This is where we put on our serious face. Some straight up teaching.
The first lesson is to believe in yourself. No 分からない。Once you say ‘I can’t understand’, you have already given up. It’s like getting a Daruma doll and instead of painting in the eye and making a wish, you put a pirate patch over the eye and steal your dreams from yourself.
You can do this. We can do this.
Let’s start with a self-introduction. I can learn a little about you, you can learn a little about me, and we can learn a lot about your English. I’ll give you a model to follow and a little quiz to see if you can hear what I am saying and how I am saying it. Then it will be your turn.
Introduce Yourself
1. What’s your name (nickname)?
2. Where you are from / live?
3. What do you do?
4. What do you want to do when you are fluent in English?
5. What language do you want to learn next?
6. What you would like to do here in the group?
You can take a little quiz here to check on my introduction and your listening skills.
What are some other things you could talk about in a self-introduction?
I like more unusual topics like talking about your nickname or where you go in your dreams. I think these open the door to really seeing each other as people not just a generic checklist of name, rank, and serial number.
What do you think? What would you like to know about other people? What would you like them to know about you?
Do you know what you want to say? Go out there and say it. You can visit us at 英会バー or share your story here on the page. We are ready to listen to you.
Can People Understand Me?
Yes. People can understand you.
Even if your English is bad, people are good. People will listen and help you make yourself understood.
The first part of being understood is sound, PRONUNCIATION. Sometimes the way we say a word can make it difficult to understand. With context and checking we can always work it out. Did you mean this? (pointing, mimicking, going ‘meow’) CAT. Cat. You are talking about cats.
Here’s a way you can check your sounds. Talk to your phone.
1 Use the dictation feature of a notes app.
2 Set the language to English.
3 Tell your story.
4 Review the notes taken by the phone.
If the dictation feature captures about 90% of what you are saying, your pronunciation is pretty good. There will be errors. It may be your pronunciation, it may be a problem with the software. The errors will show you which sounds to practice.
You can try practicing individual words using the speaking option on google image search. It gives you immediate feedback in a fun way. If google hears CAP you will see lots of pictures of … caps. Or cabs, or cats. You can practice saying word until the search results always match what you are saying.
There’s a fancy word for the word set cap,cab,cat; MINIMAL PAIRS. It’s a pretty fancy word, and a simple way to improve your pronunciation.
Follow this link for more PRONUNCIATION and MINIMAL PAIR practice.
Are People Listening?
People are good, but people are people. We are usually distracted by ourselves, tired from the day, caught up in our own problems, wanting somebody to listen to us. We all need help listening. When you are using English, you will have to ask for help and give people help to help them be better listeners.
This link will show you some things you can do to teach yourself and others better LISTENING SKILLS. This takes time and needs to be done with people who want to make the time and effort to do it.
Are You Listening?
If you followed the listening skills link above you know that there’s a lot to do to be a good listener. Being a good listener will ensure people want to talk with you. Being a good listener means speaking too, mirroring the person you are listening too.
Are You Using English?
Not practicing English, not studying English. You did that in school and it didn’t help because you weren’t using English, you were doing school work.
Being a good listener is important, for English to come alive you need to use it too. Talk with people. Share your ideas. You can do this by writing a lot. Writing for yourself and for the world. It can be difficult to meet English speakers in real life, but almost everything online is done in English and you can be a part of that too. Choose your groups wisely. Facebook comments can be a mess and comments posted there are often full of mistakes. They are both real English and really bad English. I suggest trying to level up just a little bit. Commenting on Reddit posts or comment threads on major newspapers, TED talks. You can comment on Eikai Bar too!
You can write for yourself too. In a private journal or including English comments on your social media posts. You can post videos too. Part of posting things is a little trick to get yourself to take it more seriously and to get it done.
I’ve got tons of worksheets and ideas to give you something to talk about and a framework to get started. Whatever you do share your ideas so people have a chance to learn from you and share their opinions as well.
英GO!
Like dieting and exercise the important thing is sticking with it every day.
Follow this link for tips and prompts to help you get started and stay on it!
英会バー 