Hi everyone. I'm Georgiana, founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast .com.
My mission is to help you to speak English fluently.
In this episode, I will show you one of the best ways to practice your English in your city.
After that, I will read to you a short story to help you with your grammar skills.
You'll see how fun it is to practice with this audio.
Ok, let's get started.
Imagine for a moment that I can show you the perfect activity for practicing your English by listening and speaking, meeting interesting people, learning exciting topics and developing your public speaking skills, and all of this in your own city.
Sounds interesting, huh?
Well, if you live in a city, the chances are that you can find the perfect place for that.
It's called Toastmasters.
Toastmasters are a non -profit educational organization that helps people to develop their public speaking.
There are more than 15 ,000 clubs around the world and more than 300 ,000 members.
In almost every city you can find a club.
So, what happens in a Toastmasters club?
Usually, once a week, they have a session.
Sometimes it is twice a month.
In every session, members of the club give speeches in front of an audience.
A typical session can have about 3 or 4 prepared speeches.
After each speech, there's another member of the club that gives a short evaluation of the previous speech.
This way, everybody can learn and improve.
After the prepared speeches, there's an exciting and sometimes frightening section called Table Topics.
This is how it works.
A member of the club presents a situation and then a volunteer of the audience has to give a short 2 minutes impromptu speech.
Impromptu means improvisation.
I know it can seem frightening because you are in front of an audience and you have to improvise what you say.
But it's usually fun and it's an excellent activity if you want to get out of your comfort zone.
The main goal of a Toastmasters club is to provide a safe and pleasant environment for developing your public speaking skills.
The best of it is that many clubs are only in English or bilingual.
This means that you can practice your English in one of those clubs.
Of course, it's an excellent way to meet interesting people, not only from your country but also from all around the world.
Toastmasters clubs usually have members from different countries.
I used to be a member of a Toastmasters club and the experience was very gratifying.
I improved my public speaking skills, I learned about fascinating topics and I met very interesting people.
I recommend you to look for a Toastmasters club in your city and go there as a guest.
If you like it, then you can think about becoming a member.
Ok, let's move on to the next section.
Here I'll use the point of view technique.
This kind of story will help you to improve your English grammar.
It's very simple. I tell you the same story more than once.
Every time I change a grammatical aspect so you can see how the grammar changes to be able to compare.
You just have to listen.
Ok, let's start. Paul's friend recommended him to visit a Toastmasters club in the city.
Paul was a bit hesitant because a public speaking club seemed intimidating.
However, he thought it would be an excellent opportunity to practice his English, meet new people and get out of his comfort zone.
He sent an email to the club to arrange a visit as a guest.
When the day came, he got to the club on time.
The session began. He saw that one of the members conducted all the sessions.
The first part was three prepared speeches.
The opening speech title was Managing your time.
The second one was What can you learn from waiting at the airport?
And the third one was Be your own doctor.
The speeches were fun, entertaining and informative.
After each speech, there was an evaluation performed by another member of the club.
It was constructive and positive feedback that helped the speaker to improve.
The second section was different.
It was the table topics.
A guy presented the topic.
Imagine you are the president of the United States and you have to tell on TV there's been contact with aliens.
Paul was one of the volunteers and although it was frightening, he had a lot of fun.
After the meeting, Paul met some of the members at the bar near the club location.
It was a perfect end for that exciting day.
Very good. Now let's switch to the present tense.
Paul's friend recommends him to visit a Toastmasters club in the city.
Paul is a bit hesitant because a public speaking club seems intimidating.
However, he thinks it will be an excellent opportunity to practice his English, meet new people and get out of his comfort zone.
He sends an email to the club to arrange a visit as a guest.
When the day comes, he gets to the club on time.
The session begins.
He sees that one of the members conducts all the sessions.
The first part is three prepared speeches.
The first speech title is, Managing your time.
The second one is, What can you learn from waiting at the airport?
And the third one is, Be your own doctor.
The speeches are fun, entertaining and informative.
After each speech, there's an evaluation performed by another member of the club.
It's constructive and positive feedback that helps the speaker to improve.
The second section is different.
It's the table topics.
A guy presents the topic.
Imagine you are the President of the United States and you have to tell on TV there's been contact with aliens.
Paul is one of the volunteers and although it's frightening, he has a lot of fun.
After the meeting, Paul meets some of the members at a bar near the club location.
It's a perfect end for this exciting day.
Alright! It's the end of this point of view story.
I used this successful method in my premium courses.
Imagine a whole story told this way.
Instead of having to memorize boring grammar rules, you can use this method to learn grammar.
It's more enjoyable but also more effective.
Now, you can improve your speaking and grammar with my fluency course only by listening.
Go to speakenglishpodcast .com slash courses and start speaking English fluently once and for all.
Well, that's it for today.
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Tell your friends about the show and leave a comment on iTunes when you have a minute.
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I'll be back next week.
Take care. Bye -bye.
