Repetition does not have to be boring for students but can be made learner-centered. Next, after having completed the roll call and answering these student review questions, class is officially started by putting students randomly in pairs. I usually do this by having each student choose from a stack of cards labeled 1A, 2A, 3A etc. Thus, if a student's card reads 1A his or her partner is the 1B cardholder. If there are 20 students there will be 10 pairs.
Students then pair off and sit facing each other.
By randomly assigning students to a new partner every lesson, the class is more dynamic and perhaps more significantly, after a few weeks the class, as whole, becomes familiar with each other which builds a supportive, relaxed speaking atmosphere. When students are seated facing each other in pairs, they listen to the example conversation in the textbook as a class and then practice saying or repeating problematic words for pronunciation. Now is the time to practice any problematic phrases or cultural concepts or for any pre-teaching of difficult structures. Step 4 - Creating a Variation of the Dialogue. Next, students are told they must change the conversation by substituting words in the dialogue.