Speaking Club's Chronicles

Discuss any questions in English. Practise your writing skills.

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zymbronia
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#51

Сообщение zymbronia »

Hi! Tomorrow at 21.30 msk we are starting Upstream Proficiency. It is just a common practice where we do exercises. A team work, I can call it as our level is barely C1 and we don't have a leader who will be willing to explain some difficult places should we encounter any.
zymbronia
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#52

Сообщение zymbronia »

Our current schedule is as follows:
22 November, Retelling books. _Another_Fine_Myth, Chapters 6, 7
25 November, Monday, Upstream Proficiency, Unit 1, starting from ''Dots and Dashes Still Alive''
28 November, Thursday, Timesaver__Storyboard, Unit 2
29 November, Friday, Retelling books. _Another_Fine_Myth

Should you have any good or better ideas, you're welcome to share them with us here. Or in Skype by calling @zymbronia there
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#53

Сообщение garans »

zymbronia пишет: 17 ноя 2019, 10:38 Hi! Tomorrow at 21.30 msk we are starting Upstream Proficiency. It is just a common practice where we do exercises. A team work, I can call it as our level is barely C1 and we don't have a leader who will be willing to explain some difficult places should we encounter any.
Well...
So many problems in our education and so few answers.

I remember my first years of learning English.
I needed speaking practice. But how and where to get it for free?
And how to do it with effectiveness, without wasting a lot of time?

Well there were mormons' courses at which they "just talk".
But in two or three months the effect of the courses became minimal.
But I attended them more than one year.

There were people of different levels from beginner to intermediate and sometimes advanced.
But I really don't know how to organize effective meetings of such clubs.
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#54

Сообщение zymbronia »

garans, do you know now how to organise any event including speaking clubs?
I am sure you are able to organise an education process. Isn't it about the same?
Additionally, you don't need to make any efforts, but make people come together and speak either in pairs or in front of the others.
When six years ago, Astrologer, Battery, Chinara, upper-intermediate and me decided to organise a speaking club we didn't even have time to think how it would be. We just call people up and started to provide meetings. First couple of months we just speak to each other, but then people became tired and didn't know what to discuss, so I suggested that we should use books and go by books or textbooks.
Different people joined the club from time to time. Some of them stayed with the club for couple of years, some of them - for couple of months and some visited our meetings only once or twice. I haven't carefully counted the number of people who visited our club over these years, but I think it could be at least 600 people. Of course only maybe one fifth of them participated for a month to up to three more years. Anyway, it was not bad. Some people said that they really started feeling more confident after our meetings. For example @EFL - I would like him to tell us how he started to speak so beautifully. Has he had a tutor or he just carefully prepared for our meetings. Because a year ago he could hardly put two words together, and now he can speak better than the others.
Anyway, I think if people stay in the club for so long, that might mean it helps them.
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#55

Сообщение garans »

garans пишет: 23 ноя 2019, 10:23 A team work, I can call it as our level is barely C1 and we don't have a leader who will be willing to explain some difficult places should we encounter any.
I sat for Proficiency exam by self training.
But I wasn't sure about my speaking abilities.
That's why I took a short English speaking course - 8 lessons, 16 hours with a native teacher at one of the popular English schools in Moscow.

Our method was simple: as a rule we took a pair of speaking sections from most popular English courses at proficiency level (I remember Masterclass and Gold).
Now people can use Objective, Upstream, Expert, Keynote etc.

For different people different courses may be used.
For me most interesting now are Keynote and Objective.
Sometimes I give presentations in English (Keynote) and I think that Objective is a must (Cambridge issue and a good quality of electronic book).

OK, this way a teacher may take a great help from teacher books accompanied those student books.
I think, preferably a teacher should be a native speaker or a good Russian teacher.

For me the most interesting is to train connected speech (it is a must) and weak forms (it is a special interest).
By the way, this abilities are difficult from the early stages of English because weak forms are used at the lowest levels more frequently, I think.
I mean - this is the common interest for different levels.
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#56

Сообщение garans »

garans пишет: 23 ноя 2019, 12:25this abilities
-> these abilities
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#57

Сообщение zymbronia »

garans пишет: 23 ноя 2019, 12:25 For me most interesting now are Keynote and Objective.
Did you mean that we have to get to Keynote or Objective now?
I am not sure that it is feasible now. I know the format of Upstream, and it is easy to pass from Advanced to Proficiency, however, a new textbook may pose a challenge which which I am afraid I wouldn't be able to manage. We don't have a teacher and a level of each of our member is barely reaching the advanced one, therefore, we cannot be confident in providing the proficiency level. We are just having fun by talking by this textbook and sometimes we do grammar in accordance with the tasks in it.
garans пишет: 23 ноя 2019, 12:25 For me the most interesting is to train connected speech (it is a must) and weak forms (it is a special interest).
By the way, this abilities are difficult from the early stages of English because weak forms are used at the lowest levels more frequently, I think.
I am not sure if I understand what it means. You must turn up in our club to teach us what the connected speech is :)
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#58

