Novice Level Foreign Language Speaking : From Scaffolded to Interpersonal Dialog

Novice learners are often intimated to begin using a new foreign language that they are learning.  One activity that I do with them begins with the class co-creating a dialog that uses many of the functional chunks, song lyrics and vocabulary words that they have learned.  We purposefully leave out some information that students add in later based on personal information or choices.

Once this is done, groups of 2 students pair up to practice the dialog.  For some added fun I often let them use puppets and they can use a funny voice.  This helps to break down any inhibitions that they.  After practicing with the written dialog for a little while, groups continue working with the dialog without the text.  They then switch partners and continue communication interpersonally without the scaffolding of the written dialog.  The questions and answers often change with each new partner, but communication stays in the target language.