Compelling Conversations is perfect for conversation clubs, private tutors, and conversation courses!


This innovative English as a Second Language (ESL) textbook helps advanced English Language Learners develop conversation skills and improve fluency by sharing experiences, reflecting on their lives, and discussing proverbs and quotations. The ESL book includes 45 thematic chapters, over 1,350 questions, 500 vocabulary words, 250 proverbs and American idioms, and 500 quotations. Designed for both adult education and intensive English language students, the conversations deepen critical thinking skills and speaking skills essential to success in community college and university programs. Compelling Conversations has been used in classrooms in over 40 countries, is recommended by English Teaching Professional magazine, and enjoyed by thousands of English students.

About the authors

Eric H Roth teaches international students the pleasures of writing and public speaking in English at the University of Southern California. He has also taught various ESL courses at Santa Monica College, UCLA Extension, and Cal State-Long Beach. Roth also taught university students in France and Spain and directed the summer program at APU International High School in Vietnam.

Toni Aberson taught English and supervised English teachers for 35 years, and believes that a lively classroom is the optimal learning environment.

User reviews

Compelling Conversations' topics are timely, meaningful, and presented in such a way as to stimulate immediate class participation. Marc Yablonka, Author & ESL Teacher, LAUSD Adult Education

The students I tutor are well-educated adults, reich in culture and experiences. This book allows them to produce natural conversations using what is most intimate to them: their lives and their culture. Patricia Schulze, ESL Tutor

Book reviews

English Teaching Professional, January 2009 
Review:

Compelling Conversations is a recommended resource for teachers who want to make their conversation classes more learner-centered. It should be especially appealing to those who wish to escape the confines of the Presentation-Practice-Production approach and do without a formal grammatical or functional syllabus. It reflects the authors' considerable professional experience, and would be a notable addition to any English teacher's bookshelf. - Hall Houston


Review:

This outstanding resource (Compelling Conversations) allows teachers to confidently walk into an advanced ESL classroom with self-contained, engaging conversation lessons... I wish I would have had that book in my old adult/university classes. A great book for adult education teachers, university instructors, and private tutors!" - Eric Busch

Santa Monica Daily Press, 1/16/2009 
Review:

Have you been looking for a good ESL manual? If you have, I think Compelling Conversations is one to consider. ...This manual will go best with the advanced ESL student or even at coffee shop conversation clubs. It will bring about authentic, not stilted communication, which should be the purpose of an ESL course. It is easier for a person to learn a language through conversation rather than by a given list of vocabulary words. That is what makes this a welcome addition to the material which can be used for the immigrant who must learn English to advance in the world. - Dane Robert Swanson