and in this video, I'm going to talk about a mistake

I see English learners make when looking for speaking practice online

and what you can do instead to get the practice you need

so keep watching!

So, as an online English teacher

with a popular website for English learners, I received emails

every day and very often I receive emails like this...

The problem with posting messages

like this is you're not going to get a response

you're not going to find people to practice with you

This is because people don't know you yet

and they haven't built a relationship with you and online teachers

aren't going to just meet you on Skype for 20 minutes

just to talk. But there's something that you can do

to get the practice you need, and this is going to take

a change of approach. If you're sending messages like the one

I showed before. It's all about a different approach

and this is: to build relationships slowly,

get to know people, be interesting,

and then ask people to Skype.

So, pen pal world is a site that English learners use

to try and find people to practice their English with.

Now, instead of writing those messages we talked about before

this is what you can do instead: Firstly, write a

profile about yourself that is interesting to read; something that just

doesn't say,

"Hi, I'm David I want to practice my English."

Instead, write something more interesting about yourself

Then you can search people who have similar

interests to you, send them a message

introducing yourself, and then also ask them a couple questions

to get to know each other a little bit more. After doing that you can build

your relationship

up slowly, get to know this person, and then

when the time is right, ask them if they want to Skype with you.

Now, you can use this approach not just on pen pal world

but you can use on Facebook and Google+ ... any kind of learning forum or social media

website

that you use. The best thing about it is not just that you're going to get

speaking practice

but you're also going to build up relationships

with people who have the same interests as you

Now, here is one last tip: think about ways that you can help

English speakers with what you're an expert in

For example, I once needed help on my website

and someone in my English learning community helped me with this...

they got english-speaking practice and I got something out of the relationship too

because this person helped me with my website. So, think about ways that you can

help other people

and be useful for other people too. So,

what I want you to do now is this : underneath this video

I want you to write an introduction to yourself; two to four sentences

talking about who you are, what you're interested in, and who you would like to

meet.

and then click here to learn more

about this method and to get your free download.

So, thanks for watching and I'll see you next time!