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	<title>Tower of Confusion &#187; Speaking</title>
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	<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com</link>
	<description>Language Learning and Multiculturalism</description>
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		<title>The Importance of Understanding</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/14/the-importance-of-understanding/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/14/the-importance-of-understanding/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:36:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Listening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portuguese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1314</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetWithout understanding what the other person says, what you say does not matter. There is no conversation. Most people would agree on this point. But yet some people will still think that you should try to converse in a foreign language as early as possible. What they fail to realize, I believe, is that it [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/06/14/the-importance-of-understanding/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speaking Too Early is a Waste of Time</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/08/speaking-too-early-is-a-waste-of-time/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/08/speaking-too-early-is-a-waste-of-time/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:00:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=1068</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetThe result (or &#8220;interim result&#8221; as some might put it) of Keith&#8216;s now-famous &#8220;TV Method&#8221; experiment has recently sparked numerous discussions and fierce debates in the online language learning communities. Some people are even taking this as a proof to proclaim that &#8220;silent period&#8221; is a waste of time. In my opinion, the experiment is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/02/08/speaking-too-early-is-a-waste-of-time/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>25</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speaking Practice Amongst Learners</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:50:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cantonese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[French]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=849</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetToday, I had a chance to speak over Skype with Milan, the die-hard Cantonese learner. It must have been more than 3 years since we last talked. Back then we spoke in English and Cantonese. This time our conversation was purely in French and it lasted for more than an hour! When Milan proposed this [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2011/01/11/speaking-practice-amongst-learners/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speaking Tips</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/31/speaking-tips/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/31/speaking-tips/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:11:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=709</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetSpeak when you are ready, not when you &#8216;think&#8217; you are ready. You are probably more ready to speak than you think you are. Yes, please honour the &#8220;silent period&#8221; and focus on input activities. But if you have already put in a lot of hours listening and reading, but feel uncomfortable moving on to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/31/speaking-tips/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Paid Language Tutoring</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/07/paid-language-tutoring/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/07/paid-language-tutoring/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:40:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cantonese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spanish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=646</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetIn the past few months, I have been focusing on a lot speaking activities. During the summer, I paid for some conversation practices in Spanish. I tried three different tutors online, and ended up picking one to continue with throughout the summer. In the past year or so, my Spanish learning activities consist of listening, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/12/07/paid-language-tutoring/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Speak Only When Ready &#8211; But When Will You be Ready?</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/03/21/speak-only-when-ready-but-when-will-you-be-ready/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/03/21/speak-only-when-ready-but-when-will-you-be-ready/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Mar 2010 09:04:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mandarin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spanish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.towerofconfusion.com/?p=588</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetThere was an interesting exchange between Steve the Linguist and Benny the Irish Polyglot. I downloaded the podcast more than a week ago but only managed to get through it on a red-eye flight back from Seattle yesterday. In brief, Steve thinks that we should first immerse ourselves into a lot of input activities and [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2010/03/21/speak-only-when-ready-but-when-will-you-be-ready/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>12</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>No More Skypecast</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/09/04/no-more-skypecast/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/09/04/no-more-skypecast/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:53:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Skype]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/?p=262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetOver the weekend, another free on-line service was gone, not only the &#8220;free&#8221; part, but also the service itself. Skypecast was launched in 2006 to host public conference calls up to 100 people at a time. It was since being established as a meeting place for many to get to know others and talk about [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/09/04/no-more-skypecast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Shadowing Alone</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/04/14/shadowing-alone/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/04/14/shadowing-alone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:12:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/?p=210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetI recently came across a language forum post. A person taught some Japanese students English by playing recordings of native speakers and asking the students to repeat them again and again. The teacher did not give more details, so I assume this was the only method he used. He posted a recording of one of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/04/14/shadowing-alone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>An Innovative Way to Practice Conversations</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/01/10/an-innovative-way-to-practice-conversations/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/01/10/an-innovative-way-to-practice-conversations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mandarin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/an-innovative-way-to-practice-conversations/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetToday, I have accidentally discovered an innovative way to practice conversations. This approach has the following advantages: It is free It is purposeful (you don&#8217;t carry out a conversation just for the sake of carrying out a conversation) There is potentially unlimited number of topics to talk about You can converse with different partners all [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2008/01/10/an-innovative-way-to-practice-conversations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Xie Xie, Mr Prime Minister</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/26/xie-xie-mr-prime-minister/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/26/xie-xie-mr-prime-minister/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:59:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mandarin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/xie-xie-mr-prime-minister/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetThe Australians voted for a new prime minister this past Saturday. Kevin Rudd will become the 26th Prime Minister of Australia in about 2-weeks time. I don&#8217;t know much about the Australian politics, but one thing Mr. Rudd has caught my attention (and probably of many others too) is his fluency in Mandarin. Of course, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/26/xie-xie-mr-prime-minister/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>For the Sake of Conversation</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:49:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motivation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetKeith left me a comment on my previous post, asking why I would join so many language-exchange networks. In fact, I am not quite sure if I know the answer. May be they are free, or perhaps I keep joining new ones simply because none of them has met my expectations. When I look back [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/20/for-the-sake-of-conversation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Language Web 2.0</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/11/language-web-20/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/11/language-web-20/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:10:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Networks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/language-web-20/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetI have joined so many language exchange networks in the past year that I have already lost count of them. Whenever people contact me for language exchange, I would ask them from which language exchange website they found out about me. Quite often, they simply cannot recall it, probably because they themselves have also joined [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/11/language-web-20/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Scarier Than Halloween</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Nov 2007 02:24:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Accents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toastmasters]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetI just delivered a Toastmasters speech on the past Wednesday, right on the Halloween. No, this was not the scary part. It was my first speech in 11 months. This was not that scary either. The real scary moment was when I received the recording afterwards, and I watched myself delivering my speech. Many people, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/11/03/scarier-than-halloween/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Mandarin Tongue-Twister</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/21/mandarin-tongue-twister/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/21/mandarin-tongue-twister/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:15:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Mandarin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/mandarin-tongue-twister/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetLast Friday, I went out for lunch with a few Mandarin-speaking colleagues. We went to an authentic Northern-Chinese Cuisine. We knew it was authentic because it was certified by someone among us who actually came from Harbin, China. At some point during the lunch, someone brought up a well-known Mandarin tongue-twister. Being the only non-native [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/21/mandarin-tongue-twister/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
<enclosure url="http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/sounds/203.mp3" length="204567" type="audio/mpeg" />
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rebuking the Tarzan Approach</title>
		<link>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/14/rebuking-the-tarzan-approach/</link>
		<comments>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/14/rebuking-the-tarzan-approach/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:06:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>edwin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Forums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Speaking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vocabulary]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://towerofconfusion.wordpress.com/2007/09/14/rebuking-the-tarzan-approach/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TweetMost language learners out there should have heard about the How-to-learn-any-language forums already. You can find many experienced language learners making valuable contributions and advises there. Unfortunately, the forums are also overwhelmed with ridiculously amateur postings which just make me feel wasting my time even reading the subject lines. Frequently, you will see topics like: [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.towerofconfusion.com/2007/09/14/rebuking-the-tarzan-approach/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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