Many conversation groups are made up of students with varied levels of English competency. Games help level the playing field by getting everyone involved equally. Reluctant speakers can team up with stronger speakers and pull the group together. A game helps people forget their insecurities about speaking because there is a common goal. Games are active and dynamic and students find themselves using speaking skills they did not know they had in the excitement of the competition.
Spelling bees and guessing games such as 20 Questions are ideal for conversation groups. A competitive spelling bee game is played with two teams. Teams score by spelling a word correctly. The first team says a word. The first player on the second team spells it. If he cannot, the first team gets a point. If the player spells the word correctly he offers a word to the first team. It must begin with the last letter of the word he spelled correctly. Play continues until everyone has had a chance to spell. Then the points are counted.
Getting students on their feet boosts learning. A ball-toss warm-up game for a conversation group is a great way to start class. Split the group into two teams. The first player asks a question such as, "What is the capital of the United States?" She tosses the ball to another student who catches it and answers the question. If he cannot answer, he gives the ball to a teammate and sits down. The teammate poses a questions and tosses the ball to an opposition player. Play proceeds until only one student is left.
Conversation group games are readily available on the Internet. Sites such as the Internet TESL Journal, ESL Flow and many others have ideas for conversation games. An Internet search will produce many ESL exercise ideas and conversation games. University websites often publish ESL ideas including conversation games. These can be found by running a search for ESL conversation games with an .edu suffix.