my dream project – a live chat

We have once had the chat on the internet with all students in class. Even though there was no structure in it and everybody was just throwing in his two pennies worth that time (it was basically too unorganized), I really thought it could work in practice. We would just need separate chat rooms and a decent topic to talk about. So I had the idea of the following project:

First of all, I will ask the headmaster or the administrator of the classrooms (probably the janitor) plenty of time in advance to reserve the computer lab on a certain date. I will ask him to double check all the computers and verify that there is a computer for every person. Ideally, everybody would bring her/his own notebook because everybody knows best how to work it, however, you cannot take it for granted that everybody’s got a one.

In the lesson before the 90min session in the computer lab every student will get a worksheet with his/her task. Those tasks contain a person who has got a problem or at least any reason for speaking and a list with vocabulary help. The person can be someone applying for a job or a boss who is looking for an employee. Another idea could be that someone wants to rent an apartment and is therefore talking to the landlord. A blind date is as possible for having a reason for talking as a simple ask for the way to a certain building. Almost every reason for chat is imaginable. However, the teacher must take care that there is always a pair of people who are going to talk to one another, in the actual chat. Finally, every student should have a worksheet with a job and some vocabs on it. -> double-deckers are ok, too.

Ok, so let’s assume we have reached the planned day and there are enough functioning computers for everyone. Now, the people in class would have to access (sometimes register) a homepage providing chat service. As we did it in class, it might be the best to use a video projector to outline the homepage, the way how to register and eventually, a list with people being logged in.

Then I am going to prepare the chat rooms. One chat room has got the name “job office”, another one “flirt room” and so on and so forth, so that every student joins the room that fits her/his task. I am going to tell my students that this session is an English only lesson and therefore is meant to be one no German is allowed. I tell them that I will check the conversation in their chat rooms -> I do not want to see any German word! (I know that controlling their dialogues has a whiff of surveillance society, however, the whole project makes barely any sense when the pupils are solving their tasks in German!)

After they talked to one another in the predetermined constellation they are supposed to move around in class and then stop and on my mark and take the job from the person they are standing next to. (So they are not only sitting on their butt;-) Another idea which just strikes me is that everybody can just take the place of their neighbor on their right – that mixes up the groups, as well. You can give them a minute to read through their new task and then have them starting the conversation again. I will do that a couple of times till the session is almost at the end. Finally, the pupils can get a free choice which chat room they want to enter and are allowed to write about any topic they like – however, they are still urged to write in English!