I am a teacher of english but!!!!

[mouhda]

hello
I am a teacher of english for 15 years but till now I feel that I can 't make a conversation without making mistakes .
I should say that I have never spoken to a native speaker ;and all my knowledge focuss on the syllabus of my students .
now I am following online courses with london teacher training college ;but I feel that my english is very weak.
advice me what should I do to improve my english and feel confident in a conversation.

[hanky]

Originally Posted by mouhda

hello
I am a teacher of english for 15 years but till now I feel that I can 't make a conversation without making mistakes .
I should say that I have never spoken to a native speaker ;and all my knowledge focuss on the syllabus of my students .
now I am following online courses with london teacher training college ;but I feel that my english is very weak.
advice me what should I do to improve my english and feel confident in a conversation.

Take it easy is the first thing I would say and after that I would say welcome to this forum Mouhda. You have found the right place to improve your English. Keep in mind that there are only two things you have to do if you want to improve your English: practice English daily and be confident.

No one is perfect, if knowing that others are not perfect can help you be confident I would say that my boss who got used to English for more than 60 years, he has been working in an international place where he can speak to native English speakers daily, he has been to American for years ... but I do have seen him making mistakes. I have learned English for years and used it daily to communicate with others people but I have been making a lot of mistakes when I speaking .... Don't worry about making mistakes, let think what you can learn from them.

I am not a teacher of English, just the one who loves the language.

[Heads Up English]

mouhda,

Yes, definitely don't worry. Everyone makes mistakes, even native speakers. If you spend anytime on the web, you'll soon find loads of grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, and just weird English from those who have been born and raised as English speakers.

Communicative ability is the key. If you can speak, be understood, and engage in communication, then you're a successful English speaker. Of course, you need to continue to study and practice to achieve success in different areas, whether it's in the business world, or as a teacher, or when making requests, handling sarcasm, understanding nuance, and so on.

I would say that you've taken a big step just by posting on the forums here. Keep doing so, join chat rooms, engage in conversation with others, and have fun.

Good luck!

Chris Cotter
Free flashcards at The Flashcard Hub.
Just print and teach materials at Heads Up English.

[arij98]

Hello mouhda.
I'm an English teacher too
and mistakes are just natural and no one is perfect
It's true that we as arabs have little opportunities to speak with english native speakers but this should not stop us. We are teachers but we are still learning and websites and forums like this are very beneficial to let us learn and improve our English.
If you want to improve your English, you can listen as much as you can to natural English in movies, TV shows, music......so that you become accustomed to it because whether we like it or not , what we teach in class does not focus a lot on spontaneous natural English since the latter is not so convenient to the pupils who are not going to practice it outside their English class in an Arabic or French dominated surrounding.
Be confident and go ahead.
wish you good luck.

[Algerian Lady]

Salam Mouhda,

Although I'm not a teacher and never been one, I am an Algerian English degree holder. Despite the fact that I had some excellent professors at the university, I must acknowledge that my good level of English was/is more my doing than theirs .

My advice to you is:

- Read! Read! & Read! This is what helped me most in acquiring a solid base in English.
From novels to newspapers, blogs, websites, etc., you have huge resources available and it's really up to you to use them;

- Watch English-speaking channels;

- Watch movies in English;

- Use some of the hundreds of specialised websites available on the net;

etc...




Hope it helps. Good Luck!

[mouhda]

dear friends
thank you very much for your advice.
your responses give some confort and push me to read more watch english channel.
and from this message i am asking any english native speaker who can be glad to be with me in touch in order to be friends and to communicate .
perhaps that will offer me the opportunity to speak more and to learn more and more.

[bepina]

Originally Posted by arij98

If you want to improve your English, you can listen as much as you can to natural English in movies, TV shows, music...

that's ok but the problem is (esp. with the movies) what kind of language is used there - very often it is also full of mistakes, slang and expressions that are not part of everyday English. I found myself in a few situations where I used the expression I heard in movies numerous times (and I was engaged in conversation with native speakers) and then told that it just sounded weird and it could be "heard in movies only".

Maybe it is more important to find a few reliable sources such as older English writers etc to learn grammar and syntax better.. by this I don't mean to discard the possibility of learning and improving English through media and movies, but they should be taken into consideration as not so reliable sources

[Tdol]

You could try language exchange sites:
Language Exchanges - ESL Web Directory - UsingEnglish.com

Most of these are free, which sounds fine but also means that it may be hard to find someone. There are also pay sites where you won't have this problem: ESL Web Directory: Search Results

[mouhda]

hello friends
i am very happy for your advice
a great thanks to Tdol
the links were very useful
thanks for your responses and for your advice