Let's just talk! Most people like to talk. English learners living in a foreign country are especially keen to find people to talk to in English. We are happy to see our members take advantage of our online discussions sessions with tutors and learners from around the world.
Conversing in a language is obviously an important learning activity. You are forcing your brain to recall the words and phrases you have learned. It is an opportunity to find out what you know and do not know. Using new words and phrases helps you to feel comfortable using them.
But talking has its limitations as a learning activity. First of all you usually cannot speak whenever and wherever you want. You can, however, listen and read whenever and wherever you want. When you speak you practice what you have learned. However, it is often harder to pick up new vocabulary when speaking. You are mostly trying to find ways to express yourself within the limits of what you already know.
You learn when you listen to your counterpart in a conversation. But you can also learn when you listen to a recording, as long as the recording is of interest to you. What is more you can repeat the recording, whereas you cannot repeat what was said in a conversation. In fact you can listen over and over again to a recording. You can read a transcript of the recording. You can look up and learn the new words and phrases in the recorded text, especially if you have a written text to go with it.
So listening and reading, especially the way we do it at The Linguist, is an essential preparation for conversation. You are able to enrich your language on your own so that when you next have the opportunity to speak, you understand more, and you are better able to say what you want to say.
At The Linguist we want our learners to be able to do as much as possible on their own. Newcomers to our system may not understand why we emphasize listening, reading and reviewing words and phrases. Many people just want to speak. We also want to speak with them. Our learners want to get to know new learners.
In order that new learners can better understand The Linguist system we have opened up The Linguist Club to people who want a taste of The Linguist, before they take the step of joining. If they can understand the principles of learning The Linguist way, they will enjoy conversations even more.
We hope to see members of The Linguist Club eventually become Basic or Premium members of The Linguist so they can speak with our tutors and other members from around the world. In this way they will improve in all aspects of their English language ability.
