English Out There

That's rather a challening title isn't it? Well, Judy, Caroline and myself all really don't like to call ourselves "teachers" because, as you will hear if you listen, we feel the word doesn't describe what we do and is sort of obsolete in today's world. Are you wedded to the notion that "teaching" is (still) the right word to slap onto the role of someone who supposedly helps others to acquire usable skills and knowledge? If you are we three would, respectfully, invite you to listen to our rationale and give it some thought in the context of your day-to-day activities with other people's brains and the learning outcomes you are hoping to achieve with them. If you are on LinkedIn you might even like to go and contribute to the discussion below a post Judy put up a week ago about education in Finland versus education in North America. You can read it HERE To learn more about the contributors to this podcast visit:Caroline Swinton - https://www.facebook.com/madrelinguadilondraJudy Thompson - https://thompsonlanguagecenter.com/#aboutjudythompsonJason West - https://englishoutthere.com/about-us/about-us

This week Caroline and I talk with our special guest Caprice Jackson, the director of the English Out There summer school. Caprice has been running it every year since 2009 and has a wealth of knowledge about languages, language learning, teaching English (in a London further education college) and the summer school style of English Out There...carried out without classrooms and on the streets of London for real speaking practice with Londoners in every session!Listen to Jason and Caroline discuss with Caprice how EOT stopped using classrooms completely years ago and how Caprice has adapted her teaching style from the classroom to the public realm with huge success in terms of learner speaking improvement in just the ten lessons (2 weeks) with each separate group. The conversation starts with the EOT summer school and then moves into how both Caroline and Caprice see the method or process of EOT to be completely different from conventional ELT and much more inherently personalised and contextually meaningful for each and every individual learner.There were a few surprises along the way! Have a listen.To learn more about the contributors to this podcast visit:Caprice Jackson - https://www.linkedin.com/in/caprice-jackson-84951911Caroline Swinton - https://www.facebook.com/madrelinguadilondraJason West - https://englishoutthere.com/about-us/about-usIf you are a learner and wish to buy some EOT learning materials click HEREIf you are someone who wishes to use EOT to help learners to speak English and want some materials click HERE

This week Caroline wanted to say a bit more on formal learning outcomes in mainstream education leading into ELT and how we both find it perpetually surprising that the billions of English learners are, in our view, being not only let down but, worse, blamed for their failure to speak by the ELT status quo. It is changing and new ways of working have developed but no hugely profitable hegemony gives up without a scrap and Jason talks about innovating and the backlash that he experienced by just doing something differently and proving it. And proof, real proof of efficacy, should we both think be a mainstay of marketing in such an important and (potentially) life-changing practice, but it isn't. Look around! Or have a listen :-)To learn more about the contributors to this podcast visit:Caroline Swinton - https://www.facebook.com/madrelinguadilondraJason West - https://englishoutthere.com/about-us/about-us

We've got Judy back! Yay! This one is fairly broad ranging. At the start Judy responds to Caroline and Jason's discussion in episode 7 about context in learning English and other topics then the three discuss teaching and global systemic educational outcomes and how learners are actually constrained by the prevailing orthodoxy in the opinion of the participants which segways into a discussion on difference and autism. The episode ends with some background on the educational backgrounds and experiences of all three and how they relate to how they learnt at school and how they all learn and work in education now.To learn more about the contributors to this podcast visit:Caroline Swinton - https://www.facebook.com/madrelinguadilondraJudy Thompson - https://thompsonlanguagecenter.com/#aboutjudythompsonJason West - https://englishoutthere.com/about-us/about-us

So, after a week away due to some 'field activities' by Jason, Caroline and Jason discuss learners conventional perceptions of what an English language course is and what they perceive as the level of indoctrination suffered by many many learners around the world and how this affects their progress. This then leads into a discussion of the importance of "context" in the learning process (originally meant to be the sole focus but listen to find out why it got shoved down the order). Caroline and Jason both explain what "context" means to them in their work helping people to speak English comfortably, finally. Have a listen, let them know what you think in the comments and do please share this with anyone you think it might be of interest to!To learn more about the contributors to this podcast visit:Caroline Swinton - https://www.facebook.com/madrelinguadilondraJason West - https://englishoutthere.com/about-us/about-us

