Decide the conversational format. Rather than just engaging in conversation, choose a specific type of conversation on which to base your lesson plan. Numerous options are available, such as newspaper articles, television shows, movies, controversial topics that might result in debate and even various media such as the local news or talk radio. Focus your lesson on a topic that your students may have some familiarity with already and may have strong opinion about. By having students engage in a conversation that they already have a strong opinion about, you are more likely to stimulate them to use vocabulary that they might otherwise ignore.
Use writing for reinforcement. Instructors who teach conversational language, English or otherwise, sometimes forget that writing can be a tool for reinforcing what was learned in the lesson plan. At the end of your class session, set aside a little time for your students to write a reflection on what they have learned. Make sure to instruct them to include much of the vocabulary they may have learned from that day's lesson. This will help solidify the vocabulary within their memory and give them an opportunity to read it aloud to the class later. A good practice is to have them write their reflection and take it home until the next class so they can practice reading it aloud. At the next class, ask them to recite as much of the reflection as possible without using the written text. Use a question-and-answer session based on their writing to further stimulate their conversational abilities.
Break the class into groups or pairs. Students tend to tune out the conversation if they are not the ones talking. One of the best ways to avoid this tendency is to divide the class into small groups, preferably pairs, and give them a conversation topic. Allow them to talk freely while you make your way from group to group, eavesdropping and offering tips and suggestions to improve the conversation.
Sing a song. One of the easiest memory devices for any type of learning is singing a song. You can take a familiar song and change the words to reflect your conversational English lesson plan or use the actual song to add further vocabulary and language skills. Songs have a tendency to stay embedded in the memory longer than a simple conversation. You can even use musicals and similar media to show the value of song for memorization purposes. Remember that songs usually do not constitute normal conversation, so they should be used primarily as a supplement to other teaching methods.
Use mnemonic devices. Mnemonic devices are verbal cues that are used to associate items you want to remember with items already in your memory bank. For example, students learning the music scale in elementary school are taught that the notes E, G, B, D, F can be remembered with the first-letter mnemonic "Every good boy does fine." The same types of devices can be used with language vocabulary because these techniques work well with how the mind remembers new material.