Topics
Today I was wondering about learning languages and about the topics that are necessary/interesting to learn. I am both a student and teacher of languages, but I must admit I don’t have all the answers yet about what to learn and when to learn it.
Oviously at the lower levels the basics of communication are vital: talking about numbers, especially price, finding out where things are, and directions for how to get there, how to say what you like and don’t like… Describing people and objects is also key. Most of the textbooks I’ve used concentrate on topics like hobbies and jobs. Talking about your hobbies, families and what you do in your free time is alright, but not a necessary skill, and it’s a bit vague to be of much help. Given that EnglishPod’s structure allows us 10-15 minutes to discuss a topic, each individual hobby could be a topic.
Let’s think about what people ask you and what you want to know when you meet someone who speaks English. The typical American will ask you:
What’s your name? = introductions
How are you? = feelings
Where are you from? = talking about your hometown
Great weather today. = talking about the weather
What do you do = jobs/school
Howeverm, some websites and textbooks just dont get it. The topics taught are either irrelevant, useless or both. A prominent English language website for kids has topics like “Aztecs” - something the student will probably never use in their life. Other topics include “volcanoes”, “monsters”, “dinosaurs”, “polar animals”, “snow travel”, “haunted houses”, and the “circus”. Some of these topics are for kids, and that’s fine, but even “haunted house” is really only useful when living in cultures that actually have this concept.
Other websites and textbooks have great topics, useful language and teach things that can be used immediately and throughout one’s life. Check out the BBC’s street language topics including work, moods, sport, food, money here.
More advanced learners need topics that are more developed and specific. But we’ll get into that another time. Any suggestions out there for topics you’d like to learn about?
Hello!
I’m a postgraduent student from Russia. I really like your podcasts, they are usefull, interesting, sometimes exciting and it’s never boring to listen to you, thaks for your profeeccional work. I’d like to ask you an advice: what to listen if a person is a beginner in learning English and the native language is Russian? You know, I sow some such podcasts for people from Japan, for example, but not for Russsians. Could you help me, please? Thanks
Comment by Irina — July 31, 2006 @ 2:37 am
Hi Irina,
Thanks for the great compliments.
If you know some beginners, they can go to zh.englishpod.com (or click the Chinese in the pull-down menu in the top right corner of this page). That website is in Chinese, but the podcasts are all in English. We have some Elementary level lessons there that might help. There are five levels in all, and it’s general English, not business English. Just click the listen button - the website design is the same as this site, and if you sign up with business EnglishPod you also get free access to all of the materials on the zh.englishpod.com website.
One day when we have more time and people we’d like to take our general English podcasts and put them on Russian, French, Spanish, Arabic, Korean and Japanese websites. With your support, it will happen soon.
Comment by Kris Fedorak/Team EnglishPod — July 31, 2006 @ 5:27 pm
Oops,
Maybe we’ll have to include Farsi and Turkish websites as well. I’m noticing a lot of new users from Iran and Turkey, not to mention a few Farsi and Turkish speakers from other countries.
Comment by Kris Fedorak/Team EnglishPod — August 1, 2006 @ 12:51 am
Thank you, Kris!
Your Chinese website is really usefull for the purpeses I asked about. Thanks for all of your team.
Bouth of your sites are interesting. Every time I listen to you with pleasure.
Comment by Irina — August 1, 2006 @ 4:39 am
I wanted to ask you again:
you see, I often make reports at our scientific meatings in University. So, could you think of making a Podcast about it, I mean about how to make a report, how to begin, what to say at the end except “Thanks for your attention”, how to answer quastions. I looked through the lists of Podcasts, but didn’t find smth like that. You already have some lessons about meatings, but they are for meaneger as I understand, not axectly for each member of a meating.
Thank you
Comment by Irina — August 1, 2006 @ 7:08 am
Irina,
Check out the podcasts on giving presentations (you can search for this by going to the Podcast Archive and clicking on “giving presentations” in the topics section). We have two Upper Interediate lessons on this subject - one is about how to prepare for presentations and the other is an example of presenting a product.
However, I think it’s a good idea to have more lessons on this topic. There’s a lot of language used only in public speaking, such as “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention.” We’ll plan a lesson teaching this kind of language and it should be up on the website in about 3 weeks.
Comment by Kris Fedorak/Team EnglishPod — August 1, 2006 @ 5:42 pm
Thanks Wael. We hope you found our website useful. Best wishes on your blog as well.
Comment by Administrator — October 27, 2006 @ 12:42 am