In this interview based Blog/Podcast, I asked Gabriel a bunch of questions about his language journey and epecifically, what “his” Facebook Group MAOFEN is all about.
I talked about the method of interviewing people to get better at English (or any language) in E11- get fluent by interviewing Check it out!
Trascript of the Intro
Teaser (Gabriel)
Everyone has the right to have an education and of course, everyone has a the right to learn English for free. I really want to help as many people as I can. And I want to do that for free. Because I find joy doing that.
Well, our group it’s a group that we called MAOFEN and, MAOFEN are like the two letters of the words masters of English. We want to give people the opportunity to talk to interact between themselves. At the same time, we want them to learn about the power of helping each other.
I don’t find joy in having 1000 followers. That for me, that’s not the aim. I would rather have 80 people who are really committed and engaged in the group and that are trying to give their best not only to improve the level, but to help others improve their level.
You’ll learn a language by using it.
Intro (Daniel Goodson)
Welcome back guys you’re listening to my fluent podcast. My name is Daniel Goodson and you just listened to Gabriel from Spain and he conducted an interview with me a couple days ago and now it was my turn to interview him for those of you who can you remember back in episode eleven, I started out for the very first time with my method about conducting interviews in order to become a better English speaker. Well. of course not only that. It’s also to connect with people – with great people. And by the way, Gabriel has not only mastered the English language. No. he also gives away and shares his knowledge to others and teaches how to become a fluent English speaker
That’s just amazing but listen for yourself buckle up and have a listen:
Transcript of the Interview
It’s kind of funny because you interviewed me a couple of days ago and now it’s my turn.
Yes, yes, yes. You try to pay me back. You have to pay me back and yeah. Thank you very much for inviting me! It’s a pleasure be with you here. Of course. Yeah. Thank you.
You may introduce yourself by saying which languages you are learning. Well, right now I’m trying to continue because I started many years ago with Arabic and I’m trying to restart that and start talking with some members from the group (MAOFEN Facebook Group) that we have. And I’m also interested in learning. Filipino because we have got some friends from the Philippines in our group and that’s also on my checklist. But I also speak Italian. So, in this case, I try to refresh it talking with some of the members as well. So those are the languages I’m now trying to practice and improve.
And is it right, you are an English teacher? Yes. I teach English. Yeah the reason I lived in England for several years and when I came back people just started to ask me about, you know, “can you help me with my English”? Because I have got the subject or whatever at school. And one thing led to the other. In the end, I started to work full time as an English teacher. Yeah. Great. And do you think it is a good approach to learn a language by joining a Facebook group? Well right now maybe with the Covit situation, maybe it’s probably almost the only way – it’s not the only way because there are many online options that is definitely a very good way. And it could be also a cheap way. Yeah, a very inexpensive, for free, really. Because you don’t have to do anything else but to join a group. Of course, there are many possibilities, but it’s a good way because you can talk to people from so many different places with different backgrounds, different ideas. So it’s a very good way to exchange opinions, points of view, and to definitely use the language that you want to learn or improve.
Why I asked you this is because I know that you have a Facebook group and maybe you could explain more about it?
Well, our group – it’s a group that we called MAOFEN and, MAOFEN are like the two letters of the words masters of English and the risks for this group was that just started a few months ago.
Officially the Facebook group started just a month ago and we have been working for two months more or less. And we were just a small group of people from different countries who wanted to talk about, you know, like interesting topics to discuss not just the typical “you know, how do you do, , how can I get the tickets to go to whatever”?
And then suddenly we started to have more members interested in joining and the group was created as such the original idea or the idea that is the philosophy behind is that we want to help as much as we can other people to learn English and behind this idea we have also the, you know Canguro English, Christian Saunders, the founder of Canguro English.
Many people that listen to your podcast and know about him too. I was actually quite touched by his philosophy of free education for everyone. Everyone has the right to have an education. Of course, everyone has the right to learn English for free. And that really struck a chord with me. You know because I’m for a long time, this world of being a teacher, an English teacher, I followed the flow.
