hi and welcome back to love English so today's lesson actually more of a test
now I know that word probably sends chills down your spine but actually this
test is designed to help you to motivate you to notice where you can start
improving on your English and areas that you are already doing incredibly well in
what do we mean by fluent it seems to be kind of a buzzword that's used a lot
online these days and it's something that you all want to achieve
well fluency is simply the ability to express yourself easily and accurately
we can be referring to speech as well as the written form of English or indeed
any language and so often you guys want to know are you becoming fluent now I'm
giving you criteria 16 criteria to see if you are achieving a level of fluency
or indeed are already fluent in English or any other language if you can take
five of these sixteen boxes then you are on your way to becoming fluent the
reality is fluency is a process learning a language takes time dedication and
hard work you are not going to the confluent overnight I wish I could wave
a Harry Potter wand and make you all fluent it is just going to take some
time now hopefully by subscribing to love English you are already on your
journey to become fluent in English make sure if you haven't already you do click
that subscribe button as well as that notification bell that will mean you'll
be notified of our lessons as soon as they become available to you make sure
that you comment in the box below share some of your tips to become fluent tell
me what your score is how many of the sixteen criteria have you already
achieved and which ones will you be working on in
the future this should help us develop lessons for you with the aim of helping
you achieve fluency in English now if you didn't already know Sabra and I do
work at a university pathways college which means we are preparing students to
study in a foreign country in a foreign language in English so we teach skills
but we also have to focus on fluency in speaking so some of the criteria I have
here today actually come from university preparation speaking exams hopefully
that will help inform you and like I said give you something to work on so
are you ready to take the test
so the sixteen criteria that means you are fluent in English
number one you no longer use Google Translate I love Google Translate I
think it is brilliant for many students to use however when you really are
trying to become fluent in English it's much better to limit your use of Google
Translate why well because when you do try and translate a word or even a
phrase often it's not perfectly accurate and also when you try explaining a word
that you've translated in English you won't know how you'll simply know the
equivalent in your language make sure that you do download a good dictionary
app that means you're going to be looking at the description the
definition in English so even if you forget that word you'll be able to
describe it and explain yourself which really means you're on the way to
becoming fluent number two you recognize accents and dialects in English now I'm
not going to try doing any accents for you today that's kind of saber
especiales II but if you do start to notice those very subtle differences
sometimes quite strong then it means you're becoming aware of the different
sounds within the language and the different accents which is just
incredible so number two you're aware of different accents and dialects in
English even if that is just the difference between British and American
accents still pretty impressive number three you no longer need to translate in
your head now that also means that you're able to speak much quicker much
faster taking the time to think about something in your own language process
it and then explain in English is really time-consuming when you're able to just
speak without thinking and without even considering your l1 your mother tongue
language that is a sure sign you are becoming fluent
number four you know when you're making mistakes whether that is pronunciation
or grammar now when you start to realize the common errors that you're making
you'll start to correct yourself naturally which means you're becoming
more fluent but you are also able to improve your English you can still have
a few errors when you speak and be considered fluent but of course you do
want to avoid them so doing something like recording yourself videoing
yourself as you speak in English and noticing those little errors you are
making really is going to make all the difference and help you develop your
fluency number by your accent and your pronunciation does not interfere with
communication now that doesn't mean that you can't have an accent and still be
fluent of course you can when we are marking the speaking test we are looking
for barriers that means we can't understand the person talking the
student talking and having a very thick or heavy accent or indeed certain
pronunciation mistakes that really do interfere without understanding our
comprehension mean that that student really isn't fluent enough so when
people do not have a problem understanding you that is amazing and it
really does mean you're on your way to becoming fluent now again how do you
improve this if you think you've got a really strong accent or if you're
getting what's wrong and people aren't understanding you simply slow down and
make sure that you are speaking clearly enunciate make sure that you're
pronouncing all the letters even if it feels more than you need to do in the
beginning this is going to help you be understood by other people and again
recording yourself listening to your accent learning what sounds in your
language are often mispronounced in Arabic you've got pop but they get
confused in Korean Chinese Asian language you've
got la and practice those sounds that are difficult in your language that will
help you become much more fluent number six you've suddenly find that you can
understand without trying so you don't need to ask people to slow down or
repeat themselves and even if there's one or two words that you might not know
you've got the ability to understand what they mean you can understand
meaning from context you are not going to learn every single word in English or
any language even I don't know all the words in English but you can take an
educated guess based on the context of the conversation and you're able to
understand without difficulty a sure sign you're becoming fluent whoops
okay guys sorry about that but I seem to have forgotten at number seven while I
was filming eeek well it happens so number seven is you can use technical
and subject specific vocabulary this is another one that comes from the speaking
exam criteria at the University we work at it's really important that when you
are fluent you have a wider range of vocabulary not just the general everyday
words that we use regularly so technical vocabulary would cover things like
vocabulary related to your job your career or your field of study it really
shows that you've got a broad range of language and vocabulary and that you
really are becoming rather fluent so can you use a technical subject specific
vocabulary number eight you can use a grammatical structures and tenses
without difficulty it comes naturally and easily you don't have to think
should I be using the past simple or the present perfect it just comes naturally
