Here is how Guided Conversation Meetups work:

• We get together, have a drink, and chat “exclusively” in English.
• A qualified teacher will be there to help and correct you when necessary (but not too much so that you can still have fun and keep on talking).
• Near the end of the session, we’ll have a sum-up and review of the mistakes and also the new things we have learnt.
• My English World members will also benefit from a follow-up e-learning module (based on the meetup), which will be available online a couple of days later.

Guided Conversation Meetups are designed to help you with three aspects of verbal communication:

• They give you the freedom of an informal conversation get-together to communicate in a relaxed and pleasurable way, therefore helping you improve your fluency.
• They provide parallel help as you speak, in the form occasional suggestions about words, expressions and structures you can use to express yourself better, therefore helping you to improve your vocabulary and grammar range.
• They provide language monitoring and correction (mostly at the end), therefore helping you improve your accuracy, i.e. speaking English more correctly.

This approach combines the freedom of an informal conversation get-together and the effectiveness of a formal language course.

BEFORE THE MEETUP:

It’s a good idea to prepare yourself for the meetup a little.

Think about the things that have happened to you during the week that you could share with the others. Think of the films you have watched, the news you have heard, etc. Then think of how you can talk about those things in English, what kind of sentences you can use, etc. (Try not to translate from your mother tongue. Instead, learn directly from English sources. Preferably watch films and listen to the news in English. If not, try to search on the Internet and read a little in English about the film or the news, for example if you have watched the film “Intoucables” in French, you can type “English Wikipedia Intouchables” in a search engine and find the English page about the film. Spend a few minutes reading the page and you will learn a lot of useful sentences that will help you talk about the film much better.

DURING THE MEETUP:

We can get the best results from these meet-ups if we work together as a group:

• Try to participate in the discussions, say something, and also try to encourage others to join in by asking them questions.
• If your English level is not very good, don’t be intimidated. Listen to the others, try to learn from them and imitate them, and also try to speak a little using the simple sentences that you already know. If you have a higher level, be considerate of the others. Speak by all means but let others who may not be as fluent as you speak too. Try to help and encourage them to speak. This will benefit everybody, including you, in the long run.
• Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. We are learners. We make mistakes. It’s OK to make mistakes…. as long as we learn from our mistakes and do not repeat them.

AFTER THE MEETUP:

Don’t forget to use the e-learning module to review and consolidate what you have learnt during the meetup.

To learn how to best use the E-learning module, see the E-learning Module Guide.

Finally, a (probably completely unnecessary) safety precaution! Most people are good, but there are bad people around too. In Meetups, as in any other social gathering, you will meet new people. Don’t accept to meet anyone privately or go with them to places you consider unsafe or at hours you consider unsafe, unless you know them well. Yes, I know, you already knew it… Sorry for the unnecessary (and perhaps unwelcome) advice!

Click here to book a place in a Guided Conversation Meetup.

See you soon!