Innovative concepts and methods in French conversation classes

In my paper I introduce concepts and methods applied during French conversation classes for the 1st year students of BA studies in Translation and Interpreting (the course take places at Faculty of Arts, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia). Participants will have the opportunity to discover how useful it is to employ Socratic method questions during conversation classes with students of lower language level. I will also precise the way I employed the concept of peer learning and its utility for language students. Finally, I will comment on argumentation-based conversation on a controversial topic from French events. I used innovative concepts and methods mentioned for students of B1/B2 – B2 level of French. So far, little attention is given to innovate language courses at Slovak universities. The aim of my contribution is to propagate the methods and concepts that are not yet widely used in teaching designs in Slovakia, but from students´ point of view are very beneficial. In my contribution, I will present how I dealt with French conversation classes for student whose level of French was not sufficient enough. The goal set for conversation classes was to use innovative concepts and methods so that the students with lower level of French will reach or at least get closer to students with good level of French by the end of the semester. Using several types of parameters (minute papers, teacher´s notes…) to evaluate if the goal set was reached, I will present the results. To engage the audience, I will orally ask participants questions concerning concepts and methods used, I will ask about their opinion on students´ reactions in the part “results”. As I have faced obstacles related to the level of French language, I will ask about solutions that could help to ensure the lesson flow.