English Conversations

About

English Conversations is the collaborative work of educators, Mark White - now based in Australia - and Aaron Campbell - based in Kyoto, Japan. We believe that internet based audio and video casting applications hold tremendous potential in global education and second language learning and are working toward developing a site that will be of interest to both English language learners, educators, linguists, and others who enjoy listening to the voices, accents, and stories of people from around the world.

Aaron and Mark in the Higashi Chaya
district of Kanazawa - Jan ‘05

We recorded most of our early podcasts with Audacity using the built-in microphone on Macintosh laptops. Since early 2007, however, we have been using Edirol R-09s by Roland, which give us much better quality recordings. We edit with Audacity. All of our participants are fully aware that we will use the recordings on this site and we have their permission to do so.

Most of the photos we use on the site come from Flickr users and, like the content on this site, are published under creative commons licenses. We are using the audio player kindly developed and provided by 1 Pixel Out. We warmly welcome any feedback and/or suggestions to the work we have been doing here.

The header is a collage of creative commons photos from Flickr. They are (from left to right):

To learn more, visit How to Use This Site. If you still have questions, please contact us.

Tags: aaron, about, Dialogues, help, mark

62 Responses to “About”

on 11 Jun 2006 at 5:01 am1 Bee’s Web » English Conversations

[…] English conversations (Practical Conversations for Language Learners) is a series of podcasts for EFL/ESL learners produced by Aaron Campbell and Mark White. Check out their stories on Africa, Thai and Japanese culture and themes like skin colour and feminism. […]
on 12 Jan 2007 at 7:22 am2 Brendan Moloney

Hi Mark,

This is Brendan from Rits. I wasn’t sure of your email address or how to get a hold of you, but I was wondering if you would have time to be interviewed on Australian English in Japan.

If you have any free time available in January, and you are happy to participate, please let me know … it would be a great help.

Thanks alot,

Brendan
on 07 Feb 2007 at 12:22 pm3 Joel

Hello,

I would like to know if you would give me permission to use one of the interviews in one of my classes. I teach at a small jr. college in Nagano City. If it’s OK, would let me edit it? I want to shorten the interview by cutting out the middle part that is too difficult for my students.

Great site!

Joel
on 07 Feb 2007 at 6:02 pm4 Uncle Irv

Hey Joel
Go ahead. Let us know what you did and how it worked.
cheers Mark
on 17 Apr 2007 at 1:48 am5 bubykesy

i want to learn english language
on 03 May 2007 at 3:53 pm6 Vikas Chopra

Hi this side vks

Today i just told you one question that if any person ask you so how can you answer this question :

Q What would you says about your english skills set on the scale of one to ten, ten begin the best were do you rate your self?

Ans I would say that my level of speaking and understanding english is cool, enough to communicate in any conversation as far as rating go I would belived that you would be a best judge on that.
on 13 May 2007 at 9:52 pm7 ranadheer

i want learn english language.

pl send me any metirial.

i will pay the money
on 26 May 2007 at 9:30 pm8 melih

I am leaning English.
on 26 May 2007 at 9:30 pm9 melih

I am learning English.
on 31 May 2007 at 6:57 am10 Felipe

I’m brasilian, and I’ve been improving my english by this website…Congratulations and still working we need it….Thanks a lot….
on 07 Jun 2007 at 5:27 am11 apc33

Hi Felipe….We are happy you are using the site. If you could give us some suggestions on how to improve it, or at least tell us what you like the most about it, we would appreciate it.

Cheers,

Aaron
on 15 Jun 2007 at 11:21 am12 lynie

hi everybody. just come acroos this site. i think its cool to be one of you. I am learning the English language, written and spoken. Could you help me sometimes when I need your help?
Thanks.
on 15 Jun 2007 at 11:32 am13 Aaron

Hi Lynie…Thanks for your comment. Anytime you have a question, feel free to ask.

