September, 2014
I don't have opportunity to speak to other people except at the university during my class. This is the reason I've decided to find out a native speaker on the internet and fortunately, I was successful. She is a teacher of English and we are going to have our first lesson on the 19th October. She comes from the USA and we will speak to each other on the skype. I would like to improve my conversation in short time and that's why we are going to have our lessons at least three or four time per week for about two months. I'm not really confident about my speaking with other people and I want to change it, so this is the way I'm going to try to improve my speaking.
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3rd November, 2014
There were some complications with my teacher (she finally couldn't have so many lessons per week - only once a week) so I decided to find somebody else and I was successful. In my opinion I found a really good teacher. She is very well educated and she is also an interesting person. We had our first lesson on the skype today so I started speaking. According to her, I speak quite well and she thinks that I'm going to improve my English very quickly. I don't have the same opinion but I believe that everything about my speaking is going to get better. I recorded all our conversation on the skype so I can control my mistakes I made during the lesson. I made many mistakes, of course and in my opinion, the speaking is seriously the worst part of my English skills. When I was listening to the record I came across this sentence I had said, "How English do you prefer?". I can't believe I could make such a stupid mistake. I'm sure that if I had to write the question, I would ask properly ("What English do you prefer?"), but speaking is really something very different. It was only one example of my mistakes. I am able to write e.g. a story or a letter because I have some time for it, but I'm not able to react quickly. I need about five seconds to think about my answer and it's not very appropriate when you are speaking with somebody. On the other hand, I like the lessons and I'm glad that I can find out all these mistakes I made, and through these mistakes my English can be better and better. In fact, I'm proud of myself, because I'm doing something useful for my English and I have to say that it makes me feel good :-).
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4th November, 2014
The second lesson was as horrible as the previous one. I really can't speak English and when I'm listening to the record of the lesson I feel like an idiot who is studying English for the first time in his life. The best thing about the conversation on the skype is, that it's so horrible that it can't be worse. It means that it can only be better and better. I was mumbling during the lesson and I'm not able to say only one sentence properly. I'm not able to react quickly and that's why I make many mistakes. I need to slow down the tempo and try to speak properly. I have to be patient, because it's not possible to speak like a native speaker only after two lessons. It's also very interesting for me that when I have the conversation with my teacher I'm not able to remember many words I know, and I normally use them nearly every day. That's probably because I am a little bit nervous.
OK, we will see tomorrow :-).
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5th November, 2014
I have to say that I'm little bit tired of the conversation on the skype, because it costs me relly a lot of energy. I have to concentrate really very much, I'm under the pressure during lessons, because I can't find the proper words for creating my sentences. I'm not complaining right now, I'm just saying what I feel. I know that it's not going to be easy to start talking in English. On the other hand, the third lesson wasn't as horrible as the previous lessons. It was bad, really bad but not horrible. I was able to create good sentences sometimes and that's really good progress. My teacher is really patient. It must be difficult for her to listen to my mumbling, I would probably lost my mind if I were her. Anyway, I feel that my speaking is getting better and it encourages me to continue with the conversation on the skype. I'm really glad that it works and I hope I'm going to become a good speaker.
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6th November, 2014
I don't have much to say about today's lesson on the skype, because it was very similar like the previous one. Only one thing is important to me: I was feeling more comfortable during today's lesson which was important for my ability to create sentences more properly. It's not good but it's better than the first or the second lesson. I haven't listened to the record of today's lesson, yet so I can't say If I made many mistakes. I wasn't as tired as I had been yesterday. I've forgotten to say that every lesson on the skype take about 60 minutes. That's all, for the time being.
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8th November, 2014
It was for the first time I felt comfortable during today's lesson. I wasn't nervous and it was much better than for example the first or second lesson. We discuss mainly simpl topics (my family, my job, my life, my interests etc.). I don't make so many mistakes and I am able to create sentences properly. It's also very good way how to improve my vocabulary skills. The idea about recording these lessons was also very good, because I can compare all my lessons I had with my teacher. When I compare the very first lesson with today's lesson I can recognise that I've improved my speaking skills and this is the point. I am very strict with myself but in this case I have to admitt that I've made progress. My teacher says that my spoken English is good, and also that it's recognisable I'm improving my English every minute. She wants to encourage me, of course but on the other hand, I feel that my speaking is getiing better so it was really a good decision to start speaking on the skype and converse.
