At the beginning of conversation club Hilda greets the students and explains what the conversation club is and what we are doing. As a first-time attender this is a good thing to do because although the idea of a conversation club sounds easy those who first time might not know exactly what happens during it. Sadly, no ESL students show up, so we TESL student become the participants instead. Hilda mentions to always have more planned just in case. I think that this a great idea especially when things like this happen where you have less people, or perhaps the students have better English, so it takes them less time. I think the topic that Hilda picked which was music is a great topic for this sort of thing because music is universal. All cultures have their own music, so it is a very interesting and engaging topic. She starts with questions on music and I found that students responded excitedly with these more personal questions. All students participate and is Hilda good at making sure everyone is speaking. She joins in which I think is great because a student you want to get to know your teacher and this is a great way to. She joins in but lets students speak too.
We then listen to a song this is where it turns more into a lesson which is ok. She Makes students listen to a song and has the lyrics with all the nouns taken out. I do not know if I would use this for a conversation club just because it feels to much like something you would do in class. I believe conversation club should be more about conversation and just having fun. I think this is a great tool to use when teaching grammar lessons though. She does use the song to base some questions off like “what can you change about yourself?”. Although I love the idea and the continuity of using the song to continue the conversation. These more personal questions could be uncomfortable to talk about with strangers. She does call out those who do not speak again which I know that the point of a conversation club is for everyone to contribute. This could upset someone who is not comfortable with the question they might not want to speak. They also might be embarrassed to say they do not feel comfortable. Some questions though like “what is a song that affects you emotionally?” is great. I found it created connections with others. The class ends with jeopardy on some fun music trivia which was very fun. Jeopardy is something that teachers have used throughout most of my high school and university days and I think it is a great way to break up the sometimes-stagnant classroom. Although for those from other countries or whose English is not the best the music trivia might be too hard for them which is something to think about when doing anything trivia related. Overall, I really liked Hilda’s energy and was great at facilitating the conversation club.
