Oh gosh, at the beginning of my teaching career I tended to rely on a few strong and/or extroverted students in a class (although I always had activities where I had all the students respond orally). I suspect many foreign language instructors like myself fall into this trap because we’re so grateful we have students with the language skills and/or confidence to just give it a go when speaking in the foreign language. Maha, these are all totally doable tips that really enhance class discussions☺. Thank you!!! Here are a few variations:

– Think-pair-share: Give students time to think about a prompt, then exchange their ideas with a partner, and finally debrief as a full class. During the full class debriefing, instructors can ask quieter students if they’re willing to share what they and their partner discussed.

– jigsaw reading/listening: Prepare different texts for students to read or listen to and then discuss. For example, divide one text into three parts (a, b, c). Divide students into groups of 3, and have each student read/listen to one of the parts (can be done for homework before class). Get students together in groups of three (a,b,c) to exchange information and discuss.

– Personalized conversation cards: I just learned this neat classroom activity from Scott Bowyer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq4t02mGhjQ . Pass out blank cards. Students jot down topics that are interesting for them. Have students pair up to talk about their preferred topics. Do multiple rounds so that students discuss topics that interest them with different partners.