10 things to do with dialogues Scott Thornbury

Ten things to do with dialogues:   ·      build them ·      memorize them ·      chant them ·      perform them ·      change them ·      analyse them ·      mine them ·      reconstruct them ·      create them ·      teach through them

A B

A: What happened? B: I broke my arm. A: How did it happen? B: I was playing football and I fell over. A: Did it hurt? B: Yes, it did, at first. But it’s better now.

A: What happened? B: I broke my arm. A: How did it happen? B: I was playing football and I fell over. A: Did it hurt? B: Yes, it did, at first. But it’s better now.

A: What happened? B: I broke my arm. A: How did it happen? B: I was playing football and I fell over. A: Did it hurt? B: Yes, it did, at first. But it’s better now.

A: What happened? B: I broke my arm. A: How did it happen? B: I was playing football and I fell over. A: Did it hurt? B: Yes, it did, at first. But it’s better now.

A: What happened? B: I broke my arm. A: How did it happen? B: I was playing football and I fell over. A: Did it hurt? B: Yes, it did, at first. But it’s better now.

A: Dinner’s ready. Come and get it. B: Dinner’s ready? What’s for dinner? A: Something special. B: Something special? A: Stuffed tomatoes. Don’t you like them? B: Yes, I love them. What’s for afters? A: Wait and see.   (adapted from Stress Time by Colin Mortimer, CUP 1976)

Doff and Jones, Language in Use, Beginner, CUP, 1999

Soars & Soars, New Headway Pre-Intermediate, OUP 2000

A: Hello, what’s your name? B: My name is Juan. A: What is your nationality? B: I am Venezuelan. A: What is your job? B: I am a student. A: When did you start studying English? B: I started studying English five years ago. A: You speak English very well. B: Thank you, but I would like to improve it. etc.

A: Hello, what’s your name? B: My name is Juan. A: Hi Juan. I’m Kim. What is your nationality? B: I am Venezuelan. I’m from Caracas, A: Are you? What is your job? B: I am a student. What about you? A: I’m a teacher. When did you start studying English? B: I started studying English five years ago. When I was at school. A: Really? You speak English very well. B: Thank you, but I would like to improve it. etc.

The rules of conversational “tennis”: Show interest, surprise, etc. Are you? Really? Return the question: What about you? Supply extra information: I’m Venezuelan. I’m from Caracas.

Dellar & Walkley, Innovations Elementary, Thomson, 2005

References: Bilbrough, N. 2007 Dialogue Activities, Cambridge University Press. Thornbury, S. 2005 How To Teach Speaking. Pearson.