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  • hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com

  • I don't know if you know this but I used to teach English online

  • several years ago what was it I think like in 2014

  • No 2013 to 2014 I taught English online for an entire year and I learned a lot

  • through that experience like what makes a good private class what classes did I

  • enjoy as the teacher what classes did the students enjoy so I want to share

  • these tips with you today so you can make the most of your time with native

  • speakers especially if you're paying for classes and one of the biggest mistakes

  • that a lot of students do is they just don't show up prepared right they do not

  • come with an itinerary they just show up and they're like okay teacher teach me

  • everything evaluate my English see where I am what do I need but honestly you

  • need to show up prepared because that will help you move things forward faster

  • in the classes and I don't recommend that you book private classes to get

  • grammar lessons for example you can google the grammar on your own you can

  • look that up you can watch youtube videos learn the grammar on your own

  • when your one-on-one with somebody else in English don't spend time there

  • learning and asking about grammar unless it's a specific question that you really

  • truly need help with use that time to practice your conversation skills right

  • because that's why you're learning the language you want to be able to present

  • in English and be confident you want to be able to speak and balance a

  • conversation you want to be able to transition ideas you want to be able to

  • tell stories and tell jokes and understand people when they are telling

  • stories and telling jokes so one of my biggest recommendations here besides

  • showing up prepared and coming with lists of questions and things to talk

  • about is use the time that you have to discuss things that you love and enjoy

  • for example if you're not interested in soccer don't talk about that in a

  • private class don't talk about things you're not interested in and don't let

  • the teacher try to talk to you about things you don't care about because then

  • you're going to be very bored in the class so you have to set the tone and

  • maybe when you first meet a teacher if you plan on doing regular classes with

  • them every single week or something you can let them get to know you first you

  • can write a nice email about yourself and send it to them and say hey this is

  • what I do for a living this is what my hobbies are this is how I learned

  • English help them get to know you but then when you're on the call with them I

  • encourage you to ask questions about them don't make it all about you because

  • you want to get to know them on a personal level because when you

  • establish that personal connection that's when you're gonna have much much

  • better conversations so prepare questions show interest in the other

  • person ask questions and when it comes to corrections a lot of students would

  • say I want you to stop me when I make a mistake I don't recommend that okay

  • because then I'm cutting off your focus when you make a mistake and we're

  • talking about something and I say oh wait stop there you made a mistake right

  • now we're focused on the mistake now you're not telling me the story you were

  • telling me before or I interrupt your joke and I ruin the punch line or

  • whatever right here's what I recommend you do and here's what I recommend you

  • ask your teacher to do if and when you book these private classes okay ask them

  • to be listening for mistakes and then to write down any mistakes that they hear

  • and then stop the class ten minutes early if you're having a conversation

  • stop the conversation ten minutes early to discuss whatever they wrote down

  • whether that's feedback about your pronunciation grammar that you used

  • improperly words that you were struggling to come up with that they had

  • to help you think of have them go over that at the end of the class and then

  • you can write down their suggestions and take that but that way you focus on the

  • right thing at the right time during the conversation portion of the class you're

  • just doing conversation then at the end you're really truly strongly focused on

  • mistakes and you're thinking about them and how to avoid them okay because if

  • not if you're doing conversation and mistakes at the same time you're not

  • focused on either one of them and you're not going to have as good of an

  • experience okay so I have more tips for you guys but first I want to say that

  • the company that I found that is offering really good rates right now to

  • practice your English online with native speakers if you don't have time to find

  • people yourself you can go on their website you can start today you can do a

  • 15-minute free call I actually have a link in the description where you can

  • sign up it's with cambly okay cambly is giving you 15 free

  • minutes just to try out their service just to talk with a tutor it's really

  • awesome especially because I know some of you have never spoken with a native

  • English speaker in your life so I encourage you to take this opportunity

  • even if you're scared because doing the thing that scares you is what will build

  • confidence okay you need this experience so anyhow you can use the link in the

  • description book your 15 minute call with a native English speaker and then

  • if you like it you can sign up to do weekly or monthly lessons with native

  • English speakers okay let's get back to the tips that I have for having these

  • conversations so you have really good experiences okay one of my tips is to

  • not apologize there are so many of you that get on the phone with a native

  • English speaker and you're just like hi wait sorry I need to apologize for my

  • bad english and you apologize before you even really have spoken and I have done

  • so many calls with English learners and some of you have really good English but

  • you start the call by taking away all of your credibility you say sorry for my

  • bad english and this has to stop this is something that I used to do with Spanish

  • I know why we do it we just we don't feel like we're good enough but we have

  • to stop because if you tell yourself that every single day you're basically

  • not giving yourself credit for all the hard work you've done over all these

  • months and years to get where you are today

  • and you're not going to ever get to a place where you feel confident if you're

  • taking away that confidence every time you apologize right so when you talk

  • with somebody just get on the phone with them be excited to talk with them don't

