how to bring other people into a conversation. Find out if there are any particular gestures or body language that help bring people into a conversation, such as eye contact, nodding toward someone, gesturing with a slight open hand… 3. Practice intonation and discuss the appropriateness of each expression, depending on the circumstances. 4. Write topics on the board with three different opinions. Examples: Learning Grammar: It is the best way to learn a language. It is a waste of time. It should only be learned at advanced levels. Kyoto Accord: Countries should do what they want – if they have gas, use it. Governments should make the environment the top priority. It should be very gradual. 5. Divide the class into groups of 3-4. Each group will decide on a topic and each student will take an opinion, even if they don’t believe it. 6. Everyone must try to bring other people into the conversation at least once. 7. Give the groups 5-8 minutes. Discuss the difficulties of this exercise and what worked and what didn’t.

Communication & Social Skills Involving Everyone Lesson Ideas for Practising Functional Expressions
Teacher’s Notes	Lesson Extension Functional Expressions are useful to introduce at the beginning of a course as students can be practicing them in a controlled environment in the class. Target only a few of the functional expressions at any time until students are comfortable with them. 4. Have your students develop the topics and opinions through a writing assignment in an earlier class. Group Discussion Skills: See Teaching Conversational Skills: Tips and Strategies. Giving an Opinion see Functional Expressions Handouts. Follow-up / Transfer Activities: 1. Provide content area teachers with copies of the functional expressions to facilitate discussions in their classes. These are useful skills for everyone, not just ESL students. 2. Watch a taped interview. Pay attention to how the interviewer draws everyone into the conversation. 3. Pay attention to the expressions you use in the class to involve everyone in the class. Point out to the students what you are doing. Adapted from ESL for Health Professionals: A Resource for Integrating Medical Terminology with Language Skill Development, by Monica Wiest, for Adult Language Training Branch, Manitoba Labour & Immigration, 1999.	Additional Resources http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/xla/ela15a.html for more suggestions on how to practice particular types of speaking. See Final Report “How We Do Things Around Here…” Literature Review, sections ii, iii, iv and Main Findings & Analysis, especially section C, iii. Provide Content Area Teachers with section III, Guide to Teachers.