Discover Conversation
Students have a BLAST: they Build, Listen, Analyze, Speak, and Transcribe.
Discover Conversation makes the world of spoken interaction more understandable, accessible, and usable for your students. It helps break down the complexity of real interactions into small and manageable chunks. It also provides easy to follow scaffolding activities that help to build more authentic learner conversations in the classroom. The book is divided into three specific sections:
SMALL TALK: These are short conversations we use every day with our friends and family to help maintain positive relationships.
TRANSACTIONS: These are short conversations in which we want to achieve something or get something done by talking to one another. These conversations have a specific purpose or function.
STORYTELLING: These are longer conversations in which we tell a story to another person in order to entertain them and to share our many experiences.
In each of the 12 units, students will:
- discuss a picture or a series of pictures based on a conversational situation.
- practice short ‘moves’ in the conversation.
- listen to a near-authentic conversation.
- analyze and code the ‘moves’ in the conversation.
- review the ‘moves’ they have learned in the unit.
- notice particular unique aspects of spoken discourse.
- create and role-play their own conversations.
- record their conversations using their smartphones.
- transcribe their best conversations as a record of learning through the course.
