Nuts and Bolts

Nuts & Bolts for Conversation Circle Leaders

Lynne will publicize the conversation circle, make the room reservations, copy any handouts, and pre-screen the participants for you. She will “direct traffic” for the first session (and help you lead it if you wish). She is “on call” for any questions you might have about planning and leading the group, and trouble-shooting if problems should come up. She will visit the group from time to time to see how things are going, and will attend a final celebration, if you invite her.
Mid-way through the series, and at the end of the series, Lynne will give you an informal evaluation to distribute to students and collect. This is to get some feedback from students on what is working/not working for them, so that we can make any needed adjustments, and to provide data to our funder.

Come in with enough activities for two hours of class time. Even though the conversation circle is for an hour and a half, you'll need extra material in case an activity doesn't work or gets finished faster than you expected.
Have one or two extra “quickie” activities ready in case your main activity ends 10 or 15 minutes before the session is scheduled to end and you don't have time to launch a whole new activity.

Check out the fully-developed conversation themes at this website (feel free to steal all or part of any activity that appeals to you): http://eastsideliteracy.org/tutorsupport/ESL/ESLTalkTime.htm
If you prefer print resources, there are a set of conversation/discussion activity books in the ESL Center's Tutor Resources section. Look for an orange stripe marked over the top of certain books (this is my way of signaling to you that a book is useful for Conversation Circle purposes).

Keep a checklist of who came in each session (we need this for grant reporting).
Get a list of participants’ email addresses and phone numbers (in case we need to contact them, and so we can invite them to future conversation circles). When new students join the group midway through the series, make sure they are added to the list.

Please give your copy order directly to Lynne. (It helps to get it to her a few days early!) You can leave it under her office door or drop it in her mailbox in the library office.

In the winter time, it’s a good idea to familiarize students (and yourself) with the library's snow cancellation policy. If the library is open, the conversation circle is on. To find out if the library is closed, call 413 259-3094 or check the Town of Amherst website: http://www.amherstma.gov/.
It is the leader’s responsibility to arrange for someone to take his/her place when he/she can't make it. Please have a substitute lined up (in advance) for these situations. Another conversation circle leader may be willing to help you out, or you can have a friend shadow you from time to time so that she/he knows how to step in for you if necessary. In a worst case scenario, let the library know that you will not be here, so that someone can put a sign up on the door. (We'd prefer not to do that, though, because the students make a great effort to get here-what with transportation, child care, etc.--and we want to honor that effort by making sure there really is a conversation circle happening when they get here!)

Leaders usually plan a final potluck or other event to mark the completion of the cycle. You can use your regular room, have Lynne reserve the large meeting room (where there is a kitchen and more space), or invite students to your own home, if you wish. Let Lynne know what you need in terms of paper goods, decorations, or any other requests you have.