Skype Speaking Practice (Advice Center) Language Learning Forum

Skype Speaking Practice
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Language Learning Forum : Advice Center

yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German	Message 1 of 6 10 March 2014 at 9:16pm \| IP Logged
	The speaking practice column in my learning log is completely empty and I know that I need to do something about it sooner rather than later. I'm thinking of maybe trying some online lessons then perhaps aiming towards finding some language exchange buddies in the later half of the year once I'm B1 level. Would you recommend this approach? If so, is there anything I should know to make the best use of the time? Any recommended providers? Other tips? If not, can you suggest any other methods? Edited by yantai_scot on 10 March 2014 at 9:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful
Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4135 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French, English, Spanish Studies: Tagalog	Message 2 of 6 10 March 2014 at 9:26pm \| IP Logged
	I started out with language partners, and loved it. But as my schedule got tighter, I found it harder to find people whose schedules matched mine exactly. (A bit of selfishness on my part, I'll admit - I have a very narrow window of time every day that I'm willing to commit to.) Anyway, I started working with tutors on italki.com and my only regret is that I didn't start earlier! Because I'm paying the person, I can choose a time that fits my schedule exactly, I can change my schedule every week if I want, and I don't have to spend half the time talking in English or in French. I also don't have to worry about figuring out time differences. I definitely think that it's the best use of my language-learning time and money. My teachers are all Spanish-speaking. There are some very cheap Spanish teachers on italki, and some more expensive ones. After trying several, I found that the cheapest teachers weren't generally worth the money. I settled on my favourites, most of whom tend to charge between 12 and 14 dollars per hour, which is still extremely inexpensive for a professional teacher. Money very well-spent, in my opinion. There are fewer German teachers, so the cost will probably be higher for German lessons, but it will still be cheaper and more convenient than face-to-face tutoring. Have fun! edited to correct a typo. I can't seem to write a post without a typo! Edited by Stelle on 10 March 2014 at 9:27pm 4 persons have voted this message useful
yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German	Message 3 of 6 11 March 2014 at 9:43am \| IP Logged
	Thanks, Stelle. That's really encouraging! How does it work in terms of deciding a plan of work? Do you have different tutors depending on your schedule, one single tutor or a pool of several you like to work with? Do you have a weekly lesson as much as possible or go for blocks of say 10? I've got my final evening class of the year in 2 weeks time so I need to take the plunge pretty much straight after to capitalise on the momentum. 1 person has voted this message useful
Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4135 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French, English, Spanish Studies: Tagalog	Message 4 of 6 11 March 2014 at 11:46am \| IP Logged
	I tried lots of Spanish tutors, since I started in the summer when I wasn't working and my schedule was a bit more open. I was looking for something very specific: informal conversation with a teacher (who I clicked with as a person) making useful corrections and teaching on-the-fly mini-lessons based on the mistakes that I made. Some teachers are very attached to their lesson plans, which really doesn't suit my learning style, so I kept trying teachers until I found a small pool of tutors who matched me as a learner. A few of them are ideal tutors (ie. with mini-lessons, corrections, etc) and others I just enjoy talking to for conversation practice. I have one constant tutor who I've been working with since the very beginning. I buy 10-packs from her and talk to her at least once a week. Aside from that, I have a pool of four or five other teachers who I don't meet with weekly. I just book sessions with them when my schedule allows. Sometimes I rotate them, so I might go many weeks in between sessions with each one. While I'm sure that they'd prefer regular weekly sessions (as a teacher myself, I know how much easier life is with a regular schedule), I don't require any preparation from them, so they seem happy to talk to me, no matter how long it's been since our last session. Edited by Stelle on 11 March 2014 at 11:49am 2 persons have voted this message useful
fireballtrouble Triglot Senior Member Turkey Joined 4515 days ago 129 posts - 203 votes Speaks: Turkish*, French, English Studies: German	Message 5 of 6 11 March 2014 at 12:42pm \| IP Logged
	For French, I tried a free solution. Tutoring was quite expensive for me, considering the fact that Turkish lira/US Dollars or Euro currency was a little bit expensive and I am a student. I started with text chatting on ICQ, Sharedtalk, Interpals... No matter how often you read native materials, you need to get used to real daily life sentences, even chat abbreviations etc. Textchat is also a good training for activating your passive vocabulary. You learn how to build sentences and you gain automatism. And it's ideal for B1 level. Since your addressee doesn't expect you to reply instantly, you can think at the beginning without hesitation. After text chatting, I entered voice chat rooms and I have been a silent user. I just listened to the conversations. Then I started to talk to French native speakers on Sharedtalk and I could come across with great friends. Although the vast majority of users are beginner foreigners or just wanderers, there are also serious people. You're a native English speaker, you'll be much more likely to find German native speakers willing to exchange your English for their German for free. After that point, you can be ready for fluent Skype sessions to boost your skills This is neither a 100% effective method, nor a programmed schedule but it worked very well on me. From a passive B1, I became an independant B2+ French speaker today. Edited by fireballtrouble on 11 March 2014 at 12:54pm 3 persons have voted this message useful
yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German	Message 6 of 6 12 March 2014 at 2:05pm \| IP Logged
	That was really, really helpful- both Stelle and fireballtrouble. I really appreciate hearing both your experiences. I do like the idea of text chatting to start with and to see if I can find a partner(s) casually but I also like the idea of getting a few 'proper' lessons to help steer me in the right direction. Thank you both very much :) 1 person has voted this message useful

