Teacher’s Dozen Workshop #1

POP (Practical Oral Practice) Time

Art or Photo: Two high school students stand in front of the class performing dialogue. One points to Bolivia on a world map.

Purposes of POP:

To develop useful, versatile “chunks” of English in oral practice.

To increase comfort and fluency in oral language.

To introduce and discuss common patterns of English.

To relax and have fun.

Procedures for POP:

Find or create a short dialogue related to current lessons for practical oral practice.

Each day, spend about 5 minutes practicing the POP and reviewing POPs from previous days. Dialogue can be teacher-students, two groups of students, or pairs of students. Change roles often so everyone learns both roles.

A dozen ways to use the POP dialogue:

  1. Perform the dialogue in two voices. Model expression, humorous voices, exaggerated actions and emotions.
  2. Perform the dialogue with a student. Model as in #1.
  3. Have students practice the dialogue in pairs.
  4. Have pairs of students perform the dialogue for the class. Be an “applause meter” (move your arm like a dial) to rate students’ responses to their peers’ performance.
  5. Have students create simple props and costumes for their performance. After practicing in front of their own class, send pairs out to perform for another class or invite in a visitor for a performance.
  6. Have students create their own variations on the dialogue to perform for the class.
  7. Use words or phrases of the dialogue on sentence strips on a pocket chart. Change and rearrange them and practice acting them out.
  8. Select elements from the dialogue for instruction and practice in pronouncing certain sounds.
  9. Select elements from the dialogue for grammar or reading instruction.
  10. Using the strips and pocket chart, mix up the strips and have students re-sequence.
  11. Cover words in the dialogue with substitute words (e.g., students’ names) on a self-stick note.
  12. Have students tape themselves performing the dialogues several times during the year and assess the tapes for progress.

Sample POP Dialogues

There’s a fly in my soup

Scene: A sits in a restaurant. B is the server.

A:(Looks at menu) May I please have some soup?

B.Certainly.

B (leaves, comes back with soup)

B. Here you are, madame (or sir).

A. Excuse me, there is a fly in my soup.

B.Don’t worry. It won’t eat much.

What Country Do We Live In?

A.What country is to the north?

B.Canada

A.What country is to the south?

B.Mexico

A.What ocean is to the west?

B.The Pacific Ocean

A.What ocean is to the east?

B.The Atlantic Ocean

A.What country do we live in?

B.The United States!

How long, how tall, how far?

  1. How long is the table?
  2. The table is ____ centimeters/inches long.
  1. How tall are you?
  2. I am ______meters/ ____feet _____inches tall.
  1. How far is it to Clarkston?
  2. It is 4.6 miles to Clarkston.