Hi! In my small, higher level elective classes (and my English clubs) I try to use at least part of the lesson as a conversation class. When I first tried to do this, it failed pretty badly because the students, while their level is high, were unwilling to talk - they just needed a bit more guidance. So now, what I do is pick a topic (for example, we recently reflected on their memories from elementary school) and then I write heaps of questions on that topic. I cut the questions into strips and put them in a hat. Each student then takes a question from the hat. I always write enough questions so that there will be many extras, and if they don't like the one they get they are allowed to try again. Then, each student reads their question out, and then gives their answer. I ask them follow up questions, and try to elicit follow up questions from the other students.
Sometimes I have them loosely paired so that it is the job of the other student to ask a follow-up question. Often little mini conversations will grow like this.
I also take as many photos/ items as I can that relate to the topic just to add interest/ stimulate conversation. For example, for the elementary school one, I printed out some photos of me when I was little... the students got a bang out of it, but unfortunately agreed unanimously that my little sister was cuter than me!)
Another fun conversation starter I like to use is hypothetical questions. Eg. "If you could take one thing to a deserted island, what would it be?" etc.
Hope that's handy!
