The aim of this article is to inspire you, the person who currently feels that you can't learn another language, to use your English in a positive way. You might believe that you are too old or that you have too little time to learn Arabic or Chinese. However, you have what hundreds of millions of people want: a U.S. Accent.

This concept of "Conservation Assistant" is espeically helpful for teenagers, who often feel that they don't have a skill to be useful in the "outside world." In fact, by using their language skills (and by following the techniques given below and on the Internet), a teenager can develop contacts in dozens of countries -- which can open doors years later (with judicious use of email and SKYPE to stay in touch).

Techniques
1. Keep a journal of each person you volunteer with. Exchange email addresses (be sure to give a gmail.com or yahoo.com or hotmail.com that isn't your primary email address -- we don't know who might get hold of your email address!)

2. Know how to make corrections. When the student is telling a story, don't stop and correct the errors as they happen. Write the type of errors that are made or record the session. Let the story finish and go over the errors later.

When the student wants specific correction of the accent, then you can make corrections. Avoid saying "NO" and simply redo until the correct sound it made.

3. Use a phonetic method to teach the 14 vowel sounds in English. Long AEIOU and short AEIOU plus Saw, house, Foot and boy. I like http://www.pronunciationpatterns.com/download.html

4. You can see the importance of becoming a Conversation Assistant when you visit Posit Science and see their demo program. The rising and falling sounds force your mind to work -- keeping you younger! Even teenagers are aging, so slow the rate of decline by using and listening to other sounds.

5. Gather penpals. yes, working with text also helps keep you alive and kicking, so you can be a conversation assistant while writing to penpals. Try the list at www.BuildingInternationalBridges.com and click on PENPALS.

If you would like additional practice and suggestions on how to become a Conversation Assistant, please contact Steve McCrea, 954 646 8246 or write to SteveEnglishTeacher@hotmail.com.

Steve McCrea
http://www.roadlovers.com
http://www.freeenglishlessons.com
http://www.pronunciationpatterns.com