Ok, I'm in Argentina and I've just moved here. Now I'm going in to order coffee for the first
time. This is how I imagine it's going to be. 'Hey, how are you doing man? Yeah, yeah
very well. Can I get a cup of coffee, please? Yeah, a cappuccino, yeah that would be great. Did you see the game last night?'
This is how it really was. Uno, one. Uno coffee, uno
coffee. I don't know. Bye bye. I panicked. I didn't have any confidence. I was very very
scared. Now I know that I'm not the only one to feel this panic when you are in a situation
where you need to use another language and you can't. You don't know what to say. Now
so many of you guys have texted me, emailed me, sent me messages saying Tom can you show
us ways to become more confident as an English speaker. So that's exactly what we are going
to do today guys. I'm going to give you eight strategies that you can use to feel more confident
as an English speaker. This is going to be awesome guys, so stay tuned.
Welcome to Eat Sleep Dream English, my name is Tom and i teach fresh modern British English
so that you can take your English to the next level and to achieve your life goals. Now
today we're looking at how to be a more confident English speaker. So many of my Eat Sleep Dreamers
message me and say Tom can you give us tips about how we can become more confident because
we are shy, we are nervous, we are scared even to speak English. What can we do to feel
more confident and you guys are not alone there are so many people that feel that way.
So today we're looking at eight things that you can do to feel more confident and give
yourself every advantage when you are speaking English. Now these tips are tactical so you
can use them today. They are not things like believe in yourself because that's no help
to anyone. Believe in yourself, what does that even mean? These things are real specific
things that you can do that really will change the way you feel about speaking English. Now
I have to give a huge shout out to a number of teachers that I messaged and asked for
their advice. What would they say to their students to help them become more confident?
Now I've worked with so many fantastic colleagues, fantastic teachers over my years so I'm very
lucky. So I'd like to give a big shout out to Matt Donley to Jonathan Rickard to Chris
Stone to Chris Hunter and to Ceinwen Atkinson. Thank you so much guys for your help and your
advice. Eat Sleep Dreamers you are very lucky, you've got a wealth of English teaching knowledge
that's going to be presented to you today through me. I'm going to start this by saying
one thing everyone needs to know. Native speakers want you to succeed. They don't want you to
feel embarrassed or get upset about your English. They want you to succeed and they are going
to do everything they can to help you. I think generally speaking people are very supportive
of other people speaking a second language. So that's really important to now guys, people
want you to succeed. Ok, my first tip is preparation. Specifically prepare for difficult situations.
So for example, have some phrases that you can say in a situation where you don't understand
someone, Ok? So if someone says something to you very quickly and you don't understand,
what are you going to do? What phrases can you use? Learn some phrases that you can say
in that situation. So for example 'I'm sorry could you say that again?' Perfect sentence
or 'I'm sorry could you say that a bit slower, please?' So we are preparing for difficult
situations. Because those are the times that we feel most anxious, most scared, most nervous
and maybe embarrassed as well. You know, you could say 'sorry I only speak a little bit
of English, could you say that again please?' Again this is a phrase to help you in these
situations because that will help the person you are speaking to understand 'oh ok, they
don't speak a lot of English so i will speak slower, I'll use less difficult vocabulary.'
So it's about helping the person you are speaking to as well understand that you maybe don't
speak very good English that you need them to be supportive and helpful for you.
Ok, so preparation flows into my next idea which is number two rehearsal. Now what i
want you to do is to think about the situations in which you are going to use English. So
it could be at work, it could be while you are travelling, it could be for an exam. Think
about the situations you are going to use your English then you are going to rehearse
those situations. Now I'm going to give you tips about how to rehearse in a minute but
the idea of rehearsing is really important. When an actor like Benedict Cumberbatch is
about to go on stage or do a new film, he rehearses, he practises. He doesn't just go
out and say his lines, he has to rehearse and practise and that's exactly what we have
to do if we are going to go out and perform to the best of our ability. So rehearsing.
Now, let's go back to my original situation I was trying to order coffee in a coffee shop.
Now that is a very specific situation and I know that in that situation there are certain
phrases that I can use to get what I want. there are also certain phrases that I'm going
to hear. So i can rehearse this situation. So for example I'm going to need the phrase
'Could I have..?' 'Could I have a coffee, please?' Could i have a cappuccino please?
