1. Turn taking: Be prepared to ask your partner for his or her opinion rather than simply stating your own. Respect the turns in the conversation: don´t speak for too long – let your partner do his/her turn. Be positive, helpful and supportive with your partner.
Remember: balanced dialogues! If one person speaks a lot and the other doesn’t speak much, that will be bad for both people, so avoid it. If someone is quiet, do something! Invite him or her to speak, e.g. You’re very quiet (smile) What do you think about all this? / What would you do? / Do you like the idea?
2. Listen 'actively' to what your partner
says, responding to comments he or she makes. Use little signals to show that
that you are following:
"Oh, I see./ That´s right./Yes, I understand./ Oh, yes, I love that. / That's annoying. / Sure."
"I see/know what you mean."
"Really? That´s interesting."
"What do you mean by .......?" "So, what you are saying is that ........?" (to clarify the information, when you don´t understand an idea)
3. If you don't understand someone's English, relax and try to notice the words that are most clearly pronounced or stressed. You can also ask them to repeat, or, even better, you can ask specific questions to get a specific word you need to reconstruct their message (communicate!) – in this way you wouldn’t make the person repeat it all, just the part you really need to understand to continue. Use your knowledge of the world and your info about the activity to do so.
"Oh, I see./ That´s right./Yes, I understand./ Oh, yes, I love that. / That's annoying. / Sure."
"I see/know what you mean."
"Really? That´s interesting."
"What do you mean by .......?" "So, what you are saying is that ........?" (to clarify the information, when you don´t understand an idea)
3. If you don't understand someone's English, relax and try to notice the words that are most clearly pronounced or stressed. You can also ask them to repeat, or, even better, you can ask specific questions to get a specific word you need to reconstruct their message (communicate!) – in this way you wouldn’t make the person repeat it all, just the part you really need to understand to continue. Use your knowledge of the world and your info about the activity to do so.
4. For more functional expressions for interaction in a dialogue (for expressing opinion, agreeing and disagreeing, making a suggestion etc), click to download a LIST OF USEFUL PHRASES FOR INTERACTION
5. Try to
bring the discussion to a consensus (though it´s not always possible) . Or you can try to summarize by repeating the main points briefly:
So, we'll be getting some clothes for Peter, then. We'll meet next Friday afternoon to go shopping and you will call Mary to ask her if she wants to share expenses with us. Is that right?
So, there are more sides to this topic than I could think of! It's been an interesting discussion!
So, we'll be getting some clothes for Peter, then. We'll meet next Friday afternoon to go shopping and you will call Mary to ask her if she wants to share expenses with us. Is that right?
So, there are more sides to this topic than I could think of! It's been an interesting discussion!
6. Practice timing yourselves (in small groups or in pairs) to get the feeling of how
long developing all the suggested ideas takes.
7. More things:
Useful language for organizing events, helping people and pros and cons of options
Beginning a dialogue
7. More things:
Useful language for organizing events, helping people and pros and cons of options
Beginning a dialogue
