In need of a resource for teaching basic conversation skills to your middle schoolers? Look no further, download our free middle school conversation topics material!
How to Teach Basic Conversation Skills to Students
You can successfully teach an important conversation skill, conversation sharing, using Everyday Speech’s free conversation skills material! This material focuses on the concept of ‘Conversation Share’, or knowing how much to talk. Conversation sharing is a basic conversation skill that teaches students how to monitor talking time and keep it even with other speakers. If our students dominate the talking time, or don’t talk enough, others will feel upset or confused. By sharing how much we contribute, everyone is more likely to be engaged in the conversation.
Lesson Plan – Using Your Free Conversation Skills Material
1. Introduce the ‘Conversation Share’ Skill
Before using our free conversation skills material, introduce the important concept of sharing talking time in a conversation. Teach your students that when we engage in conversations with others, it is important to be mindful of how much we talk and contribute to the conversation. If we talk too much or don’t talk enough, others may not want to engage in future conversations with us. Encourage your students to use their ‘Conversation Share’ skill to help them monitor their talking time when talking to someone else. Conversations are meant to be shared equally by everyone involved!
2. Practice Conversation Sharing
When having a conversation, students should try their best to split the amount of time they talk with the other person 50/50. To help them, practice engaging in a conversation topic of the students choice. Remind your student to keep track of how much they are talking during the conversation. At the end of the conversation, you should have both shared the same amount of talking time.
3. Download, Print, Post, & Send Home the Free Middle School Conversation Skills Material
Our free Conversation Share Goal Poster is a great visual resource to download, print, and post in your learning space. This will serve as a visual tool and reminder to your students when they are having conversations. Encourage your students to practice this skill at home by printing this poster off and sending it home with your student for them to reference!
Sample Middle School Conversation Topics Video:
This sample video below is a great enhancement to this Conversation Skills lesson! Everyday Speech provides real life scenarios as age appropriate actors model new skills. We offer a 30 day free trial for all of our social skills materials!
Related Blog Posts:
How to Teach Conversation Skills to Elementary Students
3 Activities for Teaching Basic Conversation Skills
