- Hi there.
I'm Christina from Speak English With Christina
and today we're gonna look at,
when you need help reaching advanced English.
And if you wanna activate the subtitles for this video,
go ahead and click on the little CC icon down at the bottom.
Now, first we're gonna look at the challenges
that you face when you're trying to reach
an advanced level alone.
Because if you're an intermediate today
and you're trying to get to advanced,
that final 20 to 30%
is always the hardest part to really reach.
And you're probably facing one or maybe more,
the three biggest challenges that learners face
when they're at an intermediate level
and they want to get to advanced.
The first challenge is just avoiding excuses
and actually making time.
So, many of my students,
they say, oh I don't have time to do this,
and it's not about having time.
It's about making time and making this part of your day,
making it a priority for yourself.
Another challenge you might be facing
is just feeling stuck because you're at intermediate
and you're not seeing anymore progress.
So, you feel frustrated and you just like, give up.
You're like I just, I can't improve,
I don't know what to do,
I do a lot of stuff but I don't see any results.
And you just kinda give up on that goal.
And another challenge that a lot of students face
when learning English,
is just feeling overwhelmed by the options
because there are so many resources out there for you,
so many methods, so many courses,
and it's just like, I don't know what,
I don't know where to start,
I don't know what to do.
So, when you're faced with one or more of those challenges
and you're alone
and you're trying to get to an advanced level,
it is very easy to just abandon your project
because of all those frustrations.
You don't know what to do so you just do nothing
and that really creates this inertia,
like you're not moving forward, you're not progressing
and that creates of course, frustration.
And when you're at that point,
that's when it's time to get help.
That's when you cannot do it alone anymore.
So, don't limit yourself
by continuing to do the same old things
that you did in the past.
You're just putting limits on yourself.
Now, let's talk a little bit about accountability
because this is something that is very important
when you're trying to reach these higher levels in English.
Now, there was a very interesting article on Forbes
and it was, The Secret To Every Entrepreneur's Success
is Accountability,
and you could just change Entrepreneur
and put Language Learner or English Learner
because accountability is going to be
one of the secrets to your success.
Now, if you don't know this word, accountability,
basically what it means
is having someone who supports you
in your transformation, your progress,
having someone who makes sure
that you do the work that you're supposed to do.
It's having someone who,
you know they count on you to show up and to do it.
They're waiting for you to come to class,
they are there to practice conversation with you,
but they are there for you and they're waiting for you.
And they won't let you find excuses
like, I'm too busy right now
or oh I don't know, I don't feel like it
or oh I didn't prepare anything
so I can't come to the class, no.
It's also someone who pushes you to reach your goals,
who sees that you can do it
and who really pushes you to do more
than you think is possible.
And someone who holds you accountable
is someone who's gonna also help you
to stay motivated and focused
when you encounter maybe a decrease in your motivation,
which is totally normal when you're learning a language.
And if you put all that together
it's going to help you to finally go
from intermediate to advanced.
You've got someone who is pushing you,
someone who is pulling you up
and making sure that you reach those advanced goals.
Now, since we're talking about my program,
Master Real American English,
I wanna share a little bit from past students
and what they said about how this program
gives you that accountability.
This is one student, Johanna, she is French.
She's a doctor but she lives in the U.S.
And she said, I had the motivation to improve,
but I didn't know how or where to start
and the program was really important for that.
With the group I realized that I'm not alone
and that's important because now I know what to do
to continue improving and I'm confident about the future.
And there's definitely a before and after from this program.
Aisha who also works in the U.S.
She's from Turkey originally.
She says, I knew what I should do to improve my English
but this program forced me to do it all,
to take the time.
I had to think about my goals
and take time to prepare each lesson.
I did the work because I wanted to see the results
and get the most out of each session.
So again, it's just that idea of having that reason,
having that objective
and then taking the time to make sure
that you reach that objective,
'cause someone, your classmates, your teacher, your coach,
is waiting for you to show them what you've done.
So, if today you feel stuck
and you don't know how to move to the next level,
if you always feel like you don't have time
or you just don't take the time to do it,
and if you're lost with all the resources available
and you just don't know where to start,
then this is the moment when you need some support,
you need some accountability to make sure
that you reach your goals,
and that's what you're gonna get
in the Master Real American English program.
If you didn't watch the introduction to this program,
quick little recap.
It's a three month virtual immersion coaching program.
You have to apply to join
and the deadline is on Tuesday, January 28th, 2020.
And in that program,
these are the people that are going to hold you accountable.
Your coach.