"Pattern Transfer = Language" - Listen to Caroline Swinton, Judy Thompson and Jason West discuss patterns in English language teaching and learning and how you can use the human brain's natural language acquisition ability to dramatically improve the speaking and writing ability of your students. There really aren't many teaching guides and course materials that exploit this very well researched but little applied phenomenon for the benefit of English language learners worldwide. Have a listen!To learn more about the contributors to this podcast visit:Caroline Swinton - https://www.facebook.com/madrelinguadilondraJudy Thompson - https://thompsonlanguagecenter.com/#aboutjudythompsonJason West - https://englishoutthere.com/about-us/about-us

International educational truth-monger Judy Thompson, author of English is Crazy and The Backpacker's Guide to Teaching English, joins Caroline and me on the podcast...yay! We do the intros and then get stuck into the general malaise of teaching (including teaching English) as we know it. It is a truly massive topic and one that has energised Judy and me very vociferously for a long time now. Caroline comes at this from a sligtly different angle, which is great, because it teases out stuff that is good to air and might have been missed. We collectively refuse to moderate our views and, in some instances, our language, so be warned, the 'F word', i.e. FAILURE is used (amongst other F words,...so be warned!).

In this episode Caroline brings up the big issue of English learners not understanding language during speaking practice and how she, Judy Thompson and her "English is Crazy" book, and others, approach it and try to fix it. Jason has his own slightly different slant on the problem and, in the context of how he and the English Out There method and learning materials work, explains how he thinks it happens and how he sets about trying to help learners to learn to cope with a lack of comprehension, to get over it fast, and then to flourish. Don't think these problems aren't linked to the conventional ELT system and how it prevents progress in learners' speaking....that's the corporatisation bit at the end...of course! :-) Have a listen!To engage with and possibly work with Caroline to improve your English visit her Facebook profile and message her.To learn more about Jason's 20+ years of work on helping learners to finally speak and to buy his unique learning content which support the method visit his English Out There website

Is there (or has there been) a post-colonial cash cow maintaining the ELT status quo? Listen to Jason West and Caroline Swinton discuss teacher/student ratios, relationship based personalisation, how the two affect speaking practice and their impact upon English course effectiveness and, ultimately, why they seem to have been ignored to enable commercial control and exploitation of the global desire to learn to speak English.

Millions upon millions of dedicated English learners around the world are spending hours and hours of their lives desperately trying to practise speaking English and failing to do it in an effective way. This is not some glib off-the-cuff remark it is a fact. Look at this Facebook group, specifically for speaking practice, and see that the 2.2m members are merely sharing jpegs and screenshots of freely available English language learning exercises they have found online. Sometimes they form WhatsApp groups and try to actually speak but that doesn't work either. So they are stuck in a 'doom loop' and all of the time and effort put in doesn't help them to finally become comfortable English speakers. Conventional ELT has conditioned them to think that hammering the grammar is going to help them to speak. It isn't and doesn't, the evidence is all around us.In this episode Caroline asks Jason about the way English Out There guides and supports effective English speaking practice from the first lesson and achieves transformational results after just a few sessions. Have a listen and do please share the link to your social media and peers if you think it is interesting and helpful. The learn more about Caroline's work and how she can help you go to her Facebook page.To learn more about Jason and EOT and the unique learning materials go to his website.This is what happens when learners try to practise speaking without preparing properly beforehand. Listen to Amy who called me on Skype years ago.If you want to hear how effective EOT is at getting learners speaking comfortably explore the other recordings with real learners on this podcast.

