Here's another simple resource you might like to try experimenting with.
I call it "Talk it Up!" and basically it's a way of presenting dialogues for speaking practice that also nudges students into more of a starring role.
Basically, you come up with a short dialogue presented in A/B columns. On one side, A's parts are highlighted, while on the other side B's parts are highlighted. Below the dialogue on both sides are follow up questions about the conversation.
Learners in pairs (or groups of three) take these away and practice them (at home or in class), before performing them for the rest of the class (ideally only the performing students have the actual script -- the rest of the class have to watch and listen). The teacher provides any necessary help during the performance, and then the students ask their three questions each to the class (in groups of three, the third student would ask all six questions following the performance of the dialogue by the other two), to see what they recall, comprehend, think, etc.
So essentially, the students themselves are performing the scripts and quizzing their classmates about what they heard.
And of course, ideally, eventually the learners will take over the responsibility for creating the scripts and questions on their own -- with some assistance and basic guidance from the teacher if necessary:
A. Class time to work in groups of 2-3 to create scripts and questions (teacher assists)
B. Allocated practice time (in class or outside class) to prepare the material for performance
C. Performance of scripts in class with follow up questions
This has worked really well in a lot of my classes. Students enjoy creating their own conversations and questions, then taking on a sort of teacher role to quiz the rest of the class and check what they have understood as listeners.
For those of you who want to try this out, the following templates might be useful. They include an example version with script and questions already compiled (teachers can edit/adapt this if they want), followed by a blank version which might be better for doing the task on paper with handwritten scripts and questions.
Talk it Up! Template (PDF version)
Talk it Up! Template (Adaptable MS Word version)
If you do try it, let us all know how it goes!
=D
