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Pragmatics > Hello, I Must Be Going!
Hello, I Must Be Going!
Jennifer M. Herrin
Slovenian Ministry of Defense School of Foreign Languages, Slovenia
Level: Lower-intermediate to advanced
Time: 15-20 minutes for the initial preparation for the activity;
15 minutes for the actual activity; 10-15 minutes for follow-up. Note:
This activity is designed to be done on a regular basis, as there are
many variations
Resources: Whiteboard, markers, and timer
Goals: To have students become more fluent in using and understanding
basic greetings and leave-takings in brief "small talk" encounters
Description of Activity
This speaking activity, whose title is taken from Phil Collins' album
title (1982) Hello, I Must Be Going!, involves introducing and
reviewing the ways that people in English speaking countries greet each
other, make small talk, and then signal that they would like to end the
conversation and depart. I have used it successfully with ESL and EFL
adults. The activity involves students (about 10, but could also work
with more) standing in two circles, one inside the other. The participants
in the outside circle must each face a person on the inside circle; therefore
an equal number of participants is needed in each circle, e.g. 5 on the
inside and 5 on the outside. (With an odd number of students, the teacher
can opt to participate, or have a certain "empty space" that
acts as one person's partner for one of the rounds. During this round
the "odd person out" would be an official eavesdropper.)
The teacher helps set a scene and provide a social role for the students
and, with the help of the students, provides the target vocabulary. The
teacher has a timer and sets it for two minutes. When she says "go"
(or whatever signal has been predetermined), the students begin talking
with the partner they are facing. They must use greetings and turn taking
while staying on a general theme of conversation in a total of two minutes
(a time that has also been predetermined). When the timer beeps at the
end of two minutes the students in the inside circle remain stationary.
The students on the outside circle have to gracefully use a verbal phrase
which signifies that they have to leave now. The participants use parting
phrases and each outer-circle student moves to his/her left (clockwise)
to go through the same procedure with the next inner-circle student. The
teacher resets the two-minute timer as soon as students have moved to
their new partners. Each beep signals the students to repeat the procedure.
This can go on until each outer-circle student has talked with each inner-circle
student which may take up to 10-15 minutes for a group of 10 students.
The classroom gets noisy, but students feel that they can really communicate
fluently with this activity and it improves confidence. The teacher keeps
a distance from the circles only offering assistance when a student turns
and shows evidence of a total breakdown in communication, otherwise she/he
listens to make sure people are engaging in verbal interaction.
Procedure
- After some initial discussion about what a greeting is, ask the students
to take 1 minute to write down all the ways they can think of that English
speakers greet people that they have met before and the corresponding
answers. Ask them to think about what they learned in school, what they
have heard on TV, and what they have heard people say in social situations.
- Draw a line down the middle of the whiteboard. On one side write
Greetings, on the other write Responses. Write the letter F for formal
near the top of the board and I for informal near the bottom of the
board (on the Greetings side).
- Have students call out the phrases they have come up with . . . and
ask them where you should write the phrase on the board.
For example they may come up with:
– How are you? Fine.
– Hello! Hi!
– What's new? Not much.
- Correct the phrases on the board appropriately while encouraging
further input. Add other phrases the class didn't think of such as the
following with corresponding answers: (this will depend on the level
of students and command of active vocabulary).
– How have you been?
– How are you doing?
– How's it going?
Point out that a "greeting" often involves a salutation, e.g.
"Hi!" plus a question "How's it going?"
- Discussing possible responses may take some time as there are many
variations. For example "How have you been?" may be followed
by "Not bad", "Great", "Same old same old",
or "Good".
- Point out that a good general rule to remember is:
When the question begins with "How", such as "How are
you?", "Fine" is a good answer.
When the question begins with "What", such as "What's
new?", "Not much" is a good answer.
- Have students choose one or two greetings that they would like to
learn (point out that the formal ones are more universal) and also a
couple of appropriate responses to greetings they may hear.
