hi!

thanks for the help.

I need some fun 'activities' for a one-on-one conversation class with a grade 10 girl.

My boss told me today she wants it me to get her to talk more, but she's quiet, and her English is pretty broken..... what I need is:
- a bunch of activity ideas
- fun conversation topics (for gr. 10 girl)
- any other ideas for getting someone to improve their speaking!

...... one of the problems is that my boss is watching me.... my office window is beside hers, so I don't feel 'free'.... it makes me nervous, and more serious - so I need some tips so I can loosen up too ..... if *I* don't have fun... I know my student won't!

thanks!

Ask her about her culture, that seems to work best. If she's an immigrant, then that opens up a large pool of interesting questions. You can talk about her life from her previous country, what she likes to do there, how it's different from America, how she's getting used to America now...you get the drift?

Sometimes I find ESL students to be more interesting to talk with because they are so different from the average person you converse with...(that's not supposed to be offensive!) It's really interesting and both of you can learn at the same time!

As for activities, I'm not too good with those, but because you want to improve her oral language skills, I suggest that you talk to her genuinely first. Maybe later you could have her write something in her language and translate, but that sounds boring. So I'd prefer talking if I were her..

Sounds to me like there is a larger issue going on here. Some conflict between you and your boss. Perhaps if you discussed your plans for the student with your boss, before beginning your project, getting it "stamped" could serve a several purposes : helping the student, fortifying your relationship with your boss, and by bringing her into the fold with your ideas, removing some of the "me against her" attitude and replacing it with a goal-orientated spirit of cooperation,