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  • hello everyone and welcome back to

  • english with Lucy. Today I'm going to talk to you about confidence.

  • Confidence is something that a lot of language learners lack.

  • i know because i myself

  • speak some other languages and when i

  • was learning them i really felt quite shy at times.

  • And I could have used a video by someone to give me a boost.

  • So this is what I want to do for you.

  • Today I've got five tips that I can give

  • you that will help you learn to speak more confidently more fluently.

  • And I really hope that my tips will motivate

  • you a bit more so that you can really

  • learn English with lots of enthusiasm.

  • Now I've got an Instagram account and i

  • like to chat with my students on there.

  • And this morning I posted a video asking

  • my current students what made them feel

  • more confident when speaking english and

  • i got lots of replies and at the end of the video.

  • I'm going to show some of

  • those replies to you and see if you can

  • relate with them see if you disagree or agree.

  • I think it's really important to get opinions and information from people who are learning English right now.

  • They're just like you in the same situation.

  • So a little bit about me first.

  • So obviously i am English with Lucy, I am

  • an English teacher and I have been

  • teaching for over three years now.

  • Its my love it's my passion it's what I want to

  • do for the rest of my life.

  • Now part of the reason that I enjoy teaching so much

  • is because i have also been through the language learning experience.

  • I've been through it with Spanish I now speak fluent spanish.

  • y si me quereis ver hablando en pues podeis ver este video aqui que grabe hablando de los errores que he cometido en español.

  • Right so let's get started with the tips.

  • The first and most important tip i can give you is

  • laugh at yourself,

  • have a sense of humor,

  • don't take it too seriously.

  • On this channel I like to laugh I like to have

  • fun and sometimes I will sort of make fun of the errors that my students normally make

  • and this is because I want them to get used to laughing at their own errors.

  • Enjoy your errors your errors are not bad

  • and if you can laugh at them,

  • it will make the learning experience so much more pleasant.

  • Now my teaching methods aren't for

  • everyone, for every 99 positive comments

  • I will receive a negative one saying you

  • shouldn't laugh at your students.

  • You're a terrible teacher. Now I can laugh at your

  • errors but i can also laugh at mine and

  • I do so frequently. So that's why I include

  • the outtakes at the end of some of my videos

  • and that's why i filmed my perra choriza video which is actually in Spanish

  • but it's of me talking about

  • these stupid ridiculous hilarious errors that i made in Spanish.

  • I once asked for a penis Caesar salad. I once also made an

  • awful mistake in an ice cream shop.

  • The word for a cone of ice cream is un cono

  • de helado and the word for vagina in spanish is coño.

  • And I think you can probably

  • imagine what i asked for un coño de helado.

  • yeah I was kind of embarrassed in the moment.

  • But now i can laugh about it and

  • it's a great story to tell.

  • I always find that if you're finding it

  • hard to have a good conversation with someone that's also learning another

  • language while a really good way of starting a conversation is

  • by talking about the errors that you've made with learning languages.

  • It's always a really good conversation starter for me.

  • Now number two is all about your mistakes again.

  • So we're not just laughing about them.

  • We are intentionally making them.

  • I want you to make mistakes. I know many

  • students that would go long periods of

  • time avoiding making certain mistakes.

  • They are trying to achieve 100-percent perfection.

  • I want you to laugh at your mistakes,

  • learn from them and move on.

  • Mistakes are essential even in English.

  • I make mistakes and you guys love pointing them out.

  • So you need to accept your

  • mistakes learn from them love them and move on.

  • Okay number three is pretend that you are confident.

  • When i started teaching english,

  • i was only nineteen and I remember walking into

  • classrooms of 20 to 30 adults nervous

  • low-level adults in Spain.

  • And just thinking wow I am the youngest person in this room.

  • I have to get this group of

  • scary scary adults to trust me and

  • believe what I'm saying and and listen

  • to me and also to respect me. And I never

  • really felt truly nervous before in my

  • life but walking into big classrooms

  • especially on the first day was nerve-racking.

  • It was ... it made me really

  • nervous and really anxious. And I found

  • that the best way of gaining confidence

  • was to pretend I was confident.

  • I hadn't been teaching for long.

  • I didn't have much experience but I

  • tried my best. I prepared hard and I

  • walked in held my head high and I spoke

  • to everyone confidently and I really

  • pretended that I knew what I was doing

  • more than I actually did.

