Creating networks of English learners

Learning English on your own can be a difficult task. Studying grammar and vocabulary and listening to the BBC can help you understand what you hear and read, but, for most learners, the most important goals are to speak and write English well.And, in order to do this, you need to communicate with other people. So how can you do this if you are studying alone?

In this extract, Karen Adams, writer of BBC World Service Learning English booklets, gives her advice on how to go about creating networks of learners who can communicate with each other.

Before you read the extract Think about your own situation.Are any of your friends or members of your family learning English? Do you ever practise English with them?

One of the most important things in successful language learning is getting over the fear of communicating with others in the foreign language. It’s not unusual to find learners who have been studying English for many years but who find it almost impossible to have a conversation.This is usually because, when they learnt English in school, the focus was on learning grammar and vocabulary – and learning it perfectly. Making mistakes was seen as ‘bad’ and it is often this fear of making mistakes which means that they are too frightened to use the language which they know. In the BBC World Service English Club, we encourage learners to overcome their fear by forming networks or ‘Learning Circles’. These ‘Learning Circles’ can have as few as two members – two friends or members of the same family – or they can be large clubs.The most important feature about them is that they encourage people to communicate in English – to talk about things which interest them, without being embarrassed about making mistakes. But Learning Circles needn’t only focus on speaking.You could have a Learning Circle of penfriends who all write letters to each other.The most important thing is that it is what they say or write to each other which is important – not simply the grammar or vocabulary they use!

1. In Karen’s opinion, what is the biggest obstacle which learners have to overcome when they are learning a foreign language?
2. What is the main aim of Learning Circles? How many people do you need to form a Learning Circle?

Answer

• Fear, and especially fear of making mistakes.
• The main aim is to communicate with each other in English.You only need more than one person to form a Learning Circle.

What are the best ways of creating opportunities for communicating in English?

Start an English Learning Circle Ask your family and friends if they would like to spend some time speaking in English.Arrange a regular time each week which you set aside for talking in English.This could be after your favourite BBC World Service programme.Talk about what you understood, what you thought of the programme – and find out what the others thought.

Make contact with learners in other places Do you work for a company which has offices in other towns? Does your school have contacts with other schools in your region? Why not find out if people who are working or studying in these places would like to communicate with you in English? This could be by letter, on the phone or in person.

Start an international network If you have a friend or family member who lives in another country, he or she might know people who would like to write to you, or to your Learning Circle. Remember, when you are communicating with someone who doesn’t speak your language, you really need to speak English!

TASK

Start your own Learning Circle today! Design a poster (in English), asking if anyone would like to join an English Learning Circle. Decide on a time and place for your first meeting and put this on the poster. (Try to make this a public place which everyone will know). Put the poster in the most appropriate place, for example in your school, your office or in your street.