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  • (gentle music)

  • - Hello everyone and welcome back to English with Lucy.

  • Today, I'm going to be giving you some tips

  • that will help you find native speaks you can practise with.

  • We all know that practising with native speakers

  • is one of the best ways of becoming fluent

  • in another language, in this case English.

  • They can help you with your pronunciation,

  • they can help you improve your listening,

  • you might learn lots of new slang phrases

  • and casual and informal phrases with them.

  • You might pick up some idioms, some new verbs,

  • loads of new vocabulary.

  • So many of my students ask me

  • how they can access native speakers

  • because it isn't that easy.

  • Many want to make friends with native speakers

  • but don't how to find them or how to approach them.

  • In this video, we will discuss different ways

  • in which you can find native speakers, talk to them,

  • and persuade them to help you.

  • Let's get started with the video.

  • Tip one is access natives on the go.

  • This first point covers two great tools.

  • Private tutors and language partners.

  • But what's the difference?

  • Well, in simple terms,

  • you pay a private tutor for their time.

  • And a language partner forms part

  • of a mutually beneficial arrangement

  • where no money is exchanged.

  • You help them with their desired language,

  • the language they're learning, probably your mother tongue,

  • and they in exchange help you

  • with the language that you'll learning,

  • normally their mother tongue.

  • For example, if I wanted to learn Spanish,

  • I would find a native Spanish person

  • who wants to learn English

  • and I would exchange with them.

  • So, we have private tutors and language partners.

  • The best way to learn a language

  • is to combine these two tools.

  • Schedule in frequent paid classes with the private tutors.

  • These are normally easier to find

  • and will help you to follow

  • a more structured learning programme.

  • And complement this with sessions with a language partner.

  • You learn new skills with the tutor

  • and put them into practise with the language partner.

  • The sponsor of this video, italki, is the perfect solution

  • as it offers both of these tools

  • from the convenience of your mobile phone.

  • You will have heard me mention italki before.

  • It's a huge online database

  • of both native and community teachers

  • offering very affordable private classes

  • for over 130 languages.

  • Why is it relevant for this video?

  • Well, italki have just relaunched their mobile phone app

  • so you can find and access these teachers

  • and language partners on the go from your mobile.

  • All you have to do is download the app

  • using the link in the description box and create an account.

  • Once you've signed in,

  • you can explore everything the app has to offer.

  • This is specially great as italki also has

  • a language partner programme where you can type in

  • whichever language you want to practise,

  • choose whether or not you want a native speaker,

  • and even decide where you would like them to be from.

  • You can then see all of the available language partners

  • and also see if they're wanting to learn your language.

  • Then you can contact them

  • and see if they'd like to practise.

  • I'm so excited about this app because it means

  • that you can access this amazing combination

  • of finding a private tutor and a language partner

  • from your mobile phone wherever you are.

  • You can access natives on the go.

  • It's a great way to participate and customise lessons

  • that cater to your learning interests and needs.

  • Clink on the link in the description box

  • to download the app and start the process.

  • Number two, another idea for finding

  • language exchange partners

  • is contact a local language school

  • that teaches your language.

  • You'll be surprised at the amount of language schools around

  • that teach your language.

  • Obviously there are English schools everywhere,

  • but if you live in Poland

  • there are probably quite a few schools

  • that teach Polish to foreigners.

  • Same for anywhere in the world.

  • The teachers and organisers there

  • are probably desperate to find people

  • that will practise with their students.

  • Get in contact with them with a nice introductory email

  • and let them know which languages you speak

  • and what you are looking to practise.

  • You never know, they may be able to put you in contact

  • with a native speaker.

  • I experienced this first hand

  • when I studied Spanish in Spain.

  • Lots of native Spanish speakers would come to the school

  • and put down their name to be paired up

  • with a native English or native French speaker.

  • If both parties agreed to meet,

  • well, we would go to a bar and practise

  • 1/2 an hour in one language and 1/2 an hour in another.

  • Normally by the end of the evening

  • it was just a massive muddle of languages

  • but it was really, really good fun.

  • So I highly recommend that you try out this method,

  • and you might even make some new friends.

  • Tip number three could be considered a little controversial

  • and I urge you to do this with a lot of care.

  • The third tip is to comment down below

  • and try and find a like-minded language partner.

  • You're not necessarily going to find a native speaker

  • in the comment section

  • because people are here normally to learn English,

  • but you might find a nice group of like-minded people

  • that are all striving to speak fluent English.

  • I know that a lot of people form

  • Facebook groups and WhatsApp groups.

  • All I ask is that you are very, very careful,

  • specially if you're under the age of 18.

  • If you would like to try and find a language partner,

  • then you can comment down below with your age,

  • where you're from, the languages you speak,

  • and the languages that you are looking to practise.

