If you're fed up with getting stuck in
English, of not being able to fully express yourself or constantly feeling
judged and self-conscious when you speak English, this video is for you! Becoming
fluent is not something that just happens to you. "Okay, I'll just listen to
podcasts and watch movies without subtitles and read lots of books and
speak a little bit at work and then I'll be fluent!" No, that doesn't happen that
way. It's like planning a project at work or deciding to renovate your house, right?
You're not just stumbling upon furniture or people asking them, "Hey, do you mind
breaking this wall in my apartment because I need to renovate it." And then
you break a wall. Then you're like, "Oh no! That was not a good idea! Maybe I need to
put back the wall and then break another wall." Then you go ahead and break that
wall and then you go above your budget and the house is a mess right and you
have no idea what to do.
Well it's sort of the same thing but different.
If your goal is to become fluent, you have to make it a project of yours.
You have to plan it. You have to see what's working for you and what's not
working for you. You have to focus your attention and to do only the things that
get you results. You've got to stop wasting time with the wrong teachers. You
got to stop wasting times watching all these videos without really doing
something about it. You have to stop wasting time doing things that don't
advance you, but to do that you have to know what you need and the only person
that can help you with that is you. Today, I'm gonna teach you the three steps that
will help you develop your fluency strategy to understand what to learn and
how to learn it, how to practice effectively and how to boost your
confidence by changing your mindset and owning that fluent mindset that will
help you kick ass when you speak English.
The way I see it, fluency has three
pillars. The first pillar is 'knowledge' – knowledge of words, knowledge of grammar,
knowledge of pronunciation, right? Knowing how to use certain
expressions, and what words to use when, and how to structure the a sentence.
So this is knowledge. The second pillar is 'practice', which is taking all the
knowledge that you have and turning it into spoken English. This is usually the
biggest struggle. Most people are having an easier time reading and writing and
listening to English, but when they have to speak, that's the main challenge.
Retrieving the right words, knowing how to structure it fast and fluently, and of
course, being able to pronounce it and to sound clear when speaking so you
actually communicate your message.
The last pillar is 'confidence'. It's great
to know all those things you know you can learn for hours on end and you can
practice with your teachers and with your friends, but if you don't have the
confidence to speak up when you're needed, when you're asked a question,
when you have something to say in a meeting or in front of people or just in
the store. If you avoid conversations like you avoid fire then you need to
boost your confidence. Now confidence is one of the pillars but it's also the
result of the first two because when you learn more and when you practice more, of
course, it improves your confidence and these three elements are essential if
you want to become fluent in any language. Now that we know these three
elements we need to understand how to improve in each and every element here.
When it comes to learning English, I feel very lucky.
I think that we all are. We
live at a time that there is so much information out there. There are so many
learning resources, high-quality top resources. They can just reach your hand
and grab them for free. The downside of it is that you don't know what to focus
on because if you go and try to learn everything that is out there because
you're passionate and motivated. The result is that it can be overwhelming, a
waste of time, and sometimes redundant. Let me give you an example. If you still
struggle with a past simple tense or present simple, do not go and learn the
perfect tenses.
Master the basic and most used tenses before you move on to more
advanced tenses. Phrasal verbs are very important, but if
you still don't know when to use 'on', 'in' and 'at' when you're talking about time and space, do not
go and learn all the phrasal verbs out there in the world. Focus first on the
things that get you stuck because you use them daily, okay?
Understand what are your needs and focus just on that when it comes to
pronunciation. Do not go and learn all the different nuances of the American
T and all the extra sounds added when you're connecting words, if your R's and L's are still getting confused, okay? I'm not saying it's not important, it's not
important right now. You need to focus on the things that will get you the best
results and those things are the most apparent things, the things that you
probably want to deal with the least because you're so tired of it or and
bored with it.
But, these are the most important elements that keep getting you
stuck. And when it comes to vocabulary, don't waste your time learning words
that you don't know. Focus on using words that you know but never use, that you
understand when other people speak, that you use in reading and writing but you
never use in speaking. That will get you results. Learning new words and
memorizing them and never using them along with the other 1,500 words that
you already know and never use, will not get you results. When you're planning
your learning road map trying to understand what are the topics that you
need to focus on, you have to laser focus on the things, the critical pieces, that
are missing when you're speaking English. The critical pieces that still hold you
back when you speak English. Do not go,
although it's tempting, do not go and learn everything that is out there.
That's just procrastinating. That's just not dealing with what's important for
you and believe me I know. I know it's the most boring stuff. It's the stuff
that you know but it's just not a part of you, so you know that you need to do
it but it's just, it's not there yet and then you're like pushing it to the
corner.
No. Open that box
and drill down and master it and then you will see how everything is so much,
so much easier. When it comes to practicing English. Remember that it's
always quality over quantity. You do not need to study every day for two hours.
You do not need to move to an English-speaking country in order to
immerse yourself and really improve. No, you can do it from a non-English
speaking country also and you can become fluent and you can master the language
and I know it because I've seen it happen.
Swear to God. I've seen my students and my community members take huge leaps in
their English and their ability to communicate just by practicing
effectively.
What is to practice effectively? First of all, to plan it out,
to learn only the things that you need to learn. You need to be aware of what
you're doing. Maybe you need to record yourself. Maybe you need to videotape
yourself listening to it giving yourself feedback, looking in the mirror to make
sure that you're opening your mouth or rounding your lips as you're speaking.
All of these things turn your practice into a conscious active exercise from
which you can learn and improve. Remember that. The small changes make all the
difference, and of course speak as much as possible. Speak to yourself in the car.
Speak to a friend.
