We are jamming out today about a subject that is near and dear to my heart: interpersonal speaking activities. This is the key ingredient, the secret sauce, that one thing that is so often missing in the world language classroom environment.
Listen on the Practical Proficiency Podcast
In this post, we’re going to dive into why interpersonal speaking activities world language teachers use are the secret ingredient for student success, why this mode of communication seems to be the hardest for us to pull off in class, and—of course—practical ways that you can start doing more interpersonal activities and assessments without it becoming a giant classroom management headache.
What’s up? ¡Qué lo que! E salut, world language teachers! Welcome back to the Practical Proficiency Podcast, where we make the transition to proficiency-oriented instruction in your world language class in a way that works for you, your unique context, and your teaching style—and most importantly, doesn’t sacrifice your well-being along the way.
I’m your host, Devon Gunning, the teacher-author, conference host, and consultant behind La Libre Language Learning.
Listen to this info about interpersonal speaking on the podcast below:
Why Interpersonal Speaking is the Electric Connection
Let’s first talk about why interpersonal speaking activities and interpersonal communication is so vital. Think back to your own experience as a language learner. Think about that very first time you interacted with a native speaker and realized you had a little tiny grasp on the conversation. You understood a bit of what they said, and you were able to say something back.
It felt electric, right?
That is the moment that made you want to keep working. It’s when you realized, “Oh dang, I can actually do this.” Your students enrolled in your class for that exact same reason.
They might love the food, the music, or the culture, but they could experience those things at home or on YouTube. They are in your room because they want to use the language.
I know, I know—I taught Spanish 1 and 2 and French 1. I know a ton of kids are only there because they feel they have no other options or they’re just checking a box for graduation. But those feelings go out the window when you show them how real-world your class actually is. We can only show them how useful language is if they actually get to use it.
The Mindset Shift: Skills vs. Academic Subjects
One of the biggest reasons we struggle with interpersonal speaking activities world language students actually enjoy is that we are fighting against an academic mindset.
We are treated as an academic subject, which leads to a mistake: people think that because we are in a school, we should be doing lots of worksheets, paper, and writing.
But our classes are tactile. They are real-world. They are skill-based.
Think about it this way: if you were the music teacher, your goal would be helping students express themselves through an instrument. If you took away their time to play their instruments in order to hand them articles to read to boost literacy….your kids would be confused. And rightly so. OF COURSE literacy is important, but not at the cost of losing the sole purpose of your class – helping your students speak or sign more fluently. You improve their literacy by helping them read music—an incredibly difficult skill.
We are far more like the music teacher, the welding teacher, the gym teacher, or the art teacher. If you take away time from “painting” (speaking/interacting) to do grammar worksheets, you aren’t doing your students a service.
The Literacy Trap
I live and used to teach in South Carolina, and I know literacy is a huge initiative. We are often mandated to do a certain amount of literacy work. But here is the secret: acquiring a language naturally boosts literacy, without the stupid worksheets and even less thought out rushed literacy initiatives that lawmakers specialize in. Bilingual students do better on tests across the board because they can cross between ideas and make connections more fluently.
You cannot justify an excess of writing assignments in Level 1 and Level 2 at the direct expense of invaluable interaction through interpersonal speaking activities and signing — all under the guise of “literacy.” That exact magic that literacy initiatives are trying to go for actually happens when students read compelling input at their proficiency level and then interact with it. Let’s not carve into our precious interpersonal time by doing too much writing.
I have even heard folks justifying the sheer amount of writing in their language classroom by can-do statements from ACTFL. However, when you look closely at the ACTFL Can-Do Statements (recently updated for 2024) – the focus is expression of ideas, and does not often explicitly state writing.
Think about it this way – which is the mode that you, as a multilingual, most often use in your L2 and L3? It’s obviously speaking and signing. This is the home form of communication for humans, not writing. Writing is still an important tool, but it should rarely be chosen instead of, or over, speaking.
