Pre-teach dialogue.
2. Learners form two lines facing each other. Hand out cue cards to learners in LINE A. These cue cards are used to elicit responses from learners in LINE B.
3. LINE A remains stationary, repeating the same questions to every learner in Line B. Learners in LINE B listen to the question, look at the cue cards, respond to the question, and then move to the right and face another learner in Line A. All pairs talk at once. The last person in Line B moves to the beginning of the line. The activity continues until everyone in Line A has asked a question to everyone in Line B. Example: Task: Learners will identify body parts from visuals. Dialogue: A: What’s wrong? B: My back hurts.
Note: There are a variety of ways to set up a line dialogue. There may be only one line asking questions, or both lines can ask questions. As discussed above, cue cards may or may not be used. In classes where learners have some comfort and familiarity with everyday language, learners decide on their own what questions to ask. In all cases, one line remains stationary and the other moves.
Evaluation: This activity provides the teacher with an excellent opportunity to unobtrusively evaluate learners; once learners understand how to conduct a line dialogue, they usually have so much fun that they don’t pay attention to the teacher at all. During this activity, the teacher can observe learners’ speaking and listening skills, vocabulary knowledge, question formation or clarification skills, and even comfort level using English.
Extension activities: To give learners an opportunity to speak English with others, two small classes could participate in the line dialogue. These classes could be at approximately the same level or the less advanced class could comprise the stationary line and practice the questions in advance.