Learning English

“These days I feel less confident about my English. I can see my bad points.” - Shin, Japan

All episodes
_____________________________________________________________

Watch Georgie's video about celebrating your progress

_____________________________________________________________

Introduction

Sometimes it can feel like no matter how much you practise speaking, you don’t get any better. Learn from experts about this topic and get tips on what to do when you feel stuck with your English.

With speaking coaches Rhiannon Carter and Barnaby Griffiths.

Reflect 

Discuss in pairs/groups or make self-reflections.

Before listening: 

• Have you ever felt like you aren’t getting better at English even though you practise often?
• Which English skill do you find the most difficult to improve? Reading, listening, writing or speaking?

After listening: 

• Can you think of one thing about your English that has improved since this time last year?
• What would you like to get better at? Think of one goal for your English and write it down or set yourself a reminder for 6 months in the future.

_____________________________________________________________

Vocabulary 

on the surface
appearing to be something, but which is not necessarily true

reach a wall
arrive at a point where it is difficult to make progress

perfectionist
someone who likes to do everything properly

botany
the study of plants

never-ending
something that goes on forever  

competently
good enough at a skill that you can use it    

_____________________________________________________________

Transcript 

Georgie
Do you feel like your English speaking isn't getting better?

Shin, Japan
These days I feel less confidence about my English. I can see my bad point.

Rhiannon Carter
On the surface, these are people who seem to be able to get past their anxiety in some, in some way, but internally they're suffering.

Barnaby Griffiths
It takes a long time to learn a language competently, so we should celebrate the little milestones that we achieve along the way.

Hanan
Today we're going to talk about what to do when you feel like you aren't improving when speaking English.

Georgie
Hello and welcome to Beating Speaking Anxiety, our special series to help you become more confident speaking English. I'm Georgie, an English teacher and presenter at BBC Learning English.

Hanan
And I am Hanan from BBC Arabic. You can find a transcript of this episode to help you learn on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Georgie
Many people feel like no matter how much they study, they can't improve their speaking. Hanan, I think you mentioned that when you first moved to the UK, you had a high level of English, but you still found it hard to have conversations.

Hanan
Yes, that's very true, Georgie, especially that, you know, your classroom language is very different from the day-to-day language.

Georgie
Mmm, yeah. When I was learning Spanish, I spent so much time reading, practising my listening. But when it came to speaking, I just found it so much harder because it's so 'in the moment'. Um, it was much harder to, to improve. And this is a common experience.

Rhiannon Carter
So, on the surface, these are people who seem to be able to get past their anxiety in some, in some way. They seem to be able to, you know, get the promotions, do really well at work. But internally they're suffering a lot of the time, feeling a lot of discomfort.

Hanan
This is Rhiannon Carter. She's an English teacher and speaking coach who works with high level, high anxiety learners. That means people who are really good at English but really worried about using it.

Georgie
As Rhiannon says, these are people who might seem to be doing well, but inside they feel like their anxiety is holding them back.

Rhiannon Carter
They might have reached what they would consider to be like a wall in terms of, you know, I couldn't go for a job with that level of responsibility because my English just isn't up to it. Or, you know, I, my manager tells me I'm doing fine, but I feel so insecure every time I'm contributing in meetings, I feel like I'm not doing my best.

Hanan
Rhiannon finds that when people reach this wall, the best thing they can do is stop trying to improve their English at all.

Georgie
And this might sound strange. How can you improve your English without learning more English? But Rhiannon says that putting too much pressure on your English skills can actually make speaking anxiety worse, especially if you're a bit of a perfectionist.

Rhiannon Carter
If you are taking lots of action and if it feels like, my God, I've been in course after course after course and I sign up for more and I follow more people on social media and I'm listening to podcasts like this one, and I'm doing everything.... Well, then maybe you stop doing it, and maybe you say, "I need to take a break from focusing primarily on English. Maybe there's something else I really enjoy".

Hanan
Rhiannon recommends trying things that you're interested in and that allow you to practise English, but without the focus being on English. For example, she had a student who wanted to study for a master's in botany – that's the study of plants.

Rhiannon Carter
And she was saying, you know, "Oh, Rhiannon, should I take the IELTS exam? Should I take the Cambridge exam?" And I'm like, "You know what you should take? An evening class in botany. A couple of hundred quid, about equivalent of what you would be spending on, uh, on English preparation, and you're going to be around people who are interested in the same topic as you. You're going to be naturally using the kind of vocabulary that you're going to need for your, your master's later. Go try that. And if there are still gaps, or if you realise that you don't meet the entry requirements, OK, fine, we come back and we do something more language related. Um, but try something else".

Georgie
I like this tip because the focus of what you're doing is on something you like and enjoy, and it might make you feel relaxed. And then there's less focus on the language you're using. It also makes the language feel more real because you're using it for a real purpose. And that's motivating.

_____________________________________________________________

Watch an explainer video

_____________________________________________________________

Hanan
Rhiannon's advice sounds really great for higher level learners, but Georgie, what about people who feel like their English level is holding them back?

Georgie
Yes, learning a language is a long journey, and it can sometimes feel like you're stuck at intermediate level. If that's you, the best thing you can do is recognise and celebrate the progress you've already made. Let's hear from Barnaby Griffiths, a speaking coach who has been offering us advice throughout this series.

Barnaby Griffiths
Language learning is a very, well it's a never-ending process, isn't it? And we know that – it goes on and on and on. So we, we need to be very clear that we are progressing by noticing that we've improved week on week, month on month, and celebrating that and feeling good about ourselves and saying, "Oh, I'm better than I was a month ago.

Hanan
So how can learners make sure they're celebrating their progress, Georgie?

Georgie
Yeah. So one method is you could keep a diary – write down things you've achieved, things you found difficult. Another idea, you can set small goals for yourself, and it can help to send a message or email to yourself to remind you to do them. And Barnaby suggests using video to recognise how far you've come.

Barnaby Griffiths
A way of doing this is by, is by recording yourself. If you record yourself a few times a week or once a week and you compare gradually how you're improving, you should celebrate that progress, because it might not be a huge difference, but I always compare to learning a musical instrument. These things, it takes a long time to learn a musical instrument competently. It takes a long time to learn a language competently. So we should celebrate the little milestones that we achieve along the way.

Georgie
Thanks for listening to this episode of Beating Speaking Anxiety. To learn more about speaking anxiety, head to our website where I've made videos for each of the speaking fears we talk about in this series. You'll hear more advice and see some tips in action with real learners. Use the link in the notes for this episode or visit bbclearningenglish.com.

Hanan
Next time we'll be talking about how to express your personality in English in our final episode of the series. Join us then.

Georgie
Bye.

Next

Watch the video to see learners in action. 

Discover programmes to improve your skills.