Last fall, I borrowed the cart of butcher paper from the library. Kids were working on their performance final, which was "draw something you can talk about on a giant sheet of paper. Then you and your partner practice describing it, but you can't write anything down. On The Day Of Reckoning, you'll stand up and and describe it while the class draws. We'll see how close they got." So they needed butcher paper, and they were going to need it at different times.
So when they were ready, they came to see me, and said "parati sumus," as they've been trained to do, and I said, "Placet. Quem colorem vultis?" and then listed all six colors (most of which they knew anyway) and they either said in Latin or indicated by pointing the color they wanted. Optime.
Then, I pulled out a section of paper and asked, "visne chartam longiorem, chartam breviorem, an sufficit hoc?" And they answered me in Latin. These are Latin I students, by the by.
It would have been slightly faster to ask in English. But when we do this - conduct small, chill negotiations or conversations in easily comprehensible ways (they get longus and know brevis, they had the visual of the length of paper, and they know their colors, plus i can point), we normalize conversation and language usage. It has more purpose than just taking a class or a test. They get reps of language they wouldn't necessarily hear didactically, it makes them feel like they can communicate in ways that legitimately gets them something (which is such a powerful use of language!), and doesn't feel to them like Teaching. And that's powerful, too.
This is one way of doing that, of giving language instead of "targeted learning" power. When they come to get materials for their group, go slow and point, but maybe conduct the conversation in the target language. Would you prefer this, or that? Do you want more or less? Do you want the green or the orange? How many orange and how many green? How many people are in your group?
When we do our intro classroom routine at the beginning of the period, the kids who earned the praemium dignum always get to make a choice: "do you want the weird black shape, or do you want the smiling fish?" (they always want the weird black shape. i don't honestly even know what it is, but it's bizarre and compelling.) And they get asked in Latin.
It's not always possible. Sometimes, frankly, speed/efficiency is more important. But sometimes, this is powerful enough to be worth it.
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