Functions

Grammar

Talk, talk , talk-

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.

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