NEW PROGRAMME - Listen to Caroline Swinton (experienced English teacher and professional interpreter and translator of Italian) and Jason West (creator of EOT) begin their discussion around what they feel is the myth of ELT which has been prompted by their considerable experience of using the English Out There learning content and method to help English learners. Learners who'd thought they would never speak English comfortably, to finally achieve their goal after years of study on the type of English courses that around 1.5 billion people in the world every year put their faith in.To learn more about Caroline's work with learners go HERE.To learn more about Jason's work with learners go HERE.

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...

This was a great topic and we shared some of our dream experiences with each other...and some very serious and sad topics came up. Life can be terribly tragic sometimes, for no good reason.Well, that's it, the end of the course and I now need to create a before and after podcast of Liliana to put on here and post around the web. I think it will show that she has finally conquered her fear of speaking English and become comfortable speaking it.Well done Liliana, you worked hard and you followed the process really well! Our conversations were always warm, often a lot of fun, interesting and quite personally revealing; just like real friends having a chat. Which, I think, is what we now are.I'm so glad Liliana has created her own personal English learning network online and has experienced more conversation partners than just me. It shows in the confidence she now has when she speaks. Thanks Liliana for joining my Facebook group that I created to find you (http://www.facebook.com/groups/icantspeakenglish), a person who had spent years paying for and studying on numerous English courses but felt that they would never improve and never become a comfortable speaker of English. We did it! And I am sure we will stay in touch.

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!CheersJason

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 :-)

Liliana and I talk about things that surprised us or troubled us in the past. She 'lost' a watch in dubious surroundings and I had a bike nicked from under my nose.Good work Lilian, you spoke a lot today!

The weather...great topic for me at the moment, Scotland has been experiencing 20C+ this week and they all think it is the end of the world because for more than two consecutive days a big orange ball has been the sky.It's unseasonally warm where I live too, but I'm not complaining!We had to be quicker than normal because I had to cook dinner but this is kind of normal EOT practice session length. The more short sessions with a some free flowing conversation on other topics at the end, the better. You need some repetition to get your brain noticing those patterns.Liliana told me about Bogota's weather and how it makes her feel too...so a successful session all round :-)Well done Liliana (she says she feels she is not speaking well, and she had not practised with her other partners for a while because of computer problems but she was actually fairly fluent, fewer pauses...). Keep on talking now you have the computer audio fixed!

Do you teach English in Japan and find that your students simply make no progress with their speaking skills, no matter what you try? Do you want to finally help them to speak more comfortably and at the same time have a break from them? :-)Shannon, a native New Yorker, went to Japan twenty years ago to teach English and stayed. She now wants to teach slightly differently, using technology. She also wants to help break the standard ESL cycle of failure when it comes to speaking English.We had a great time chatting and Shannon asked some really good questions about how to use EOT, why it works and how it might help her to do what she wants to do as a teacher who feels strongly about the success of her students.Things that came up in conversation: ways to teach EOT, tech platforms to use (e.g. www.wiziq.com/EnglishOutThere), and systems to instigate to make English teaching more enjoyable, manageable and less synchronous online.We even got to discuss why ESL doesn't actually help people to speak English, and I quote some research that I have been reading that proves it. We concluded with a light-hearted discussion of the potential of chemically enhanced language learning!Have a listen and then post a comment or contact me if you are interested and have any more questions.

This is a long one, I think Liliana helped me to get some frustration out, so it was reverse therapy tonight! She started asking me the questions from the lesson and we got sidetracked into the global ELT industry, English courses that don't work (i.e. the majority) and it was fascinating to hear Liliana's testimony to that fact and further explanations. Her story is THE story of many millions of frustrated English learners all over the world.Here's the chat history, with the link to the TESL Canada research that says all ESL programs are officially rubbish!Managing Director[20:03:38] EnglishOutThere: Founder[20:07:13] EnglishOutThere: swimming against the tide[20:11:38] EnglishOutThere: "In short, educational outcomes measured by way of dropout, failure, and low achievement on standardized tests all suggest that for some reason ESL learners do not benefit from ESL programming." The Canadian Modern Language Review/La Revue canadienne des langues vivantes,60, 5, 2004 http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/g2k0m11468737564/?p=c12c2358b49c418d83253290f77345e4&pi=2[20:35:25] EnglishOutThere: http://www.alljoinon.com/[20:43:20] EnglishOutThere: http://languagesoutthere.podomatic.com/[20:46:33] EnglishOutThere: bouncy castle[20:47:06] EnglishOutThere: inflatable castle[20:47:26] EnglishOutThere: dwarf[20:55:56] EnglishOutThere: lovely wee cunt[20:59:05] EnglishOutThere: https://audioboo.fm/boos/177119-teaching-english-with-the-aid-of-the-f-word-an-indian-school-teacher-explainsWe finished with the rest of the questions and some gratuitous swearing including use of the C-word :-)

