Hey guys, how's it going? You know Shayna here
from EspressoEnglish.net and me, Gabby
from GoNaturalEnglish.com and we're here
together for a really special series to share with you guys.
Just kind of relaxed conversation. Hi, Shayna!
Hey Gabby, I'm so happy to be here because we're
almost neighbors, right? We are almost neighbors now! Maybe
you guys know we were traveling, living abroad, but now we're both living in the US.
I'm in New York City, we're both in New York City right now, you're nearby
and yeah we wanted to take advantage of this to get together! For sure.
We're going to do a mini-series of four videos
where we're just going to talk with each other and you guys can
listen and learn from our conversation. I think this is important because a lot
of English learners have trouble following native speakers' conversations.
Yeah, and this is really the first time that we've done something
like this, just conversationally, but we think it's going to help you to
just be like a fly on the wall
as you said, listening to our conversations and we'll
help you out to understand and be able to improve your
conversational skills, your listening skills. Right, because you can see how we
interact with each other, maybe some of the phrases we use. Also
how to keep a conversation going, right? Avoid those awkward pauses
that sometimes happen if you don't know what to say.
Yeah. We're going to do four videos
each Friday from today, starting today, and then the next
three Fridays, so it's going to be really great! You guys will get
to know us a little more. We'll get to know each other a little more. We'll get to know you
a little more as you leave your comments and as you let
us know what you think of this series, it'll be really great to interact.
Sweet, so Gabby, I'm curious, why do you think so many English learners
struggle with conversations. They might listen to
teachers and they, I get a lot of students who write to me and they say, "Teacher, I
understand you, but when I watch a movie or when I listen to some native speakers
I can't follow the conversation." Yeah I think it's
because if you think about where you learned English you maybe learned in a
classroom and that's different. Usually your teacher is alone
right? Or usually we teach alone with Espresso English and
Go Natural English. It's really special to be able to listen to a conversation
between native speakers and get more
input. Teachers call it input. I'm not sure what else to
call it, but listening to a lot of conversation.
It's difficult when you haven't practiced.
We need more practice. What do you think? I totally agree. I think that
if you're not living in a native-speaking country, or even if you are,
but you just don't have a lot of opportunities to interact with native speakers or
socialize, it's just, like anything, practice
makes perfect, right. The more you listen and the more
you practice it will be difficult but I think it's really satisfying
when you reach a point in your English when you can listen to two native speakers
and say "I got everything! And I can participate." Which is
even more important. That's really exciting. Yeah it's a good confidence builder.
So, Shayna, I know you've learned another language and
we've both been language learners. How have you improved your
conversational skills in your second language?
Right. So my second language is Portuguese because I lived in Brazil for
many years and I studied a lot
on my own using websites, using textbooks
but when I went to Brazil I had to put it into practice. I was just
forced. I was put in a situation where I had no other choice, right.
Right. I think English learners can do that if they join a conversation
exchange or talk with a teacher on iTalki.
But from the beginning from my first day in Brazil I had to
be saying, "Hello, how are you?" in Portuguese and I couldn't
just be shy and not say anything and so that
really helped me just start to use it in everyday
life and I do remember struggling a little
bit with feeling like my Portuguese was very simple for a while. I
could say the basic stuff but I couldn't really express my thoughts.
It did take a while and just more, like you said, more input.
More practice. Sometimes I would say things that maybe
weren't natural and whoever I was talking to would
sometimes repeat it back to me in a way that a native speaker would say it.
Oh that's helpful. Or say, "Oh did you mean 'this'?"
And so that's why that interaction is super valuable. Yeah.
Just being able to listen to native speakers helps a lot.
I also learned some Portuguese and
yeah it helps so much when you can listen to natives whether you're in the country or
not, it makes such a huge difference. But I study on my own, you know you can look
at different websites for learning language, but there's nothing like listening to a
native conversation. I feel like we could talk about this for a long time, but
I think it's time to wrap up this particular video
but we'll see you guys next Friday with
another one, another conversation! Leave your comments, if you have any
questions for us and we'll see you guys next week! Oh and just before we go,
you can find Shayna at EspressoEnglish.net and me at
GoNaturalEnglish.com. Great! Bye! Bye!