You hear it
everywhere, at any time, by everyone. If the speakers
are using your native tongue- no problem. But, what if
they are speaking English and your English is poor, what
can be done to improve your skills. Of course the
fastest and most efficient way to improve your English
abilities is to move an English speaking country and
immerse yourself. Unfortunately that is not really an
option for most people.
You could go to a language
school or institute, assuming that there is one
available in your community and it is affordable. If you
live in a community with lots of native speakers you may be able to make friends with some and converse with
him or her. If not, one can study at home using the
internet.
This site is intended for both teachers
and students. Lessons are available for both situations and
functions that will most likely be encounter by speakers of
English.
Each lesson contains common expressions
that native English speakers may use for given situations
or function, in addition to responses to those
expressions. Students can begin using these expressions
immediately to facilitate their communication skills. A
sample dialogue is provided that can be use as a model for
similar conversations.
The lessons also contain discussion topics, role play
situations, and other games and activities, for both paired
and group work, that can be utilized in the classroom for
students to further practice their use of the language.
Learning English
conversation skills works best in pairs or groups. One can
improve their writing, reading, and listening skills by
studying alone, but to maximize study time to improve
speaking skills you need a partner. Let's face
it, when people talk, they are usually talking to
someone. Granted, they could be talking to the family
dog, but that's way too one sided. They could also be
talking to themselves- hopefully not in too abnormal
way.
The
reasons partners are so important when learning
conversations skills are because:
1) one
sided conversations are a little boring, and
2) a
partner can give you feedback about what was said. It's
almost impossible to give yourself
feedback if you don't
know that you made a mistake or pronounced something
incorrectly.
All the lessons in this site were
developed with that in mind- two people talking together to
exchange ideas and provide feedback to each other.
One last word about speaking. Many
people, when first learning a new language, are reluctant to
speak because they fear they will make a mistake. They
should never ever worry about making mistakes because -
THEY WILL HAPPEN.
THEY CAN NOT BE AVOIDED.
EVERYBODY MAKES THEM!!!
So, stop worrying about it. The MOST
important thing about communicating is not to speak
grammatically correct, but to be understood! Even if a
mistake is made, if the listener understands your meaning,
communication has been achieved.
Most people are very tolerant of people
learning a new language. As long as you try to communicate,
even if mistakes are made, the effort will be appreciated,
communication will be accomplished, and the ultimate goal
for the interaction reached.
