How to SpeaQ With Me – Video Chat

Here comes our next post explaining how to use the language learning platform.

You already know about out text chat and have maybe already chatted with someone? Then it’s time to get started speaQing in a video chat. The video chat helps you put all your foreign language skills to use in the best possible way, by having conversations with real people! 

When you first start out talking to new people via video chat, we know it can be a challenge to figure out what to say, or find interesting topics to discuss. That's why we developed some tools that should make it easier to chat with a native and to reach your language learning goals.

So, what are these tools about?

Well, even before the chat begins, we want to make sure that both you and your chat partner are set up for success. That's why we have you select the language the chat will be in and approximately how long you want to talk for. This information helps you and your partner both know what's going on when the chat begins, and it lets us provide you with learning tools in the language you selected (if available, otherwise it will be in English). 

Now you come to the video chat and you are about to start talking with your conversation partner. But you have no clue what to talk about? No problem, we got you! The tool "Conversation Starters" which can be accessed by clicking on the little light bulb icon, will help you find inspiration with interesting questions for you and your chat partner. You can browse through question with the by clicking the left and right arrows, or narrow down the types of questions by choosing a field of interest at the top of the screen. When you find a question that you like, click on the "suggest" button to display it to your chat partner in the video screen. The questions are intended as icebreakers to inspire new discussion when the conversation slows down or you don’t know what to talk about any more. And many of the interests-based questions can also help you dig deeper into a topic you want to learn about. Let’s say you’re into foods and you’re choosing questions from this category. By sparking a discussion about food with a native speaker you will learn new vocabulary, expressions, and even get some insight into the native culture of your chat partner.

While the open-ended questions are great for more casual conversations, perhaps you are thinking, I need a little bit more structure to help me know what to talk about and/or what to learn. Well, we have just the thing for you! We suggest you check out our interactive dialogues. These dialogues are like little theater pieces where you and your chat partner both take a role and talk your way through a provided scenario. Many dialogues are designed to help you learn useful vocabulary and phrases for specific situations e.g. a job interview, shopping, or booking a hotel. Some dialogues are also hand crafted to help teach you new grammar concepts, while others are just a fun way to get to know your chat partner. The dialogues are a great way to support your language learning progress at any level, because they will be labeled with their estimated difficulty level, and contain vocabulary and instructions appropriate for that level of progress in the target language.

In many dialogues, you will find several interactive parts to improve your listening and speaking abilities. For example, you need to listen to what the native speaker is telling you and then click on the right answer or you have to tell him things he needs to verify on his side of the chat. If you don’t understand the instructions right away or you are missing vocabulary you might just ask your partner for help. This is what he is there for. You can also get some more help through vocab and phrase suggestions relevant to your exercise.

In addition to the tools already mentioned, you also have the option to use the text chat as a resource during the video chat. this comes in handy if you want to check the spelling of a word you just discussed, or you may want share a note or URL with your chat partner.

SpeaQ With Me wants to make your language learning experience versatile. So, in the future we will implement more and more tools and content. And for sure we will be telling you when these become available... as a hint, be on the lookout for more scripts and GAMES coming soon! We think this kind of support is really important, and we are proud to be the only language learning platform where you can use this content right in the video chat as you are talking with a native speaker.

If you have any ideas or improvement suggestions, feel free to contact us via mail (support@speakwith.me), Facebook (SpeaQwithme) or directly on the platform. The SpeaQ Team is there for your questions and suggestions.

See you on SpeaQ With Me!

P.S. Something big is about to happen to the SpeaQ With Me platform design. Stay tuned and stay curious. J