Low level students present a particular challenge when it comes to having any type of free conversation. They lack the ability to easily discuss their lives both in terms of grammar and vocabulary.
It's important to give all students a chance to talk freely about themselves even for a short time. For low level students, one of the best ways to do this is to ask relatively simple questions. However, be sure not to ask questions that are so simple as to only require a "yes" or "no" reply as they don't give the students a chance to talk much.
Good basic questions are:
What did you do before the lesson?
What did you do last weekend/on your last day off?
Did you have a good week? Why was it good/not good?
One path to building a low level student's free conversation ability is to ask the same questions about the student's life at the beginning of each lesson. By asking the same questions, the teacher will be able to teach the basic grammatical structure for correct replies and the student will learn them rapidly. In each successive lesson, the teacher will not have to disrupt the friendly atmosphere of the warm-up free conversation by offering corrections.
Additionally, the student will anticipate being asked the question and be ready for it. Low level students feel more comfortable if they have a sense of what is to come.
As time goes by and a student seems to answer your questions more easily, the teacher can add more questions and extend the free conversation. Through time, a longer period of time can be spent talking about the student.
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