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.