Help me understand how in an oral or signed language class, we consistently identify and interpret a call to “expression of meaning” as writing instead of speaking/signing. The two skills should build off of and complement each other, not compete for attention.
But don’t be hard on yourself – this is engrained into the academic system to push for writing and literacy, even in hands-on skills like language acquisition. We all do extra unnecessary writing to get through the day sometimes.
And writing is way easier to turn to than speaking/signing when students are lost, bored, confused, and don’t want to engage when you use the target language….soooo…. every day. gotta love ’em ❤️
This post is intended to help you move more confidently into interpersonal speaking and validate how hard it is to do so. Let’s do it together!
What is the role of interpersonal speaking or signing in your classroom?
DO A GUT CHECK AUDIT:
- How much of your class time do you spend on writing skills?
- How much of your class time do you spend on speaking skills and signing skills?
- Does that number feel balanced to you?
- Does that number reflect how often you, as a multilingual, write? Does it reflect how often you speak or sign?
- How often do you assign writing activities not because you want to focus on writing, but because it’s easier to manage, easier to grade, and easier to plan?
- How often do you avoid speaking activities because of management, your energy level, and the assessment difficulties?
These answers may be surprising to you on the role of speaking in your classroom. If you’re like me and like most teachers I work with, you probably want to do more speaking, but it’s so damn hard to do speaking activities in a classroom setting – especially when you’re up against engagement barriers with students who are often reluctant to engage nowadays.
You’re not alone, and this is not your fault! The classroom is set up for your students to sit still, look pretty, listen, and be calm and obedient factory workers. Which is the exact opposite of healthy interpersonal conversation.
It’s also the opposite of the vibrant, community-fueled and conversation-filled class that is what I certainly love most about teaching a social subject like language.
And in my opinion, the factory-worker model is the opposite healthy growing society. But that’s a tangent.
It’s also the reason I wrote this post .
Interpersonal speaking and signing SHOULD be the focus of a language class, but it so often is not due to:
- the high-engagement nature of speaking
- the false competition that literacy intitiatives create
- the logistical difficulties
- the overall energy drain it can often be
Let’s fix that!!
Setting Realistic Expectations for Novice Learners
How much interpersonal work is appropriate for a Level 1 student? When I say “responding to questions” in Level 1, I literally mean saying “oui” or “no” for the first few months.
By the springtime, they might be able to handle “either/or” questions or find common ground with phrases like “Moi aussi” or “Yo también.” If your goal is Novice High, you are looking at an output of maybe 9 to 12 sentences. And let’s be honest: they aren’t going to be cute, connected ideas. They are going to be repetitive phrases, recycled vocabulary, and a whole lot of errors. That is an appropriate measure of proficiency! If you try to push for more “complex” writing, you are taking away from the communicative settings they can only get in your classroom.
Overcoming the Classroom Management Headache
I get it—interpersonal activities are hard to lead. They are chaotic. Whether you have 13 students or 35 students who don’t want to be there, it’s a lot to manage. It’s also much harder to grade an intangible conversation than a stack of worksheets.
But we have to look at the Language Iceberg.
As Bryce Hedstrom and I discussed at the Practical and Comprehensible Conference, 80% of a student’s ability is under the surface. They understand way more than they can say. We need to build up that input for 2-3 months before we expect the “tip” of the iceberg (output) to show up.
Once they are ready, here are my go-to interpersonal speaking activities world language teachers can use to build those skills:
1. Simple Speaking Quizzes
I used to do these every two weeks. They weren’t scary “proficiency” tests where I asked spontaneous questions. They were performance assessments. I’d give them 2-3 simple questions we had reviewed a lot. They practiced, they rehearsed, and they performed.
Let’s be clear – this is not true proficiency. In level 1, I used alot of rehearsed and memorized language to prep those brains for better comfort levels and confidence with proficiency towards the end of the Level 1 year.
Performance is a great stepping stone in Level 1 before they have enough in their “iceberg” for true spontaneous proficiency.
