If you don’t learn to use the spoken language, you won’t learn English. Language student: Christian Schnabel, Porsche. Germany, 2006.

SimplyConversations^TM is a language teaching system aimed at adult students who are looking for a combination of general and business English conversational practice.

It has been specifically created for the:

*  English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
*  English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
*  English as the Lingua Franca (ELF)
*  English as an International Language (EIL)
and *  English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms.

Introduction

SimplyConversations^TM is a downloadable e-book of individual, lexically organized, photocopiable sheets which are divided into fifteen question cards and are accompanied with a webquest/post-task activity. 

Each unit covers one topic of interest.

The topics and accompaning questions are authentic and aimed at adult language students studying business or general English.

The conversations prompted by the cards are one that the students are already accustomed to having in their own native languages.   They are realistic, and draw on students' personal experience, knowledge, opinions and /or hypothesis, which increases their interest and also comfort level.

The cards and Conversation Control^TM  sheets promote self-awareness, reflection of the language learning process, and the all-important understanding of the usefulness of the new language learnt.

SimplyConversations^TM is a dynamic e-material which means all topics can be continuously changed and upgraded as and when the world changes, making it one of the most up-to-date teaching resources available. 

It will be supported by a bank of supplementary materials and advice created by you and other teachers. This "bank" will be called the SimplyC.wiki^TM and will be available July/August 2008.

The system assumes that the students have some pre-knowledge of English, at the Common European Framework of Reference's (CEFR)  A2 level and above. Each unit carries a "lowest-level" usage marker which means that the material can be practised across the widest range of students.

The questions are simple, open and varied, so that the same question which works with a low level student will elicit a more in-depth answer from a higher level student.  

The units offered include business and general English as well as English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and Special Interest (ESI). In general, the questions within each unit are written to stimulate the varied proficiency levels (grammatically and lexically) and provide natural opportunities for contextual and experiential learning. 

The style of the questions is designed to break down affective filters that can prevent language learning and encourage spontaneous response.

The questions in the post-task activity, SimplyQuests^TM, work on the principles of curiousity and the concept of students learning English by learning more about a subject of their own interest and then teaching/sharing this information.

The system (the prompt sheets/cards, quests and wiki) stands alone as a material which can be used to develop thematically based conversation curricula however it also works exceptionally well as supplementary material alongside published ESOL-EFL-ESL textbooks from OUP, Pearson Longman, Macmillan, CUP, Heinle & Heinle, Houghton-Miffin and others.

SimplyConversations^TM is applicable to mono and multi-lingual classrooms. It works outstandingly in group lessons where there are multi-levels of ability.

The SimplyConversations^TM system is currently only available in English, for adult learners, however it will be translated into various languages. Versions for children, teens/young adults and mature adults (65+) will also be presented soon.