Okay, hello everyone.
This is Christina from Speak English with Christina.
And today I'm talking with Sebastian,
who has just finished three months
in the Master Real American English program.
Sebastian, thank you for agreeing to share your experience
with some future students, let's say.
And, to begin, can you just
give us a little introduction of you?
Okay, hello Christina.
Hello everyone.
So, I'm Sebastian, I'm French,
as you can hear with my French accent.
(Christina Laughs)
Pretty typical.
So I'm living in France, in Paris
and I work for
an American company.
I'm 45 years old, married with three kids.
Mhmm.
And, in my daily work I need to speak English.
So...
I was not a very good student when I was young,
so I need to increase my level in English.
Okay.
That's why we talked together today
and we talked three months ago.
Right, exactly, yeah.
And so you work for an American company,
and so I imagine that you use English
like every day in your job, is that correct?
Absolutely.
So, my colleagues are from the U.S.
and all around the world.
So, our language for business is English,
not French or Spanish, only English.
Right.
Only English, so I need to write in it,
do some phone calls, conference calls in English.
So, I need to use English daily.
Okay, great.
So, you know you joined this program
three months ago.
When you were looking for a program,
or thinking about deciding the program,
like what was the difficulty that you felt with English
that motivated you to join this program?
(clears throat)
I was not confident about my delivering English,
so very difficult for me to take my,
to do a phone call, - Yeah.
the conference call, or just to talk to someone
during conference, during break.
So, my target was to be
more confident about me,
Yeah.
about my delivery in English.
Yeah.
So, that's why I chose your session,
which was very compact for me
dedicated to me with individual lessons and group sessions
Yeah.
I thought it was a very good way to work my English
to work my speech with other people
speaking English
with different accents, which is very important for me.
Yeah, yeah 'cause I think, like you said,
you work for an American company,
but you don't only speak with Americans,
you speak with lots of different accents.
Absolutely, you have to speak with people
coming from India, Poland, or Italian
everybody has a different accent
and we try to speak English well, it is not always
our natural language.
Sure, yeah.
Could be difficult to understand a natural, U.S.
speaking guy, or someone from India, difficult accent
so I have to practice
and to better understand
how to hear and understand the words.
Right, yeah, exactly. Now, maybe for someone who is
looking at the program, and they're, you know,
kind of curious about how it works and things like that.
Like, how would you describe
the experience of the program?
Like, you know, how would you describe, yeah,
what you went through for three months?
It's a very flexible
solution, so very good for people
working, like me, - Yeah, sure.
with an erratic calendar
for everybody, the same day is not the same, every day
is not the same day, so it's very flexible
so we can have some face-to-face sessions with our teacher
which is very, and put it in my calendar when I need it
And there's a lot of group sessions
for different day of the week
which is very flexible for me and for the other students.
So, that's why I chose this program, because it's like me
a lot of things to do at the same time
so, it's easier to follow this kind of
flexible experience
Yeah.
So, yes, that's why.
Okay, yeah, and I think that's, you know, part of the
when we put together the program, was trying
to find something that fits in, with, like you said,
People have busy lives, with their work and family and
things like that, so, you have to find a way to make it
like you said: compact, but structured, but flexible
at the same time, so that people can do it.
Basically, yeah.
And, it's a good opportunity, potentially for us
to meet new people.
Awesome.
A lot of students coming from different countries
so it's very interesting.
I found some very good persons, and we talk about
a lot of different topics,
not only about business
but about daily life, which is very good and positive for me
It's very, very positive.
Yeah, 'cause I mean, even in business, you don't only
talk about business, you talk about, you know, life,
the news, and things like that, so yeah.
Right, yeah.
So, what has changed for you and the way that you
use English now that you've finished the program?
Now, I'm okay to speak in English,
which was not the case before.
I was very, very shy, so now I'm okay with that.
So, I need to increase, still, my level
I have a lot of work, still, so I think I have to
continue to work, maybe just on my side, I don't know.
But, yes, it was a very good experience for me.
I'm more confident about my level, and I want
to increase my level more and more.
So, I wish, very to practice.
I like speaking in English now.
I like to talk to someone in a conference
during a conference or a bar, or during a party or a dinner.
So, it's a fantastic way for me.
It's very, very positive.
Okay, yeah. Great.
Well, thank you very much, for that, Sebastian!
Final question, is there anything else that you would
like to share with a student
who is maybe considering the program?
Any final words for them? - Yeah.
Speaking English is necessary in our world
we, all of us travel, and meet people.
English is the linked language, so, we need to speak
this language. We need to speak daily this language.
So, I think it's a good way for everybody to learn more
and be confident, it's not very difficult.
We just need to speak, practice.
Yeah.
And, yes, I recommend this program.
Okay, well, thank you, thank you.
It's a great honor to hear that.
So, thank you very much, Sebastian
for taking some time and sharing your story with us. Thanks.
Thank you.