English Out There

I have a lot of great English conversations with Bernd. He is German but lives in Brazil. He wanted to become more fluent and natural with his English speaking. This is us talking in our second lesson and then in our twelfth. Can you hear a difference? :-)
Bernd used the English Out There learning content and we talked and recorded our sessions on Skype.

So, this was my last session with Anthony, which was a shame as we get on really well but he doesn't need me any more, he knows what to do, has already improved and will go on improving.

Today we started with me talking about the psychology of acquiring English speaking skills which Anthony seemed to appreciate and then as part of the lesson discussion we both talked about some rather unsettling memories from our childhoods.

I also noticed that he was habitually using the present tense when he should have been using the past tense...listen for his reaction when I point it out. Interesting...it bamboozled his brain for a bit but he got there and if he listens to this clip a few times he will probably adjust naturally.

Finally, at the end he told me an Australian work colleague of his told him recently that he thought Anthony had been born in Australia!

This was a fun conversation as usual. Stereotypes and specifically English stereotypes...so it was an amazing coincidence that I'd just shared a very provocative image of Prince William that a friend posted on Facebook in outrage (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202462627269992&set=a.2676258948723.2147806.1323703051&type=1&relevant_count=1)

Anthony didn't react the way I thought he would and I am going to let my Facebook friends hear what he had to say about the image. Let's keep this education thing going!

I think I detected that Anthony's English has improved in the way he wanted it to and he'd had a conversation with someone I'd introduced him to via my volunteer group. He'd also been recording his meetings at work and listening to them again later...which is a fantastic idea...not just for work but also for your language skills. Listen out for my question about his reaction to hearing himself speak and how he explains what is does for him when he hears himself. Fascinating stuff. Well done Anthony!

This was a fun chat with Anthony, a self-confessed geek. He did well and tailored the questions to me specifically because he knows I do a lot of online work. We discussed big data, bitcoin and android apps as well as his work in Australia for local government.

I think he's pretty busy so finding people to talk to online is tricky and he is a bit lazy because he is in Australia, an English speaking country and has English speaking friends :-)

He said he practises with them, but I want him to record and listen to those conversations using his mobile phone (the Soundcloud app is great). The reason he wanted me to help him was to iron-out the things in his speech that caused slight misunderstanding with less sympathetic listeners at work. if he records conversations at work and listens again he will start to hear what he is doing that confuses people and should naturally correct.

This was Anton's first proper EOT session. He will do it with me each time first and then speak to a two or three other practice partners. Record everything and listen again...he's pretty good so I will try to pick up on things and be a bit tough. He just wants a polish! :-)

Anthony found me via the English Out There Facebook page (http://Facebook.com/EnglishOutThere) and he'd listened to some of my recordings with other learners.

This is our first (before) conversation. We are going to use the SS5 upper-int course.

Here's Noemi before and after her short English Out There course in central London...again the product of ten classes that were conducted completely without the use of a classroom! Have a listen, can you hear a difference in the way Noemi speaks?

This is the first time since we started English Out There eleven years ago that we have taught it in London using no classrooms whatsoever.

On the last day of a group's two week course (10 lesson/30 hours), as they were getting ready to say goodbye, I had a brief chat with Angelina one of the group leaders. She is an English teacher in a French secondary school.

I was curious to hear what she and the students thought about our course, especially since we had done everything outside of the classroom.

What Angelina told me made me ask her if I could interview her and put the clip online for others to hear. She very kindly said I could.

Have a listen as Angelina, a veteran of seven study trips with teenage English learners, describes the differences between what all of the other English schools do and what we do. It made me a very happy man last Friday :-)

Charles is a lovely bloke and although his English wasn't great he volunteered to be recorded at the start and end of his EOT course in London.

This year we decided not to use any classrooms at all to teach EOT. We wanted to stimulate the students' minds a bit more in the input stage (at the start of the lesson) by not asking them to go into a classroom (like they do all year at home).

It seemed to work as, in anonymous written feedback, 78% gave the English Out There course 4 or 5 out of 5 (60.8% gave it 4, 17% gave it 5).

Have a listen to see if you can hear a difference in the way Charles speaks English after just ten lessons over two weeks in London?

So, this is the same 'before' clip from our first conversation where Liliana dries up a bit and you can hear the nervousness in her voice edited next to a passage from her last session with me, the lesson on dreams and dreaming.

In the second clip she controls the conversation and talks with minor input from me for almost three full minutes whilst she tells me a story about one of her previous English teachers and his dream about her.

The aim of working with Liliana was to finally, after over twenty years of English study using other courses, help her to feel comfortable speaking English with a fluent English speaker.

Have a listen and let me know what you think?

This was a fun chat with English teacher Tanya in the Ukraine. She asked some really good questions about the way I talk with learners on Skype when they do the first speaking practice from each lesson with me.

Tanya especially picked up on the way I try to do correction. I explained that it is about listening and facilitating understanding in the conversational process. Helping learners to make the connections themselves. Have a listen...

Well this session turned into quite an intimate conversation with both us talking openly about some about health issues we had (and still have). Health is something lots of people don't like to talk about in detail or even face up to. Life (and living) can be challenging but it is better to share our thoughts and fears than to keep them to ourselves.

The conversation here starts 10 minutes in...

This is the last 10 minutes of our lesson 18 session today and I thought it was such a nice chat and Liliana sounded so happy with her EOT course that I wanted to create a separate shorter clip to post online.

What we talk about here is what is possible if you just do what Liliana did and follow the EOT worksheets, do the speaking practice on Skype and listen to your recordings a few times.