This recording does not have any language from lesson 11 in it! I edited the audio and am just posting our extended conversation about Liliana's English learning history (the time she has studied and the courses she has taken).I found it very interesting to learn about this. She has done a lot of courses, from primary school, secondary school, British Council courses, free Colombian state courses (SENA)etc. About 20 years of study.Listen to her explain what she thinks of the courses she has done and why they didn't work for her. It is very interesting (sadly) and very typical of the experiences of millions and millions of frustrated English learners around the world.

Listen to Liliana speak to me before her English Out There course started and then again after 10 lessons. She self-studies the Intermediate SS4 course materials, about one lesson per week, and then does the Out There task (speaking practice) with me on Skype and one or two other English speakers she has befriended using social media.Every session is recorded by her and listened to again a few times.When you listen concentrate on her use of tenses, how she forms sentences (i.e. whether she uses single words as a strategy to communicate or speaks fully formed sentences). Also try to hear if her listening comprehension has improved and her pronunciation.Liliana has been trying to learn how to speak English comfortably for many years, using different methods. She found me on Facebook and joined my group for people who have almost given up hope of ever speaking English comfortably (http://www.facebook.com/groups/icantspeakenglish/).She is now in her forties and specifically wanted to improve her spoken English to find a job in Bogota.

Well, this was a bit of a grilling for me! :-) I think Liliana was a bit surprised by my attitudes to casual sex when single and marriage and relationships. Which all came out of the topic and the tasks in the lesson.We learnt a lot about each other and it was fun (we always have a laugh). In terms of Liliana's language development I think it was good. I hardly corrected at all because I wanted to listen her confidence, fluency and accuracy.There are still some habitual mistakes and pronunciation errors but she is using her internal monitor much more now and is speaking a little slower but more accurately and more fluently than she did just 10 lessons ago when we started.For someone who came to me from the Facebook group I started for people who, after years of trying to learn English, still felt that they couldn't speak English comfortably enough to use it at work Liliana has done really very well. She doesn't need me anymore to keep improving. I might ask her if she thinks she could work in English now, that's the real test!Here's the group, please join if you feel like you'll never be able to speak English comfortably:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/icantspeakenglish/I am now going to listen to our first conversation and this session to compare them and maybe create a before and after clip to show her how much she has improved.