- Go around the room greeting each student in a different way patiently
waiting for them to look at the board, if necessary, for an appropriate
answer.
- Now ask them to imagine that they greeted someone successfully, responded
appropriately, got into a nice conversation, and then looked down at
their watch and remembered they had to be somewhere 5 minutes ago! .
. . What would they say to get out of the conversation? Ask them to
chat with a partner for 1 minute about possible answers.
- Ask the students for ideas. If they can come up with some appropriate
answers, put them on the board. Add the phrase, "Oh, I'm so sorry,
but I really have to go . . . Nice talking to you." Explain that
the person leaving uses this phrase. Then the person staying can gracefully
let them go and add "Nice talking to you too." (Other variations
can be added by repeating the activity another day, i.e. Nice to see
you, nice seeing you, etc.) Have students practice saying this phrase
out loud as a group.
- Now the teacher explains that the students must stand up and make
two "conversation circles" one inside the other and follow
the procedure outlined in the Description section.
- The teacher presents a topic/theme, possibly one that the students
have been working on in their recent lessons, e.g. talking about the
weather. Also tell the students what role they will be taking. Are they
running into a high-ranking diplomat at the airport or a friend? Each
pair will have two minutes to greet each other appropriately, respond
to each other, chat about the theme (making sure each person has a chance
to speak), and close the conversation. Emphasize that this is often
how native speakers interact in a fast-paced setting.
- Explain that when the timer sounds, the conversation will be closed
by each student on the outer circle looking at his/her watch and saying,
"Oh . . . I'm so sorry, but I really have to go. It was nice talking
to you." The other student will reply with the practiced response.
Then each outer-circle student will move one place to the left. Begin
the same conversation with a new partner and end the conversation after
the beep.
- Continue as time permits. Follow-up may include asking individuals
to share with the class something that they heard that was particularly
interesting in the rounds and to identify the corresponding partner.
- For closure, the teacher calls on one or more pairs to recreate their
2-minute conversation (one pair at a time) in front of the whole class,
or feedback can be given to the entire class at the end of all the mini-dialogues.
Rationale
- Time constraints are imposed as in real life, which is culturally
appropriate.
- Repetition of common phrases is built into the activity which will
help students "overlearn" them so that they can be recalled
instantaneously when needed.
- Students practice in different social situations (formal and informal).
- Covering the topic/theme with more than one partner enables students
to engage in "small talk" topics fluently.
- Students practice strategies of self-disclosure, listening, and turn
taking, and each student has to comment on the topic/theme in a short
period of time.
- Students gain familiarity with "saving-face" strategies
in managing quick conversations in which not everything is understood.
Alternatives and Caveats
- This activity can be done with formal language if a scenario is set
up so students are aware of how well they are supposed to know the people
in the opposing circle.
- Can be done in rows instead of circles. Two rows of an even number
of chairs are set up facing each other. One row will stay stationary
while the other participants will move one chair to the right for each
round.
- The teacher can vary the time and extend or condense the two-minute
time frame depending on the topic and purpose of the activity. The number
of rounds can also be reduced so that a student may speak longer with
fewer students.
- For more advanced levels, at the beginning of each round, the teacher
can give a different "small talk" topic.
- Target vocabulary can vary; one day "greetings" and "leave-takings"
can be the focus (Hello, how have you been?), another day safe "small-talk"
topics (How's the family? Can you believe this weather?), and yet another
day "conversation extenders" (Really? Are you serious? That's
too bad. Tell me more), other ways of ending a conversation (Well, I
guess I'd better get going).
- Target phrases can also be presented phonetically: Howzit goin? Whatssup?
Howya been? Sorry, I really gotta go.
- Have students incorporate conversational cues such as nodding, saying
"uh-huh" or "yeah," to show that they are listening.
- Set the scene to represent the first time students are meeting each
other. Go over phrases such as: Hello, my name's Major Jones; Sorry,
didn't catch your name; Nice meeting you; I knew I'd seen you somewhere;
Hope to see you around.
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