if you learned english 40 years ago...

This week I went to a beginning-of-the-year meeting for all the Suceava county teachers of english as a foreign language. One of the topics at the meeting was the benefits of using the communicative approach when teaching foreign language. The communicative approach is to the more traditional approach as the tango is to the wallflower. Interaction is required.
To demonstrate the ineffectiveness of using conversation in class solely for grammar practice, the speaker used the following conversation which was from a textbook used by his mother in Poland:

John: I am a man. You are a woman.
Mary: I am Mary Brown. You are John Brown.
John: This is a book. That is a pen.
Mary: What is this?
John: That is a pen. What is this?
Mary: That is a book.
John: Is this a book?
Mary: Yes, that is a book. Is this a pen?
John: Yes, that is a pen.
Mary: Is this a door?
John: No, that is not a door. It is a pen. Is this a window?
Mary: No, that is not a window. It's a book.
John: Are these chairs?
Mary: Yes, those are chairs, and these are tables.
John: Mary, what are these?
Mary: Those are books, John.
John: Am I a man, Mary?
Mary: Yes, John, you are a man, and I am a woman.

"What is this conversation about?" the speaker asked.
The teacher next to me, an older woman in a gray suit whispered to me, "It sounds like they are working up to sex."
While the communicative approach may be more effective in teaching conversation, the traditional method is much more entertaining if you're in a roomful of english teachers.
And really, are window and books that easy to confuse with each other?