Shahnaz Lakho, Pakistan
All the members of conversation club should preferably be of the same level so they can communicate easily with each other.Likes & dislikes, hobbies, aims, daily routine, incidents, events & favourites should be discussed to motivate the members to communicate effetively.
Weekly presentations on special topics could be practised. Positive fedback should be given. Friendly behaviour of coach as well as members will bring positive changes. Frequent presentations are very helpful in this regard.

Alaa al-Saady, Iraq
I am a teacher of English language. It's better to depend in teaching English as a second language on everyday life situations and make use of the students' ability and the country's resources in providing such teaching materials. Also we can benefit from the psychological side of the teacher and how s/he can influence the inner part of her/his students.With my love & regards,Alaa al-Saady

jang Kian Liong, Bandung, Indonesia
What about cutting some pictures (preferably from jokes and cartoon columns) from your local newspapers. Have them photocopied, and keep the original pictures. Then cover up the dialogues in the speech-bubbles in the copied-sheets. Have the modified one copied again, and distribute the results to your English Conversation Club members to guess. See whether they can come out with similar dialogues with the original ones, and let them give their own comments, interpretations, stories, and so on.

Mohammad Hanif Sufizada, Afghanistan
I am an Afghan national teaching conversation in MAREFAT English Language Center located in Kart-e-Now Kabul. It is my first time teaching conversation class though I have the experience of teaching general English.
The conversation class I teach includes idiomatic and everyday expressions, vocabulary, pronunciation, newspapers terms, daily conversational situations and open-ended discussions. The duration of the class is two months (one and a half hour per day).I have made a timetable and teach in accordance to that. Besides that, I got the students to bring a pocket English to English dictionary and a personal dictionary (a notebook), which they will compile, this by themselves during the class. When they face a new word they will write it in their personal dictionary. They will first write the word, secondly the meaning of the word in their language (Dari, Pashto) and thirdly they will use the word in a sentence of their choice. After a couple of weeks, I evaluate their vocabulary and help them use these words in their daily conversation.Moreover, I assign them to search on a particular topic and then share it with your students who will by turn ask different questions regarding the information he has provided. The topics are mostly the ones, which are interesting and accessible to the students. So, this is the way I teach, and I would highly appreciate comments regarding my class.I would be thankful, if my words reach the printers.

Nguyen Anh Vu, Vietnam
I am a teacher of reading in English at Industrial College No.IV in Ho Chi Minh City. Through reading sessions, I try to develop my students'commnunicative skills by running my class as a meeting, in which I play the role of "a chairman" who determines the discussion topics through reading content and makes a lot of probing questions to my students. By then, on the basis of the reading texts, they give oral answers to my questions and sometimes their own comments . That way, they naturally get involved in discussions and gradually develop their communicative abilities.

Ikram Najafzada, Afghanistan
I am a teacher in my home town, and the capital of the country, Kabul. We don't have as many facilities as other countries, we don't have electricity for light or to play conversation tapes, movies, and other kinds of ways to improve students' speaking and listening skills. So regarding your question, I can say that the best way of fluent speaking which I believe in, is reading aloud, not together, alone in a quiet room, but the teachers should say to students to pretend they're in front of a group of people. I hope you publish my problems, and suggestion and also give me solutions. Thank you so much for this chance.

Neelofar, Pakistan
We run a conversation club in our school to develop teacher's English skills. We select a common topic or an issue related to the classroom and encourage everyone to pool in ideas and give suggestions. This activity is very helpful as everyone wants to give an idea. Through this activity teachers learn to use vocabulary in context, secondly, they develop confidence, fluency and discussion skills.

