Every learner of English dreams of being fluent in it, that is, speaking and understanding his interlocutor easily and quickly.
And, of course, the only way to achieve all this is the language practice of English. After all, to learn to speak the language, you need to speak a lot.
Unfortunately, it is with conversational practice that students have difficulties. Because we can read books, write or listen on our own, but in order to speak, we need an interlocutor.
Where can you practice the language? In this article, I will share 5 ways.
Where to practice English?
So, to practice English, you can use the following methods:
1. Conversation clubs
A speaking club is a place where people gather to get the practice of communicating in a foreign language. So that you have a complete picture, let's see how the meetings (mind you, not the lessons) in the conversation club go.
Usually a certain number of people (8-16) gather. There is a leader who controls the communication process. Its task is to ensure that each person participates in the conversation, and does not sit on the sidelines.
The facilitator gives a topic that everyone will discuss. The topic is selected, of course, interesting and relevant. And then there is direct communication. The club can also be held in the format of board games, mafia games, etc.
The Conversation Club helps:
- Practice the language
- Overcome the language barrier (fear of communicating in English)
- Learn to better understand the interlocutor
- Find new acquaintances with interesting people
Important: A conversation club is worth going to if you already speak the language and you lack conversational practice in your life.
By the way, we have a special summer - conversational training in the format of free communication, discussion of films and discussions on various topics in English. By devoting just 4 hours a week, you can not only maintain the level you have reached, but also improve your speaking skills. Suitable for people from Intermediate level (Easy Speak level 5) and above.
2. Sites for communication and social networks
You can practice your English online.
There are specialized sites where you can chat with foreigners.
Sometimes it's just communication in English, and sometimes it's a language exchange, that is, a foreigner speaks to you in English and can explain some of the rules, and you, in turn, practice with him and explain the Russian language.
You can also find a friend or pen pal on special sites, dating sites or social networks (facebook, instagram). And only then, after talking a little, offer communication via Skype.
3. English courses
Group classes include a lot of speaking practice (for example, we have 80% of the lesson), which has a very positive effect on the development of skills: speech understanding, conversational skills, fluency.
Therefore, being engaged in a group course is very easy:
- start talking
- Learn to understand English by ear
- Overcome the language barrier by communicating with different people
Also, unlike a conversational club, where you get only conversational practice, in the courses they explain grammatical rules to you, give you new words, correct your mistakes and put pronunciation, analyze each construction until you come to an understanding, work out with you all exercises.
That is, in the end, after training, you should understand the rules, be able to read, write, understand speech and be able to speak the language.
Important point: Choose those courses that have a lot of live communication, and not just reading textbooks, studying theory or doing tasks on a computer, etc.
Attention: Learn English for a long time but can't speak? Find out in Moscow how to speak after 1 month of ESL classes.
4. Communication with friends and like-minded people
Surely, among your friends, relatives, acquaintances there are people who study or have studied English.
You can help each other and also practice together. For example, arrange meetings where you will only speak English. Or just talk in English on Skype or phone.
The most difficult thing in such meetings and conversations is not to switch to your native Russian language. Indeed, unlike a conversation club, there will be no teacher among you who controls the process and makes sure that everyone speaks English.
5. Free conversational activities
If you live in Moscow or another big city, you can find not only paid speaking clubs or English courses, but also free English speaking practice.
For example, from time to time we organize Open Days, where we conduct free master classes in pronunciation, grammar and memorization of words, with conversational practice and training. There is also a free conversation club at this event.
Every Saturday we hold classes that are suitable for any level of language proficiency.
You can search for similar events on the Internet in your city.
So, conversational practice is the most important component in learning a language. It must be present in your training. Choose any method and start practicing right now.
Slowly is a unique service for finding pen pals. The authors of the application deliberately abandoned instant messages in order to return the romance of communication through letters. You find an interlocutor with similar interests, write him a message in a few paragraphs, attach a stamp and send. Delivery time depends on how far the addressee is from you - it can be either a couple of hours or a day. You can also send photos, but their number is limited, and the speed of delivery also depends on the distance.
Social network for communication with foreigners and daily lessons on various topics. For membership in the community, you need to transfer 5 dollars to the project account every month. But there is also a seven-day free subscription for beginners. The site has chats, forums and blogs for communication in the selected language.