And this here on the screen
is just a screenshot of a conversation
from our What's App group for this program
where you can see Romy, one of the students,
she did a recording,
She said I'm not sure
but then I came in there and listened
and said you know, it's good,
and gave you a little correction.
So they're to make sure that you're constantly learning.
Your classmates.
So here, Cyril says sorry I'm working on my house,
I've got some troubles with it.
I can't come to the session.
I'll see ya guys next time, have fun.
And then his classmates Sebastian and Vinny came in
and is like, aw come on join us,
it's just one hour, you can do it.
And guess what?
Cyril took a break from working on his house
and came into his session
and he said he was really glad he did in the end.
Your conversation partners.
So, for example here,
Ednaldo was absent from one of his conversation session
and Eva came in and said,
hey, do you wanna jump on Skype with me
and we can practice the topic maybe during the weekend?
And Ednaldo said, yeah great, that would be lovely.
So, even though he missed the official conversation session,
he still got support from his classmate Eva.
And of course, your teacher is also there to help.
You can see that Dalila told me all about the work
that she did with her teacher Trisha.
And Ahmed jumped in and says,
yeah I totally agree with you,
it's great to get confidence with your speaking skill, etc.
So, if you join the program
and you have all of that support and the accountability,
what happens when you stick with it,
when you continue to do the work,
you do the work regularly and you work towards your goals?
When you start off with this program,
after just three days of starting,
you're gonna realize that there's a big difference
between spoken and written English.
And this is just gonna be your aha moment,
you're like okay,
I'm starting to understand why it's so hard for me.
But also you're gonna start to clearly recognize
some of the common phrases that you're gonna hear
as you get started with the program,
Llke, so wuhdjuh do? Or I dunno.
But really, getting your ear
used to hearing very common phrases
which is a key to fluid listening.
Then after three weeks in the program,
already you're starting to feel more confident
about your listening and your speaking
but you've also realized that you,
you know for example,
you really need to improve on your ability
to make small talk with colleagues.
This is just an example,
but the idea is that you're starting to identify
the places where you really need some help
and when you do identify that place or that thing,
you ask your teacher or your coach for some advice
and some exercises to improve that specific point
that is difficult for you.
You start to practice.
Sometimes you're doing deliberate practice.
We talked about this several videos ago.
You know, maybe working on some exercises
or some very structured conversation
and then you also do it in more informal conversations,
doing natural practice with your classmates
or with your conversation partners.
But you're really focusing on that thing
that you specifically need to improve on.
And then after three months,
you've completed the program,
you've set up your virtual immersion
and it's just a part of your daily life,
and maybe even you've forgotten how you felt before
when you felt blocked,
because now it's just totally natural for you
and you sound and you feel more confident in conversations.
You're less worried about your mistakes
and you also perhaps notice
that a lot of times native speakers
don't really care if you make little mistakes
as long as they can understand you
and in most situations, they can.
So, you know that you're still learning,
you're not absolutely perfect, no one is,
but your native speaker colleagues
are taking you more seriously
because you started to talk like them,
to use those same colloquial expressions,
and you literally speak their language.
And that's already leading to better relationships
in your career and your personal life too.
And then in the long term,
when you're sticking with it and you're continuing to learn,
you know that you're still not absolutely bilingual
but you don't stop every 10 words
to think of what you wanna say next
and you never thought that you would get to this point
but you're thinking in English
and people are complimenting you
on your good level of English.
And as a result, you're gonna have deeper relationships,
both in your business and your personal life.
You'll have better career prospects,
better financial situation perhaps,
and just that personal satisfaction of saying,
you know what, I did it, I invested in myself,
I had this goal and I took the action to make it happen.
And of course, my team and I we are here to support you
throughout the entire duration of the program.
So, if you would like our help and support,
applications officially open for this program
and they are open until Tuesday, January 28th, 2020.
We're gonna select a small number of students to participate
so you must apply to join the program.
And all of the details and the application
is at this address that you see on the screen,
but I'll also put a link directly to that page
in the notes below this video.
Now before we finish, I have a question for you.
Which one is your biggest challenge today?
Of those three challenges we mentioned,
making time and avoiding excuses,
feeling stuck and frustrated,
or feeling overwhelmed by the options.
What is the one biggest challenge
that is preventing you from reaching your goals in English?
Tell us, share it with us in the comments
so we can already start to support you.
And in our next lesson,
we're gonna see what you get
when you have an advanced level of English.
There are some great rewards,
some really great possibilities for you,
and we're gonna see what you can get
when you reach that advanced level.
All right, that's it for this time
and I will see you next time.
Bye.