Describes conversation activities that can help students experiencing difficulty in French oral language increase confidence and speaking skills. Small groups of students form conversations around key words, and then expand the conversation for larger groups, incorporating more words and structures. (CB)

Describes a method which uses popular French songs to stimulate discussion in a high school level conversational course. (AM)

Three examples of conversation and composition courses that work well because of a large amount of preparation and coordination are outlined in this article. Courses in German, French, and Spanish are included that are concrete examples. (JL)

Describes an experience in using videotape recordings as an aid to developing conversation skills in a university language class. (AM)

A large number of middle aged and retired French-speaking Canadians spend time in Florida during the winter months. While most of them have some knowledge of English, they have a need for communicative competence in English in some business and social situations. This ESP (English for Specific Purposes) syllabus development project attempts to…

Four short articles discuss how to transcribe voice messages quickly and easily, how to learn to debate, new French expressions and games for language students. (Text is in French.) (MLA)

Conversation cards are a basis for guided role play and are used for reviewing a foreign language unit. After two or more units, conversation cards are combined into extended conversations (conversations libres). Two detailed examples are given of conversations libres and some sample conversation cards are appended. (LMO)

Communicative competence is now at the point where theory must be translated into practice, that is, where the functional approach must be developed into pedagogical content and strategies. An analysis is presented of the three main pedagogical approaches: the structural, situational, and functional approaches. Principles underlying the…

Teaching functional French is discussed with instructors of groups of foreign workers in mind. It takes as its starting point two "modules" for teaching French ("the highway code at driving school" and "starting and keeping small talk going") and uses them to exemplify some of the difficulties involved in the development and classroom use of…