Regarding conversational exercises in a foreign language--the words conversational and intermediate level suggest this may be so--,a good way to get students started (or restarted) is to engage have them speak about their own interests, activities, etc. Pairing students together has been effective for me, personally, since two or three do not do the work for a lazy one, for instance. When there are only two students, one asks questions and the other responds and vice versa.
Pairing a strong student with a weaker or reluctant one also encourages the weak/reluctant student to engage in conversation. Always peers are less threatening as tutors/teachers than the real one!
On the intermediate level, creating situation cards and passing them to a group of three works sometimes. For instance, two students are friends in a cafe and the third is the waiter/waitress; two people are tourists and the third is the concierge at the hotel, etc.
When trying to get the students to talk with the teacher, the instructor can allow them to use English for the words that they do not know. That is, the student must try to say most of his/her thoughts in the target language, but may insert English for a few words/phrases. Often students are not secure enough to say everything in the language, so they just say nothing.
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