Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ktheslasher]

This site is basically for those who doesn't have the quality time to practice english in the classroom. Other than having lots of students in class (which is very common) and being busy at work and not having enough time to join a regular class, there is also another way of learning and improving your english skills, and that is going online. You may try to contact teachers online and have the convenience of studying english at home. I think its not bad at all. Its very popular in countries like Japan and Korea. You can just google it and get plenty of results. Try it if you like. One site Ive seach is
www.english888.com. Its an online tutor and the charges arent that bad at all. Try it peeps...

cheers.....

www.english888.com
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The TEACHER

[vernongstamm]

Learning online is a great way for non native speakers to learn a new language and is generally less expensive. It also offers a student one on one attention instead of the large classes. I teach English online. Visit my site at www.stammeduation.net or email me at [email protected]
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Learn English from the comfort of your own home with my online teaching methods. Online English classes are as low as $7 USD per class. Inquire now by using the inquiry form on my website.

[NamrataArora]

It's a known fact that speaking English is easy when you practice it daily. I have explored a number of websites where English tutors and teachers communicate with students online. To practice Spoken English, I recommend my students to visit wiziq.com and search for IELTS. The information on Speaking is really nice.
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Namrata Arora
Online English Teacher & Content Manager

[SimpleEnglishBlogger]

There are a lot of online teachers these days. Some of them charge ridiculously low prices.

However, you have to think about what you're getting for that money. What is the teacher actually doing for you?

If the teacher is just chatting with you, that can be useful, but it's not the best.

Think about what is happening when you are chatting with someone. You are either speaking or listening. For listening, you can get that for free on youtube, tv, radio, movies, skype chat with strangers, etc.

I would never pay someone just to talk with me and nothing more. It does have some benefit, but you can find free alternatives easily.

As for you talking, you don't need to pay someone for that either. You can read from a book, repeat what you hear on tv, radio, etc. You can speak your thoughts out loud in English.

However, while to can find things to listen to for free and you can speak as much as you want for free, the thing you cannot get for free is to have someone correct your English. (This is not really something you can ask your friends to do. You CAN ask, but they won't be your friends for long if every time you meet they feel like they are doing an English lesson with you.)

Find a good teacher who doesn't waste your time with things you can do for free.

Students need a teacher who will do mainly three things:

1) Teach you the correct pronunciation. Having an accent is fine, but if the pronunciation is so different that it's hard to understand, that's not fine.

2) Correct your mistakes. I live in Japan and, surprisingly, most teachers here feel that correcting a student is bad. They think it will discourage them from speaking. This is ridiculous. The only way to learn is for someone to point out your mistakes. I'm learning Japanese and I sometimes make mistakes without realizing it. That's what I need. Someone to tell me I've made a mistake.

3) In addition, they should also teach you how to speak naturally and what native speakers would say. Sometimes, the grammar is correct, but natives just don't speak that way in real life. Most teachers ignore this! (To be fair, they usually don't have an education related to teaching languages and have only limited experience and always use textbooks in a step-by-step fashion.)

This is how I teach. I have completely natural conversations with my students and talk about all sorts of topics. It's important to try and talk about everyday things just like you would with your friends. But I'm not just chatting. I want to give my students valuable lessons they can learn from. I want to give them something they cannot learn anywhere else.

However, finding a teacher who can do these things well is not easy and it's not cheap. They should have a lot of experience and hopefully an education that is relevant to teaching and languages. (I studied linguistics at the University of Toronto.)

It's more expensive than many 'cheap' teachers out there, but you'll learn much much more and waste less time.

If you'd like more information, you can email me at [email protected] and I'll answer any questions you may have.

Good luck!
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Visit www.sloweasyenglish.com for material to help you with your listening skills!

All of the videos are in SLOW and EASY ENGLISH so they are easy to understand and will help you improve your listening until you can watch regular movies and TV!

[Editmachine]

I agree that paying a 'teacher' for a simple chat or conversation is not necessary; there are free alternatives for conversation. I also agree that one helpful thing is having someone correct your English, so you don't continue to reinforce something you might be doing wrong. Written English for academics or otherwise can be cheaply proofread and corrected at www.editmachine.com. There are other proofreading and correction services, but many do not accept small projects, or have personal follow-up service. You need to be sure you understand the reason behind the correction as well. I hope this is useful to someone!!!

[etutor.school]

eTutor School is a matching service offered by ETS Global Network, LLC where students connects with tutors via an online learning platform. Whether you want to learn a new language, or you need help with your homework in Math or Science, eTutor School will be there to help you find your perfect instructor.

www.etutorschool.com
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eTutor School
Skype: etutor.school
www.etutorschool.com