How to Make English Speaking Friends

Are you having problems meeting new people and making English
speaking friends?

Are you finding it difficult to step outside your comfort zone and make the first move?

Today it is easier than ever to get to know different types of people
in your city or town through social networking - especially with a
resource called Meetup. Meetup has more
than 9.5 million membersin 40 countries around the world. Thousands of
people from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, India
and many others belong to meet up groups. Meet up groups
were created to solve the problem of feeling alone and isolated in big
cities . The groups are designed to help people make local connections
and meet new people who share similar interests. The meetup web
site provides information on thousands of special interest groups, so it
is easy to find a topic and a group that interests you.

How Does Meetup.com Work?

Each Meetup Group shares an area of interest. The groups meet
face-to-face on a regular schedule. Sometimes this is once a week.
Others it's once a month. These meetings are open to
everyone, and are a great way to meet new people who share your
particular interest. There are thousands of local Meetup Groups for
thousands of interests.

Here’s just a sample of available topics:

English conversation practice

Socializing in general

Dancing

Board games

Pets

Walking

Hiking

Languages

Yoga

Music

Hobbies

Travel

Technology

Sports of every kind

Mothers with young children

How can this help you?

It all depends on you. You can do several different things. You can
find and join an English conversation group in your city where you would
definitely practice speaking English and make new friends. But, you
could also join a regular interest based social meetup group
such as a walking, games, photography, dancing group that consists of
mainly English speaking members. By joining this kind of group, you
would have opportunity to have fun, do something you are genuinely
interested in, speak English and make some new friends all at the
same time. The choice is yours. It really depends on how brave you are,
or how confident you feel about speaking English.

What Happens at a Meetup Group?

It is very easy to join because meetup groups are usually
informal and open to anyone who is interested in the topic. Members will
immediately welcome you and make you feel comfortable - even if you are
not English speaking. In fact, if your English is not perfect, members
are likely to help you. Friends are also welcome, so if you feel nervous
about joining a group, bring along a friend for moral support.

Most Meetups happen at restaurants,
cafés, or public parks, and some groups meet in offices or private
homes. You will often find a printed sign to help you find the Meetup Group. Some Meetups are based around activities—like knitting or language practice.

Others focus on organizing for a cause like raising money, or planning an event. At other Meetups, people share information and stories, such as a
shared health condition or what it’s like to be new in town. There are
thousands of options to meet new people.

How to find a Meetup Group

Go to Meetup.com

or...go to google. Type in Meetup groups and the name of your city.

Search on a topic, and enter the name of your city, postal code,or zip code.

You will see a list of the Meetup groups that are closest to
you. The distance is indicated in miles.

Click on a name to go to the group's website where you can learn
more about the group, its members, its activities and times and
locations of events.

Attend the group and meet new people!

Here is what a local Vancouver group has to say about itself:

"This
group is all about finding friends and making new friends. It's for
anyone who enjoys events and activities that are socially interactive,
interesting, laid-back and lots of fun. This group is for socializing
only and there is no cost to joining our group.

In
addition to social events we also organize fun outdoors events that
help promote good health & wellness through fun exercise and regular
hiking and walking events.

Do some research first:

The same Vancouver group as above suggests that " a good way of finding out how well a Meetup group is performing is to
check out their past events. In particular, look at the event rating and
also read member's comments. We encourage you to click on any of our
past events under the heading "Past Meetups."

Here are a few sample meetup group links in different cities around the world. Make sure you check out the main website at Meetup.com for more.

Meetup group: Vancouver English Conversation Groups

Meetup groups in Vancouver, B.C.

Meetup groups in Toronto, Ontario

Meetup groups near Sidney, Australia

Meetup Groups in Melbourne, Australia

Aukland, New Zealand

Meetup Groups in Taiwan

Meetup Groups in Korea

Meetup groups in Japan

Meetup Groups in Osaka, Japan

Meetup groups in Hong Kong