When you buy some EOT teacher's materials you can have a free Skype session to ask me any questions that you might have.This is me talking to Kevin, an American English teacher based in Colombia.In this recording we discuss: How EOT works How to teach using the materials (synchronous teaching) How to coach or guide using the materials (asynchronous teaching) What free technological tools to use to record Skype calls and turn them into podcasts How to use Facebook groups to manage and monitor your students' progress Here is the Skype chat history from our session and the useful links that I sent Kevin (minus the free course with Spanish instructions that he needed):[12:49:41] *** Call from Kevin ***** ***[12:55:21] Jason West: www.scribblar.com (free virtual classroom to upload EOT materials into)[12:55:27] Jason West: www.twiddla.com (another free VC)[12:55:34] Jason West: www.wiziq.com (virtual classroom I use http://www.wiziq.com/EnglishOutThere)[12:58:20] Jason West: www.podomatic.com (free podcast system to create links for MP3s that can be posted online)[12:59:10] Jason West: http://voipcallrecording.com/ (free Skype call recorder)[13:01:37] Jason West: www.audacity.com (free easy MP3 editing to create our trademark ‘Before and After’ clips of students)[13:10:18] Jason West: http://www.youtube.com/user/languagesoutthere (our video channel with lots of ‘how to’ videos)[13:21:20] Jason West: www.crocodoc.com (free PDF annotation online i.e. you can write on our lesson plan worksheets online!)[13:21:26] Jason West: www.foxxit.com (another one) [13:28:46] Jason West: http://englishoutthere.com/english-out-there-affiliate-program (free to join and sell your students self-study courses that work with OO teacher’s courses so they can study alone and be guided by you and sell to your teacher colleagues and form a little collective of teachers doing EOT)[13:36:02] Jason West: www.edmodo.com (billed as the ‘Facebook of education’ create secure class groups and manage your students learning online and share EOT documents with them)[13:37:33] Jason West: http://education.skype.com/ (meet other teachers from around the world with students using Skype)[13:39:33] Jason West: www.voicethread.com (for the painfully shy…asynchronous audio conversations….get you going speaking!)I hope this stuff helps and inspires! Jason

Monika did very well for her first time talking to me....but she didn't record the conversation! :-(Luckily I did, and so this is how I am helping Monika to listen to the recording of our conversation (which is crucial to her language development).Just download this free application Monika:http://voipcallrecording.com/It connects with Skype. Set it to 'joint stereo' and link to a folder you have created for your recordings.Then get a free account at http://www,podomatic.comUpload the MP3 and then post the link to Nina or put it on her Facebook page to show her you have done some speaking practice from the EOT lesson.Listen to the audio three or four times on your iPod or MP3 player...it will help your English a lot.

Liliana was on good form. We had another long session 9I want to keep them shorter to be like most speaking sessions, but she is very good at getting me talking, she claims this is because she is Colombian!).Liliana described some parts of Bogota and the tings that go on there, focusing on food and nightlife. I learned about a typical Colombian stew.The she asked me questions about where I live. We looked at a map of Weymouth on Google maps as we talked.I listened specifically to Liliana's accuracy and pronunciation and she is really making progress and improving. I noticed that she is monitoring what she says much more before she says it and I could hear her correct herself a few times. She's slowed down a little bit but the fluency is still there. Great work!

This learner has sent me a contact request on Skype to: EnglishOutThere I have accepted it and she has just called me without any introductory text message. I rarely answer these calls but I picked this one up to see what happened and to provide a podcast FAQ.Have a listen.Then the learner texted me:Hi englishoutthere! I’d like to add you on Skype. Suzi xxxx[09:53:08] EnglishOutThere: EnglishOutThere has shared contact details with Suzi xxxx.[09:53:39] *** Call from Suzi xxxx ***[09:56:01] EnglishOutThere: http://englishoutthere.com/learn-to-speak-english-fast[09:57:08] EnglishOutThere: Jason[09:57:42] *** Call ended, duration 04:04 ***[10:03:05] Suzi xxxx: u have cam[10:06:19] EnglishOutThere: I do, yes[10:11:55] Suzi xxxx: if u r free u talk me 30 mintues[10:13:19] EnglishOutThere: 1. I am not free 2. I do not just 'talk' 3. Your approach will not work with other English speakers you need a strategy and to prepare before you try to speak to people. That is how I help people. I have to work now, thanks.There are probably millions of motivated learners doing this and annoying initially friendly English speakers. It doesn't have to be like this and EOT will help you to prepare properly to build your own long-term practice partner network for free and prepare you properly to speak to your practice partners for maximum effectiveness and improvement.If you have any questions, text or email me first, and I will explain more.Skype: EnglishOutThereemail: jason_at_englishoutthere.com

Liliana had some connection troubles so this is the second MP3 of four..but it includes her speaking about memorable events in her past and then I talk about one of mine...shame about the tech/headset thing but you can hear everything OK in this recording until it stops.Liliana is improving, still some accuracy issues but she'll get there I am sure...I'm looking forward to lesson 10 when I will do a 'before and after' edit show her how far she has come.