Aaron
on 22 Jun 2007 at 8:14 pm14 richard

thanks you very much..
congratulation for this site its great really wondrefull…
thanks again for all person build this great site
on 25 Jun 2007 at 2:13 am15 apc33

Thanks Richard. Let us know if you have any suggestions.
on 27 Jun 2007 at 10:06 am16 Hamdi

Thanks Very Much,
this site helps me much …
but could you provide us english conversations for negotiation, business communication and also interview in english ^_^

Regards,
Hamdi (Indonesia)
on 29 Jun 2007 at 6:25 am17 apc33

Hi Hamdi…great suggestion! We will definitely be adding a “business English” category sometime in the next 6 months. Looks for lots of positive developments on this site soon!
on 04 Jul 2007 at 5:12 am18 Eddie Liddle

Greetings,
Wow, this site is great ! What a resource for leaning ! There’s a real lack of access to graded, enjoyable, interesting text for English language learners (Japanese language leaners, too ?)
I used the site for professional development. I used it with a private student yesterday. She really enjoyed it. Is it ok to use with my students and in class ? Thank you. Maybe I can make a donation or get my students to donate. Or help with supporting the site somehow. I hope it takes off and maybe you can get bought out by a big publisher or something.
But yeah, I think besides enjoying learning (great stuff in the how to use this site section) the interactive stories are wonderful and really meets a lack of resources here. I loved this:

What is an Interactive Story?

The technique consists of a story, which includes both sentences and questions so that as one student reads it to the other, the listener can respond to the questions and interact with the storyteller and the story itself by making it up as they go along.

What are they for?
The goal of an interactive story is to teach narratives in graded language (like graded readers) but orally and interactively. Each episode of the story is written in successively more complex syntax. Since the progressively more complicated sentence patterns are introduced in the context of a story, the learner can learn grammar in context.

Well, thank you so much !

Eddie Liddle
Kawachinagano-shi, Osaka-fu, Japan
on 04 Jul 2007 at 5:52 am19 apc33

Hi Eddie…Thanks so much for your enthusiastic feedback. We will be adding new content and making many positive changes to the site over the next few months that will hopefully improve navigation and overall user experience. For now, the best way you can help is simply to offer suggestions on how to improve the site. Feel free to drop me an email anytime: aaronpcampbell[at]gmail.com

Hey, if you ever find yourself jogging up in the north of Kyoto, drop by and say ‘hi’.

Aaron
on 04 Jul 2007 at 5:47 pm20 edo

OK. Thanks for asking for my comments. Pretty easy to navigate for me as it is. I like the keyword tags. And hotlinks to pictures and stuff. Maybe a how to use this site in Japanese ? And about language learning in Japanese.

My big goal this summer is to try to find a safe road for cycling from Osaka to Kyoto that goes along the Yodogawa River. There’s a nice cycling path from Nara to Arashiyama, too, that I’d like to check out sometime. Have to check out North Kyoto, now, too.

Cheers,

edo
on 05 Jul 2007 at 4:49 am21 apc33

Edo…good suggestions. Eventually we plan to either install a translation plugin or actually get someone to translate the “how to use this site” page for us. We may go with the former for the moment, since we are still in the process of rapid change right now.

The hills north of Kyoto are beautiful for cycling. I don’t know how “safe” they are though.
on 06 Jul 2007 at 9:40 am22 Lynie

Hello aaron,

I have a question, I’m really confused with which is the correct way to say this,

“I’m on bed” or “I’m in bed?”

because I usually heard on tv I’m in bed, but when I follow the rules in grammar, I’m on bed is more appropriate.

Thanks for anticipating your answer.

More power!!
on 06 Jul 2007 at 10:34 am23 Aaron

Hi Lynie…

Excellent question! There are no really “correct” answers to this; it’s mostly a matter of usage, which will vary amongst different cultures and geographic regions.

Where I’m from, being “in bed” usually means you are under the covers or are there for the purpose of sleeping. We also have ‘breakfast in bed’ on lazy Sunday mornings.

We never say, “on bed” but instead say “on the bed” when we don’t plan to be there very long and are doing something other than sleeping. For example, “I’m sitting on the bed right now” or “I’m standing on the bed to fix a broken ceiling light” or “I’m lying on the bed for a short nap.”