Convenient service and application for learning a foreign language. To use it, you only need a device with a camera and the Internet. Here you can meet both professional teachers and native speakers offering informal tutoring. Each user can be both a student and a teacher. More than 10 thousand tutors are available, and tuition is paid by the unit.
A resource for finding friends, pen pals and even travel companions around the world. You can select interlocutors in specific countries, communicate in forums, chat, or use private messages. The site is free and has tens of thousands of registered users from all over the world.
On this site you can find a partner for face-to-face or remote communication through private messages or chats. When searching, you should indicate the language you want to learn and the one you will teach the interlocutor, as well as which applications you would like to use.
More than 100 thousand people from 56 countries use Easy Language Exchange to find interlocutors who speak different languages. You can communicate with the community in an open forum, or only with selected people using private messages. In addition, this resource contains many courses for self-study.
7. Speaky
Speaky is a free social network that consists of just two elements: a list of profiles and a chat box. When filling out a profile, you choose which languages you know and which you would like to learn, and the service itself selects the best candidates. You can communicate with both native speakers and those who are just learning it.
A site for finding interlocutors from the American Dickinson College. The Mixxer is aimed primarily at communicating via Skype, but also allows you to just chat. A useful bonus is free audio lessons on learning different languages from consulates and leading universities.
9. Language Share
A simple and convenient service for finding interlocutors. Profiles are filtered by native and studied languages, gender and age. You can send messages to people you like: the service sends notifications by mail. If you wish, you have the right to look for a partner only in a certain country.
10. Tongue Out
An ambitious project with a design and structure reminiscent of Facebook in the late 2000s. There are not only profiles, but also forums, groups, collections of photos and videos. You can add users as friends, participate in discussions and write messages, including through the application.
11. Tandem
Stylish mobile service for finding native speakers. Finding someone to talk to is easy: Tandem is used by millions of people. You can even enlist the help of professional teachers and sign up for a private lesson. Training takes place both through chat and through audio and video calls.
12. HelloTalk
HelloTalk is a multifunctional application for learning languages and communicating with native speakers. In the chat, you can exchange not only text messages, but also audio recordings, photos and videos. It is also possible to visually correct the interlocutor's mistakes in correspondence.
13.HiNative
HiNative is a question and answer platform. You ask native speakers questions about their language, and they answer. You can also ask for feedback on your pronunciation and sentence structure. Owners of free accounts can listen and see answers only to their own questions, and those who have bought a premium version can also listen to questions from other users.
Where can you learn to communicate, and what is conversational practice of English? The process of developing speaking should not be like memorizing any rules, words without using them in speech, writing out endless phrases and constructions that will remain in the ill-fated notebook. You will not learn how to express your thoughts in the language you are learning until you begin to formulate sentences on your own. Let it be at first something simple, nothing terrible. Everyone goes through this, the main thing is not to quit working on your English.
Where does the conversational practice of English begin?
Consider what can be done for conversational practice of English.
1. Get rid of the judgment that to master English it is enough to know the words. You also need to tie them together. Learn three simple tenses to begin with: present, past, and future. This will help you get your bearings in word order and start putting familiar phrases into practice.
2. Teach yourself not just to listen to English songs or watch videos, but to make an oral summary of this material. So you gradually get rid of the fear of speaking.
3. Make up your own examples for every new word you come across. Imagine situations in which one or another phrase can be applied. Otherwise, all information will simply remain in the passive reserve.
4. Find someone who is willing to speak to you in English. Live communication is the most important thing, because the conversational practice of the English language is speaking + listening, and not just a monologue.
Conversational English lessons for beginners exist!
It is a mistake to think that you can sign up for conversational English lessons for beginners only after memorizing all tenses and constructions. You can start talking from the very first lesson. Of course, these will not be super-complex sentences. But they will. Even the very first topic, which always begins the study of any foreign language (the verb "to be"), already allows you to talk about your profession, location, origin, age and mood. And this is already a lot. And even if you have never learned English, well-known international words that have long been "settled" in our native Russian will come to the rescue. We simply do not notice what a huge number of phrases of foreign origin we use every day. Just remember these: l leader (leader), office (office), manager (manager), traffic (traffic), printer (printer), check (check)…. It remains only to arm yourself with enthusiasm, properly organize your training and practice regularly.
