Teachers, do you want to make weekend chat more interactive? Do you need a fun activitiy to engage our students in language learning? Recently, I stumbled upon a game-changing strategy that not only made weekend chat sessions more exciting for my level 2 and 3 classes but also made the entire experience more sustainable for me. In this blog post, I’ll share the simple yet effective technique that breathed new life into our language lessons.

The idea struck me when I decided to incorporate visuals into our weekend chat routine. Instead of simply narrating my weekend activities in the target language, I showed my students pictures accompanied by vague statements like

I went to a restaurant.

I rode my bike.

I watched TV.

The challenge for my students? Ask questions in the target language to learn more details about each activity.

The room buzzed with energy as they worked with a partner to craft questions behind each image. The key? Every question needed to be in the target language. If the question needed clarification, I skillfully restated or re-phrased it, ensuring everyone in the class could follow along. An example might sound like this: “Oh, class, so and so wants to know where the restaurant is located? I’m glad you asked me that. Does anyone else want to know where this restaurant is located?”

For novice classes, I provide a template that students fill out. Students share with a partner. I will ask one student for permission to share their work with the class. Sometimes, more than one student wants to share witth the class. This is my low pre version of weekend chat. For those days when you just can’t.