Sometimes the use of these two phrases overlaps, as in “I’m studying in bed” and “I’m studying on the bed”. The former might imply that you just woke up from a long night’s sleep and are studying, or that you are going to study for a long time until you go to sleep; while the latter might be said in the afternoon during a one-hour study session, after which you get up and go eat dinner.

Let us know if you have any more questions. See you!
on 08 Jul 2007 at 4:44 pm24 Lynie

Hi aaron,
Thanks for answering my question…
Now I understand whats the difference of those two sentences…

Just in case I have another question, I will ask again.

Thank you so much..

More power and God bless..
on 10 Jul 2007 at 3:32 pm25 Mark White

Hey Edo
I do not know about the Osaka end of the route but the canal that runs out of Kamo River in Kyoto and goes down through Fushimi runs for a long way in the direction of Osaka. Water flows downhill. I guess it is going to Osaka?
Loving those Rivers.
Mark
on 13 Jul 2007 at 8:30 am26 edo

Thanks for the Kamo River info… I’ll check it out on a map. Loving those Rivers ! Easy to find on the map and in real life.

BTW��I really enjoyed using Asian Odyssey with a private student. She’s a low-level university student but speaks up well. We really enjoyed practicing saying “Uh-huh” and What does… mean ? She needs this practice. I can’t tell if she understands me or not so I switch to Japanese a lot. It’s great for introducing new vocab too which is very interesting. I had her take notes. Japanese on one side and English on the other. She asked how do you spell it ? too. She needs the answering practice too. She liked the open questions. And we would think of names of the bar and the university and other details. Great fun. Could talk about her personal stuff this way too. What’s a good bar to go to for University Students in Osaka ? Where do you go with your friends to dance ? etc… I talked about Gaijin bars. What is a Gaijin Bar ? …
Well thanks a million !
I love Interactive Stories !

Edo
on 13 Jul 2007 at 8:35 am27 edo

I was thinking like an archive or an index of comments orposts for the whole site might be useful. Hard for me to remember where I left a comment and to see if somebody responded or not. Thread list ? I don’t know the exact jargon for it.
on 13 Jul 2007 at 9:58 am28 apc33

Good suggestion Edo. I’ll look into a better way to locate comments.

Glad you and your student(s) are liking Interactive Stories!
on 21 Jul 2007 at 8:31 am29 edo

The RSS feed for comments works well for finding comments.
on 06 Aug 2007 at 8:30 pm30 shotaro

Mark, how have you been??

I’m shotaro
I was your student at Ryukoku UNI.

last semester, i belonged to your friend’s class, John.

he told me about this blog. it’s really nice site.

I lost your e-mail address, so cloud u give me a e-mail?

take care
on 06 Aug 2007 at 8:58 pm31 Mark White

Hey Shotaro

Nice to hear from you.

Are you still taking pictures? I bet you have taken a million since we last talked. Email me at

studyenglishwithmark@yahoo.com.au

Cheers Mark
on 07 Aug 2007 at 1:35 pm32 Lynie

hi aaron,

good day!

I want to take a TOEFL examination. Could you give me some suggestions on how am i going to pass this exam and what could be the areas in english language that i have to review or learn more?

Thank you very much…

Lynie
on 08 Aug 2007 at 4:45 am33 apc33

Hi Lynie…

If I were you, I would take as many practice tests as possible. As we say in English, “Practice makes perfect.”

I am sure that there are plenty of online sites offering practice tests. If you are serious about getting a good score, if might even be worth paying a fee to access more of them, or perhaps a site that offers a course in TOEFL strategies. Remember, the TOEFL doesn’t test your English ability as much as it tests how well you have prepared to take the test!

English Club offers a few simple tips:
http://www.englishclub.com/esl-exams/ets-toefl-tips.htm

While you can listen to a TOEFL podcast here:
http://www.eslpod.com/toefl/

Good luck! Maybe Mark has a few more ideas?
on 12 Aug 2007 at 10:06 pm34 Julie

Hey bro!
I finally got a chance to look at this site. Pretty awesome to see how many people you have influenced. I will make sure to let more people know about this site. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Julie
on 13 Aug 2007 at 12:21 pm35 apc33

Thanks Julie - what a surprise to see you here! We’ll have to get you talking about the world of nursing in the U.S.

