Spanish Conversation Group Woes

October 28, 2010 1:46 PM

Spanish conversation groups woes because of wildly varying levels of participants

I've been asked to help out in a Spanish conversation group, because I'm one of the better speakers. The main problem in the group is that there are people who are nearly fluent and people who barely remember "Hola, me llamo John" from high school, and there aren't enough regulars to split the group in two. The beginners are totally lost if we just speak Spanish and the advanced speakers wonder what the point of attending is if we speak English.

Is there any way to mitigate the disparity? My feeling is that since it's a Spanish conversation group, you should be expected to already speak some, and if you don't, then go learn somewhere else (like in an actual class) and come back when you can speak better, but the woman who runs the group doesn't want to lose any of the beginners.

Any ideas?

posted by luke1249 to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Would it be possible to have an assigned topic for each meeting, and perhaps sheets of vocab on the topic for the beginners? They still might get lost sometimes, but it might help them construct some on-topic comments and have a prayer of following the rest of the conversation.
posted by epj at 2:48 PM on October 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

Speaking English half the time isn't a waste of time if you increase the group size by inviting some native Spanish speakers who'd like to improve their English.
posted by ecsh at 2:56 PM on October 28, 2010

How many people are at each level? Splitting it up seems like the best way to go, even if the groups are small. One idea is to start with a meeting of the advanced group, with beginners joining later. Once they arrive, the advanced group would turn the meeting into more of a lesson, drawing the beginners into conversation, answering their language questions (in Spanish, of course), and providing guided practice. If the advanced group is willing to do this it could actually be good practice for them, teaching being one of the best ways to learn.

Adding some kind of snack break between the two sessions could improve retention rates, too.
posted by people? I ain't people! at 4:10 PM on October 28, 2010

I like people?'s idea, although it might also be possible to do it the other way: You could invite the beginners to come a little early and practice specific phrases with them, or give them some things to listen and watch for when they don't understand every word that is being said. Ideas off the top of my head: por vs para, verbs in the "yo" form, any conjugation of "ir," "bueno".

Or maybe you could pass out sheets of paper with phrases that they could use in a conversation (with English translation and Spanish pronunciation, if necessary), and challenge them to figure out when it is appropriate to use a given phrase, and then say it with confidence; you could then be sure to prompt them or provide the opportunity to use those phrases. Just something to keep them tracking and feeling like they're getting something out of it.

If you picked themes and publicized them in advance, beginners could prepare vocabulary or plan conversations. That's a larger time commitment, however.

Is it possible to do things that aren't straight-up conversation? Can you play a game that puts people on a more level playing field, like charades or Spanish Taboo or Jeopardy or "let's tell a story going in a circle within the group, one word at a time"? The advantage with a game is that it can also follow specific vocabulary, providing the opportunity to teach awesome new words to advanced learners and keeping everyone using the same "pool" of language.

Another activity that we did in my school was listening to a song and filling in the blanks on a sheet of paper with partial lyrics. Then we would sing the song together. That is something that could provide a challenge to mid-level learners, something fun and song-y to beginners, and something that at least wouldn't be as boring to advanced learners.
posted by ramenopres at 8:38 PM on October 28, 2010

Response by poster: Hmm, good ideas. Maybe staggering the time would be something, and games. I like the idea of the one word at a time game.

Thanks.
posted by luke1249 at 2:50 PM on October 29, 2010