Best Practices for Creating Conversation Assignment Topics
See example assignments at the bottom of this article!
DO clearly and briefly communicate the topic
- Write all instructions in the target language - not all our partners know English!
- Pick familiar topics, based on the level of your learners and their classroom learning
- Pick a topic that works for 15 or 30 minutes. Suggest how much time for each part of your topic.
- Limit pdf attachments to one page
DO add context in "Private Instructions for Partner"
- Partners will see this, but learners won't
- Share about student levels
- Add a few words and phrases studied recently
- Specify how to discuss a certain part of the topic.
- Don't overly restrict what vocab or grammar conversation partners can use. We train conversation partners to be as natural and conversational as possible while also staying on topic and following your instructions. This means conversations may include information (including vocabulary and grammar) that you did not specify.
DO start assignment names with a number
- Our system organizes assignments by number and then by alphabet
- Put a number in front of the assignment names so they appear in the right order
DON'T include incomplete or unrelated content
- Only include information useful for both the partner and learner during this conversation. For example, you usually don't need to include much about the students' pre-conversation and post-conversation activities. Don't reference class materials our partner can't access.
- Don't put TBD or TBA and then forget to add the content later.
Examples
See 15-min and 30-min example assignments here.
Successful 30-minute assignments
- Conversazione 1 - Introduzioni by Kelly Blank, Xavier University
- La Mejor Tinta by Dianne Moneypenny and Kathryn Johnston, Indiana University East
- La Vida Moderna by Mariana Stoyanova, Georgia College and State University
Successful 15-minute assignments
- TalkAbroad 1 by Romain Rivaux, Florida Atlantic University
- Ocio y Entretenimiento by BenjamÃn Chang, Greendale Community College
Unsuccessful 30-minute assignments
Unsuccessful 15-minute assignments
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