What do you need to tell your volunteers?

This is the lowest pressure ministry that you can be involved in. All you have to do is talk. You don’t have to be able to teach grammar; that’s not what the Club is about. It’s about practicing the English that the students have learned elsewhere.

Remember that the listeners are more nervous than you are. You can put them at ease by introducing yourself and having them introduce themselves. This builds an immediate connection. Let them know this is a safe place to make mistakes.

Begin with the audio program and then break into small groups based on each student’s level of English ability, either Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced. The small group size will depend upon how many volunteers and how many students are in attendance. There may be multiple small groups for each level of English speaking ability. Volunteers who speak some of the students’ language are advised to take a Basic group, while volunteers who do not speak the students’ language are advised to take an Intermediate or Advanced group.

Tips for their small groups:

For Basic groups, start by using the activity. If you have time afterward, ask if there are words they don’t understand. Have them help each other with difficult words in other ENGLISH words. If no one can do that, then you can help.

For Intermediate and Advanced groups, you will receive a list of conversation starters with questions that lead from general to more meaningful discussion. You don’t have to rigidly stick to the questions if your group is having a good conversation just let it flow. If you get through all the questions and there is still time you can ask if they have any questions about the program topic or about vocabulary in the text. If someone asks a question about something from the text, have him or her find it in the text and read it aloud for everyone so you have a good point of reference. Then, have someone else in the group answer the question or define the vocabulary in other English words.

The object of the small group is to get each listener to talk. Go with the flow of your group. Some will need your encouragement to speak up and others will chat freely. Some students may instead ask you questions to get you talking because they are nervous. If they can get you talking then they don’t have to talk. If they ask a lot of questions, turn them around and ask them the same questions.

Make sure each member of the group participates. You can ask each person to answer the same question. You can move to the next person by asking what they thought of what was just said by someone else in the group. Don’t let one person dominate the conversation. If that is happening, just say to the group, “Now we need to hear from so-and-so,” and point to another member of your group.

Feel free to gently correct some of the more serious errors. Don’t correct everything; just those errors that would prevent real communication or embarrass the speaker.

If you have extra time, have them give you a summary of the program. Share about the different cultures represented within your group. Or, ask those in your group to take turns reading the text aloud by sentences or paragraphs as a way to practice.

If you really run out of things to do, ask outrageous questions (make everyone answer these) such as, “What would you do with a million dollars?” “What’s your favorite thing to do on the weekend?” “If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be and why?”