Welcome to the listening time podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 189.
I hope you're all doing great.
Thank you for listening.
I hope that your English has improved with this podcast and that you're seeing progress with your listening comprehension.
And today this is kind of a special episode because I'm going to talk about an opportunity that you might have to take English classes with me.
So this is not going to be for most of you.
The vast majority of you will probably not take classes with me.
And I'll talk about that in a minute.
And many of you aren't interested in this anyway.
You're not interested in having conversation classes with me, that's okay.
This episode is still great practice for your listening.
You can still use it to try to understand everything that I'm saying.
So even if this isn't relevant to you, that's okay.
Just use this episode for listening practice as always.
And, of course, as always, the transcript is is in the description down below.
That's free for you, okay?
So um, let me just talk about this.
No intro today.
So um, what are these classes that i'm talking about?
Well, I'm planning on opening up some slots.
Slots refer to time periods in your schedule.
So I'm planning on opening up some slots for conversation classes.
There won't be many slots, just a few per week.
I'm recording this at the very end of October and I think that this episode will be released in the middle of January.
So I still have some time to think about how many hours per week I can do this for.
I haven't decided on an exact number yet.
But I imagine it will just be a handful of hours per week that I'll have open.
Something like six, seven, I don't know.
That's what I'm guessing.
But you'll see when this episode comes out and you check out my availability.
By the way, I'll leave the link down below to check out my teacher profile.
But I'm planning on opening up some slots for conversation classes.
And let me just explain how these classes will go.
So for these classes, it's just conversation.
I'm not opening up availability for formal classes, grammar classes, writing classes, job interview classes, business English classes, none of that.
So if any of those things are what you're looking for, then do not take classes with me, okay?
I'm being very clear about this now.
These are only conversation classes, all right?
There is no structured program here.
These aren't classes so that I can take you through a program to reach a B2 level in English.
Absolutely not.
These are just classes to have conversation practice with me.
So we can choose different topics or we can just allow the conversation to flow naturally.
So we can talk about a number of different topics obviously, and introduce some variety to the conversations.
And there will be some error correction.
I will not correct anything. every single error that you make, of course.
That's very, very hard.
I'll either give you a little report at the end of the class with some of the errors that I heard from you, like what you said, and the corrections to those errors.
That's something that my students have enjoyed in the past.
So I don't really interrupt them while they're speaking.
I just let them speak so that they're talking naturally without worrying about mistakes.
And then at the end of the class We focus on those mistakes in a report, but obviously there are only a handful of mistakes that I include on that report.
So I'm just highlighting some of the most obvious ones.
Or the error correction in our classes could be real time, meaning I could interrupt you in the moment and correct your errors.
Of course, I need to do this in a limited way, otherwise I'll be interrupting you over and over and over again and we won't even be able to have a conversation.
Fewer students do well with this.
Most students do better with the report because it allows them to speak naturally and develop their ideas, whereas when I correct them in real time it can be discouraging, it can make them feel bad or it can make them feel like they're not able to finish their sentences and have a natural conversation.
So most people prefer the first way, but i'm open to the second way as well.
And uh, of course, in these classes uh, the main goal is to give you an opportunity to speak, speak freely without worrying and, of course, to get a little bit of feedback in terms of error correction.
And really, the main reason why you would take these classes is because you really want to talk to me, someone who you probably feel comfortable with, because you've listened to me probably for many hours and you're familiar with my way of speaking and my personality.
So you might want to practice your conversation specifically with me.
And, of course, in our classes I'll make sure that you're talking the whole time.
I will ask you questions and manage the conversation well, so you don't have to worry about the structure of our conversation.
I'll always be asking you questions and keeping you speaking, So I get tons of messages asking me about private classes.
I've gotten so many questions throughout the years and I very rarely tell people that I have availability.
But of course, I'm opening up some availability now.
However, like I said before, these classes will not be for the vast majority of you.
Okay, so don't get distracted too excited.
Uh, i want to talk about who these classes are not for and then who these classes are for.
Okay, so let me talk about who these classes are not for.
