49 ESL Conversation Games & Activities - Jackie Bolen 2020
Chapter response
English conversation games and activities for all levels
Skills: Speaking/Listening/Reading
Time: 10-15 minutes
Level: High-Beginner to Advanced
Materials Required: Nothing
Optional Materials: Printed list of questions
Chapter endings make handy stopping points to check students' comprehension and build a bit of interest to keep up motivation for the next chapter. To make this a conversation activity, questions can be answered orally in small groups (larger classes) or with the entire class (smaller classes). I generally prefer putting students into groups or pairs for this because it increases student talking time.
Some questions to ask include:
✵ What surprised you in this chapter?
✵ What feelings did you have as you read? What made you feel this way?
✵ What words, phrases, or situations in the chapter would like to have explained to you?
✵ Would you recommend this novel to someone else? Why or why not?
✵ How do the events in this story so far relate to your life?
✵ Which character do you most relate to? In what way?
✵ Which character most reminds you of someone in your life? In what way?
✵ What do you hope to learn about (a character) as you continue reading?
✵ What do you think will happen next?
✵ What questions do you have that you hope will be answered in the next chapter?
As you can see, most of these questions are open-ended and can certainly lead to some interesting discussions. Encourage lots of follow-up questions and interesting conversations instead of slavishly working through the list.
Procedure:
1. In advance, prepare a printed list of questions about the chapter.
2. Discuss together, either with the entire class or in small groups.