I followed the mainstream of how to become a successful English teacher, which for me meant, “How can I have more students and make more money?” So for a long time, I was like “Oh, I have to create a Facebook page or maybe a YouTube channel”. And I have to have followers and I need to have people wanting to pay to have sessions, that’s how I want to make money, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Then I was thinking “I should create a course and people will pay for the course”. Anyway. I was thinking about all these things and then suddenly I came across Christian and it really touched my fiber (It really struck a chord with me – “touched my fiber” is a Spanish expression), you know, there’s something inside me. That made me think. Well, really, I don’t want to do these. I really want to help as many people as I can.
And I want to do that for free. Because I find joy doing that. So luckily in the group there were people like were lik-minded thinking the same, Jason, for example, he’s one of the founders of the group and he has got the same kind of idea. You know, I just want to help people. And we thought, well, we want to help people.
Let’s help people and the group was created, so that’s the idea. We want to give people the opportunity to talk to interact between themselves but also at the same time, we want them to learn about the power of helping each other. Okay. Because we think that sometimes this is forgotten or it’s not considered because it’s like people want to learn a language and they are just thinking “I want to improve in this language.
So I just went to, I have to talk to people. I have to know people and let me see where I can get this information where I can get more knowledge but I can improve MY level of English”. And we are not against that. We kind of want people to realize that this is much more to learn in English than just me improving.
A beautiful world they are in, which is actually the world of just giving and sharing. Well, you know about this because you do that too, you share your knowledge.
I understand you a hundred percent and you are kind of an inspiration to me because it’s just great to see how much energy you put into it. Because basically you give online lessons over Zoom. Is that right?
Yes. We could say that.
And how many teachers do you have, who are supporting you by doing this?
Okay. I mean, teachers, teachers, there are teachers in the group, people who have joined us recently and our teachers and they are trying to, I have talked to them and trying to, to see if they can help other people by correcting mistakes or by giving them advice or whatever.
Please do as much as you can. But the meetings as such they are run by myself and three more members, who actually are not teachers. They’re just learners of English. Okay. But really our meetings are partially a lesson as such but the most important part is that they are speaking moments, you know. There are opportunities for everyone to talk. So the people who are helping me, which are Jason, Abhishek and Hadeel, they basically host meetings too and they offer questions to the people, to the members, you know, live for them too to be able to talk, you know?
So teaching lessons. So you could imagine you know the typical concept that we have of a lesson. Really I do that and I’ve got other members like for example Roshan. Roshan Banjade from Nepal, who actually creates his own lessons on grammar because he likes grammar he is learning and what he does is he has lessons with some other members of the group and he explains grammar to them.
Okay.
I see. So, so is it is the group open for everyone?
Yes, everyone can join, but, I mean, not so you know, you just come and join. >ou have to request access and you have to answer some questions because what we found right at the beginning is that people wanted to join. I don’t know if you have seen this. I’ve noticed this in the social media and the online world but people want to be everywhere. No, people want to join every single group and be everywhere. So if you’re learning English, you are going to be in 250 groups. And if there are 300 groups, we’ll try to be in those 300 groups.
What I find this is not actually good. It’s actually the contrary. It’s not going to help you improve more your language because in the end, you’re going to stick with one or two groups most. And you’re going to work with them or maybe you are in 200 groups and you don’t work with any.
So I’m saying this because many of the members that we had at the beginning were members that tried to join because we have to join this group and then we realized that they didn’t participate. They didn’t post anything. They didn’t interact with members. They didn’t even participate in our Zoom meetings.
So, we actually had decided that this was not worth it for us. We were interested in having people that went and participated in that.
And we decided that we didn’t want to have followers. You know, we don’t want to have people that follow our group and I don’t find joy in having 1000 followers. That for me that’s not the aim. I would rather have 80 people who are really committed and engaged in the group and that are trying to give their best.
We know that not only to improve the level but to help others improve their level. So with that in mind, we have accepted new people now but at the same time we got actually eliminating in people that we have seen that.
Yeah. I think, I have noticed that recently a lot of new members joined the group and so the question is, is it not a bit dangerous, let’s say that every time in a lesson or in a Zoom session, there are all other members, so it will be really difficult to connect with each other and to learn together or, or what (do you think) about that?
