These all sound great. I hope I didn't make the dialogue thing sound too intense. It was mostly just trying to get them to say, "what's your name" and "I am blah."
I ended up doing thing where I bring in a paper bag filled with stuffed animals, sometime paper ones I made if I couldn't get any stuffed. The bag is a bit decorated, but the kids seem to really like the element of surprise. Then I say, "oh, look, my friends are in here. You have to say hello." They were way into this - it was awesome. So then my "friends" get nervous meeting new people, so the kids have to say, "what's your name?" so the animal will come out of the bag. Then one animal will come out, and I introduce it, and the kids repeat the "I am monkey, fish, whatever" part. This was super fun, and I could even do it sitting down! I'd even say, "oh, it's too loud, you're scaring my friends" and they hush up. It was a beautiful (quiet) teaching moment...