Сообщение garans »

zymbronia пишет: 27 ноя 2019, 19:28
garans пишет: 23 ноя 2019, 12:25 For me most interesting now are Keynote and Objective.
Did you mean that we have to get to Keynote or Objective now?
I am not sure that it is feasible now. I know the format of Upstream, and it is easy to pass from Advanced to Proficiency, however, a new textbook may pose a challenge which which I am afraid I wouldn't be able to manage. We don't have a teacher and a level of each of our member is barely reaching the advanced one, therefore, we cannot be confident in providing the proficiency level. We are just having fun by talking by this textbook and sometimes we do grammar in accordance with the tasks in it.
garans пишет: 23 ноя 2019, 12:25 For me the most interesting is to train connected speech (it is a must) and weak forms (it is a special interest).
By the way, this abilities are difficult from the early stages of English because weak forms are used at the lowest levels more frequently, I think.
I am not sure if I understand what it means. You must turn up in our club to teach us what the connected speech is :)
I cannot teach things which I cannot do myself.

I made too little progress on this way and I hardly know how to train myself.

Though there are many good books for everyone who wants to teach themselves.

First of all:
Azar, Hagen - Understanding and using English grammar. There is a lot of practice with weak forms of grammar elements.

Secondly, whatever good book on pronunciation.
It is also extremely important because we need to identify key sounds with very high accuracy.
Plus we need to know and practice rules of connected speech and weak forms.

Thirdly, we need to be used to popular vocabulary and phrases of a target environment.

Al this things are not my speciality, they take time and I have only my personal little interest to learn them.
Not to teach.
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#59

Сообщение zymbronia »

garans пишет: 29 ноя 2019, 18:33 we need to know and practice rules of connected speech and weak forms.
Actually, I meant exactly this thing as I don't know what it is. The other things I could have found and done a little bit :)
Thank you !
Please turn up and tell us what weak forms are :)
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#60

Сообщение garans »

zymbronia пишет: 29 ноя 2019, 18:59 Actually, I meant exactly this thing as I don't know what it is. The other things I could have found and done a little bit :)
Thank you !
Please turn up and tell us what weak forms are :)
Really, I'd better made a clip for youtube.

In fact there are many such things there and really good professionals teach them.

For example
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#61

Сообщение garans »

I know some people will blame me but I'll give you a good (I think) example


First I interpreted the beginning of this song as

Well I had just'n cought up onto county prison
Doing ninety tape of non support

Traah to fine me en exegure position
God no mada how's move a top


But in reality he sings:

Well, I had just got out from the county prison
Doin' ninety days for non-support
Tried to find me an executive position
But no matter how smooth I talked

Can you imagine so many mistakes in so short a piece?
How can a person solve the problem without a special training?

I really don't know.

I have all explanations - why I got it wrong.
But what for those explanations?
To get it right people should be explained and trained.
IMHO
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#62

Сообщение zymbronia »

garans, I could hardly understand singing in Russian, to say nothing about those texans or whoever they are
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#63

Сообщение garans »

zymbronia пишет: 29 ноя 2019, 20:03 garans, I could hardly understand singing in Russian, to say nothing about those texans or whoever they are
But it's really interesting - why such things happen.

In Russian we have many styles how to say for different cases.
Nobody really thinks about it. But we use them all along.

In English we don't have such a practice and we even think that it is a spoiled language.
But it's not.
It's their natural way of speaking.

Now teachers came to conclusion that natural way and classic pronunciation often contradict each other - for a foreigner.
But natives do not bother and use what they need, rather instinctively.
IMHO
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#64

Сообщение garans »

By the way, now I listen mostly things that I understand without much difficulty.

I am a foreigner, you know.

And, by the way again, speech recognition happens mostly unconsciously.
Without much effort.
But there should be a good training before that.
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#65

Сообщение garans »

Mostly I listen to simpler things.
They may be rather interesting.
Like shows.

One from TED's


I think she used routs instead of routes at 4:15.

She speaks slow and clear, but not always.
14:00 Now [before] I sum up - unclear [before].

Sometimes I fancied [ti:yme] instead of [taim].