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yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German	Message 1 of 6 10 March 2014 at 9:16pm \| IP Logged
	The speaking practice column in my learning log is completely empty and I know that I need to do something about it sooner rather than later. I'm thinking of maybe trying some online lessons then perhaps aiming towards finding some language exchange buddies in the later half of the year once I'm B1 level. Would you recommend this approach? If so, is there anything I should know to make the best use of the time? Any recommended providers? Other tips? If not, can you suggest any other methods? Edited by yantai_scot on 10 March 2014 at 9:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful
Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4135 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French, English, Spanish Studies: Tagalog	Message 2 of 6 10 March 2014 at 9:26pm \| IP Logged
	I started out with language partners, and loved it. But as my schedule got tighter, I found it harder to find people whose schedules matched mine exactly. (A bit of selfishness on my part, I'll admit - I have a very narrow window of time every day that I'm willing to commit to.) Anyway, I started working with tutors on italki.com and my only regret is that I didn't start earlier! Because I'm paying the person, I can choose a time that fits my schedule exactly, I can change my schedule every week if I want, and I don't have to spend half the time talking in English or in French. I also don't have to worry about figuring out time differences. I definitely think that it's the best use of my language-learning time and money. My teachers are all Spanish-speaking. There are some very cheap Spanish teachers on italki, and some more expensive ones. After trying several, I found that the cheapest teachers weren't generally worth the money. I settled on my favourites, most of whom tend to charge between 12 and 14 dollars per hour, which is still extremely inexpensive for a professional teacher. Money very well-spent, in my opinion. There are fewer German teachers, so the cost will probably be higher for German lessons, but it will still be cheaper and more convenient than face-to-face tutoring. Have fun! edited to correct a typo. I can't seem to write a post without a typo! Edited by Stelle on 10 March 2014 at 9:27pm 4 persons have voted this message useful
yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German	Message 3 of 6 11 March 2014 at 9:43am \| IP Logged
	Thanks, Stelle. That's really encouraging! How does it work in terms of deciding a plan of work? Do you have different tutors depending on your schedule, one single tutor or a pool of several you like to work with? Do you have a weekly lesson as much as possible or go for blocks of say 10? I've got my final evening class of the year in 2 weeks time so I need to take the plunge pretty much straight after to capitalise on the momentum. 1 person has voted this message useful
Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4135 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French, English, Spanish Studies: Tagalog	Message 4 of 6 11 March 2014 at 11:46am \| IP Logged
	I tried lots of Spanish tutors, since I started in the summer when I wasn't working and my schedule was a bit more open. I was looking for something very specific: informal conversation with a teacher (who I clicked with as a person) making useful corrections and teaching on-the-fly mini-lessons based on the mistakes that I made. Some teachers are very attached to their lesson plans, which really doesn't suit my learning style, so I kept trying teachers until I found a small pool of tutors who matched me as a learner. A few of them are ideal tutors (ie. with mini-lessons, corrections, etc) and others I just enjoy talking to for conversation practice. I have one constant tutor who I've been working with since the very beginning. I buy 10-packs from her and talk to her at least once a week. Aside from that, I have a pool of four or five other teachers who I don't meet with weekly. I just book sessions with them when my schedule allows. Sometimes I rotate them, so I might go many weeks in between sessions with each one. While I'm sure that they'd prefer regular weekly sessions (as a teacher myself, I know how much easier life is with a regular schedule), I don't require any preparation from them, so they seem happy to talk to me, no matter how long it's been since our last session. Edited by Stelle on 11 March 2014 at 11:49am 2 persons have voted this message useful
fireballtrouble Triglot Senior Member Turkey Joined 4515 days ago 129 posts - 203 votes Speaks: Turkish*, French, English Studies: German	Message 5 of 6 11 March 2014 at 12:42pm \| IP Logged
	For French, I tried a free solution. Tutoring was quite expensive for me, considering the fact that Turkish lira/US Dollars or Euro currency was a little bit expensive and I am a student. I started with text chatting on ICQ, Sharedtalk, Interpals... No matter how often you read native materials, you need to get used to real daily life sentences, even chat abbreviations etc. Textchat is also a good training for activating your passive vocabulary. You learn how to build sentences and you gain automatism. And it's ideal for B1 level. Since your addressee doesn't expect you to reply instantly, you can think at the beginning without hesitation. After text chatting, I entered voice chat rooms and I have been a silent user. I just listened to the conversations. Then I started to talk to French native speakers on Sharedtalk and I could come across with great friends. Although the vast majority of users are beginner foreigners or just wanderers, there are also serious people. You're a native English speaker, you'll be much more likely to find German native speakers willing to exchange your English for their German for free. After that point, you can be ready for fluent Skype sessions to boost your skills This is neither a 100% effective method, nor a programmed schedule but it worked very well on me. From a passive B1, I became an independant B2+ French speaker today. Edited by fireballtrouble on 11 March 2014 at 12:54pm 3 persons have voted this message useful
yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German	Message 6 of 6 12 March 2014 at 2:05pm \| IP Logged
	That was really, really helpful- both Stelle and fireballtrouble. I really appreciate hearing both your experiences. I do like the idea of text chatting to start with and to see if I can find a partner(s) casually but I also like the idea of getting a few 'proper' lessons to help steer me in the right direction. Thank you both very much :) 1 person has voted this message useful