New conversation practice technique!

[mfan]

A common worry on ENotAlone is that we don’t have enough to converse about and don’t really know how to turn a brief chat into a conversation.

 

I thought of a great way to practice our conversation skills. Basically, you find any blog, speech, or news commentary, and read it or listen to it, and as you read it or listen to it, think of as many follow-up questions as possible that you could be asking if this were a live conversation. Here's an example of what I mean.

 

This is an excerpt from the following blog, which I selected at random

 

link removed

I finally picked up Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (an earlier edition than the one pictured above), which has been sitting on my shelf for years. As a writer, I haven’t been reading enough non-fiction. So I started a non-fiction read that I can really get into.

Loewen’s thesis is that the way history is taught is too loaded down with factoids, not built up enough with drama— I know that my high-school history was taught that way. I hated it. It wasn’t until years after I graduated high school that I began to discover history, because history is full of drama. Never are our historical figures as one-dimensional as we try to make them appear. They are never pure “heroes” or “villains,” but rather deep, realistic characters, full of conflict. And Loewen delves deep into those conflicts.

 

 

Annotated with every possible follow-up question and conversation topic

 

I finally picked up Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

--I haven’t heard about that book - tell me about it!

 

(an earlier edition than the one pictured above), which has been sitting on my shelf for years.

--What other books would you like to read if you have time?

Do you find that you often buy books and then it takes years before you read them? I do that too sometimes, I see a cool looking book but I don’t end up reading it until I have to take a plane somewhere.

 

As a writer, I haven’t been reading enough non-fiction. So I started a non-fiction read that I can really get into.

--What is your favorite genre of book?

What kinds of books do you read most often?

What is your favorite book you’ve read recently? Tell me about it.

So how did you come to feel you want to read more non-fiction?

What do you like to write about?

How did you get into writing?

 

Loewen’s thesis is that the way history is taught is too loaded down with factoids, not built up enough with drama

--What do you think he means by that?

How would you go about adding more drama to history, if you could?

What do you think of his opinion?

Did you like your history class in school? Did you have a good teacher? I had a great history teacher in 10th grade, but I was so bad at history that I think his brilliance was lost on me.

 

I know that my high-school history was taught that way. I hated it.

-- What about your other high-school classes - did they do a good job teaching those? Are there other subjects you feel should be taught with more drama and realism added, like math or English, maybe?

 

It wasn’t until years after I graduated high school that I began to discover history, because history is full of drama.

--How did you come to discover how interesting it is?

What are the best sources you’d recommend to someone who wants to study history?

So, do you feel that the drama of the events is more important than studying what exactly happened, in objective terms, or equally important?

 

Never are our historical figures as one-dimensional as we try to make them appear.

--Do you feel that textbooks are really trying to make them appear that way, or is it inadvertent?

 

They are never pure “heroes” or “villains,” but rather deep, realistic characters, full of conflict. And Loewen delves deep into those conflicts.

--Do you want to come upstairs?

What are some of the historical people you’ve learned the most new details about, now that you’ve read Loewen’s book?

Who are your role models from history? Are there any famous historical people you wish you could be more like?

What’s your favorite period in history to study (or favorite culture)?

Besides making history more dramatic for students, do you have other ideas on how its teaching could be improved? I found when I was studying it that it was so difficult to keep all the details in mind that it was difficult to find time to experience the drama and realism of it.

 

 

Notes

As the person is talking, these various questions may occur to you. Obviously you don’t interrupt the person in order to ask them, but after they talk to you, you can use any of these to expand the conversation and have more to chat about.

 

Some of the questions you think of will be answered a second later by the speaker, but some of your other questions will be unanswered. Keep these in mind.

 

You can do this practice technique with TV transcripts too. You can also practice while watching live TV. As the people are blabbing, think of as many follow-up conversation topics as you can. The TV show can be something as impersonal as a newscast, where you think of clarifying questions you could ask during the entire speech. Remember to keep your conversation personal by including lots of “how do you feel” or “how do you like” questions!

Even a baseball broadcast can be used for practice. Those commentators talk constantly, and everything they say is rich with veins of unmined material that can be talked about in more depth, if only you’d just ask them!

 

Now practice like this once a day, every day, and in no time you’ll have so many girlfriends that you’ll have to juggle them like Jack Tripper on “Three’s Company” in order to keep them apart.

[Cognitive_Canine]

It's a great idea and a great start.

 

But remember that you have to talk about your own opinions too. It's good to balance questions with your own input. It's just all about keeping the conversation flowing.

 

"Reminds me of this book I read a few months ago *compare books*"