Conversation Cafe February 18, 2012
to CATCH UP ON: to find out about something
"Most folks stop here for a cup of coffee while they catch up on the day's news." ~ http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com
Thank you to all who participated in the re-opening of The February 18 Conversation Café! It was great to see you, friends from all over the world.
We had the chance to catch up on what has been happening in each other's lives: the books we have read, the movies we have seen, the resolutions we have made, and the delicious meals we have prepared.
In addition to chatting, we played a listening comprehension game called TELL US ABOUT IT. Each participant chose a discussion topic from the board and spoke about it for a few minutes. After everyone had a turn to speak, I asked questions based on the topics each participant had chosen.
The objective of this challenging game was to listen carefully. Everyone did a great job, but Satoshi got 1 point more than everyone else because he understood the title of the movie David spoke about ("Mission Impossible 4"). Way to go, Satoshi!
In addition to practicing listening comprehension, this game practiced use of the Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous tenses.
TELL US ABOUT IT is a game that can be adapted for both the face-to-face classroom or the online class. It can be adapted to practice listening comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary. Just use your imagination.
Please feel free to download and use the PowerPoint slide for your study or teaching purposes.
The Conversation Café will be open again next week. Please contact me for an invitation (teacher.michele.chester@gmail.com).
We will begin to discuss Chapter 5 of the Hot Topics Book: Las Vegas--Sin City. Stay tuned for more information about this really hot topic!
In the meantime, you can continue to review the Present Perfect tense with these worksheets:
1. Present Perfect or Past Simple #1
2. Present Perfect or Past Simple #2
Happy Studying!
it in Conversation Café, ESL Teaching Ideas 
