Talking point: Learning English

This week's talking point is learning English. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

• In how many languages can you have a basic conversation in (to order a meal or to greet people)?
• What languages do you have a good grasp of?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of learning a language using these methods?

being immersed in the language/culture

studying grammar and vocabulary

attending a language school

keeping in touch with people who speak the language through social media and new technology

• Do you know any other ways of learning a foreign language?
• Which ones have you personally tried?
• Which one has really worked for you?
• How often do you hear foreign languages where you live?
• How important do you think memory is to learn a foreign language?
• What do you want to be able to do with English?
• How far away from that objective are you at the moment?
• Do you ever review what you have learnt?
• How often do you watch or read things in English?
• How often do you communicate with native speakers?
• Do you keep a small notebook to note down and revise new expressions?
• Are you subscribed to any podcasts that you listen to while you are doing housework or travelling or waiting?
• What are you doing to learn English at the moment?
• Are you having any problems with English at the moment?
• Do you enjoy learning English?

To illustrate the topic you can watch this video about Memrise, a new system to learn a foreign language.