"English lessons conversational speech" at school Fluent English
If, after reading the article, you came to the conclusion that you need qualified help in learning English, we can offer a skype course " english lessons conversation". In our school, the conversational practice of English begins with a trial lesson. You can sign up for it by sending a request to Skype fluentenglish24
Today I want to talk about my favorite resources for learning languages, or rather, for practicing my speaking and writing. But just practice, in my opinion, is the best thing you can do for your progress in learning. And the sooner you start practicing, the better. We will explain in detail in the following articles why this is so, but for now we continue our review of resources.
The main thing is that you can use them anywhere in the world 24/7 - today's review is dedicated to Internet services where you can practice communicating with real people. And this opportunity is actually a huge breakthrough in education.
Briefly about the advantages of using services:
The practice of communication greatly increases the effectiveness of language learning
+ You will greatly expand your understanding of other countries
+ You can make friends with whom you will communicate for many years
+ You can chat for free
+ The communication itself on the sites can be very interesting and meaningful, you just have a good time
+ You can find an opportunity to learn and practice very rare languages for which even a textbook is hard to get
Minuses:
Since so many people around the world are learning English, you may face some “competition” for native English time.
- You can fall in love with a foreigner, you will have a long and painful relationship at a distance, and after 7 years you will get married and leave the country
- Representatives of some countries are especially eager to communicate with Russian girls, and this is not the kind of communication that will greatly expand your language knowledge, so to speak (but in this case, it seems, there is even a blocking of individual countries).
In short, this is such a social network for language exchange. Many of our favorite mechanics from VK and FB have been saved - add a photo, like, write a status. And just like social media, it's completely free to chat. There is a convenient search by country, by online status, even by dating goals. The community is very friendly, there are very colorful characters. You can see who visited your page - a convenient way to start communication!
Actually, this is my favorite resource! How many sleepless nights have passed because of the amazing people that I managed to meet there! Directors, writers, musicians. We still communicate with some girlfriends and friends, five years later. The only drawback of the service is a certain mass of scammers and overly intrusive characters, but pretty soon you will stop being embarrassed to use the block.
To start communication, write meaningful messages, why and why you want to chat, tell a few words about yourself. Messages in the spirit of “hello, how are you, let's skype” will not always get a response.This site differs from the previous one in that here you can also find a teacher (including one available right now) and work with him for money. There are both professional teachers and people from the community who are ready to help you with the practice of the language to a greater extent.
There are also many articles and notes from users on the site, which deal with all sorts of tricky cases from vocabulary, grammar, slang, etc.
But part of multi-user communication is implemented a little worse than on interpals - participant profiles are made simpler, communication is somehow more difficult.
There are really a lot of teachers on the site! If you have doubts about the teacher, keep looking, take trial lessons - to find "your" teacher, who will want to come to classes again and again. But do not get too carried away, so as not to turn language learning into an endless list of teachers.Recently, I conducted an individual Skype consultation for one of the participants in the English Diet conversational English training. Already at the end of the conversation, Galina remarked sadly:
– Of course, I understand that the main thing in learning a language is practice, but where can I find English-speaking interlocutors if I live in a small town, away from the enterprises that expatriates work for and from places of interest to tourists? For Skype training, carriers charge from $ 20, for them this is the minimum rate, but for me - a lot of money. I really like to train with you, but I'm afraid to forget everything learned at the training.
“Galina,” I answered, “we live in the 21st century!” In the world, several billion people speak English, and now almost everyone has a phone or computer with Internet access. I'm sure you can easily find someone to talk to.
- No, I can't. Who wants to talk to me? I don’t trust dating sites, but where else can you find normal people to chat with?
– Have you ever tried? I asked Galina.
“I don’t even want to waste time on this,” she said sharply.
We completed the consultation, but the sediment, as they say, remained.
And so I decided to give Galina and all my subscribers a small gift: record a lesson on how you can find an English-speaking interlocutor within an hour and talk with him on any topic that interests you and him. I launched the video recording program and registered on the language exchange site in real time https://www.conversationexchange.com/. There I found a native speaker of British English and spoke with him for about half an hour. The whole thing took me less than two hours. When I cut out pauses and technical moments, I got an interesting video in which:
the registration process on the language exchange site is described step by step;
a fragment of a conversation with a native speaker of British English is given;
practical advice is given on organizing and conducting such conversations and using them effectively to improve your English.
The list of language exchange sites that I like is below.
