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  • hey guys what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com

  • in this video we are going to talk about how to improve your confidence in

  • English and I am making this video in my car for a reason because I was driving

  • downtown today and I was not feeling confident and so I really started

  • thinking about you guys and what it takes to speak English confidently okay

  • so here we go first of all the reason why I was not feeling confident driving

  • downtown is one because I don't have a lot of experience driving down town and

  • I'm I'm from Sacramento California and the streets downtown are different from

  • the streets in the suburbs and in the other areas okay so basically where I'm

  • used to driving in neighborhoods and freeways and stuff like that every

  • street is a two-way street that's point blank that's one thing and then another

  • thing is that the streets are pretty big so there's lots of space in each lane

  • and I feel confident when I'm driving on regular streets that I'm used to driving

  • on okay but downtown a lot of the streets are one-way streets and also

  • they're very narrow and I'm not used to driving in these circumstances right so

  • when I'm in these situations I feel less confident so I'm bringing this up

  • because I want to tell you if you're not confident speaking English there's a

  • good chance you literally just don't have enough experience okay because the

  • more experience you have with something the more confident you become just like

  • if I would drive down town every single day I would get super confident driving

  • downtown you know it's not that big of a deal the other thing is I've had some

  • bad experiences driving downtown two really bad experiences that I will tell

  • you about okay and these happen years ago like when I was first learning how

  • to drive but the reason I'm gonna tell you is

  • because if you've ever had a bad experience with your English like if a

  • teacher has ever embarrassed you or friends or strangers or if you were ever

  • in a dangerous situation and you didn't know what to do and you know that's kind

  • of traumatic stuff and that can really influence your confidence level so two

  • really big mistakes that I made driving downtown this happened when I was

  • probably like nineteen years old one day I was driving with my friend at

  • we had gone out to dinner maybe we went dancing I don't really remember but I

  • made a wrong turn and the next thing I knew I was driving on railroad tracks

  • it wasn't like for a train but it was for the kind of trains that go in the

  • streets anyhow there was a specific street designated for this tram and next

  • thing you know I'm driving with my truck like this and a train is coming at us

  • like this it's midnight the lights are shining at

  • us and it's like honking like like what are you doing lady get out of the road

  • okay that was really traumatic I don't even know what I did to escape from that

  • but somehow I got out of that situation I pulled over my friend and I we were

  • just like breathing really hard and I was like I'm so sorry like I don't know

  • how I made this mistake so anyhow that's one big mistake I made driving downtown

  • another mistake and this is super embarrassing the streets are so narrow

  • and I was driving a Ford f-150 which was my very first car it was a truck okay

  • and besides having narrow streets you always have cars parked on the sides

  • of the streets so I was driving in the right-hand Lane there were a bunch of

  • cars over there parked and as I'm driving I got too close to one of the

  • parked cars and my mirror slapped the mirror of another parked car and I just

  • kept driving like I didn't even know what to do I'm like oh shoot am I

  • supposed to stop pull over say sorry like you know give them my insurance

  • number what am I supposed to do and here's the deal with confidence if you

  • have bad experiences with something it will cause you to doubt your ability so

  • now every time I Drive downtown because it rarely happens I still sometimes

  • remember those traumatic experiences and I'm just like oh my gosh I'm so nervous

  • driving downtown and I have to like talk to myself like Stefanie you got this

  • you're okay you know how to drive you don't worry

  • you've been doing this for years but I'm telling you this because again of your

  • English right if you don't have a lot of experience speaking English

  • you may lack confidence the solution is simply to get more experience or if

  • you've had some traumatic experiences you may lack confidence speaking English

  • the solution is to just again keep practicing and talk yourself through

  • what's going on and reassure yourself you know you've got this it's okay if

  • you have a speech or something that you have to deliver if you have a phone call

  • that you have to make give yourself a little pep talk before you do it this is

  • my strategy this is what I do and it works okay it's reassuring now the final

  • thing I want to mention about confidence is sometimes you have had plenty of

  • experience you've had no traumatic experiences so there should really be no

  • reason why you lack confidence but yet you still lack confidence right you

  • don't feel that great when you speak English the reason for that you have to

  • dig so much deeper because it can be fear doubt embarrassment it can be a lot

  • of things but usually it's one of those three it's like you fear how other

  • people will perceive you or you fear making a mistake or you fear making

  • yourself look silly okay so if you want to be a confident English speaker write

  • what it what does it take it takes experience you have to have experience

  • speaking the language you have to speak with native speakers every day okay and

  • I'll talk to you guys about how you can do this in a second but you have to be

  • using the language every day in different circumstances so you get more

  • experience with it then if you find yourself lacking confidence you do have

  • to deal with your own mindset and mentality and ask yourself you know

  • what's really going on here is it just because I lack experience is it because I've

  • had bad experiences is it because of some underlying fear what is really

  • going on okay and then talk yourself through it you will gain confidence by

  • doing two things by gaining experience and by changing the way you perceive

  • yourself and situations around you okay so you can learn to be a super confident

  • English speaker in any situation now let's talk about how you can use English

  • every day to improve to talk with native English speakers to make friends to

  • you just you know because all of that stuff is gonna help you feel more

  • confident I created a free guide for you that's all about how to meet native

  • English speakers strategically and form relationships start conversation so you

  • can really be the one that's in control and leading the conversation leading the

  • relationship using your English even if your English isn't perfect okay even if

  • you don't feel super fluent anyhow thousands thousands of people have

  • already downloaded this guide and sent me really awesome feedback they loved it

  • so I know you're gonna love it too and I will link it in the comments anyhow guys

  • that's all I will say about that I've got to go I've got some errands to run

  • so that's it and I'll see you in another video

hey guys what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com

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