Why English Conversation Practice is Important
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So those of you that have watched my English lessons for a long time know that I think English conversation practice is very important. I mean, reading and listening and writing are important as well and learning vocabulary. But I think English speaking practice, having actual conversations are, it's just a really important thing to do when you're learning the English language. So in this English lesson, I'm going to talk about seven things, seven reasons why I think English conversation practice is important.

And I do want to thank Preply for sponsoring this video. There's a link in the description below if you want to explore what Preply is. They will help you find an English speaking partner.

So one really cool thing that having an English conversation with a person does is it adds consistency to your English studying. If you decide that you're going to meet a person every week or twice a week at a cafe like this one to practice your English, or maybe you're going to meet with them on FaceTime or Zoom to practice your English conversation, you're going to do it.

And this is different than maybe practicing with AI. AI is wonderful and you can practice your English conversation with AI as well, but it's also easy to not do it if you don't feel like it.

But if you've told someone and even paid someone to meet with you to practice English at one o'clock on a Friday, you're going to go. And that's going to add consistency to all of your English study. So the first thing it does is it adds consistency. It makes you more likely to practice English every week.

The second really cool thing about having an English practice conversation is that the person you're talking to can read your facial expressions and your body language and your actions to help them understand what you're trying to say and help you find the words. They can see when you're confused or when you're describing something that's round like a ball. They can see when you understand something because your face lights up. So there's a lot of interaction with a

person that's really, really helpful as you're learning the language. I don't know how many times I've had it where I've been talking to someone and I use my hands

to describe what I'm trying to say and then they help me figure out what word I was trying to say. So, the second cool thing about having an English practice conversation with a person is they can read your facial expressions, they can read your body language, they can even help you figure out what you're trying to say when you're learning English.

So, the third really important thing, in my opinion, about having a regular English practice conversation is it can help you build a framework for all of your other English learning. A framework is kind of the plan that you use for the week as you study English. When you know that you're going to be talking to someone once or twice a week and practicing your English,

You need stuff to talk about and you want to make sure that person knows you're actually studying English. So you're probably going to read more in English. You're probably going to watch more English TV shows. You're probably going to listen to more English music because when you have that conversation with your English speaking partner, you're going to want to have stuff to talk about.

So, the third cool thing and important thing about having a regular English speaking partner is it will help you just spend more time doing other things in English so the conversation goes better.

So, it's probably pretty obvious at this point in the lesson that I think it's important that you find an English-speaking partner. And one of the best ways to do that, in my opinion, is to use Preply. Preply is a service where you can go on their website and you can find someone for a reasonable amount of money who will help you learn English, help you have an English conversation once a week or twice a week or more.

A few years ago I needed to improve my French and I used Preply and it was amazing. I was able over the course of a year to find three different tutors to help me improve my French so that I could pass my B1 and my B2 tests. So if you would like to practice your English, if you would like to take it to the next level, I think Preply is a great place to start.

Whether you're just a beginner, maybe you've been spending lots of time listening and reading and you're ready to take that next step and have actual conversations. Or maybe you're like me. Maybe you are preparing for an English test that's coming up. So,

here's what you do. There's a link in the description below. If you use that link to Preply, you'll get 50% off your first lesson. And if you don't use that link, you can still use the code Bob50 at checkout for the same deal. But yeah, look in the description below. If you're ready to have an English speaking partner, it's a great place to find one. Go to Preply and have a look.

The fourth reason why regular English conversation practice is important is because it allows you to ask silly questions or questions you might think are dumb in a nice, safe environment. Maybe you've heard a phrase or you've read something somewhere and you didn't quite understand it and you're not sure who to ask. You can ask your English speaking partner.

Maybe there's a grammar concept or maybe when you say something people look at you funny. When you say something in English and you think you might be saying it wrong, you can talk to your English speaking partner about that. It's nice to have someone you can trust, someone you're comfortable talking to, someone who you can just have a private conversation with about how to pronounce something or a grammar concept or a little phrase that maybe you've been using wrong and people have been laughing a little bit. So

The fourth really important reason why you should have an English speaking partner is to help you with all those little questions. The silly questions, the questions you think maybe are a bit dumb or the things you just don't quite understand and you're not sure who to ask. The fifth really cool and important thing about having a speaking partner is that they will challenge you.

And they'll challenge you in the right way. And here's what I mean by this. They will challenge you to watch certain YouTube channels. They will challenge you to read certain books. They will challenge you to watch certain movies or TV shows. But they will challenge you in a way where what they're telling you to do is just watch

just difficult enough. It's kind of hard to explain. They will know your level of English after a few sessions and they will recommend things that they know will be a little bit difficult for you but not too difficult. So the fifth really, really cool thing about having an English speaking partner is they will challenge you, they will

I guess give you homework. Hopefully you don't mind having homework. But they will know your level and they will challenge you to do things that they know will help you get to the next level.

So the sixth reason why I think it's important to have regular English conversations is because they will make you less nervous for real English conversations. Now, I know meeting once a week and having a conversation, that is real. But what I mean is this. If you meet with someone once a week or twice a week, you will at first be nervous to have an English conversation with them, but eventually you will be less and less nervous and eventually you will be comfortable.

And I think practicing English with a person you trust, a person you like, will make you less nervous when you start having real English conversations when you're at work or on a trip or maybe you're going to go study English in another country. So the sixth reason why I think it's important to have regular English conversation, conversations is it will make you less nervous for future English conversations.

So the seventh reason why I think it's important to have regular English practice conversations is that these conversations involve emotions. And again, I think AI is amazing and practicing having conversations with AI is a great thing to do as well. But when you talk to a person, you experience emotions.

You're excited to tell them things. You're frustrated when you can't think of a word. As you talk to people, part of being human is that we feel things. We have emotions. You might just be extremely frustrated when you can't think of a word, or you might be like full of joy to tell them about something that happened in your life. So the seventh thing, the seventh important reason why you should have regular English conversations is because they involve emotions.

And when you have emotions while you're learning things, it actually helps you remember things. If you think back to good and bad things that have happened in your life, you probably remember those events really, really well. Because as humans, when we experience emotions as we're doing things or having conversations, we remember those things better. So number seven.

Number seven, it's important to have regular English conversations because of the emotions involved when talking to another person.

Well, hey, thank you for watching this English lesson where I think I made a pretty good argument about why it's important to have regular English conversations as you're learning the English language. Don't forget to visit the link from Preply below to get 50% off your first lesson over there or use code Bob50 if you don't, if the link doesn't work for some reason, use that on checkout. Again, Preply, a great place. You can set your price. You can find someone to...

If you're a beginner or if you're practicing for an upcoming English test, head over there, find someone to speak English with. Thanks again for watching. I hope you have a great week and I'll see you next week with another English lesson. Bye. Hi, Bob the Canadian here. Thank you for listening to this English podcast lesson. If you would like to support me in the work that I do as an online English teacher, please visit patreon.com slash bobthecanadian.