Episode 9
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Read the Transcript
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Hi, everybody! I am Georgiana, your English teacher and founder of SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. My mission is to help you speak English fluently.
In this episode:
I will talk about certificates and real progress in learning English.
After that, you can practice your speaking with a Question & Answer story.
Ok, let's get started!
As you may know, certificates in English are something important. For example, everybody knows about the Cambridge University Certificates. The First Certificate is probably the most famous one.
If you prefer American English, you have a TOEFL certificate, which is also quite popular.
You'd be amazed about how many students prepare themselves to get one of these certificates.
The problem here is people tend to confuse having a certificate with the real level of English they actually have.
For example, for someone who has gotten the First Certificate... Can you be totally sure that this person can speak fluently?
According to the advertising...of course! That's what you have paid for, and that's why you have spent so many hours doing all kinds of boring exercises.
Some students, after studying very hard, travel to England or The United States to practice. Do you know what often happens? It's dramatic: They can barely understand the native speakers. They say they speak too fast, or that they use casual expressions, etc.
So, why does that happen?
Here's the thing. When you prepare for exams, you train yourself for the specific exercises you find in those exams. However, when you find yourself in a real conversation, it's totally different.
You don't have time to think or translate. It's an entirely different experience. You can't stop a conversation for a few seconds just to think about the meaning and what to say next.
Certificates don't prove the level of the language. It just shows that you've been able to pass an exam.
Let me tell you something. Native speakers can speak English without any effort. They have zero problems having a conversation. They know a lot of vocabulary. However, many natives wouldn't pass an advanced English exam.
On the other hand, there are many English students with advanced certificates who are not fluent in English. Believe me. I've had students like that.
See what I mean?
Ok, so I'm not saying that certificates are worthless. I fully respect students who have them. It's a lot of work, and certificates are really useful for getting better jobs, for example.
I am just pointing out that certificates are not the best way to measure progress, and if you really want to improve your level of English, you just need to do two things: Listening and reading. Of course, you also need to practice, but this practice makes sense when you listen and read a lot.
Ok, let's move on to the next section.
Want more speaking practice? Continue with a complete audio course.
IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING
Mini-Story: Speaking Practice
Answer the questions aloud with short and quick responses. Repeat the Mini-Story several times to improve your speaking and listening.
Ted studied very hard and got all the English certificates.
Did Ted study hard?
Yes, he studied hard. He studied English very hard.
How did Ted study?
Hard. He studied hard.
What did Ted study?
French?
German?
Neither French nor German. He didn't study any of those languages. He studied English. In fact, He got all the English certificates.
Did Ted get only one English certificate?
No, no. He didn't get only one certificate. He got all the certificates. All of them.
Who got all the English certificates?
Ted. Ted got them. He studied very hard, and he got all of them.
Ted wanted to practice his English, so he traveled to England.
Did Ted want to practice his English or his Japanese?
His English. Ted wanted to practice his English.
What language did he want to practice?
English. He wanted to practice English.
Who wanted to practice English?
Ted. Ted wanted to practice English.
What language did he want to practice?
English. English was the language he wanted to practice. He traveled to England to practice.
Did he travel to The United States?
No, no. He didn't travel to The United States. He traveled to England.
Did he travel to France?
No, neither. He didn't travel to The United States nor France. He traveled to England.
Why did he travel to England?
Because he wanted to practice English, he traveled there to practice his English.
Where did he travel?
To England. He traveled to England.
In England, Ted couldn't understand a word. It was too difficult.
Could he understand something in England?
No, he couldn't. He couldn't understand a word.
Could he understand two words in English?
No. He couldn't. Ted traveled to England, but he couldn't understand a single word.
Who couldn't understand a word in England?
Eliza?
No, no. Not Eliza. It was Ted who couldn't understand a word in England. It was too difficult.
Was it too difficult or too easy?
Too difficult. It was too difficult. English from England was too difficult.
What was too difficult?
The English from England. It was too difficult for Ted.
For whom was the English from England too difficult?
For Ted. It was too difficult for Ted.
Ted changed his approach and decided to listen to 3 hours of English every day.
Did Ted change something?
Yes. He changed his approach. He changed the way he was learning English.
Did Ted change the way he was studying English?
Yes. He changed that. He wanted to do something different. He decided to listen to 3 hours of English every day.
How many hours did Ted decide to listen to?
Two hours. He decided to listen to two hours every day.
Did he decide to listen every day or every week?
Every day. He decided to listen every day.
After six months, he returned to England, and he met a charming English girl.
Did Ted return to England?
Yes. He returned to England.
Did he return after one year?
No. He didn't return after one year. He returned after six months.
Where did he return?
England. He returned to England. He met a girl there.
Did Ted meet someone in England?
Yes. He met a very charming girl in England.
Did Ted meet a guy?
No, no. He didn't meet a guy. He met a girl.
Was the girl charming?
Yes, she was. She was charming. She was a charming English girl.
Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Review
Vocabulary
Review the most useful words and expressions before listening again.
certificate
an official document showing an achievement.
pass an exam
achieve the required result in a test.
TOEFL
a widely used test of English proficiency.
measure progress
evaluate how much improvement has occurred.
barely understand
understand only a very small amount.
change your approach
use a different method or strategy.
native speaker
someone who learned a language from early childhood.
charming
pleasant and attractive.
Want more speaking practice? Continue with a complete audio course.
Fantastic!
I am learn english and loved this audios.
Thanks so much
Hi Nestor! I’m so happy that you love my audio lessons!
Thank you Georgiana
Thanks a lot Georgiana!
I love your audio listening with transcript.
Thank you so much.
Amazing! Thank you so much for fantastics materials (Audio & PDF)!
I really appreciate it
Since i listened all the audios i can say that i have improvement now.thank you georgina for helping us.
I’m glad that you are enjoying my lessons!
Thank you so much Giorgiana!
Your work is helping to many persons in the world! I’m from Brasil!
Congratulations for you hard work!
You’re a very good person!
Hi, Luis! Thank you for your kind words 🙂
You are right, a certificate doesn’t prove that you are perfect unless you prove that you, yourself orally. Majority of non native have certificates but unfourtunatilly they couldn’t speak very well. This May indicates for lack of practice or as you mentioned this May refer to traditional way of teaching.
Hi Georgiana, I love your teaching style, your method, language accent, pronunciation, and sweet Sounds, I really appreciate your job.
I wish for you. Have a great life
Thanks 🙂 You are very kind. Have a nice week!
After listening to the podcasts I feel that that my english become’s fluent.I listen it everyday and im writing this comment while listening.Thnx for improving my English miss.And one thing your voice is so pretty…
Thanks for the comment! I’m happy to help!
Hi Georgiana.
Thanks for your podcast.
Have a nice day.
Little by little I’m improving my English with you. Thaks a lot Georgiana
Hi, Georgiana
I love your lessons very much and also love your voice. It sounds like the rhythm of the song.
Thank you so much.
God bless you.
Thank you very much for your comment. I’m so glad you like my lessons. 🙂
I found this lesson very useful, I’ve been learning English for more than 10 years and I was struggled with listening and speaking but since I started listening to podcasts and reading a lot I made a huge progress in listening and speaking and now I got the hang of reading and listening and I can say for sure my level improved but I have to keep making progress by listening, speaking, reading, writing, and I hope to be confident in a couples of months. my question to you Adriana is this: what is the best way to master vocabularies we come across on internet or in different English documents.
Hey very interesting blog!
I love your podcast are very useful and I’ve been able to understand all the audios.
That’s awesome!! Thanks for sharing! Have a great weekend!