  • And this actually created real confidence not

  • only in me but in my students.

  • I looked as if I knew what I was doing and they

  • trusted me and respected me.

  • And once I'd spent enough time pretending I was confident,

  • I actually started feeling genuinely confident.

  • Though I had real confidence but it came from that initial

  • fake confidence. So how can we apply this

  • to your language learning.

  • Well when you're speaking English hide those

  • nerves body language is key. Pretend that

  • you know what you're talking about,

  • don't be arrogant but show that you are

  • not afraid and people will trust you,

  • listen to you. Pretend that you're confident

  • Ok number four and this is something that I really really believe in.

  • And this is talk to yourself. I always talk to

  • myself in the language that I'm learning.

  • And it really serves as a preparation

  • for when you're in situations in which you will need to use the language.

  • The main things that I like to practice on my anecdotes,

  • the stories that you typically tell to each new person, you meet

  • things that you generally say on a weekly or daily basis.

  • It's also good to practice funny stories that you think will make people laugh.

  • Because you want them to come out in the right way.

  • So if you're a lower-level make sure you

  • practice your daily conversations.

  • How are you, how's the weather, what your hobbies are,

  • what you do for a living.

  • And if you're a more advanced learner

  • make sure you talk to yourself about funny

  • anecdotes, your life story, things that

  • happened to you that were interesting,

  • observations about other people's cultures.

  • When you give a presentation for university or for work.

  • You don't just wing it you don't just walk up and speak.

  • You practice it so it should be

  • the same for these stories as well.

  • Number five immerse yourself .

  • And you can take whatever you want from this immersion.

  • In my case would be going to the country

  • of the language you're learning and living there,

  • integrating yourself into the society,

  • into the culture just absorbing the language

  • and the feeling and the in the atmosphere

  • that for me is the best form of immersion.

  • Now that isn't possible for everyone.

  • Immersion for you might be a narrow week

  • in a language academy, it might be a

  • language exchange with a native speaker,

  • it might be an online language exchange with another English Learner,

  • it might be watching an episode of your favorite TV

  • show in English with english subtitles every night.

  • But in order to build your

  • confidence you need to get used to

  • listening in English. So you need to find

  • the right immersion technique for you

  • There is always a solution.

  • We have a brilliant saying in English called:

  • where there's a will there's a way.

  • So when you intend to do something

  • there's a way of doing it.

  • And if you want to find a way of

  • immersing yourself into english or the

  • language that you're learning, there is a way.

  • Now I want to read a few of these

  • suggestions from my students on Instagram.

  • And one I really like and not

  • all of you are going to like this.

  • This is from Ilich from Venezuela and he says

  • hello, I believe that drinking is the way to get more confidence.

  • I went to Brighton for a year and the best classroom was the pub.

  • Brilliant! Look, Ilich has really made the most of his situation.

  • He was in brighton he immersed himself and he found native speakers

  • Micarla from Brazil that she likes watching movies without subtitles.

  • Again it's that immersion technique i was talking to you about.

  • Alejandra for a mexico has a really good piece of advice.

  • People should not be afraid to ask natives when they don't know how to say something.

  • It's the way that I've increased my

  • vocabulary and improve my pronunciation.

  • And of course your videos help.

  • Haha! That's sweet and yeah I had that is absolutely right.

  • Muhammad has also got some really good advice.

  • He says speak English with your close friends.

  • Yeah you can speak English with people you trust.

  • He also says to imagine yourself in different daily situations in which you have to speak English.

  • Again it's that talking to yourself technique that i mentioned before.

  • Paco says the more he speaks with natives the more confident he feels.

  • And yes it's the immersion again.

  • Roy says get a girlfriend who is a native speaker.

  • Yes if you can manage that that's fantastic but make

  • sure you're with her for the right reason.

  • Hectore says speak slowly at first and then build up.

  • Absolutely i completely agree with Hectore.

  • Ok guys that is it for today's

  • class I really hope that it's helped you

  • and I really hope that you feel slightly more motivated.

  • Now don't forget to

  • connect with me on all of my social

  • media and I will see you again soon for another lesson.

  • Alright big kiss and I will see you soon.

hello everyone and welcome back to

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