Monday, May 15, 2006
ESL Classics 03: Conversation Gambits
ESL Classics 03: Conversation Gambits, Eric Keller and Sylvia T. Warner, Language Teaching Publications, ISBN 0-906717-59-0
Beyond grammar and vocabulary and pronunciation, a final frontier for students is often knowing how to respond in ways that go beyond these. Conversation Gambits is an excellent such fill-in-the-gaps text. It goes where many other functionally-oriented books do not. The “gambits” are phrases, short sentences, and expressions which help support a conversational intent (an example follows). Its 96 pages include three types: opening, linking, and responding.
For example, #31 is “Correcting Yourself”. Here is the material to learn:
· What I mean is…
· What I meant was…
· Let me put it another way.
· What I’m saying is…
· What I’m trying to say is…
· Don’t misunderstand me.
· If I said that, I didn’t mean to….
· Let me rephrase what I just said.
We practice and learn this by making extreme statements (almost a dozen are included), and then responding to a challenge by correcting ourselves. This can be done one-on-one, in pairs, or even in small groups. I used this extensively in Taiwan with high-level clients, with great success.
Other gambits include “putting the record straight”, “saying ‘no’ tactfully”, “being sympathetic”, and interview language. These are all very useful situations to study, and few other resources cover so many so well. So, they are very useful, the approach is very practical, the activities are easily done well in class, and few other books cover this so well. Sounds like a classic to me!
Recommendation: How did this ever go out of print?
Beyond grammar and vocabulary and pronunciation, a final frontier for students is often knowing how to respond in ways that go beyond these. Conversation Gambits is an excellent such fill-in-the-gaps text. It goes where many other functionally-oriented books do not. The “gambits” are phrases, short sentences, and expressions which help support a conversational intent (an example follows). Its 96 pages include three types: opening, linking, and responding.
For example, #31 is “Correcting Yourself”. Here is the material to learn:
· What I mean is…
· What I meant was…
· Let me put it another way.
· What I’m saying is…
· What I’m trying to say is…
· Don’t misunderstand me.
· If I said that, I didn’t mean to….
· Let me rephrase what I just said.
We practice and learn this by making extreme statements (almost a dozen are included), and then responding to a challenge by correcting ourselves. This can be done one-on-one, in pairs, or even in small groups. I used this extensively in Taiwan with high-level clients, with great success.
Other gambits include “putting the record straight”, “saying ‘no’ tactfully”, “being sympathetic”, and interview language. These are all very useful situations to study, and few other resources cover so many so well. So, they are very useful, the approach is very practical, the activities are easily done well in class, and few other books cover this so well. Sounds like a classic to me!
Recommendation: How did this ever go out of print?