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11th November, 2014
I felt comfortable during the lesson and that's the reason I can tell that my speaking skills are better then they were last week. We were talking about daily problems people have, about my parents, my studying at the university etc.To be honest, I'm not very good at spoken English, but according to my records I've made progress and that's important to me. I'm not so nervous during lessons like I was, I'm able to create good sentences and I am more understandable, because I don't speak so fast and I'm trying to pronounce words properly. I need to improve also my vocabulary so we decided to talk about some topics I need to know for my studying (e.g. Crime and punishment, Weather, Feelings...). We are not going to talk about these topics every lesson but once a week, for the time being. I haven't yet told my teacher on the skype that I'm probably going to continue with these lessons even more than I originally wanted to. We will see but that's my plan - to continue with conversations on the skype. I strongly feel that it's really very useful for my English and the most important thing about the skype's conversations is that I start enjoying it. I remember that I was really fed up with my speaking but now I can say that I am more confident about the speaking.
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12th November, 2014
I have not much to say about today's lesson, because it was very similar like yesterday. It seems that I'm not so nervous anymore when I'm speaking English and I can concentrate only on my pronunciation. I am able to pronounce words properly when I know them, but pronouncing sentences is more difficult than that. There is a long way ahead of me and I have to be really very patient. I have to learn and improve my vocabulary skills to be able converse about everyhing I want to. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13th November, 2014
I compared the very first lesson with the last lesson (I compared the records I had made) and I could recognise that I've made really good progress. The main difference is that I'm able to react more quickly and I don't have to think so long to make sentences. I am more confident to speak English. It doesnť mean that I'm good at speaking English, it's still bad but it's better. In my opinion, I've made very good progress but it's because my speaking was absolutely terrible at the very beginning and now I think that's it's not possible to get better so fast. I have to accept that and be really patient. We disscused many things today e.g. meditations, movies, news etc. We are going to talk about movies tomorrov, because I like watching movies. I was encouraged by my teacher to learn some adjectives which could be useful for our conversation about movies. The most difficult thing during our conversation is that I can't find words I need for expressing myself properly. I have problem to pronounce sentences so I have to practise to pronounce only words. According to my teacher of Phonetics and Phonology I should be more patient and concentrate only on words and then I can try to pronounce simple sentences. I absolutely agree with her.
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14th November, 2014
We were discussing my teacher's favourite movie "Pride and prejudice" which I had seen yesterday. We also discussed "Forrest Gump" because it's my favourite movie. I learned some new words - adjectives (gripping, stunning, tedious, wooden) to describes films. When I was listening to the record of the lesson I didn't realise any progress, because as I had said yesterday, I have to be patient, because the progress is not going to get better so fast like at the beggining.
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17th November, 2014
I'm a little bit disapointed with my speaking skills. At the beginning I could recognise that I improved my spoken English every lesson but the last four lessons I can't recognise that it's getting better. On the basis of my records, I compared some of the last lessons with today's lesson and unfortunately there is almost no improvement. I'm still not able to speak fluently and express myself properly and as for the intonation and stresses, it's even worse. I have decided not to write about every lesson I had, because the improvement is really unrecognisable so I'm going to write about two or three lessons at one time.
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18th, 20th, 22nd November, 2014
I've decided to have these lessons on the skype only once or twice a week, because I want to spent much time to improve my vocabulary skills and my pronunciation. In fact, I can't see almost any improvement in this conversations last fourteen days and I am pretty sure that it's about my lack of vocabulary and pronunciation. I don't know how to say many things in English, because I don't know really many words and also my pronunciation is not good. I'm going to keep these lessons on the skype, because it's useful for my confidence in spoken English and I've recognise that during face to face conversation I'm so nervous that I can't recall many words I normally know (e.g. when I am writing something I am able to recall more words). It seems that my vocabulary is better when I have to write something than when I have to speak with somebody and there is no reason for that - only my nervousness during conversations.
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My recordings of skype conversations
1drv.ms/1wTNzmN
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