How to quickly improve your English if you have not practiced since high school
Forming / / December 19, 2019
Lena Avdeeva
Author Layfhakera, he likes to travel abroad.
Why do I need English
I love to travel: to know other cultures, to try national dishes and, of course, meeting new people. With the latter sometimes have problems: English I like to know the good, but most of the time he is in a passive state. Therefore, when it comes to talking, I pick up words in a hundred years, and at times confused with verbs.
For example, weak Elementary prevented me to hold a conversation with foreigners, when in Athens, I went on a tour of the city for kauchsorferov. After that I decided that an urgent need to change something and run to learn the language.
What are the ways I have tried
By the time of awareness of the problem in my luggage were:
- 2 years of English in school. On the 3rd to the 9th classes I taught French and English passed only in 10th grade;
- 4 years of English at the University. I studied well, the diploma is worth five. But it is spoken little impact.
Go to the tutor or English clubs - no. So I decided to try to deal with itself.
The first step is downloaded to your smartphone multiple applications. But they do not help to fix the problem: the rules are not explained to them, the job periodically repeated.
Then I decided to sign up for a YouTube-channel, which teach English. Here, the process went more productively: become a better understanding of the ear, to master when to use Present Perfect, and when - Present Perfect Continuous. But there was one fat minus: the spoken language is still idle without training. I talked to the screen, but received no feedback and was not sure if pronouncing the words correctly. In general, it was boring!
About their suffering, I told a friend. And a friend advised me to register on CamblyWith which she was preparing to make a presentation in front of the western colleagues. This service is to practice English through video chat with tutors are native speakers - the British, Americans, Australians. In short, there is a chance to work and pronunciation to make the ear to the pure English. Lessons are held in the form of a free conversation, so this is a cool option for those who already know the language and just needs practice. Only need a webcam, a microphone and a stable internet connection.
I was skeptical, but a friend said not to jump to conclusions and to take a free trial lesson.
First impression
I registered in two accounts: Cambly site offers sign in with your Facebook or Google mail. Enter personal data and credit card number is not necessary.
On the main page, you can immediately see the teachers who are online. The profile of each is written, after which time he will be busy with another student. And yet on the personal page that the tutor can find information about his or her qualifications, watch a video and see how it evaluated the other students.
tutors to Cambly lot. At first I thought it was to choose one of so many will be difficult. But it is actually not so bad - there are filters to search. You can sort by:
- objectives of the session: preparation for TOEFL, IELTS, Spoken English, Business English, grammar lesson, and so on;
- character: kind, cheerful, informative;
- accent: English, American, Australian or other;
- interests: sports, fashion, business - just type in a search engine keyword.
But his trial classes, I decided to use no filters, and random. On the main page there is a button "Start a trial lesson," you can click on it, and he will pick you Cambly tutor.
At the start, I was shown a welcome video, which told what you can do to Cambly. After the relationship came my first tutor - Alex from the UK. We quickly learned, he learned, what I'm doing English, and went to the lesson.
Typically, a test session lasts for Cambly 5 minutes. But if you invite a friend, lesson time increased to 10 minutes.
Within 10 minutes we had to talk about my work, about the film and about the weather, especially in Russia and England. Cool, that during the video tutorial, you can send text messages, and if phonetics problems or do not know how to pronounce a word, just write all.
Session I liked it, decided to study with Cambly. In addition, it can be done at any time tutors live in different parts of the world, so free and easy to find at two o'clock in the afternoon, and in the morning.
Start a trial lesson
time to learn
On Cambly have several subscription options. Can:
- Buy universal minutes. From 15 to 120 minutes - they can spend in one day or spread out over several months.
- To make a plan. Here you need to choose how many lessons per week you are willing to attend (one to seven) and for how many minutes a day engaged in (15 to 120). And then decide how long you are going to practice English: month, quarter, six months or a year.
I stopped on the monthly plan with classes three times a week for 30 minutes a day. Payment goes easy: enter the bank card and everything.
Lesson 1: Sam, friendly Englishman
After payment of the start to choose the teacher. At this time, I decided to approach the problem thoroughly and plan activity in advance. For this purpose, there is a block with Cambly calendar "Calendar". There I chose the right day and time convenient, and the site offered me a choice of all available tutoring. I stopped at the Briton named Sam: he had a wonderful rating, clear focus and impressive description of the profile.
Before the first occupation include complimentary roller again. In it we were advised not to dwell on one teacher, and the first few sessions to hold with different tutors, then to choose the one that is more appropriate.
At the beginning of the lesson, Sam discussed with me the purpose of language learning and told a little about Cambly opportunities. Then start exercising itself. Sam has prepared the theme "Body Parts", but we are not talking about the hands, feet or head, but the verbs which have occurred from names of body parts. Among them were familiar to me words such as armed (armed), and a completely new expressions, such as foot the bill (to pay the bill for all). As a result, half an hour I have mastered 10 words and learn to use them in sentences.
Lesson 2: Alex, cheerful American
Pass the second session, I decided not at the computer, but in the smartphone applications. In functionality is not inferior to the site, but you can do really anywhere, even on the street. Following the advice of Cambly, for the second lesson I have chosen a new tutor - open girl from the United States by the name of Alex.
Lesson Alex happened quite differently. Each of the 30 minutes we chatted: discussed movie news, travel, life in America. Alex helped me choose the right words and correct when I was wrong. And in the end inspired me to apply for a green card. Now forward to the lottery.
Lesson 3: Luke ideal Briton
The third lesson I once again chose a tutor from the UK - Luc. He has an almost perfect score (4.89 out of 5), and in the video presentation, he looked friendly and understanding. So it turned out.
Luke told me about a few ways that can help increase vocabulary and to track the use of the verb. The main - read as much as possible in English. And choose the texts in an interesting but unfamiliar to me theme.
My conclusions
- classes in Cambly helped me to stop shy to speak English. I became easier to relate to the errors and start to use words and phrases that I know. Helped life hacking, which taught me the last tutor Luke: if you do not know or do not remember a word, try to explain it through an example, choose an antonym or synonym close in value.
- Teachers in Cambly friendly and cheerful, so that the feeling - as if you are talking with his friend. In the process of getting instant feedback: tutors to help formulate the idea, correct minor errors.
- Classes begin with an introduction, so the third lesson I could quite happily tell you who I am and why I Cambly. In addition, no problem asking, how are teachers (How have you been?), And is also easy to answer his question (I've been fine, thanks). Problems with self-presentation when meeting new people will not be exact.
- Expanded the active vocabulary. It is interesting that many of the words I did not wonk - they just remember from the conversation. For example, now I can joke with new acquaintances about the people who are always trying to butt in (to get into the queue).
- And most importantly, in the course of the dialogue, I was not thinking in Russian and in English. This is a very cool and helps you quickly find the right words, and assemble them into one sentence.
All my classes are preserved in the archive folder: so that I can at any time, including video and review the desired passage. For example, to remember what it means to go dutch (split count).
Communicate in English in Cambly