See you soon,

Aaron
on 21 Aug 2007 at 1:50 pm36 Lynie

hi aaron,

thanks for the suggestions and now i always check the net to test my vocabulary in the free online test. and mind me asking, i have a little problem in my teaching english language with one of my student. My student is 4yrs. old, she’s korean and she in nursery at Brent school, her mother hired me as a private teacher for two hrs everyday, and there’s this another teacher that teaches her how to write and some other stuffs. It was going along fine until today, the kid doesn’t want to study with me because she said i dont have a chocolate and a candy. I said why? we dont need to eat when studying and chocolate is bad for small kids like you. I was so depressed and i really feel sad. Im thinking if my idea of not bribing a kid or threatening is not good strategy to gain your students interest in studying.

in this situation, im really mad at the other teacher because she bribed the kid just to study with her… and i think its not good.

ooohh please help me, i dont know what to do…

thank you very much…

Lynie
on 22 Aug 2007 at 3:41 am37 apc33

Lynie…In my opinion, a 4-year-old child should NOT be forced to study any subject for two hours day. And if there is another teacher, that means the poor girl is studying many more hours than that. All children should be playing and having fun - that’s how they learn best. Reading and writing should wait until the child is ready.

Given your situation, however, I think you should find ways to integrate what you are trying to teach her into lots of play and games. The focus should be on playing games, not the material itself. If you use English in the games, she will become familiar with it naturally. Change games every 10 min or so, or whenever she seems bored. Use music, color, lots of running around, have fun, laugh - go to the playground down the street, catch insects and worms, kick balls. Take her to the zoo.

The other teacher is probably giving her chocolates out of desperation. If you lock a child up and force her to do boring things, she naturally will resist. Don’t concern yourself with the other teacher and her methods. Just give the child as much freedom as possible and do your best to celebrate life together. Let her lead the way and have fun. Then she will forget all about chocolate and come to love and respect you.

Good luck…
on 22 Aug 2007 at 11:26 am38 Lynie

Hi aaron,

wow! This is a nice suggestion… that’s what im really doing you know, we’re playing games and she’s leading, i’ll just follow her and if i have the right timing, i integrate our lesson and i always correct her grammar. We always pretend to be in a situation, like in the supermarket, in school, in the clinic, at home, we’re getting along fine but this other teacher suddenly bribe her with candies and chocolates, thats why im really irritated.

I would like to ask you if you could give me some sites where i can pick other games to integrate in our lesson. Thank you so much… you’re really helping me.

Thanks a lot,
Lynie
on 22 Aug 2007 at 11:06 pm39 murugan

hai

good for this site

very excellent

very super

by

murugan
india
on 23 Aug 2007 at 4:33 am40 apc33

Glad you like it, Murugan. If you have any suggestions, please give them to us.

Lynie, I haven’t worked with children in a classroom setting for many years, so I’m totally unfamiliar with websites that give game ideas. If you find any good ones, please email them to me or post them here.
on 26 Aug 2007 at 11:49 am41 Brian

Hi Mark, hope you ok? just took a look at your website, i think its a good way to approach English, if i ever get to the stage of teaching in Sakon Nakhon it will be very usefull.
At the moment we are still in Bangkok and we are going to get Married tommorow. We still havnt sorted out what we are going to do about a visa yet, if we dont go for one i will be back November ,December and will try make arrangments to meet up with you. Take care. Regards Brian
on 30 Aug 2007 at 11:31 pm42 Mark White

Congratulations Brian
Make sure you give us a call when you get back.
Travel safe
Mark
on 12 Sep 2007 at 8:32 pm43 Eglantine Gu?�ly

Dear Mark and Aaron,

First, let me congratulate you on your website: it’s really original and inspiring! I am currently working on a language learning website project I would love to tell you about (briefly!) I’d actually like to ask your permission for linking our website to yours. So if you would be so nice as to send me a little message I would really appreciate it!!!
Many thanx,

Eglantine
on 13 Sep 2007 at 3:06 pm44 Mark White

Hey Eglantine,

Thanks for your nice message. Please link!