That could be a danger because it is true that in order to create a community or a family, that that’s what we want to do.
And you need to have people that are there, that stick and are permanent let’s say, or that remain for a longer period. But we have already that people, you know, probably we have got about. 40 members that are active, you know, and they are always there and then in our meetings we usually are the most, we have been once 23 people.
Usually we are between 10, 12, 15, sometimes 18 and told you that time 23, but what we do is we start a meeting and we try to introduce each other. And then we’ll put them into breakout rooms. So we try to separate them in smaller groups rooms, which gives them the opportunity to really talk, to really make connections with other members.
So many times, I usually make groups of two, three members, and that gives them a real opportunity to get to know people. So even the new members get the chance to talk and they always, they always tell us the same thing. Usually they tell us the same thing. I felt really good, because I will say what’s the talk and they had a lovely conversation with this person.
I can understand what you’re asking me about the danger but to be honest it hasn’t happened. It is just the way it is. We have just having these members coming into the group and they are quite participating. But again, as I was telling you, we have accepted these last few weeks, we have accepted about 60 or 70 members.
So we have doubled the amount of people that we have in the team. But right now we are also eliminating, uh, about 20. You know, 20 members that haven’t done anything in the group at all. We are doing the same , we are accepting people that want to participate and we are eliminated people who have not been active at all, because as I told you before, this is for me the important thing.
I mean, what’s the point. Otherwise I’ve been in a group. If you’re not going to actually do anything in the group, I understand that, you know, social media to work like this, but just because social media doesn’t work, like this, Why do I have to do it the same way? You know, I mean, it is obvious that you are not, you not learn a language just by becoming a member of the group.
You’ll learn a language by using it. And this is something that some people don’t understand, you just follow or subscribe to a YouTube channel and you follow this group and suddenly you feel better. Why? I mean, what have you done in order to improve your language if you haven’t even started to use it?
I saw this for the first time in the Canguro English group. I was fascinated by how often people would publish their own videos. And this was just fantastic because, um, usually the normal type of groups, um, which you see is, is rather packed with quizzes, packed with, a lot of pictures and so on, but there is not a lot behind it, you know?
Yes, yes, yes.
It’s not personal. So I kind of like these groups in which, um, you see that there is a community building up and my question to you now is where do you see your group in, let’s say six months or do you have a vision in mind?
Hm.
Well, I really, I mean, I hope that we are still here in six months. I think that we will be because there are lots of people who are really interested and engaged in and committed to this group. Mmm. I don’t know if we will be a bigger group or we probably will be a smaller group. I don’t know but I don’t mind.
Really. The only thing I could tell you is that I hope that in six months we are a family. That’s the only thing. I hope that we have family and right now after two months that we have been working, we have already seen improvement in some of our members, you know, they actually have been telling us, Oh my God, I feel so much confidence, much, much more than before.
And some of them speak a bit faster. Okay and actually some of them have realized of the importance of this. Making a commitment of this learning process. And some of our members are creating, are making their own videos. They’re working on pronunciation exercises or vocabulary or whatever about taking active participation in the group. Uh, and those who are doing that, I can see that they are going further. You know, so I, that’s what I think in six months, I only expect to hope that many of our members feel that improvement in their, in their level of English. And, um, you know what I do hope most, it’s something that Christian said in one of his videos and I love it so much.
And he said, I hope that you’ll stop following me and you’ll stop watching my videos and I hope that too, I hope that they stop following me or expecting me or Jason or the members, the admins calling a meeting. You know, I expect them to be independent, self sufficient and ready to say: “Hey, I’m going to create this topic.
I’m going to create this post. I’m going to create this meeting and I’m going to invite people to talk and I’m going to offer the opportunity to other people as well as someone offered it to me”, this is my hope six months. Hopefully, we will see.
And I will wish you luck of course and I really hope that this is gonna happen. That the people there, will master the English language, I have sent you a picture before about this ad I told you,
it says speak German fluently in a month and then it goes on German lesson, starting at $10. One-on-one lessons with certified German teachers, paper class, 19 hours equals to one college semester. So I was wondering. what do you think about such an ad and advertisement? What comes to mind when you see this?
