The unbearable 'lightness' of teaching a conversation course: Is it really THAT easy?

When teaching a conversation-based lesson, do you pre-plan a sequence of activities and language areas to work on down to the last detail? Or do you play it by ear and create the lesson moment by moment in class? Are lesson-planning and preparedness the same thing? Do you improvise because you've failed to prepare for a lesson or because you're prepared to teach any lesson?

Let's talk about what Jim Scrivener calls 'the jungle path approach' - not planning anything - and how to make it work when teaching a conversation course. Would you dare explore an unknown forest unprepared?

Louel Ross Calleja has been teaching a wide range of courses for adults (medical English, business English, Cambridge exams preparation courses, conversation, etc.) in Brno since 2008 and has taught students coming from more than 25 countries. He is also a teacher trainer and has done workshops and seminars not only in the Czech Republic but also in Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Ireland, and the Philippines. His areas of interests include Dogme, English as a Lingua Franca, native-speakerism, and ESP. He always makes it a point to teach culture in the classroom and has made it his mission to make his students fall in love with learning words. In addition to his ELT qualifications, Louel also has a master’s degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Research (with distinction) from the Free University of Brussels in Belgium.

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