I would love to hear about what you are doing. You can tell us about it here or if you prefer, email me at:

studyenglishwithmark@yahoo.com.au

cheers
Mark
on 16 Oct 2007 at 6:21 pm45 Carlton

G’day Irv.

Finally a web site that can help so many people, just goes to show that there is still some good in this world.
Well done keep up the good work we all need to communicate and have some fun doing it.

Cheers,

M Carlton
on 02 Nov 2007 at 2:16 pm46 yoshi

hi, mark.

nice to meet you again!

i’m back in japan and found your web site.
it is always very exciting to talk with foreginers. i hope we’ll meet you again. i guess i’ll be back there in next april, thogh i don’t know if you there.

cheers,
yoshi
on 29 Nov 2007 at 6:52 pm47 Les Wilkins

I have used one of your conversations on a music track I have done with a friend - I assume that this is OK under the Creative Commons License, but we are both new to this so thought it best to check with you. If you visit my MySpace page as above, the track in question is ‘Replaged’; I have credited your site as the source of the vocals in the blog section.

We do not anticipate this track being used commercially (some hope!) other than to exist on MySpace and to be used in our DJ sets. If you wish it to be removed, please let me know.

Thanks for your unwitting contribution!

Les
on 30 Nov 2007 at 11:14 am48 Aisha Ilyas

Hi Mark,

Your work is just wow!

I have been using your website for last 6 months, Its a great help for zealous English learners like me!

I suggest you to add some sorts of tests or trails so that learners can judge their level…

There must be some sort of Conversational exercises on your website where everyone can record his creation of dialogs or stories etc and can receive the correction and feedback from you people.

There must be a specific portion, Conversations for Professionals.

Warm regards,

Aisha Ilyas
on 30 Nov 2007 at 12:42 pm49 Aisha Ilyas

I am seeking another favoure from you, have you got any website where I can get improved my bussiness letter writting. As I have search many times but could not found except some letters samples repeasting on different websites.

If you know tell me .

Thanks

Aisha
on 30 Nov 2007 at 9:22 pm50 Mark White

Hey Les

I really liked what you did with the track. Gord has a great booming yet subdued voice and I mumble so bass-ically. Then the overlay and interplay of your rhythmic whirring electronic beat..wow!…..

I could not listen to the whole thing easily as I am on a dial-up connection in the Thai netherlands but next time I get to Bangkok and a fast connection I will listen properly.

It reminds me of the original HG Wells “War of the Worlds” (Was it 1936?) with the voice-over by this Richard Burton-sounding guy and the rhyming (or alliteration or whatever) of “WAR of the Worlds” and “Watercar”…the words.

Text and music. Thoughts and sounds. Mixing. Lots going on. ..and then the music coming in..what was that “war of the worlds” album and who did it..in the seventies..eighties?

Taking things out of context is really interesting artistically. I remember I was blown away to see the town of Kanazawa on the coast of Japan; Wow! A town with the name of a song on a Bowie album. But it was the other way around. Bowie had been to Kanazawa….. and John Lennon’s “Shaved Fish” was a common Tokyo menu item. (katsuo bushi) I love the bizarre. It is not really bizarre. But the feeling of bizaare-ness that it awakens in us is magical. It is the opposite of boredom.

beautiful night mate

mark
on 30 Nov 2007 at 9:40 pm51 Mark White

Hey Aisha

It is great to hear from someone who loves learning any language. I really like the idea of making the site more user-friendly as a forum and as an interactive feedback venue.

Aaron is much more tech savvy than me but I know the problem is related to finding the right kind of software to do what we want to do.

Specific language for professions is needed, right?

Business Writing (correspondence) Skills are needed, right?

We will get to work on that.

Many thanks mate

cheers
Mark

ps : keep us posted on how it works so we can keep working to improve it
on 11 Dec 2007 at 7:05 pm52 Fernando

Hi!, I��m trying to take a job in an multinational company. To do that I need to speak English very well, so, I search in google about ” english conversations” and find you.