2. Info Gap Activities
These are as old as the game itself, but they work! You give Student A one half of the info and Student B the other half. They have to ask each other questions to get the full picture.
- Example: Student A has pictures of people with different hair colors. Student B has a list of names and descriptions. They have to ask, “Does your person have curly hair?” to match the name to the picture.
3. Classroom Passwords
This is a Bryce Hedstrom tactic. You set a password (like a cool idiom) for the week. Students can’t get into the room unless they say the password or answer a quick question from you. It’s a small, daily tradition that builds the “muscle” of producing language every single day.
4. Human Scavenger Hunts
Give them a worksheet with 10 questions: “Do you have an aunt who lives nearby?” or “Do you have a brother?” They have to go around the room and find people for whom those things are true. To keep them in the target language, walk around and monitor. To grade it? Just collect the papers at the end to see who got the signatures!
5. Soul Train & Speed Dating
- Soul Train: Have students stand in two lines facing each other. Give them a question (e.g., “How old are you?”). They answer to the person across from them. Then, the person at the head of the line moves to the very back, so everyone has a new partner for the next question.
- Speed Dating: Same concept, but seated! Students move desks every 2 minutes to talk to someone new. It provides the repetition they need without the boredom of talking to the same person for 20 minutes.
Troubleshooting “The Crickets”: Building Student Confidence
If you ask a question and hear nothing but crickets, the problem is likely confidence, not just “laziness.” Speaking is the hardest thing we ask them to do. It’s terrifying to speak a new language in front of your peers.
The Scaffolding Ladder
Don’t start with a student speaking in front of the whole class. Build up to it:
- Groups of 4-5: Let them answer the question in a small huddle first. There is safety in numbers.
- Groups of 3: Whittle the group down. Walk around and give individual feedback.
- Partners: Once they’ve practiced with a few people, they’ll feel ready for a 1-on-1 partner exchange.
- Individual: Now you can call on Jeremy in the middle of class and ask, “Do you prefer bananas or oranges?” He’ll be able to answer proudly because he’s had three trial runs.
The Role of Sentence Starters
Never forget the sentence starters! Even if you’ve used a structure a million times, communication uses a different part of the brain than memorization.
In SLA terms, we are talking about Declarative vs. Procedural knowledge. Declarative is the stuff they can pull from memory (like a vocab list). Procedural is the stuff they can do unconsciously (like actually speaking). As Bill Van Patten (BVP) said 15 years ago: “You cannot drill communicative ability. It develops when we find ourselves in communicative contexts.”
Get some more ideas for how to get participation in this video below ⬇️
The “Party Host” Mindset
When you are looking for interpersonal speaking activities world language learners will actually engage with, remember: You are a party host. Your job is to be a facilitator. You want to help students connect. Borrow from party games!
Use “Would You Rather,” icebreakers, and “This or That.” Be genuinely interested in their answers. Your job is to keep the conversation going, and that starts with being a curious, interested host.
Interpersonal isn’t easy – take the 10% challenge as your first step!
My challenge to you this week is simple: Carve out 10% more time for interpersonal interaction. Look at your lesson plans. Where can you turn a worksheet into an info gap? Where can you turn a reading into a three-minute structured conversation? You will be amazed at how that small change helps the communicative centers of your students’ brains grow and thrive.
Ready to Build a Sustainable System?
If you want to move away from the “overwhelm” and toward a classroom full of joy and interaction, I’ve got the roadmap for you.
Grab my FREE audio workshop: The Joyful CI Classroom System. It’s a 100% audio training—perfect for your commute—where I show you how to lead a language-rich class that gets real results without the burnout.
Click here to get the FREE audio training!
And if you’re looking for a community of teachers who are all working toward these same goals, come join us in the Practical Proficiency Network. We have a full library of robust trainings, including a full course on transitioning to proficiency with a focus on sustainability and teacher self-care.
Thank you for spending some with me to work on your teaching practice. I can’t wait to hear how your students start conversing this week!
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