I’m always looking for new ideas and activities to teach my clients conversation skills. We work on initiating conversations, sharing stories, ending conversations, asking questions and commenting. One of the most popular games we’ve played is really easy to set up-I call it the Good News/Bad News Game.
How to Teach Conversation Skills by Working on Commenting
Have you ever worked with a student who will use the same comment every single time you are practicing conversation skills? Or maybe you are just talking to my husband. I know he sometimes goes on autopilot when I am taking.
This game is very simple. I start a conversation. My clients need to determine if I am sharing bad news or good news-and then comment appropriately.
To start come up with 5-10 comments that you would use for good news and 5-10 comments you would use for bad news. Involve your students by having them generate the comments.
Encouraging Comments
- That’s great!
- Awesome.
- Cool!
- Sweet!
- I’m glad to hear it.
Supporting Comments
- I’m so sorry.
- Oh no.
- That’s awful.
- I wish that didn’t happen to you.
- Are you okay?
Then you start a conversation and the students have to determine a correct response. I start with very obvious examples-for example:
- I won the lottery
- I got an F on my Math test
- I think I had an accident
- I got a new job
- My dog is very sick
I can increase the difficulty and add more perspective taking by making statements regarding personal preferences such as “My dad got me tickets to pro-wrestling.” The client needs to pay attention to my vocal tone, facial expressions and also use their knowledge of my likes/dislikes to come up with the correct response. If I like pro-wrestling, they would give me a positive comment. If I did not like pro-wrestling, they would use a supporting comment.
What activities have you found that work well for practicing commenting? I look forward to reading your comments below. And if you found this post helpful, I’d love it if you would take the time to share this on Pinterest or Facebook.