It makes me very proud to have helped Liliana to get over her fear of speaking English after so many years of trying before she found EOT. I met Liliana because she joined my Facebook group called 'I Still Can't Speak English' and asked for help.

This was what Liliana wrote at the start of this process:

"I want to talk about my experiences with the English courses I've taken since I was at school so far. When I was at school I liked English classes so much and participated in them. After graduating from high school I took several courses in American schools , three courses at the British Council and also had private classes with a Colombian women who lived many years in London. Despite of taking many classes I have little fluency, and had to face this when I didn’t get the job I wanted as a bilingual customer service I was very sad and got frustrated because I didn’t have sufficient fluency to pass the interview and this job gave me the opportunity to improve my English skills and offered me a better job stability. I accept that the lack of fluidity is my problem to get a well paid job in my country. Actually, the courses I taken did not help me to improve my fluency I did not achieve my goal after taking many courses in my life but do not lose hope and continued studying on my own."

Thanks for working hard Liliana and for being a great example for others who might think that they will never be able to speak English comfortably.

Ah, the old queuing lesson, it might need to be updated a bit for the uber-digital age but it still makes sense and produces a good conversation.

Liliana is really coming on very well now, the rhythm is there now too :-)

We had a laugh and at the end it was great to listen to her thoughts about EOT and how it had affected her.

Two more lessons to go!

I got a bit bored at the end as Liliana kept talking about how wonderful Paul McCartney was for an 80 year old! (he's actually 70 this year) :-)

This was a good chat actually...we did the language from the lesson and veered off on a few tangents taking in accents, travel, food and, of course, foul language or swearing.

It was fun (until the Macca thing :-) Have a listen.

Simon contacted me very enthusiastically a week or so ago. He lives in France and have been teaching in the state education system.

We had a great chat about how English is taught there (pretty much like everywhere else it turns out) and how so many people still can't speak comfortably after years of English courses.

I explained to him about creating his own 'before and after' audio and video clips of students that will show people how he can help them when he distributes them online using social media to promote his services (both internationally and locally).

Liliana's favourite Colombian dish is Ajiaco and she tells me what ingredients i need and how to cook it.

I tell her how to cook roast leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, minted new potatoes and spring greens (v British!).

Then we talked about a Russian English teacher whose group Liliana has attended online who said she listens to this podcast. It seems quite a few people have started listening to us, which is great...HELLO OUT THERE!

Send us some feedback, please.

Chat history:

Ajiaco
[17:58:16] EnglishOutThere: EnglishOutThere is away. This is an auto-reply message.
[17:59:19] LILIANA: Ajiacxo
[17:59:22] LILIANA: Ajiaco
[18:02:55] LILIANA: criolla potatoes
[18:04:22] LILIANA: Guascas
[18:04:56] *** LILIANA sent Guascas.jpg ***
[18:13:21] LILIANA: Yogurt
[18:13:22] EnglishOutThere: EnglishOutThere is away. This is an auto-reply message.
[18:13:47] *** LILIANA sent Ajiaco.jpg ***
[18:16:28] LILIANA: parslev
[18:19:35] EnglishOutThere: rosemary
[18:20:56] EnglishOutThere: moist
[18:21:54] EnglishOutThere: spring greens
[18:22:16] EnglishOutThere: iron
[18:23:04] EnglishOutThere: mint
[18:23:15] EnglishOutThere: mint sauce
[18:23:32] EnglishOutThere: pestle and mortar
[18:23:52] EnglishOutThere: grind
[18:25:57] EnglishOutThere: http://www.cookipedia.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Jamie_Oliver%27s_4_hour_slow_roast_lamb
[18:27:45] LILIANA: Sol Nadia

Harim is in Casablanca! He teaches English in state high school amd in a private English school. He has 20 years experience and saw me present at CO12 (online education conference). The questions he asked were great and different from other teachers...because he's planning to start his own English school in Casablanca! Go for it Harim, do something amazing for your students using technology, affordable, effective and profitable classes for everyone!

Here's the chat history from our conversation:

Thanks! One min..
[20:42:55] Jason West: Ok, sorry, you ready..?
[20:43:13] Teacher Harim: yes
[20:43:34] *** Call to Teacher Harim, duration 10:54. ***
[20:54:41] *** Call to Teacher Harim ***
[21:01:42] Jason West: http://englishoutthere.com
[21:08:58] Jason West: http://languagesoutthere.podomatic.com/entry/2011-03-15T04_13_30-07_00
[21:09:09] Jason West: That's someone who called me
[21:12:56] Jason West: Google+ Hangouts
[21:13:25] Jason West: www.wiziq.com
[21:14:42] Jason West: http://education.skype.com
[21:15:00] Jason West: language exchange
[21:16:11] Jason West: www.edmodo.com
[21:17:25] Jason West: www.audacity.com
[21:18:37] Jason West: http://englishoutthere.com/teach-english-with-english-out-there
[21:24:47] *** Call ended, duration 30:06 ***
[21:24:57] *** Call to Teacher Harim, duration 02:00. ***

Have a listen!

Cheers

Jason

Springsteen fan Liliana tells me why she loves Born in the USA the album and the song by The Boss. Then I explain (badly) why probably my favourite artist is (or was, I have lots now) Frank Zappa!

An enjoyable and fairly short conversation in which Liliana manages to twig that I think she's reading and tells me she is not reading before I even ask! Impressive eh?

Well done Liliana, you seem to be speeding up a little now :-)