When you buy some EOT teacher's materials you can talk to me for 30 mins on Skype for free! :-)I've done quite a few of these and they are always different but it just occurred to me to RECORD THEM so that other teachers can listen. I should have done this ages ago...doh!This is me having a chat with Paul who is in Berlin, Germany and is about to start teaching EOT. He asks some very good questions about how to use his new EOT materials, how to record Skype calls, how to teach English using Facebook groups, how to post MP3s into Facebook, how to teach locally in Berlin etc.It's amazing how many times in conversation with EOT teachers new things occur to me or come back to me. I try to emphasize that EOT is incredibly flexible and there is no strict wrong or right way to use but just that the core process should be adhered to for the best results. In this chat I remembered one way to use LinkedIn with EOT that I've not personally tried, but it would definitely work and turn EOT into an amazing specialized business English course!Have a listen and let me know what you think?Here's our chat history so you can follow the links we discussed:www.wiziq.comwww.twiddla.comwww.podomatic.comhttp://voipcallrecording.com/ (MP£ skype recorder)http://englishoutthere.com/english-out-there-affiliate-programwww.voicethread.comhttp://englishbrno.cz/en/author/englishbrno/

Ha! This is an interesting session, not least because Liliana and I ran into a bit of an issue. Towards the end of the session (2nd recording used here, we got cut off once) she asks me to explain the present perfect tense and I refused. Why? Well, listen to the clip for more detail but the basis is that EOT speaking practice sessions are not meant to be for explicit 'conventional' teaching, i.e. explanations of rules. Liliana admitted she had had some doubt in her mind and talked to one of her practice partners who told her something that conflicted with what she thought she understood, and then she wanted confirmation/explanation from me.Why did I react that way? The history of language teaching has been about teaching rules and applying them but it hasn't really worked. That's why in a TESL Canada survey 95% of beginners dropped out of ESL programmes and never got past being beginners and 75% of intermediate speakers suffered the same fate. The language came before the rules; the printing press did not precede the telling of stories.Focusing on rules (that have many exceptions due the nature of language) causes anxiety and anxiety inhibits fluency and confidence.If I had explained to Liliana I would have been telling her it was OK to rely on a 'teacher' to help her speak English. In stead, I told her to go and read up in Spanish to get it clear in her head, then to try it out with someone (which is what the EOT lesson 7. in SS4 Intermediate does).I think Liliana understood why I took this position when she asked me and seemed to agree that it was a retrograde step in what we were trying to achieve. I hope it has made her think and that some of my words hit home.Apart from that Liliana's performance in terms of fluency and confidence were excellent, and, most importantly, I thought I could hear that the more explicit pronunciation correction of the last couple of weeks has had an effect and she is pronouncing words much better. Well done Liliana!

