Search results for 'tag:Grammar tag:Conversational English' matching tags 'Grammar' and 'Conversational English'

Re: English lessons- free online???

Kooyeen — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 16:16:49 GMT

Anonymous wrote:

I have been looking for any free english lessons online?
Do you maybe know any good adresses ?

Umm, no, not free. I know there are many teachers who teach conversational English on Skype, you join a small class and then you practice. But you have to pay! There are a lot of websites for learning English grammar for free, anyway.

Re: English speaking

Ianq — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 02:47:51 GMT

When it comes to grammar and spelling I can strongly recommend reading a ton of English books. Good literature with high quality English, so don't go and get yourself a copy of any of Mark Twain's books, but maybe something more contemporary, a professional book for example. Try to feel and absorb the language. When you read, you're a sponge. Pay attention to how the author phrases things. In conversational English you'll find that the same kind of sentences are constantly repeated (How are you doing? Where are you going? How do I get there? etc.) Obviously, don't settle for merely memorizing sentences since you are an intelligent individual, but learn those recurring patterns. By reading you can really improve your understanding of English.

When it comes to speaking it....well, the only way I can think of, and I agree with anybody who already said it - speak it. Only by using it you will become more proficient. When I moved to the US, my school English barely got me through the day, but I kept on working it. After a couple o' weeks or so I started dreaming in English and after a month or two I was pretty much fluent; well, still with a number of mistakes here and there, but overall much better than how I spoke prior to moving.

I hope that helps!

Re: I want to help someone learn English!

DIPAK TRIVEDI — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 08:25:37 GMT

Medusa171 wrote:
Hello, my name is Michelle, and I am a 17 year-old girl from the United States. I am a native English speaker, and have always wanted to help someone improve their English. I can help with most things, from grammar and spelling, to conversational English, to slang and expressions. I'm so glad to have finally found a web site where I can help people! Who wants to talk?

P.S. I also have some knowledge of French, and would LOVE to improve it!

Re: Native-speaker intuition.

Englishuser — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:31:36 GMT

Hi Tam Sadek,

You wrote:

Most students 'know' that conversational English differs from what they generally learn in the classroom, which is why many students ask specifically for 'conversation' courses.

Does it? I think you can make yourself understood and understand others perfectly well if you speak English as it is described in ESL grammar books. Most people who ask for conversation courses do so because they want to gain fluency in spoken English.

Englishuser

Re: Native-speaker intuition.

Tam Sadek — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 09:59:26 GMT

I agree with you milky.

To dismiss conversational English purely because it's more complicated to explain is no answer at all!

Most students 'know' that conversational English differs from what they generally learn in the classroom, which is why many students ask specifically for 'conversation' courses.

Unfortunately there aren't any 'conversational' coursebooks that address this problem. Invariably most teachers use 'discussion' activity books to fill the void; a discussion, although it is one form of spoken English, is not a conversation.

A few years ago at a RELC conference held in Singapore , I asked 'grammar guru' Ron Carter the following question in open forum:

"Given what we now know about different registers of English and students' access to so much electronic media, such as English-laqnguage cable TV channels and the Internet; for how much longer do you think that teachers will be able to pretend that the fabricated English used in coursebooks and the classroom is connected in any way to 'real' English?"

He answer was very direct.

"Not long. Teachers will have to radically adapt the way they teach and what they teach, especially when it comes to acceptability - or get out of the classroom!"

You can imagine what a stir this caused amongst teachers that dismissed the 'vernacular' as sub-standard English.

And with regard to LGSWE, EnglishUser, it's actually not merely about conversation, but about different registers of English; it examines usage across four registers - Academic, Fiction, News and Conversation; which is why it's called 'Grammar of WRITTEN and SPOKEN English.

Helping users look at how English Grammar and Usage differs in different registers is very useful when it comes to appropriacy and accuracy.

How that's incorporated into coursebooks and course design is another matter...