Well, there are a lot of weak forms and even wrong forms in spoken English they are used to.
Because they give each other enough clues to get the meaning.
Why should they bother about someone from another world?
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#66

Сообщение zymbronia »

garans, Yesterday we had 11 members in the chat. Actually I usually expect 5-6 members - this is usually a good number of participants to make a chat dynamic. The level of the textbook is high enough and of course it is higher than my level, and to be a facilitator of a group of eleven and with this textbook could be a real challenge.
I of course, don't do exercises as many as I did 15 years ago. Frankly speaking I don't do anything but facilitating the club conduct. Unfortunately I don't prepare for our meeting except preparing questions for retelling books, therefore I just try to maintain my current level. Of course I cannot understand speakers when they speak fast or use a lot of colloquial language. I would rather read books for teenagers and listen to their audio versions. Of course I am able to listen to some speeches given by politicians or some lectures, but it is boring for me. I have become exhausted of all those activities. That is why I am waiting for somebody who could facilitate our meetings and I could relax :)
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#67

Сообщение zymbronia »

Our current schedule is as follows as of now:
5 December, Thursday, Timesaver__Storyboard, Unit 3
6 December Friday, Retelling books. _Another_Fine_Myth Chapters 10-11
9 December, Monday, Upstream Proficiency, Unit 1, Listening part
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#68

Сообщение zymbronia »

Our current schedule is as follows:
23 January, Thursday, Timesaver__Storyboard, Unit 11 (pre-intermediate) (8.30 pm msk)
24 January Friday, Retelling books. _Another_Fine_Myth Chapters 21-22 (9.30 pm msk)
25 January, Saturday, Tongue Twisters + Collocations Intermediate (8 am msk)
27 January, Monday, Upstream Proficiency, Unit 2, beginning in SB (9.30 pm msk)
28 January, Tuesday, Discord Meeting with gavenkoa (9.00 pm msk)
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#69

Сообщение zymbronia »

10 February, Monday, Upstream Proficiency, Unit 2, SB (9.30 pm msk)
13 February, Thursday, Timesaver__Storyboard, Unit 14 (pre-intermediate) (8.30 pm msk)
14 February Friday, Retelling books. _Another_Fine_Myth Chapters 23 (9.30 pm msk) - Eugene's session
15 February, Saturday, Tongue Twisters + Collocations Intermediate Unit 8 (8 am msk)
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#70

Сообщение Yety »

garans пишет: 30 ноя 2019, 09:52 I think she used routs instead of routes at 4:15.
It's just the American way:
rout in AE.
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#71

Сообщение garans »

Yety пишет: 08 фев 2020, 14:47
garans пишет: 30 ноя 2019, 09:52 I think she used routs instead of routes at 4:15.
It's just the American way:
rout in AE.
Спасибо, не знал.
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#72

Сообщение zymbronia »

The schedule of our speaking club as of now:

20 April, Monday, Upstream Proficiency, Unit 2, WB (9.30 pm msk) - however, I hope we'll start Unit 3, SB soon
23 April, Thursday, Timesaver__Storyboard, Unit 23 (pre-intermediate) (8.30 pm msk) (2 units left, and then I will take a break till autumn)
24 April Friday, Retelling books. _The Lost World Chapters XIII-XVI(9.30 pm msk) - four chapters left, and then I will either shift the session to Wednesday or Thursday (after competion of Timesaver, or suspend for a while)
25 April, Saturday, Tongue Twisters + Collocations Intermediate Unit 8 (8 am msk) (this session was planned till the end of March - maximum - end of April; now it is continuing for extra period of time and I don't know whether I have to suspend it too as planned, or shift to 7 am msk - I would like to have more free time on Saturdays).

Therefore, I am sure to continue the session on Mondays permenantly and I don't know what is going to be with other sessions - maybe I will suspend them from May till November, or somebody else will agree to carry them on).
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#73

Сообщение Irina231280 »

Hi! My name is Irina and I'm really looking forward to adding to your speaking club on Mondays. Is there an opportunity to do it?
zymbronia
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#74

Сообщение zymbronia »

Hi Irina231280, I can add you to my group, however, you should as least request me there. How could I know whom to add otherwise?
Do you think you are ready to carry on the proficiency level? You should have at least upper-intermediate skills to catch up with the group, I speculate. Anyway you can have a go.
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#75

Сообщение zymbronia »

Tonight we are starting to retell The Lord of the Rings.
Please read Chapter 1 and turn up at 21.30 msk.

We have the following topics:

21 May, Thursday, Retelling The Lord of the Rings (Chapter 1 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING) (9.30 pm msk)
23 May, Saturday, Collocations Intermediate Units 50-53 (8 am msk)
25, May, Monday, Upstream Proficiency, Unit 3, SB (9.30 pm msk)
26 May, Tuesday, Business Result - Upper (21:30 MSK)(Hosts - govenkoa&Marina)
27 May, Wednesday, Business Result - Upper (21:30 MSK) (Hosts - govenkoa&Marina)

We will finish Collocations soon and I will provide only two sessions a week then.
Have a nice time. Call me in Skype by using my current nickname
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