Diane, Canada
We run Conversation Circles for new Canadians on a drop in basis. We begin by everyone introducing themselves and saying where they are from or one thing about themselves. The leader picks a simple topic. Current holiday, favourite fruit, and asks each member to give a response and writes them on a board. Then we break into smaller groups to converse with volunteer leaders. Sometimes it's one-on-one, sometimes 6-to-1. We can follow the topic or use any topic which the students are interested in discussing. Because they are newcomers to Canada we often discuss things about which they need clarification about Canadian culture and the way we do things. We have also discussed the names for various pieces of clothing: t-shirt, dress shirt, blazer, loafers, running shoes, sneakers, and body parts: elbow, shin, dimple, temple, and the simpler ones like arm, leg, head. There are always hair styles, types of shoes, medical conditions, weather terms, the environment, prices of goods, wars, famines, as well as topics of local news or interest.

Andrew Ng, Tokyo, Japan
'Back to the Board'. Warm up by brainstorming vocabulary on your chosen topic, e.g. travel, and guide the students towards words you will probably use later. You can explain meanings here too. Next, split them up into groups. One member from the first group comes to the front of the class and faces the other students. Behind him/her, the teacher writes a word connected with the topic and that student's team must explain the word without actually saying it. For example, 'He checks your suitcase in the airport' (Customs Officer); It's where you relax on the sand (beach).
The student is not allowed to look behind at the word on the board. Put a limit on the number of explanations each team can offer. This is a great game for developing students' ability to work around 'unknown' vocabulary and still communicate. Good luck and have fun!

Linda Northover, Germany
Secrets.To help students to get to know each other.(Without writing your own direct questions which they may find difficult to answer)I ask all students to take a piece of paper and write a secret about themselves, examples of this may be 'I love eating fish', 'I'm reading a really good book called...at the moment', or 'I have 10 grandchildren'. Students place their papers in a hat or basket and take a paper, replacing it if it is their own. They then mingle to ask questions to each other to discover who wrote the secret on the paper. This helps to break the ice in a group as they are speaking one to one.

Bob Craven, Netherlands
Alibi Game. Tell the class there has been a murder and that two of them are under suspicion. Send the two nominees out for three minutes (not more) with instructions to account for where they were between the hours of 8p.m. and 11p.m., for example(they HAD to be together). Divide the class into two interrogation groups, one student in each taking comparitive notes. The two suspects come back in class with their 'story' and theinterrogation begins. Details, who paid for what, who was wearing what etc are very important. After ten minutes or so, the suspects change group and are interrogated by the other group. At the end, their statements are compared and a consensus is reached as to the guilt of the suspects - differences in their statements are the signs of guilt(always guilty!). You then devise asuitable punishment - 6months eating English food was a favourite! Have lots of fun, invent, embellish etc.

M. Idrees Kasbati, Pakistan
Running an English conversation club is a great idea. It really helps to improve fluency in speaking. The following suggestions may be helpful in this regard:

1.The members should be like-minded i.e. their educational background, areas of interest, etc. should be the identical.

2.The place selected for this purpose should be convenient to reach for every member.

3.The meeting should be on weekly basis.

4.Every member should first share an event that happened to him / her during the last week.

5.Another useful activity can be to discuss the hot issue in the town i.e. political, sports, showbiz event.

Unnikrishnan, Kerala, India
'The telephone rang' is an activity that requires only the imagination of the participants. Basically, the participants have a phone conversation, which can be serious or which can be ludicrous.This is an information gap interaction activity, which can be simulated for small children. For adults, identify a theme for interaction in advance and put them in a simulated context. Use a toy phone too to make it realistic but at the same time funny. Here is an example.

The telephone rang.
"Hello, Who's speaking?"
"The elephant"
"Oh, Where do you happen to be?"
"Jungle Town, Camel street, 3."
"What do you want?"
"Some chocolate, sweets
to give my sonnie a bit of a treat"

.... The questions and answers go on.

Manori Obeysekera, Sri Lanka
Hello, I ask my students to talk about their interests in the beginning of a course. This gives other students a general idea of their peers and also helps the teacher to know their students better and to make lessons more interesting according to the students' hobbies. All the best!