that means that not only have you learnt the grammar correctly but you're also
able to use it within and natural context and again this isn't
going to happen overnight this takes both a lot of academic study
looking at those structures understanding how we use it but it also
means that you've been around English you've been immersed in English so
you're able to notice the subtle differences in some of the tenses that
we use and of course use them naturally again becoming more aware of the tenses
simply requires you making an effort to listen as well as use of the grammar so
pay attention in films look at the structure even have the subtitles on
sometimes to make you more aware of the grammar tenses and when we use them
number nine you don't get stuck there is no how do you say you don't need to
pause even when you can't think of that word you're able to get around it you're
able to either describe the word or think of a synonym so you're really not
pausing you're able to speak fluently without long pauses of course a few
pauses it's a natural part of how we all speak even I do it everyone does it but
there's long silent awkward pauses where you're thinking they really happen less
frequently and of course this is another good reason to stop using Google
Translate number ten now this is a tricky one and I do think this is a
really strong sign you are becoming fluent in a language you understand
jokes now whether that is the rather witty dry sense of humor that US Brit to
have all the more slapstick obvious humor that the Americans have you become
aware and you enjoy it you can watch a comedian in English and you'll laugh at
the jokes very often humor is about the culture but
about having a good knowledge of the language so things like puns are a
natural part of humor that we use so for example a man says to two women so
ladies wearing you from and the ladies reply wails and the man says oh sorry
where are you two whales from bad joke but I read it today so I thought I'd use
it as an example so humor again you really do have to be around the culture
and have an X and a knowledge of the language to understand some of those
rather bad jokes okay number 11 now as a teacher I have to grade my language
doesn't mean I have to say that the way I speak is ABC it just means that
depending on the level of student I make sure that I might simplify my language
so they can understand me more easily things like using less phrasal verbs
speaking more clearly I have to make sure that when I'm teaching different
levels in English they can understand what I'm saying they can follow me now
when you're in a situation that you're talking with a native speaker or even
speakers if you find that they are not trying to speak slower more clearly or
using big words idioms phrasal verbs then that means they have confidence in
you and your ability to understand and they think that you are fluent in
English so that is a great sign but you really are progressing in your English
and have learnt the language well almost perfectly number 12 you dream in English
now I'm curious to know whether it's English or any other of your 2nd 3rd 4th
languages at what stage did you guys start dreaming if at all it's something
but I've heard from many of my students that they found they started dreaming in
the second language they were learning now that's amazing we know that dreams
are part of our subconscious so if your subconscious is communicating to
you in English or your second third language that's a wonderful sign that
you really are becoming fluent on a whole other level so let me know have
you guys had any dreams in English or in your second third fourth language what
you guys are doing is amazing learning another language is so difficult and I
have so much admiration for all of you so let me know have you had a dream in
English okay number 13 now many of you know that I have an Italian boyfriend
and of course we mainly communicate in English although I am working on my
Italian he's told me and I've noticed actually that sometimes he'll forget the
word in Italian he's living in England at the moment so he's mainly
communicating in English his fluency level has improved so much since moving
to the UK and I'm very proud of him well done honey so when you start to forget
the word in your own language obviously not permanently but it just
shows that you really are thinking in that language
in your second language so have any of you been in this situation that you've
been speaking English and you've forgotten the word in your own language
hmm interesting one okay number fourteen and it's kind of obvious it's about
maintaining a conversation conversation is again one of those popular buzz words
you all want to be able to have a conversation in English now what equates
to a good conversation is when you kind of talk to someone and you actually come
away from the situation feeling that you've learnt something can you feel
energized obviously when it's in a second language that's much harder to
achieve so if you have had a great conversation with somebody whether they
are a native speaker or non-native maintains the conversation come away
learn something from that conversation and also feel that you've imparted as a
nice word imparted some knowledge and actually have a great conversation in
English number fifteen now this is an interesting
because I actually have left this to last I think this is actually quite
difficult for some of you songs in English now we know that singers
songwriters when they thing it's kind of you don't always hear the words
sometimes it's not grammatically correct and it's really difficult to decipher
exactly what they're saying so if you've got to the level that you can understand
a song in English even those difficult rock songs that really is a great sign
that you have become fluent or even if you can just understand most of the song
certainly there's a few singers and bands that I don't quite understand the
same goes for movies when you can watch a film movie American English and you
don't need subtitles what a fantastic sign that you are
becoming fluent you should really buy this stage to be feeling very confident
in your English language ability now finally number 16 people are impressed
with your English Wow where are you from how did you learn English so well I
would never have guessed English was your second language if any of you have
had some of those comments then that is amazing congratulations you really have
become fluent in English now if there are any signs any criteria that you
think I should have included then make sure that you comment in the box below
you can also tell me your score I would say that if you can take five out of the
sixteen that's brilliant give yourself a pat on the back it's a
great sign that you are working really hard and you have a great knowledge of
the language so let me know your score let me know if there are any other tips
tricks or criteria that you think we could include in this fluency test and
remember think about those areas where you are perhaps weaker that you can
improve on don't feel that you should be disappointed but set yourself goals to
help achieve the full 16 out of 16 in the fluency
test and don't forget make sure that you click down there that subscribe button
click on the notifications bell until it looks like this and sign up to the love
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