I Tried Dozens of English Learning Methods with My Kid, and Finally Understand the Logic Behind Spoken English Practice

My daughter just graduated last year and joined a cross-border e-commerce company. She used to panic so much when she needed to speak English. After trying all kinds of methods for almost half a year, we finally realized: a reliable spoken English practice method is 10 times more useful than studying aimlessly.

01Do you really need to memorize enough words first when learning English from scratch?

I used to think so too. I forced her to memorize 3000 core words before signing up for any courses. But she kept forgetting what she memorized, and after 3 months of tossing around, she still stuttered when greeting clients.

The consultant from Campus Top told me at that time: "Learning spoken English is like learning to ride a bike. Memorizing 100 times of movement guides on the side is not as useful as pedaling for 2 minutes on the bike."

Later I figured it out. She only needs English for work, why bother learning so many useless words? I asked her to follow the teacher's advice and develop 3 small habits:

• Spend 10 minutes every day copying 3-5 work-related short sentences on a sticky note and read them 3 times
• When you don't know a word, use a simple alternative instead of stopping, and note it down after the conversation
• Take a 25-minute 1-on-1 online foreign teacher class every day, force yourself to use the new expressions you learned that day

I have read an article before saying 1-on-1 online ESL tutoring is not a panacea, but I think as long as it matches your needs, it is much more efficient than self-study.

02How to practice spoken English so that you won't forget what you learned?

Look, I signed her up for offline weekend large classes before. Each class was 2 hours long, the teacher talked for most of the time, she only got less than 2 minutes to speak. She forgot everything after class, all the money was wasted.

Later we chose Campus Top's courses, which adopt the Karen Method. Every class focuses on getting students to speak as much as possible. The 25-minute short class fits the attention span of working people perfectly. The content she learns is all applicable to her work, and she can use it in client communication on the same day, so she won't forget it easily. My friend's son Xiao Lin who does foreign trade has been practicing like this for 2 months, now he doesn't even need a script for voice meetings with foreign clients.

I personally recommend this high-frequency short class mode. You don't need to squeeze out a large chunk of time each time, you can take the class during commute or lunch break, it's easy to stick to.

03Are Filipino foreign teachers really less reliable than European and American foreign teachers?

Frankly speaking, I had this prejudice at first too. I was worried that Filipino foreign teachers have accents and would lead my daughter to learn wrong pronunciation.

Later I checked the background of Campus Top specifically. They have a physical campus in Manila, Philippines, all foreign teachers are hired full-time, hold professional teaching certificates, and can only teach after passing strict training and assessment. They are actually much more reliable than many freelance European and American foreign teachers. And the price is very affordable, ordinary office workers can afford to take classes every day without much financial pressure, the cost performance is really high.

04What is the core of a good spoken English practice method?

To put it simply, there are 3 points: high frequency, dare to speak, practical. You don't need to pursue fancy textbooks, nor force yourself to memorize countless useless words. As long as what you learn can be used in your work and life, and others can understand you when you speak, that's enough.

If you are also looking for practice methods suitable for working people, you can read this article How to practice spoken English: use fragmented time properly for working adults, 3 times more efficient. All the methods are tested by real students, you don't need to step on traps blindly.

Now my daughter has been learning for almost 3 months. Last week she had a 1-hour meeting with foreign clients, she spoke the whole time by herself, no need to ask colleagues for help. If you are also worried about how to start learning, you can book a free trial class of Campus Top, first feel if the 25-minute short class is suitable for you, there is no cost anyway.