Wow! Long one...but it was very enjoyable despite my tiredness (I worked late last night) and Liliana was very motivated by the topic of the lesson, so much that she talked about re-reading Colombian history as a result of the lesson. It made her think, which is great.There's a lot of pronunciation correction and spelling in this session...we have decided that she needs a bit more correction and she is happy to receive it. So that's fine. Here's the skype text chat history for you to follow if you listen and so you can see how we worked and you can even look at the images we talked about when we discussed the artists and their style of painting when we were on famous people from our cities:[19:20:54] EnglishOutThere: 1280[19:21:15] LILIANA: 1538[19:23:53] EnglishOutThere: Black Death[19:28:21] EnglishOutThere: cobbled[19:28:56] EnglishOutThere: terraces[19:31:38] LILIANA: Mayor -Major[19:34:03] LILIANA: Chairman[19:35:12] EnglishOutThere: chhh-air[19:35:22] EnglishOutThere: man[19:36:24] LILIANA: Nueva Granada[19:40:21] EnglishOutThere: ancestors,[19:40:47] LILIANA: Criolle[19:40:59] EnglishOutThere: CReole[19:48:24] EnglishOutThere: stratford-upon-avon[19:48:42] EnglishOutThere: Samual Pepys[19:50:59] LILIANA: Fernando Botero[19:56:09] EnglishOutThere: https://www.google.com/search?q=beryl+cook&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=nQW&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ja4hT7mfJYvXsgaJmMX-Bw&ved=0CIMBELAE&biw=1280&bih=857[19:57:13] EnglishOutThere: https://www.google.com/search?q=Fernando+Botero&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=miB&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5a0hT47NAofLtAb_yPj9Bw&ved=0CFEQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=857[19:57:49] EnglishOutThere: Beryl Cook[20:00:22] EnglishOutThere: Lith-you-ania[20:00:44] EnglishOutThere: Lithuania[20:01:42] EnglishOutThere: pedagogic[20:02:08] EnglishOutThere: strategies[20:09:32] EnglishOutThere: make the tea[20:18:48] EnglishOutThere: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771[20:24:13] EnglishOutThere: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smokin-David-Olympics-Ending-ebook/dp/B0071QHXKG/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1[20:25:46] *** Call ended, duration 1:15:21 ***

This was fun and I was a bit surpised by the way Liliana approached the speaking task...she asked me to take part in a role play and ignored the task as it was written in the lesson. That's fine! If Liliana (or you) want to get the speaking going in a different way just make sure your task covers all of the language in the lesson. Liliana's was a bit clunky (awkward) at the start (but amusing for both of us) and got going into some useful and relevant language practice. Before you change the speaking task plan your new one carefully. Someone less used to doing this kind of conversation (i.e. a non-teacher) might have struggled with Liliana's task and then the lesson wouldn't have worked so well, and maybe not at all.The connection broke so we have two recordings but I will post just the first one here so you can hear the way I reacted to Liliana's creative task.

Nina EnglishBrno who uses EOT with her students just texted me and added me to a call on Skype with one of her students, Sabrina from France. Sabrina said she is quite shy and that she was worried about contacting 'lots' of people on social platforms to ask them to help her to practise her speaking skills as part of her EOT lessons. If you want to know how many partners you need to find and how you should organise and develop your relationships with them. Listen to this clip it will explain. Listen and then read the answer below to see if you understood... Answer: Use the 'Social Media Tools' PDF to copy and paste the special words to contact people on your favourite social networks. Try to create a small group of familiar and trusted English speaking friends and schedule times to talk each week (10-20 mins max). Speak to 3-5 people usingt he language from each lesson. The repetition is good for your brain and it won't be boring because everyone gives different answers and has different accents/uses slightly different vocab. Record the calls and listen again! (v important) The idea of constantly contacting new people at the start is to find and get this 'core' group of people, your own Personal Practice Network you can get to know well and build strong friendships with around your EOT speaking sessions. If you have a good sized group with people in different time zones...you will have someone online whenever you have time to do some EOT and you'll be learning and practising global English!

Our first session after the Christmas/New year break...Liliana has new broadband which seemed to work fin but her laptop cut us off in the middle once or two...I had limited time to talk too (which is good for her discipline when she talks to other people...remember don't talk too long and always be the first to say 'goodbye', it builds trust).As usual we had a great chat and a few laughs. Liliana brought up the idea that she felt she had already improved her English communication skills, just four lessons into the course, which is great that she feels that way. I think she is right and I want to make sure she keeps working and speaking to other English speakers...and now recording and listening to herself speak with others because that should really add to the improvement in her English.This is the main clip of 23 mins in length, it is not the start, we are in the middle of our session here.

Liliana has not got internet access at home because she is changing her internet provider to get a better connection (so she can talk more and the poor connection interfered with the MP3 recorder, it kept stopping due to a weak connection).So...this was a long long session because I wanted her to get some practice and stay motivated.We had a great chat and she asked the questions really well and responded to my questions really well. Lots of new vocab came up too.