This evening Kathy, my fellow TESL team-teacher and I, led Conversation Club. Conversation Club is a gathering of TRU ESL students who are interested in practicing their English language skills in a safe space. This year due to COVID-19, the club takes place online through an application called Blue Jeans. As students were joining from different places around the world, Kathy and I decided to focus our lesson on “My Favourite Place.” We felt that the topic would be easy for students to engage with as it would provide students the opportunity to share their personal thoughts.
Overall the lesson was well received by students as most students were eager to share their thoughts and perspectives. One challenge that emerged was the English language levels of students. As this was not a class focused on a specific aspect of the English language, students were at different levels and it appeared some struggled with the level of English that Kathy and I were using. In the future I believe it would be important to assess English language proficiency at the beginning of the club in order to meet students where they are at. This could be accomplished through a quick confidential poll or white board activity asking students to self-assess.