  • apologize right it's an experience they're going to enjoy it you're going

  • to enjoy it and have fun my next tip is to really listen when people are talking

  • to you okay and listen by not interrupting I know how tempting it is

  • to interrupt especially if you didn't understand something or if you're

  • agreeing with somebody and you're like oh yeah yeah yeah okay okay okay right

  • but slow down the best conversations are slower

  • conversations okay not slow but not really fast where people just feel

  • exhausted by the time that they end take your time when you speak and when the

  • other person speaks allow them to take their time and really listen and if you

  • think you're gonna forget something 'cause a lot of people go no I have to

  • interrupt because then I'm gonna forget what I'm gonna say if you think you're

  • going to forget something write it down write it down so you don't forget that's

  • what I do when I'm having conversations because I don't want to interrupt the

  • other person and then if I do forget you know what that idea probably wasn't

  • important enough anyways it just felt important and it felt

  • in the moment right but you will start having better conversations when you

  • take your time you take it slower you really listen and then when somebody

  • finishes talking about whatever they're talking about ask them a relevant

  • question to go deeper or respond to it by saying something that's related you

  • know something that you experienced that was very similar or something like that

  • your conversations are going to go a lot better and I want to say that if you're

  • a good conversationalist in your native language you probably don't think about

  • communicating strategically in English but I teach strategic communication and

  • when you communicate strategically that's when you have the best

  • experiences so before you have these conversations you need to prepare you

  • need to think of questions you need to think of conversation starters maybe

  • even practice in the mirror if you want okay but get your confidence up and then

  • do calls have calls every single week because that is how you will build

  • confidence and fluency you need that experience right so whether you again

  • you do this yourself or you use a service like cambly to book these

  • appointments you need to be talking with native English speakers regularly if you

  • want to be fluent and confident next I just want to say that you know the first

  • person you talk with hopefully there's somebody you click with hopefully you

  • get along and you have a great conversation but that doesn't always

  • happen right so you want to take your time to find teachers that you like

  • watch their introduction videos see if you click with them see if you like

  • their personality you can you know feel a person's vibe just by hearing them

  • talk for a couple minutes so look through everybody find people

  • like and then book lessons with teachers you think you're gonna have a great

  • experience with and then if you don't have the best experience move on find a

  • new teacher and keep going okay so now I'm gonna show you a clip from a

  • conversation that I did I booked a call with someone on cambly because I wanted

  • to see how it works so I can show you so here's a quick clip take a look and

  • enjoy

  • hi Nancy hi how are you I'm good how are you I'm good how did you start working

  • with cambly so I got my teaching English as a foreign language certification when

  • I was overseas with my husband it's very very difficult to get jobs overseas

  • because there's restrictions and so I was able to work with cambly

  • and they really were awesome oh wait where are you from I am originally from

  • Utah we spent four years in Germany and now I'm back to the United States again

  • oh wow so that experience living in Germany probably taught you a lot about

  • what non-native English speakers struggle with right yes absolutely you

  • see it firsthand and the Germans speak wonderful English most of them they are

  • fantastic but they work really really hard at it so it's really great awesome

  • and what do you think makes a good class with a teacher I used to be really I

  • really wanted the students to do like some sort of formal lesson but now I let

  • them completely choose if they just want to chat I will just chat whatever it is

  • I try to gear towards them so that they get what they're looking for and it's

  • not just my agenda it's 100% them

  • all right you guys that's all I have for this video

  • I hope you found it very helpful and I'm so glad that there are other companies

  • out there that are putting together these resources for you so you can

  • practice your English no matter where you live in the world as long as you

  • have an internet connection if you think about it this is phenomenal

  • so take advantage of these opportunities make the most of them and you know don't

  • make excuses don't procrastinate because you have a lot of great things that

  • you're going to achieve and we don't achieve things if we don't work for them

  • with that said I want to invite you to share your own experiences in the

  • comments have you ever done a private class with a native English speaker tell

  • us what you liked about it what you didn't like what worked well what didn't

  • work well what you would do differently the next time or what you're glad you

  • did because the comment section of these videos are so full of good advice from

  • you guys and I really am working hard to create a forum section where people can

  • come and get advice not just from me but from you because you guys have done

  • these kinds of things you know what it's like and you have lots of stories and

  • advice to share and even if you had a bad experience online you know booking a

  • class and speaking with somebody that didn't meet your expectations or

  • something like that even sharing that can help all the rest of us learn from

  • your experience right so good experiences and bad experiences they're

  • all good in the end if we learn something from them with that said take

  • care you guys have a great day and I'll see you in another video bye

hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com

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