All right, so it, they're not for the majority of you, the vast majority of you, like 99 point something.
Percent of you okay, why?
Well, if you're just looking to have conversation classes to practice your conversation in an easy way with a teacher and you don't need to talk to me in particular, then you should not take classes with me.
Why do I say that?
Well, there are plenty, plenty of teachers and tutors on the website where I give these classes that are much more affordable than me.
There are probably hundreds, hundreds of teachers that you could choose from who are more affordable, so their price is lower, so you can take more classes with them.
I've talked about this multiple times in different episodes how you should be speaking very frequently.
For example, with French.
Uh, i'm trying to speak at least three times per week okay, and so uh, what you should do if you're ready to speak and practice your conversation in english, is take multiple classes per week if you can, and in order to do that, you're going to need to pay a teacher to do that multiple times per week.
So you should choose a teacher who is more affordable for your budget, who is at a price where you could do at least two classes per week, hopefully three if you can.
But if you can do a couple conversation classes per week, that's great.
So that's why I say that if you're just looking for a way to practice your speaking, then find a teacher who is more affordable, who you can take more classes with.
On the website that I teach on, you'll see it in the link down below.
Like I said, you'll find tons of teachers who are more affordable, who you can take classes with more often.
That should be your goal okay, one class with me is not worth two classes with another conversation teacher.
Okay, you want frequency, of course, with a teacher that you like, but really you should aim at talking more frequently, okay.
So my classes are also not for people who want formal classes or a program or who are looking for a teacher to take them to a certain level, like a B2 level, a C1 level.
If that is what you're looking for, my classes are not for you.
I already said this, so I won't go into that much more detail.
But just know that these classes are just conversation practice.
All right.
There's no program here, okay?
These classes are also not for people who are not ready to speak, okay?
OK, I am not going to give you the ability to speak if you're not ready.
If you're not ready to speak, then don't take these classes.
There's nothing magical about me.
I'm not going to magically give you this ability when you're not ready.
So this looks different for different people.
People feel ready at different times.
Some people feel like they need to wait longer.
Some people know.
Me personally I've said this many times I prefer to start speaking when I can comfortably understand the teacher who I'm talking to.
OK, not when I can understand everyone extremely well in every situation.
No, but the teacher who I'm talking to, I want to be able to understand them in the class.
So that might be a good way of thinking about this for you.
If you feel like you can understand me, even if I speak a little faster than I'm speaking right now, then maybe you feel ready to manage a conversation.
If you feel like your listening is still at a low level, then maybe you want to wait.
It's up to you, but don't force yourself to speak if you don't feel ready.
So people who are not ready to speak should not take these classes, right?
And lastly, people who do not have a good financial situation should not take these classes.
I already mentioned this.
There are plenty of teachers who have more affordable conversation classes available. than mine.
If you don't have a really good financial situation, then don't invest your money in having fewer classes, when you could invest your money in having more classes.
I already explained this, but i just wanted to say it more clearly.
If you don't feel like your financial situation is good at this moment, then definitely do not take classes with me.
If you have the budget, then Take classes with a more affordable teacher, okay.
All right, who are these classes for?
I just talked about who they're not for.
Who are they for?
They're for the very few people among you, among you listeners, who really want to talk to me in particular, and you don't want to talk to any other random teacher.
I don't think that that's necessarily the best thing.
I would encourage you to find other people, other teachers, that you feel comfortable talking to.
But I understand that some of you have been listening to me, maybe even for years now, and you feel like you just want to have conversations with me.
I make you feel extremely comfortable, and I get that.
There are a few of you who feel like that, and if you feel like having conversations with just me in particular will greatly motivate you this will really really make a difference for you and you really only feel comfortable talking to me then perhaps these classes might be for you.
These classes are for the few of you.
I'm sure there is just a very small percentage of you who would consider my conversation classes to be worth the price that I charge.
OK, I'm not cheap.
All right.
And remember, these are just conversation classes.
You're not paying for a program that I have that will take you to the next level.
No, this is just conversation practice.
I'm not cheap.
