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Conversation classes - experiences | ||
Tags: Class Learning | Conversation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| mst Triglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4958 days ago 9 posts - 20 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2 Studies: Italian | Message 9 of 14 28 March 2014 at 10:02pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all the tips. I've already been listening to radio, reading books and all
that. But even these activities can get a bit tiresome, especially since my workload at university is quite high at the moment. I already knew about iTalki, but I find that most community tutors are used to dumbing down their French too much and the lack of structure or common interest makes the session weirdly uncomfortable. However, I've discovered that the university language center (which offers Portuguese for foreigners classes) has a "Tandem" program, in which they partner you up with a native. I think that being able to meetup in a park or over a pint might make things flow more smoothly. And we can always talk about the city and things happening around here... I'll be back to give feedback on how the conversation class went. But I think you guys are right, more conversation time with people at the same level (or worse) isn't going to be very productive. I'll probably just keep having classes with my italki tutor, who is a native and knows how to challenge me and correct the small mistakes I keep doing, while trying to make the whole "tandem" thing work to get additional conversation practice (with a native, to boot!). You've all helped a lot :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes  Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 10 of 14 29 March 2014 at 1:40am | IP Logged |
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Besides going to classes, if you can find native speakers to exchange learning. He/she will teach you
French while you teach him/her English. Besides listening to the radio realtime, I prefer to listen to news on-demand such as going online to the TV5 site. You can't always listen to the news at 7 so you go online where the news is prerecorded that whenever you have time you can watch it. 6 months ago I was still focusing on Mandarin. I basically had to give up English TV programs except for the news and only watch programs from China, Taiwan or Singapore since there are only so many hours in a day. Reality shows are popular in virtually every country in the world. You watch up to 45m for each TV program without commercials and at the same time keeping your interest up. When you come across a word / phrase you don't know, you can look it up online. Always keep a list of words / phrases so you can review them a few times a week. Now I'm doing French on my time outside class I'd be watching movies 1 at a time. The DVDs I am purchasing comes with both English & French with captions. You can listening to the English version first and then switch to the French version with captions on. A lot of Chinese TV series I watched from Taiwan has Chinese captions. If the show hosts talked too quickly, I can read the captions and rewind that section of the video. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5208 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 11 of 14 31 March 2014 at 11:56am | IP Logged |
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I think the iTalki recommendation is a good one. Part of the reason I stopped going to these conversation groups I wrote about in my previous post is because I knew I could get one-to-one practice for the same price on iTalki, and without even having to leave the house. Although since then I've yet to actually get around to trying it. I've also had a lot of negative experiences with language exchanges: people changing their mind at the last minute, not turning up, no longer responding to me after a session or two, or simply not managing to find a mutually convenient time. The price starts to look like a pretty good deal when you take all that into account.
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| mst Triglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4958 days ago 9 posts - 20 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2 Studies: Italian | Message 12 of 14 01 April 2014 at 10:39pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I gave it a try but it went as expected. Lots of people barely stringing
sentences together, with a horrid accent (including the teacher). It's hard to believe that some people there studied French for more than six years! It served as a reminder of how useless traditional language classes usually are. Definitely not worth the money. I'll keep having sessions with my tutor on Skype, which are a bit expensive but well worth the money. To try to get more hours of practice durign the week I'll give the language exchange a try, since it can't hurt. I'll also try going to a conversation club that I recently discovered (led by a teacher who at least has a good accent), and that takes place each week at a local bookstore. If these free approaches do not work, I'll probably give iTalki another try. Thanks for your help, guys! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Elanguest Newbie Malta elanguest.com Joined 3867 days ago 19 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* | Message 13 of 14 30 April 2014 at 10:41am | IP Logged |
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One thing to keep in mind is that it's not always a terrible thing to hear non-native pronunciations. I know that
may sound weird, but I live in an international town, and I hear all kinds of English all the time and can usually tell where people are from because of that. Since you are planning to go to France, remember that France is a very international place, especially in the cities. If you learn how other nationalities pronounce French, you might have a better chance of communicating well than if you learn only "pristine," that is, native French. In a conversation class, you'll be in the same boat with people who are trying to learn just like you are, which, yes, is an "artificial" situation, and as such which will cause a concentrated version of a real-life or "natural" situation. Try to think of it like a pharmaceutical medication: yes, your immune system may be able to cure your problem if you just have patience and let it (it may not, on the other hand), but sometimes as a precaution and perhaps to speed up recovery, you go outside of the "natural" and take medicine. A conversation class can be like that. Of course the ideal is to learn from natives in an immersive environment, but sometimes you don't have that option or luxury or even the ability to simply assimilate a language (I don't). In such cases, it's okay to go a bit artificial. It's not always a bad thing. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5010 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 14 of 14 30 April 2014 at 11:30am | IP Logged |
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I think the biggest trouble could be the classmates. Sure it is good to hear a variety
of accents but people at the same level as you are (around B2 now, as you said), who are likely to make the same mistakes due to them all being brazilians like you, that is not variety. And there are more things affecting the conversation class (and any speaking practice in a classical class as well): their nature. SOme people are just shy (no offense meant), less talkative, some are lazy (and belive signing up for a conversation class and halfheartedly participating is going to work without any further efforts), some are unpleasant or annoying to speak with repeatedly and so on. Going to a small group class is surely less expensive but that is the only advantage of having classmates, in my opinion, especially those around your level. I've noticed several times how different are my speaking skills depending on who am I talking with. Natives and really good second language speakers make me get to my best without me realizing it and really fast. Worse speakers make me speak "at their level" and it is hard to keep my level. However, this "level contagion" may be individual and I wish you to be more immune against the worse speakers than I am. So, a bunch of speakers more or less at your level might be holding you back. The teacher may still be awesome. If you can, check their CV and focus on experience in the country. I believe a non native teacher, who has spent several years in the country, can bring to the class the best from both sides. The mentioned activities, like the presentations and articles to discuss, are not a bad thing (they are actually needed if handled correctly) but there is a danger that your conversation class can easily become just a presentation giving and reading together class. It is actually quite a common trouble. I've experienced it only briefly, fortunately, but most people I asked about conversation classes in various schools were telling the same story. Many teachers can't keep the needed balance in class between the preparatory activities (like a presentation, a scene from a movie, anything else) and the speaking practice itself. And the students usually make it much harder by refusing to do the preparatory activities (such as reading an article) at home beforehand. The only thing you can do about this is to get more information about the classes you are considering (and the teacher). Find a forum with former students, ask your friends with the experience and so on. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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