Not by Way of a Textbook

Unlike what many educational institutes, schools and companies will tell you, you cannot learn a language through a book. I cannot teach you to speak English through using a book. You have to learn to speak and listen in English the natural way, not the way of books. You don't grow up speaking your language from a book. That is impossible.

The best way to learn speaking skills is by listening to a native speaker, and answering questions from the speaker, repeating what the speaker says, and trying to use the words and concepts used by the speaker. I listen to my students and correct them when I hear mistakes. I often text or IM them the correct way of saying what they want to say. This is an excellent way of learning via phone or Internet.

Don't let anyone persuade you into buying an English textbook with the hopes that you will become fluent in English. That is not going to happen. Books are only good for going deeper into the language and learning grammatical structures, vocabulary, and to practice reading skills. Most of my students want to be able to converse and listen in the English language, not read or write it, although, they learn that too. Learn by doing, not by opening a book to a page and studying that page. Hahaha. Nobody learns that way. We are not robots.

For my Skype or phone lessons, I use an interview approach to teaching English. I ask students a series of questions. The questions are related to a topic. Students answer the questions and I make corrections as necessary. I use questions based on the level of the student. I use the same topic but for advanced students they receive advanced questions on the topic. For beginning students, I use simple questions related to the topic.

Some of the topics include:
Advantages and disadvantages of living in your city
Transportation problems
The crime situation
What you do on your time off
How you celebrate holidays
Why people learn languages
Questions from a news topic
A practice job interview
The Generation gap
Sports
Jobs and occupations