This site is great,
Thanks for it !!!!
on 11 Dec 2007 at 7:42 pm53 apc33

Hi Fernando…glad to see that you enjoy the site. Let us know if you have any suggestions.

We’re coming out with a dialog soon for business English. Stick around.

Cheers,

Aaron
on 12 Dec 2007 at 4:39 pm54 Lynie

Hi aaron and mark,

hello… its been a long time! i have a question on how to use who and whom in a sentence particularly in adjectival phrase and adjectival clause.

let’s say:

The runner who came in first won the trophy.

I can use who in this sentence because the noun is the object of the verb.

The woman who I wanted to see run away quickly.

In this sentence, its the same as the first sentence but I can possibly use whom in this sentence.

The woman whom I wanted to see run away quickly.

My question is, how can I determine when to use whom or who in a sentence? In the first sentence, I can only use who, but in the second sentence, I can use both, whom and who or that… and the rule is the same in that two sentences…

please help… i’m really confused!

Thank you…
on 13 Dec 2007 at 5:10 am55 apc33

Hi Lynie….long time no see!

Who vs. Whom is a confusing question, even for native speakers. Grammatically speaking, ‘who’ is the subject of the verb, while ‘whom’ is an object pronoun. Another easy way to remember it is to try to rephrase the sentence or question using ’she’ or ‘her’. If you need to use ’she’, then ‘who’ should be used, while if you need to use ‘her’ then ‘whom’ should be used. For example:

“The runner, who came in first, won the trophy.”

She won the trophy. So, ‘who’ is correct.

“The woman, who I wanted to see, ran away quickly.”
“The woman, whom I wanted to see, ran away quickly.”

‘She ran away quickly’, not ‘her ran away quickly’. So, ‘who’ is again correct.

“With whom will you run away?”

I will run away with her. So, ‘whom’ is correct.

“I will run away with whomever I choose.”

I will run away with her. So, ‘whomever’ is correct.

Do you understand? That’s the best I can do to explain it right now.

In the end, just remember that even native speakers don’t always get it right, so whichever way you say it, people will understand you. Good communication is really what matters!
on 28 Feb 2008 at 6:32 pm56 Aisha

Hi Mark,

Hope you are doing great !

I happened to visit BBC English Learning website for english learners. The most useful feature of the website is that every lesson has its a relevant quiz on the same page. User can read, learn, listen and even test himself without moving to another page. Its quite helpful to not let break the consistency till end. Its really time saving. have a look at it

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml

Your work is of great worth to me and as a regular visitor of your web site I would suggest you to put small true false quizes. They will definitely make your work more useful.

I offer you my help in creating these quizes :D, although my english is not very good but I would love to make a little partcipation in your tremendous effort for English lovers !

Have you found your required software? Or still working on it?

God Bless You!

Aisha
on 04 Apr 2008 at 8:49 pm57 Write Pics

I just wanted to say thank you for the responsible use of my photo on your web page :
http://englishconversations.org/

I appreciate the attribution.

Write Pics
on 19 Apr 2008 at 12:41 pm58 shawn

Interested In Paid Text Link Advertisement!

Hello,

I am a webmaster by profession just like you. I came across your site “http://englishconversations.org/” while looking for some material for my site. I must say, you have done exemplary work on your site. I would like to make you a business offer.

I am principally interested in buying a number of text-links on your site.
Let me know if you would like to hear more of this.

Warm regards
on 04 May 2008 at 9:57 am59 Dr.N.Ramani

Hi Mark,
I am working on a package for the Indian English learners.
I would like to use some of the recordings of yours. Can I download and incorporate the samples of English across the world in my package?
I should appreciate the GREAT work you are doing.
Thanks and regards,
Ramani
on 10 May 2008 at 6:02 am60 apc33

Hi Dr. Ramani….

All content on this site is available under this copyright license. You are free to use any of the recordings according to the terms outlined in the license. Should you need further permissions, you’ll have to hear from Mark directly.

Glad to see that you enjoy Mark’s work!
on 27 May 2008 at 3:56 am61 crack

my girl crazy, man!
on 29 Jun 2008 at 11:04 am62 joy

great wedsite in the world!! having find more here!!!

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