Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
How can you get an English speaking partner?
Let's talk about it.
There are hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of English learners around the world
needing and wanting to speak English, but maybe, like you in your city, there's not
someone who you know already who you can speak with, but all of these millions of people
around the world are looking for someone to talk to.
Today, I want to give you three ways that you can find someone who you can talk with.
Before we get started, I want to talk about a myth about English speaking partners.
A myth is something that's not true.
Usually it's a story or an idea that people have about something that's not true.
The myth about English speaking partners is that if you speak with another English learner,
you will not improve.
A lot of my students have told me this.
They've said, "Vanessa, I don't want to speak with another English learner because I'm not
going to be challenged.
I'm not going to get feedback."
I understand where you're coming from.
I understand this idea, that you want to speak with someone who is going to challenge you,
but the reality is maybe you can't always find a native speaker who you can talk with,
and from my personal experience, I have found that just having a chance to use the language
is going to help you improve.
Now, I do recommend if you speak with another English learner that you have a similar level.
Of course, if you are a beginner, you don't want to speak with an advanced learner, and
an advanced learner is not going to want to speak with a beginner.
It's great to have someone who is a similar level, maybe a little bit above your level,
but I think everyone has different strengths.
Maybe someone knows different vocabulary than you know and you have a different kind of
sentence structure than they have.
You can still help each other.
Personally for me with French, this has helped me a lot.
About twice a month, I get together with a group in my city and none of us are native
French speakers.
We're all from the US.
We all live in my city, but we all speak French together.
Why?
Just because we want to use the language.
Sometimes we need to look something up in a dictionary.
Sometimes we ask another friend who's in the group who knows more than us, but we are using
the language, and that's what I want for you.
Right now I'm at a French meetup.
We're speaking French together, and I just wanted to encourage you that you can go to
your city, find an English speaking group like this.
We're speaking French together, but we're all Americans, and you can do it.
This is great.
Go to the internet.
Go to different Facebook groups where you can meet other people in your city.
Meetup.com is a great place.
That's how we all met each other, and do it.
Speak English.
You can do it.
Bye everyone.
Let's talk about the first way that you can meet an English speaking partner.
The first way is maybe something that you've already tried.
It is to go online and search in Google in English, "English speaking partner," or, "Language
exchange partner."
I'm not going to give you any websites that I recommend for this because personally, I
haven't used this.
I know other people have done this successfully.
They found people in their cities or around the world who want to do a language exchange.
For me, I haven't successfully done that, so I don't want to recommend something I haven't
used myself.
I always try to be honest with my recommendations, so this is a possibility.
It's an option that you can use, but I think the second and third recommendations are going
to be a little bit more clear.
It's something that I've tried myself, so let's go to the second one.
My second recommendation is to go on Facebook.
On Facebook, when you go to an English page or an English group, if you meet someone who
seems friendly, they're always leaving great comments and you too are also leaving good
comments, you can connect with them.
Send them a message.
Ask, "Hi.
I don't want to bother you, but I was wondering, would you like to talk on Skype?"
This is a really polite sentence and you're not saying, "Skype please."
You are asking them politely, "I don't want to bother you, but would you be interested
in talking with me on Skype for 15 minutes, a short time, just to get to know each other?"
This is a good start.
It's a good way to get to know someone, so finding someone on Facebook in a place where
you already have a mutual interest, a place that you can connect with each other.
My third recommendation for finding an English speaking partner is to join the course The
Fearless Fluency Club.
In The Fearless Fluency Club, I will provide you with a document where you can introduce
yourself and find other people who have similar interests.
This is one of the benefits of joining the club is that you can use the materials that
I've sent to you.
You can speak using the conversation questions.
You can meet once a week with your speaking partner, or more if you'd like, and you can
have a focused way to study English.
You can use the material, improve together, and get my feedback.
If you'd like to join The Fearless Fluency Club, you can click the link up here, the
little I, or in the description below.
I'd love to help you connect with someone else who you enjoy and who is going to challenge
your English and just give you the opportunity to speak.
Now, I have a question for you.
I want to ask you, what do you think is an important quality in an English speaking partner?
Do they need to be friendly?
Do they need to be from your country, maybe not from your country?
Do they need to have a specific interest, the same interest in you?
Let me know in the comments below.
What is a priority for you in an English speaking partner?
Thanks so much and I'll see you next time.
Bye.
Do you want to find a good quality English speaking partner?
Join The Fearless Fluency Club and speak English each week.
Click on the I in the top right corner or click on the link in the description below
to join.
In this course, I encourage all members to connect with each other on Skype once a week.
I will provide tips and conversation questions so that you can use everything that you are
learning in the course.
Don't wait to become a Fearless Fluent English speaker.