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I wrote this blog post for a community-exclusive EOP workshop. They wanted a fellow member to share tips and encourage others to participate, especially with the live Q&A sessions, hence the more casual and informal tone of the post.
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Being fluent in English can be very instrumental not only to your career but also in your daily life. If you’re not confident just yet, think of this as an opportunity for you to gauge your skills and to be able to practice. We all started somewhere, and what matters is how committed you are to improving yourself.
It can be unnerving sometimes, and that’s perfectly fine. English may not be your mother tongue, so mistakes are bound to happen. The key is to still practice every day, as you do to master any other skill. Here are a few tips for those who truly want to practice, but are still shy to speak to others just yet.
Do you mentally remind yourself of things you need to do when you wake up first thing in the morning? Try that, but in English. “I have to make breakfast, get groceries, and do the laundry today.” It’s a nice icebreaker for the day, you get to practice, and you get to sort your priorities, too. This can also help you to be able to recognize which words are more frequently used in daily conversations.
A more advanced approach you can do for this is setting aside a few minutes of your time daily to pretend that you’re in a talk show. You can even practice in front of a mirror if you want to keep track of your facial expressions, especially if your work involves a lot of video calls/meetings.
An article a day would be fine, as long as you do it every day. Some just take two to five minutes to read and that could be enough practice for the day. You can always adjust your reading material to whichever works best for you. It doesn’t have to be about the language either. It’s best if it is about something else that you are genuinely interested in, as long as it’s written in English. It’s an effective way of expanding your vocabulary!
You can also write down unfamiliar words (including their definition) in a separate notebook and use them in a sentence. You can do this with podcasts and subtitles, too. That way, you can familiarize yourself with them better.
Now that you have been practicing talking and writing, it’s time to listen to yourself. Try recording a bunch of your thoughts at the end of your day, and listen to them. We may not like the way we sound in recordings, but it’s a nice way to hear which areas need working on, like pauses, stress, intonation, and pronunciation. You may also try watching movies without English subtitles. This will help you hone your listening skills better and will give you a more accurate sound of the local accent.
This is the key to every skill that you want to upgrade. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does achieve mastery, and that’s what you are aiming for. Putting in your 10,000 hours is not going to be overnight. Those few minutes of practice every day can accumulate to 10,000 hours, though! Take breaks if needed, but never abandon your goals. Your future self will thank you.
If you feel comfortable enough, you can now try communicating with others (in English) casually. Like with any personal goal, it’s always better when you don’t feel alone!
These are just some of the things you can do to practice English. Take one step at a time, and don’t forget to enjoy the learning process!