Absolute Beginner in Teaching

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 09:45:34 GMT

Hi everyone,

I just moved to Japan and have become very interested in teaching. As I have not yet finished my degree (3rd year) I want to get started in

teaching conversational English. Problem is, I have never done it and I have a serious lack of confidence because I have no idea what materials are used or what

is expected by the student. I am currently trying to find something on the web to give me an idea so that when I apply to schools here I don`t look or sound

like I JUST decided to do it. Can anyone give me an example or two of materials or a general rundown of what happens? Surely it isn`t just conversation...My fiancee teaches here but it is a school and foreigners (read non-japanese) are not allowed to read the `method` or just view a class. Anyway, she mostly teaches vocabulary and grammar using games as the students are all children. Well, more searching. Take care everyone

Re: How the easy way to learn english

Arvsworld — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 06:26:41 GMT

You can browse through the internet and look for different websites whose specialty is grammar. Some even have assessment quizzes you can take. Some websites format their lessons as games. That might help you develop good sentence structure.

To improve your speech pattern, you can try watching television programming and imitating how people speak. But, obviously, the progams must not be dubbed in your language. Try watching CNN, David Letterman or Jay Leno. Another good source of genuine native English speech is any reality show on television. There's one called Rockstar Supernova. There's another called The Biggest Loser. There are many more out there. You just have to look for them.

Try those things. And if you don't seem to improve quickly, then you might think about taking a Basic or Conversational English course.

Re: Which countries are the most successful E.Grammar users

Danyoo — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 01:50:55 GMT

Well actually this is a very good question.

It makes a tremendous amount of difference what your mother tongue is when it comes to your ability to pick up English, especially conversational English. For natives of the Far East region (Korea, Japan and probably China too), their language structures are so vastly different than English, it is a tremendous struggle to learn English as a second language. Whereas, some of the European countries speak languages with similar roots and grammar structure which make it much easier to learn English.

My parents immigrated to the U.S. when I was just 13 years of age from Korea so I had the advantage of being immersed in English language at a relatively early age -- but it was, and still is, a big strugle. Then when I was in high school (long long time ago mind you) I took two years of Spanish. And it was a cinch!!! Not that I aced it without studying...don't think I aced it at all...but my point is since I already was pretty fluent in English, learning Spanish was so much easier! I remember thinking "wow if I had to learn this language from Korean, what a mighty struggle it would be!!".

I am told the easiest language for a Korean to learn is Japanese and probably vice versa. And I know Spanish and Portugese is very similar.

Now as far as being grammatically correct....well that's another story. I have seen many a high school English teachers from Korea and China come to the U.S. and not be able to hold a casual conversation in a restaurant. Being able to read and write and score high in TOEFL is different than being able to converse.

Finally, I agree with previous posters....the key is to start early!!!! Kids have amazing ability to learn. Not only langauages, but sports, musical instruments, arts, etc. Well I tried my best...but now my kids are teenagers and...need I say more?!

Writing and Speaking

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 18:58:21 GMT

Hello EnglishForum,

I am a 40 years old Asian and have adequate knolwedge in English grammar and writing.However, when it comes to conversation, I have a tough time to pull the words from my mind ,and most of the time I take few seconds to pull the words from my memory while speaking or forming a sentence. Although I know tons of stylish,rythmic, and novel words, I can hardly recollect from my memory and put them into conversations. But in the case of writing, I have no problem in recalling grammar rules and writing the sentences legitimately and clearly.But I am not able to apply those rules in conversational english instantaneously. What is my problem? Is it because of I am getting old? Do you have any suggestions? How should I improve my conversational skills? Any websites? I feel I am totally worthless to live in this world. Please help.

Re: I want to help someone learn English!

Yuqingyi — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 12:55:55 GMT

Medusa171 wrote:
Hello, my name is Michelle, and I am a 17 year-old girl from the United States. I am a native English speaker, and have always wanted to help someone improve their English. I can help with most things, from grammar and spelling, to conversational English, to slang and expressions. I'm so glad to have finally found a web site where I can help people! Who wants to talk?

P.S. I also have some knowledge of French, and would LOVE to improve it!