Chapter 12: Your Free Technological Tool Kit

So, now you know that the key to success is being able to create a lot of special and successful speaking practice experiences that are at just the right level and that are also very personal to you; and to then listen again a few times.

The technology you need to achieve this has existed online, for free, since about 2003. Skype Beta launched on 29th August 2003. There are now lots of applications like Skype and Skype itself has been integrated with Facebook (which I got very excited about at the time it happened).

These are the technological tools you need to improve your English super fast.

1. Free cloud content curation and organisation service like Google Drive, Padlet.com or WangPan (make sure you can upload from your smartphone and access content on your smartphone)

2. Free online Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application e.g. Skype, MSN, Google

Hangouts, QQ etc.

3. Free online social network e.g. Facebook, Google+, Edmodo, YY, Orkut, italki.com (language)

4. Free VoIP recording device e.g. MP3 Skype recorder (voipcallrecording.com)

5. Free podcast/audio file storage e.g. soundcloud.com, podomatic.com

Create free accounts with all of them and then.

1. Make some English speaking friends online

2. Choose topics and specific language you want to be able to speak and create your own

learning content.

3. Prepare questions using the content you have collected.

4. Call three or four practice partners, have the same conversation with them and record them

all.

5. Upload the MP3s to your audio store and then listen again whenever you can (on your PC, phone or MP3 player) or upload the MP3s direct to your cloud content folders next to your lesson content and listen to them again from there.

 



And that is it. See, you can already do most of that, on a PC, Mac, tablet, or even a smartphone. 
Can’t you?

What you might find the most difficult bit is creating ten or twenty (or more) lessons from learning materials you find online. That just takes a bit of work plus getting the level right for your own speaking level; creating useful questions can take time too but it is good for your English.

Lots of people do this with content all of the time, but some people need a bit more help to create the lessons. That is why we created the EOT lesson worksheets. They are simple, tried and tested lessons that work with all online social learning tools to help you to create your own personalized English speaking course. Of course there are new platforms and services coming online all of the time. 

You can successfully use any of them when you study the EOT way (such as Verbling.com17 which is new and enables you to randomly meet English speakers instantly for video speaking practice, try it!).

EOT works with all of these platforms and services because it was designed for use by learners having real conversations on the streets of London with complete strangers. Basically, anywhere that two people can talk to each other is good for EOT practice. This means you can do EOT face-to-face or online. 

Or do a bit of both. You can record face-to-face EOT conversations with your mobile phone voice recorder or video camera.The tools you need to use are everywhere and you already know how to use them to create personalized content in themed libraries of images, videos and MP3s (such as for work projects or for family albums).

Now do the same for your English! Store your personalized EOT course in a cloud storage application like Google Drive or Padlet.com (see image below) and then work and listen on your smartphone when you have a few minutes to spare.

Click to visit http://padlet.com/wall/manners_EOT