A short course

English Conversation

For speaking without the long pauses. Every lesson is short, and every lesson asks you to say something out loud.

How to use this

Do one lesson at a time, a few times a week. Each one takes about twenty minutes and gives you one thing you can use in a real conversation the same day.

Two rules, and they matter more than anything on the pages themselves:

• Say everything out loud. Reading the lesson silently will not help you speak. Your mouth needs the practice, not your eyes.
• Come back to old lessons. Forgetting a little and then remembering it again is what makes English stay in your head. If a phrase has half faded, that is the right moment to practise it — not a sign you failed.

Lessons

• 1 · Buying Time Eight phrases that stop the freeze. What to say when you need a few seconds to think — so the pause sounds normal instead of broken. ~20 min · speak out loud · start here
• 2 · Keeping It Going Answer · Add · Ask. Why a correct English answer can still kill the conversation, and the seven phrases that keep it alive. Starts by testing lesson 1 cold — do not open lesson 1 first. ~25 min · speak out loud
• 3 · Practice Without a Partner Six phrases for keeping a story going with friends — plus the honest answer to the real problem: how to practise speaking when there is nobody to speak to. Starts by testing lesson 2 cold. ~25 min · speak out loud
• 4 · Coming next Lesson 4 is built from two numbers: your score on lesson 3's cold recall, and how many long silences you counted in the recorded minute. Tell your teacher both and the next lesson fits you. not written yet

Reference cards

Lessons are for learning once. These are for coming back to — they are short, and they print well.

• The Hesitation Toolkit The eight phrases from lesson 1 on one page, with a note on which ones are safe at work and which are only for friends. Print this one.
• Glossary The words used to explain why the lessons work this way — chunk, register, retrieval practice, 4·3·2.
• Trusted sources Where every claim in these lessons comes from, plus three free tools for checking whether a phrase is real English before you use it.