The setting: A well-appointed library room. Comfortable tables. Comfortable chairs. Projector and screen.

The people: Anywhere from six or eight to eighteen students of different ages and different walks of life.

The teacher/facilitator: Someone who is very comfortable with technology and PowerPoint.

What could possibly go wrong?

When I started running the Spanish Chat Club, I went all out on technology.

I was well versed in the wonders of PowerPoint and eager to take advantage of the many free online resources available to language learners: electronic worksheets, vocabulary cards, videos, interactive exercises, and more.

For each meeting, I prepared a six- to ten-slide presentation, embedding links to YouTube videos and other free online resources. Eventually, I created a page on that wonderful resource, Padlet. It still lives there, although these days it serves mostly as a repository for the many resources we have used during the two years we have been meeting to chat.

There were, however, a few caveats.

Many of our most faithful and enthusiastic participants were older adults, some over 80. Technology was not a first language for them. Small smartphone screens, QR codes, PDFs, and the eye-hand coordination required to navigate them were not a natural environment. What was supposed to make an activity easier sometimes made participating in it more difficult.

No problem, I thought.

I’ll project everything on the screen from my laptop, and we can go through the exercise together.

We struggled with that solution through many classes.

The library’s internet connection was unreliable and would clunk out at the most inconvenient moments. Those who were hard of hearing struggled with the room’s less-than-excellent acoustics, particularly when we played videos. Those who had difficulty reading from a distance sometimes had to leave their seats and walk closer to the screen.

Eventually, I went back to the origins.

Paper and pencil!

The return of the handout

Now, with the help of Copilot or Gemini, I develop simple one-page worksheets. [Example here.]

At our biannual Friends of the Library book sale, I also look for middle- and high-school Spanish textbooks, preferably the teacher’s edition. I draw inspiration from the way they approach themes and some of those grammar problems Spanish learners inevitably encounter.

Mind you, ours is not a grammar course. It is a conversation club. But working through por vs. para, preterite vs. imperfect, or direct and indirect object pronouns every once in a while is useful, and, somewhat to my surprise, the students enjoy it tremendously.

Instead of projecting an exercise onto a screen, I hand out a worksheet and we work through it as a group. Each person takes an item and talks us through the answer. [Recent example here.]

The paper is right in front of them. There is nothing to download, nothing to scan, no password to remember, and no internet connection to lose.

And, most importantly, everybody participates.

The news of the week, in print

Our analog approach extends beyond grammar exercises.

I look through reliable Spanish-language news sources such as DW Español, El País, El Mundo, and BBC Mundo for recent articles that might generate an interesting conversation.

The original article is often too difficult or too long for our purposes, so I may use an AI tool to bring the reading level down to approximately A2 and divide the information into short paragraphs of similar length. For my own use as facilitator, I also ask for a vocabulary list and a set of comprehension questions. These give me something to draw on as we work through the reading and the conversation that follows.

Then I print the adapted news story for the students.

In class, we take turns reading the paragraphs aloud. We stop to work through unfamiliar words and expressions and, most importantly, talk about the subject. I can use my vocabulary list and comprehension questions as needed to clarify the reading, check understanding, or keep the conversation moving.

Another handout for the binder.

And sometimes we become actors

Another favorite is the printed sketch.

With the help of Copilot or Gemini, I create short, humorous situations that the students can read and act out in class. I might specify four characters, approximately equal speaking parts, and A2-level Spanish, then give the AI the basic situation and see what develops. [Example here.]

I print enough copies of the script for everyone. Four students take the roles, while the rest of the group follows along on their own copy.

This works particularly well because everyone is involved. The actors practice speaking and responding to one another, while the rest of the group reads and listens at the same time. Afterward, the sketch usually gives us plenty to talk about.

Again, no screen is required.

Everyone has the same material in front of them.

It is remarkably low-tech. And remarkably interactive.

A three-ring binder instead of a screen

All of these analog resources have worked surprisingly well. Many students keep their handouts in a three-ring binder and bring them back to class, creating their own growing collection of Spanish materials for future reference.

There is also something very practical about paper in a group with different ages, abilities, and levels of comfort with technology. Everyone receives the same thing. Everyone can write on it. Everyone can refer back to something from a previous class.

I’m certainly not against technology. I still use it extensively to prepare for class. AI tools help me brainstorm activities, adapt readings to an appropriate level, create role plays, and develop worksheets. Padlet remains a useful home for our accumulated resources.

What has changed is where the technology lives.

Increasingly, it lives behind the scenes, helping me prepare the materials, rather than sitting between the participants during the conversation.

After all, the purpose of a Spanish conversation club isn’t to get everyone onto the same webpage.

It’s to get everyone talking to one another.

All this to say:

I haven’t turned on the projector in over six months.

And that may be reassuring news for anyone thinking about starting a conversation group in a venue with little or unreliable technology.

A table, some chairs, a few sheets of paper, pencils, and people willing to talk may be all the technology you need.

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The stories and lessons shared here come from my own experience as a conversation group facilitator. AI helped me polish the writing, but the observations, successes, mistakes, surprises, and lessons learned are mine.