Hey y'all! This summer I had a lovely job of being an RA for 125 Japanese exchange students. I got to talk to them a lot, but I was not allowed to speak Japanese to them. Because my practice routine for Japanese for the past six months has been primarily Anki-ing vocab I read, my speaking skills have atrophied to a bare minimum. My goal next semester is to have a scheduled 30 minute Japanese chat/tutoring session with an exchange student every day.

As someone who was payed to talk in English with English learners, I can definitely see the downside of placing one's importance on communication rather than improvement of natural speaking. (For example, many of my fellow RAs would say "Where will you go tonight?" rather than the more common "Where're you headed?" which would stump them and require explanation)

I feel that my Japanese is not good enough to just simply "practice," and I'd hate to reenforce improper Japanese; but on the other hand, I can't ask advanced questions because they're just normal undergrads.

I was thinking that maybe it would be better to bring a recorder and just have them maybe talk a little about what they want in Japanese and then ask questions about parts I don't understand.

Anyway, does anyone have any tips for making the most out of one's conversation sessions?

A part of me thinks that you should utilize the students/tutors in a more casual manner conversationally. If you're studying Japanese through schools and textbooks, then chances are you're going to be introduced to the more formal aspect of Japanese, and this would be a good chance to become more familiar with the informal/casual aspect.

Other than that, you could just have them correct you on certain pieces of grammar and context while talking about simple subjects/directions/etc. Maybe even work on your own listening comprehension and pronunciation.

Edit: You could even ask them to help you out with introductions, greetings, and common expressions. Maybe even during conversations bring up movies, books, and music that they might recommend for you.

I've done a lot of "conversation exchange" in the past, which is I think what you're describing. I think that your concern is valid - a lot of conversation exchange that I've done and witnessed was not very effective. For example, a lot of the conversations wind up coming back to the same high level topic (e.g. "Why are you studying Japanese?"), or mix both languages in the same conversation, which removes a lot of the potential benefit.

That being said, conversation exchange can be really, really, great - because it's a safe, low pressure environment with someone who has already agreeded to be supportive of your attempts to speak their language. Oftentimes when you are in Japan there will be embarassment or another penalty when there is a misunderstanding in a face-to-face interaction. This pressure is largely removed when you do conversation exchange. This means that at its best it allows you to really push your limits of speaking.

Here's my advice:
*Try to speak either exclusively in Japanese, or set a timer to switch languages. There is tremendous value to removing the "crutch" of speaking in your native language when things get rough!
*Come prepared with a topic that you want to talk about, or a story you want to tell. As I said earlier, it will quickly get old if you just talk about why you are studying Japanese, your previous trip to Japan, etc.
*Try to use recently learned vocabulary or grammer. You can prepare sentences or topics beforehand that use this new material.
*Try to be as specific as possible. For example, being general is "I have a younger brother." Being specific is describing your relationship with him, childhood memories with him, his personality traits, whether one of your parents favors him over you, etc.
*Prefer long pauses to speaking in English, or avoiding difficult topics.
*Recognize that most people who are learning a foreign language do not have experience teaching a foreign language. If your partner is speaking too quickly for you, tell them. If they are using too much new vocabulary or grammer for you, ask them to go at your level. It might take some time for the two of you to find a comfortable level, but it's worth the (momentary) embarassment of fessing up that you need them to slow down.
*All of this advice goes both ways. When it comes time to speak English with them, try to keep them engaged while also occasionally pushing them to go past their limits. If there are periods of silence, don't try to break them by speaking in Japanese.

These are just my thoughts. I hope they're helpful to you!

You should be able to learn words/grammar with your dictionary, and your partner can help you take that knowledge and use it. I usually ask questions about appropriacy/naturalness. "Does this sound okay?" "What would you say instead?" "What would you say if it was your boss/teacher?" I find asking people to define things for you pretty unproductive. Focus on having them point out your mistakes and ways to improve what you say. You can't do that at home.

I agree with ariariari about bringing a topic or story. If you just do small talk, you'll talk about the same comfortable, unchallenging topics and you'll get little out of it. Try debating a recent news story, telling a lengthy anecdote, explaining/describing something non-trivial etc. If you don't challenge yourself to use more complex structures, you'll never feel comfortable with them. Have your partner write down and discuss some of the mistakes if possible.

Thanks a lot y'all! Very helpful!