Free Talking with Albert

With this semester coming to an end soon, I'd really like my students to have one more opportunity to speak English with the help of Albert, who I've been practicing speaking with for the past two years. By making video calls via Skype, the students worked in groups of two or three, doing self-introduction and talking about their hobbies, favorite subjects, food and so on, complete with describing interesting pictures in English. 

Some of them really were confident and expressed themselves clearly and fluently. They were not only able to answer Albert's questions but elaborated with more details. On top of that, three of them actually sang in both English and Chinese so beautifully that impressed Albert with their amazing singing skills. Of course, there was a lot to be desired for others as well because they were just too shy and lacking in the courage to give it a try without worrying about making mistakes that much.

I didn't really practice speaking the language until my college. Furthermore, I was not seriously determined to polish my speaking skills until 2007 by taking one on one online English class with Philipino English teachers via Skype for over seven years. I began doing presentations only in English in 2010 after being recruited as a member of the English Advisory Group. Well, I just believe that being an English teacher should be able to speak the language fluently so that English can act as the medium of instruction in class.

My students are still very young and have a lot more to experience and explore in the future even though they're all very gifted in math and science. Of course, they can get very good grades in all subjects easily, but you need so much more than being smart to speak the language. Therefore, I'm sure I'm doing the right thing for my students with the Skype project and feel quite blessed to enjoy such freedom to do whatever I want in the hope that they'll remember what they've experienced in their junior with Richard doing his best to create an authentic environment.

International Video Conferencing