Now that's a set phrase, we're going to use that, we're going to need that. We know that
we can use that phrase so why not rehearse saying it. Could I have a coffee please? Hi
could I have a coffee please? You are going to practise saying that phrase. You also know
that the person serving you might ask you some questions. So 'Would you like anything
else?' 'Is that to have here or to take away?' So you need to think about in this situation
what phrases, what questions am i going to hear? And how can I answer those? So you can
really prepare for this situation.
Ok, so that leads me on to number three. When you are rehearsing I think it's a great idea
to practise with a voice recorder. Now a voice recorder, you'll find on your phone, I'm almost
certain. There's a voice recorder option and you can record yourself saying the phrases
that you think you're going to need in these situations, so the coffee shop. Now why are
we going to do it in a voice recorder. Well, a couple of reasons. First of all, you're
are training your mouth to say the phrases. So you are literally, it's like going to the
gym and lifting the weights and practising, you are training the muscles in your mouth
to say the phrases, to say the words. So that when it comes to when you really need it,
in the situation, your muscles are ready, they are ready to do it. So 'Could I have
a coffee, please? Get your mouth trained to say that phrase. "Could I have a coffee, please?'
Also another reason why you need to record it is because you need to get used to hearing
your own voice in English. Now it's horrible hearing our own voices. When we first hear
our voice it sends shivers down my spine when I listen to my own voice but over time you
get used to it. So you need to practise saying in to a voice recorder and hearing back your
own voice. This will get you used to hearing yourself in English. Because you are used
to hearing yourself in your own language whether it's in Korean or in Arabic or in Spanish
or French but this way you are going to get used to hearing yourself in English and that's
a completely different thing but it's really important. Ok, so I'm going to practise saying
something in Spanish. 'Hola, dame una cerveza por favor.' Ok, that was clearly not very
good but let's listen. Ok, this is not good Spanish, this is probably terrible Spanish
but I'm just getting used to saying the phrase and to listening to myself. It's brilliant
to listen to yourself and to just get used to hearing your English voice. That's why
a voice recorder is fantastic.
A huge part of practising is repetition. Now I can't stress how important repetition is.
If you repeat these phrases over and over again you're going to become so used to saying
it. You are going to become so comfortable with saying them that they'll become second
nature, they'll become natural for you to say. So if you say it once and then you go
into the coffee shop and then you say it again, that's only the second time in your life that
you have said that phrase. Well, of course it's not going to be perfect so you need to
repeat that phrase over and over again. Drill it into your head if you need to so that when
it comes to saying it, it's perfect. So repetition, repetition, repetition. I think that is so
important. I can't stress how important that is.
Another really practical tool that you guys can use is a dictation tool. Now I'm going
to put the link in the description below. This is fantastic because what you do is,
let's say I want to introduce myself ok, when I'm meeting someone i introduce myself. I
can say it in to this dictation tool and it will listen to what I'm saying and type out
what it thinks it understands. And you can check to see, did it understand what I was
saying? and if it does then incredible, if it doesn't then it will show you which words
you didn't say perfectly maybe you mis-pronounced it, maybe you didn't, you joined your words
too much, whatever. So let's have a little go shall we, a little practise? Ok, so here's
the tool, let's have a practise. 'Hello, my name is Tom and I'm an English teacher.' Alright,
it worked! It worked! 'Hello my name is Tom and I'm an English teacher.' It worked! Alright!
So you can dictate in to this website and it will write out the words that you say and
it's an amazing way to check to see if your pronunciation is clear enough to be understood.
If it's not then you'll find out which words you are saying wrong and you can correct yourself
or ask a teacher to help you or a friend to help you to correct that particular pronunciation
error. Eat Sleep Dreamers did you find that useful? I'd love to know in the comments below
which of those techniques would you like to try? Which ones have you tried and found successful?
Also I'd love you to share your ideas about how to feel more confident in English with
the rest of the Eat Sleep Dream English community. So leave your comments below this video and
yeah let's share our knowledge together. Thank you so much for watching guys. Remember there
is a part two that is coming up very soon. I'm going to release it on Sunday. Check it
out, I'll give you the next four tips or techniques that I have to make you feel a more confident
English speaker. It's going to be fantastic, so don't miss it. Thank you so much for watching.
Remember I've got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday to help you take your English
to the next level. This is Tom, the chief dreamer, saying goodbye.