  • I don't want to have to say this but I will say this.

  • This is not an opportunity

  • to find a girlfriend or boyfriend.

  • Number four is try playing video games.

  • And as a teacher (laughs) I never thought

  • I would recommend video games.

  • But when I was teaching in a language school

  • there was one guy who spoke

  • the most incredible American English

  • and he'd never been to America.

  • And I said, "Where have you gotten this accent

  • "and vocabulary from?"

  • Expecting him to say movies or TV shows.

  • And he said gaming.

  • A lot of video games nowadays have a voice chat option.

  • And if you join a specific server,

  • you can interact with speakers

  • of the language that you are trying to learn.

  • The best part of this is no one knows who you are

  • so you don't have to be afraid of making mistakes

  • and you don't have to be afraid of embarrassing yourself.

  • If gaming is something that you do anyway,

  • why not try incorporating practising English

  • into your hobby?

  • If you manage to find somebody that is amazingly helpful,

  • somebody who corrects you,

  • somebody who teaches you new phrases,

  • try and play with them more often.

  • They're enjoying themselves anyway,

  • you might as well get something out of the interaction.

  • Tip number five is use the website Meetup.

  • So, the website Meetup is what it says on the tin.

  • It's a website where people host meet ups,

  • social gatherings.

  • A hot topic on Meetup is language exchanges.

  • All you have to do is search language exchange

  • and your city or town

  • and see if something is going on in the near future.

  • If there isn't anything going on,

  • try setting one up yourself.

  • It's a little bit daunting but you don't know until you try.

  • At the very least it's an amazing opportunity

  • to meet loads of people

  • from all different parts of the world.

  • I used to go to language exchanges in London

  • and I absolutely loved them.

  • I always used to scout a few students as well

  • when I was teaching.

  • Funny story, actually, about a meet up. (laughs)

  • I went to a language exchange in London

  • and there was a face painter there

  • painting faces with glitter.

  • So all of my friends went away

  • and got their face painted whilst I was in the toilet.

  • And whilst I was in the toilet I received a message saying,

  • "Don't forget to go straight up and get your face painted."

  • So I went there and she said, "What would you like?"

  • And I said, "I don't know, a watermelon?"

  • And the face painter looked at me and said,

  • "You want a watermelon?"

  • I said, "Yes, a watermelon."

  • I thought it would look really cute,

  • I like watermelons, it's one of my favourite fruits.

  • So she said, "Okay, I will paint you

  • "a watermelon on your face."

  • And so she painted this beautiful glittery watermelon

  • and I went to meet my friends

  • and they all had the flag of their country on their face

  • because that was the entire point of the language exchange,

  • you had your native language's flag on your face.

  • But I had a watermelon.

  • And everyone was coming up to me and saying,

  • "So, where are you from?" (laughs)

  • And I was just like, "Honey, do you mind?"

  • (Lucy laughs)

  • That was meant to be a joke 'cause honeydew's a melon.

  • No, it was embarrassing, I just had to explain

  • that I didn't understand the whole face-painting process.

  • The last tip I have is number six

  • and it is join language learning groups on Facebook.

  • There are so many groups on Facebook

  • and they can be a little bit overwhelming.

  • My advice is to look for very small groups

  • or start your own.

  • The groups with 50,000 members,

  • you'll be surprised at how empty they are.

  • A lot of people have joined because it's a big group

  • but no one really participates.

  • Look for small language exchange groups on Facebook

  • and join them.

  • And if there aren't any that look legit to you,

  • start your own and see if like-minded people join.

  • I used to post in a lot of language learning groups

  • when I started my channel.

  • I used to share my videos there.

  • And I was amazed at how helpful people were in these groups.

  • They may not all be native speakers,

  • there are a lot of very accomplished non-native speakers

  • in these groups,

  • and they are so so helpful

  • to anyone who has a question or a doubt.

  • Right, that's it for today's lesson.

  • I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something.

  • Don't forget to click on the link in the description box

  • and download the relaunched italki app.

  • Go on there, find yourself a private tutor

  • and find yourself a language partner

  • and combine those two tools.

  • Honestly, it's a great way of learning a language.

  • Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.

  • I've got my Facebook, my Instagram, and my Twitter.

  • And I shall see you soon for another lesson.

  • Muah!

  • (Lucy blows a raspberry)

  • Just gonna lick this apple.

  • Yeah, much better.

  • (happy upbeat music)

(gentle music)

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A2 初級 英國腔

每天與母語為英語的人交談 - 輕鬆找到口語夥伴! (Talk DAILY with Native English Speakers - Easily Find a Speaking Partner! )

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    Amanda Chang 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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