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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent speaking & listening practice book! Mar 15, 2010
I teach at the college level to a mix of ESL students, international, immigrant and Generation 1.5. I have used Compelling Conversations in several of my classes with a lot of success, both with intermediate and advanced levels. Recently, one of my listening & pronunciation had indicated to me that they were interested in more open communicative practice, so I used the "Studying English" chapter. I asked them to take a few minutes to read through the questions, then pick 10 or so questions that interested them, and when they were ready, work with the student sitting next to them and start talking. Well, they did great! I had to stop them when the class ended otherwise they would have kept talking! They were very engaged with the questions, looked at the chapter vocabulary too, asked questions, made notes, and all in all, just really enjoyed the activity. At the end of the class, I asked if they liked this sort of activity and wanted to go through more of the chapters, and the response was quite positive. They liked the "interviewing" aspect, and one student said the subject matter, about learning English, was especially interesting to him, as it was something that all of the students had in common. :)
Since then, I have used the chapters on "Being Yourself", "California Calling", "Pet Peeves" (following a discussion comparing Japanese and American cultural taboos), "Playing and Watching Sports". I have used this text with intermediate students too and while I thought that they may be a little overwhelmed by how many questions there were, it worked better than I thought it would. After some initial hesitation, they too started talking eagerly. They were not at all comfortable talking as a whole class, but once I put them in pairs and then small groups, they relaxed and started chatting. I had to laugh to myself at one point, because I had asked them to choose 8 or so questions to start off with, and if they had time, to ask more questions. One pair of students chose the questions that they liked, compared answers with each other ("I chose questions 2, 3, 8...") and then both looked up at me as one for more direction. I laughed and waved at both and told them "Okay, now you know what questions, well, start asking them!" I was able to move through the class, monitoring the activity, answering questions as they arose, and I feel that in the end, it encouraged a lot more interaction than the students had previously. At the end of this class, in fact, one of my more shyer students came up to me and said that it had been the best class that she had had in that quarter. I would like to think that the credit goes to Compelling Conversations!
Overall, just one of the best texts that I've used, and will continue using to facilitate speaking and listening practice, learning vocabulary in context and examining American English culture as seen through the use of the quotes and idioms.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
What a great book! Jan 19, 2010
Finally a book that I can use and adapt for every level of my ESL classes. The author did a fantastic job pulling resources around the topics (proverbs, questions, idioms,...). I especially love all the questions. I can think of many ways to use the materials, one of which is to create question cards, similar to Cathy's cards, and circulate them amongst students. I love the tips for "Satisfying Conversations" that the author gives at the beginning of the book: Be active, be curious, be encouraging, be kind, be open, be tolerant, make good mistakes, be yourself. I'm going to use this as a guideline in my conversation classes.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Improving Conversational Skills of English as a Foreign Language Dec 03, 2009
Well designed and full of interesting material for the adult learner of Conversational English as a Foreign Language. Excellent.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 a great help! Nov 02, 2009
I find this book to be a great help for conversation lessons. it's full of questions/tips/quotes that help students to discuss together, in group or individually on all kinds of different topics.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
An outstanding resource Nov 01, 2009
Many advanced ESL students, while relatively proficient in reading and writing, are lost when it comes to engaging in in-depth conversations in which they must go beyond pleasantries and use their newly-acquired language to express ideas, recount experiences, and support their opinions. Compelling Conversations gives teachers the tools to help students do just that, providing an easy-to-use, straightforward framework that nudges students into authentic, and, as the title suggests "compelling" conversations. After using this book consistently, students not only will be more fluid and confident in their ability to converse on a more-than-superficial level, they also will have gained an awareness of how their peers view the world.
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