Conversation Class - In Review
I had a conversation class today with a few Japanese high school girls here for homestay. This class was one of the most nerve racking experiences I’ve had in recent times. All went well overall, but I think I could have done better.
Firstly, remember the Scouts Association? They dress up in horrible khaki uniforms and run around legally with Swiss Army knives. They have a motto: Be Prepared. Given that I’m a scout myself, I should have remembered this.
My main problem was that I ran out of topics to talk about. All of the suggested topics were covered quickly. Hobbies (shopping, chatting with friends), what you do after school (shopping, chatting with friends), what you do on the summer holidays (shopping, chatting with friends), what you want to do when you grow up (shopping, chatting with friends…no wait, teacher!) and other basic topics were all given one word answers and moved on.
It didn’t help either that they hadn’t seen any of the tourist attractions in their two week stay (not that Melbourne has many) so there wasn’t much about Australia we could discuss (What did you think of footy? Ah, so so. How about Australian food? Ah, so so!) not even what they thought about the animals, because they hadn’t seen any!
Towards the end of each hour, I resorted to showing them pictures from a photo album and pictures of my pet lizard on my mobile. They were entertained, but not much more educated, I think.
They were lovely girls though. They all wanted to have a photo with me at the end of the session O_o
I think I’ll try again, but next time I’ll come up with more questions that’ll force them to answer in sentences. Any suggestions, anyone?
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