Okay. Well, I would say, we have to be realistic in the end. We are in a world that is a capitalist world or society. And where basically in order to get, to gain a customer, you need to have a catchy, catchy headline or a catchy ad.
So I would say that these type of ads are catchy because it’s like, you know, “fluent in Germany in one month”. And I Was like, Oh my God in one month. That’s really, really good. So in the end, I’m not saying that it’s not possible. Okay. Maybe it is possible but their ad, of course is not paying attention to the important aspects of that. That process, which is you need to be a hundred percent, no, a hundred percent, 200% motivated. You need to dedicate so much time to that because you need to have to make a big, big effort and you have to work really hard. You have to work your ass off in order to be able to actually get fluent just in one month.
I think that, a person should be like talking every single day, two or three times at least to be able to acquire that kind of fluency. Definitely. You know? Yeah.
So,yeah, but the thing is that you see these everywhere, not only on ads, that’s sponsored ads, that’s also on YouTube. That’s sometimes YouTube videos that you see as catchy as well. The title, the headline is catchy. I’m trying to call your attention. Yes. Yeah. I’m going to click bait you. And actually I’ve seen videos of a guy called Pat Flynn. He’s an American guy that has a website called smart passive income. And he talks about how to generate income.
And he talks about how to create a click bait you know headlines or titles and of course be careful because sometimes, it can be the opposite. It can be not good for you because you can create an expectation that is not met by your video but you see it everywhere. The problem is that because you see it everywhere, people really believe that this kind of things can happen.
And in the end you can acquire a good level in like one month. And it’s like, Oh, hang on. You know?
So let’s talk about your English journey. So you mastered the English language and I am wondering in which areas you struggled the most and how did you overcome the obstacles?
Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, I have to say that I have been through different stages. Well, you know, that’s because it’s pretty similar to your country, but in Spain we, at my time, I’m 41 now. So at that time when I was like, Hmm, 15 or 14, we studied English and it was very theoretical so we didn’t speak it.
You know, it was more like very little listenings, but a few listening exercises and grammar and reading grammar and reading grammar and reading. So my first challenge was when I actually had to go to live in England because as soon as I arrived, I had to work at the shop. Selling ice creams and the boss put me there as I said, as explained to me all their ice creams and for me, the most difficult part was to the speaking.
At that moment. Okay. How did I overcome that? Well, because I was forced to it. I couldn’t do anything else. I have to do it. I was working, I had to talk to people and I learned as I was doing it. Okay. I didn’t study first. And then, you know, I said, what’s working. I was talking. I realized I was making mistakes.
I realized I had to improve something. And then there was a second stage when I was still living in England. And that was because I wanted to prepare for an exam for Cambridge, for the advanced level. And, um, and I hadn’t done any writing. I liked writing, but I’m not a writer. So I had private lessons with a teacher to help me a little bit with some advice, you know, but I took probably three or four lessons no more because they just want you to have a general idea.
And that’s when I overcome also my writing experience. And I have to say that my writing has improved a lot after that because I have kept practicing. I have kept writing all the time. So pretty much what Christian says, you know, keep practicing on that field, on that area. And you will improve.
Of course, you know, so. Those were my two areas. Definitely.
Okay. And maybe, if you could give the most important tip you have, you want to give to a language learner, which, which one would it be, what is the most important thing?
Uh, Put it to practice? There are many more but put it to practice now, whatever you learn, go and share it.
Go talk it, go and use it. Put into practice. Definitely. Okay!
Thank you very much. It was really fantastic to talk to you and I would be really glad if we could do this in the future again because it’s always great to talk to you really. So thank you very much, Gabriel.
Oh, thank you, Daniel. It was great.
Thank you for the questions that were very interesting. And thank you for trying to share a little bit about my experience too, in your podcast. And I’m definitely, you know, let’s start to talk about this maybe in a half a year. Maybe we’ll see what happens. Yes.
Yeah, definitely.
bye. Thank you. Bye bye.
Bye.
Vocabulary / Expressions
To strike a chord with somebody (idiom)
I was actually quite touched by his philosophy of free education for everyone. Everyone has the right to have an education. Of course, everyone has a right, the right to learn English for free. And that really struck a chord with me.