These classes, I think, will start at about fifty dollars an hour.
I'm planning on making it that price.
It might be different in the future.
I don't know.
But most of you probably 99 of you right now As soon as you just heard me say 50 per hour, you immediately realized oh, I can't afford that.
So that's what I'm talking about here.
There's probably a very small percentage of you who would feel like 50 an hour is worth it for just conversation classes with me.
Here in the U.S., that price is not extremely high, honestly.
That's not a very, very high price.
But I know that for many of you who are not from the U.S., this price would be out of your budget.
Because prices are much lower in other countries than they are in the U.S., okay?
So if that price just scared you right now, please do not take classes with me.
I highly encourage you to join my membership and to use my U.S.
Conversations podcast, which are much cheaper from my membership, for example, for a much lower price.
I made this membership specifically to help people learn a lot and practice a lot without spending a lot of money.
That's why the price is so cheap for that membership and even for the U.S.
Conversations podcast.
That's why I have those at that low price, because I want that to be accessible to as many people as possible.
These classes, these conversation classes that I'm talking about are not for the same reason.
I just want to give a few classes per week to the very few people that have the motivation to talk to me in particular and who have the financial situation to pay a price which is more like a price you would see in the US and not in your country.
So that's very few people.
The vast majority of you would benefit from checking out my membership and the U.S.
Conversations podcast, which are much more affordable and they provide a ton of value.
So that's what I would recommend to 99.3%.
9% of you almost.
Okay.
However, if you are in that 01 of my audience who fulfills these first two criteria, you want to only talk to me and you have a good financial situation and And that price is no problem for you.
If you are one of those few people and you just want conversation classes, then my classes are for you.
And you should go check those out.
Like I said before, I don't know how much availability I'll have online, probably just a little bit each week.
So I don't know how many people will be interested in these classes.
After hearing this episode, I tried to discourage most of you from taking these classes because these classes are not for 99 point something percent of you.
But maybe there are still a good number of you that want these classes.
So my schedule might fill up quickly.
All right.
I'm just warning you.
I don't know how long I'll do this for either.
I might just do this for six months or one year.
I don't know.
Just know that at any point I might stop.
It just depends on... what else I have going on in my life and my other work.
Okay.
So I don't know how long I'll do this for, but I'll open up a few slots per week.
And you can check that out on my schedule, of course.
And all the info about my classes was explained here in this episode.
So please don't contact me asking for things that I said that I'm not going to do. in this episode.
Okay.
Please don't ask me for a program for formal lessons or for business English or test preparation.
Okay.
I'm not going to give any other info because I gave all of the info here.
All right.
These are just conversation classes only for people that want to talk and and that have a good financial situation, that feel like they want to talk to me and only me.
That's basically all you need to know.
Like I said, don't expect anything else beyond what I talked about here.
And, of course, if you do end up taking classes with me, you feel like this is right for you.
You can afford it.
This will be helpful for you then.
I'm excited to meet you.
It'll be cool to talk to you.
And I'm sure that having conversations will really help your English and help you start to get more comfortable speaking.
So I think that for the few of you who do take classes, these will be helpful for you, even if it's just conversation with me.
But cool.
I hope that this clarified everything for you.
And, again, I want to encourage most of you to just use my membership and my U.S.
Conversations podcast.
If you want more content from me, you should use those things because, for example, in my membership you get my listening practice seminars.
And if you choose a higher tier of the membership, you might get my pronunciation seminars or my sound training videos.
Of course, my advanced podcast episodes and my US Conversations podcast is perfect for people that want to start to practice listening to two people talking at normal speed.
So that's why I made that podcast.
So those resources will really help you in terms of your listening, your pronunciation perhaps, But if you just want to speak and you want to take multiple classes per week with just any teacher that you might feel comfortable with, then check out some of the other teachers on the website that I'm going to link down below.
OK, so you can do that and then also check out my membership, my US Conversations podcast.
And if you feel like you fulfill the criteria that I mentioned in this episode, then the link to my teacher profile is also down below.
OK.
All right.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode.
And I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
