A major goal of ESL education is to teach students how to speak English well enough to converse spontaneously and naturally with native speakers. Discourse analysis provides an understanding of those skills second language learners need to acquire to converse with native speakers and an understanding of how these skills may most beneficially be acquired. These skills are both linguistic and communicative. One way to combine them and to prepare ESL students to converse with native English speakers is to practice conversation, use conversational English, and introduce various conversational techniques. The focus of this report is to discuss: (1) aspects of conversational language, (2) pre-conversation activities, (3) passage from controlled to free conversation, and (4) conversation activities. Among the conversation activities included are roleplay, question-and-answer activities, class discussions, problem solving, games, and other group activities. A variety of sample exercises, dialogues, and suggested activities are included. A discussion of conversation in the classroom points out the importance of identification of teacher and student role. (JK)