More information on Guided Conversation Meetups

Brush up your English! Book a place now!

Here is some more information about “Guided” Conversation Meetups.

Why 'Guided' Conversation Meetups?

Why "free" conversation meetups are not enough...

Free conversation meetups are very popular. Many people think they are a good way to improve your English in a fun way.

The truth is that free meetups are a double-edged sword. They can be good and bad.

Free meetups can be good in low doses (for example, once a month). They can help you relax and grow a little more confident and a little more fluent in using English.

But in large doses, free meetups can be a disaster. Here is why:

In “free’ conversation meetups, you can make a lot of mistakes as you speak without being corrected and without learning how to avoid the mistakes in the future. So you may get a little more fluent but your accuracy (the correctness of your speech) will not get better. In fact, your accuracy may even get worse as you continue to speak incorrectly and repeat your mistakes and reinforce these mistakes in your mind. Many of the other people in the free meetups speak incorrectly too, so you will also hear a lot of sentences which are not correct and you may directly or indirectly learn these incorrect sentences and use them yourself…

'Guided' Conversation Meetups: a much better choice!

“Guided” Conversation meetups combine the freedom and fun of free friendly conversation with the effectiveness and results of a language course. They have a pedagogic structure with clear advantages.

The Meetups we organise in Lille on a weekly basis have the following structure:

  • Free Conversation (45 minutes)
  • Language review (45 minutes), based on the free conversation
  • Follow-up e-learning module, available on the website a few days after the meetup, to help you revise and consolidate what you have learnt.

As you see, “Guided” Conversation meetups have a pedagogic structure. There’s always a teacher to correct you, there is a language review (grammar, vocabulary, usage and pronunciation) at the end to make sure that you learn correct and useful English sentences. And they are followed by an online review (available on the website a few days after each meetup) to help you document and remember everything better.

The goal is to have a good time, meet interesting people, but also improve your English in an effective way.

If you live in Lille and are interested in improving your English in a fun and pedagogically supported way, why not give "Guided English Conversation Meetups" a try?

Where are the meetups held?

The meetups are mostly held in cafés in the centre of Lille and sometimes at my place in Euralille.

When are the meetups held?

Once or twice a week, most weeks, except during some holidays.

How many participants are there in each meetup?

There are usually a maximum of 6 participants (and a teacher).

How much does it cost?

There is a fee of 15 euros per person.

The meetups are sometimes held at my place where we can use a video-projector when we discuss the language points in the second part of the meetup, and sometimes in a café, in which case, obviously, in addition to the event fee, you are also expected to order a drink or something else and pay for it.

Are there any conditions for participating in these meetups?

If you want to join us, we ask you to follow the "Three Commandments":

  1. Thou shalt speak! (You will speak!)
  2. Thou shalt speak in English! (You will speak in English!)
  3. Thou shalt speak only and only in English! (You will speak only and only in English!)

Yes, rule 3 may be sometimes "a little" difficult, but it is a necessary rule that we need to follow, from the very beginning to the very end, to get good results.

Are there any contra-indications?

There is only one contra-indication. If you don't have the patience to speak only and only in English for 1.5 hours, if you get frustrated soon and will want to switch to French again and again to express yourself, then I'm afraid this event is not for you. Sorry! :-(

Where can I see the follow-up e-learning modules for the meetups?

You can see the follow-up e-learning modules for the Guided Conversation Meetups here. (You need to be a website member to have access to these reviews.)

Anything else?

You will be on time, won't you? ;-)

Brush up your English! Book a place now!