STARTING OUT At the beginning of your journey you learn a lot of vocabulary, but you THINK IN AND TRANSLATE FROM YOUR OWN LANGUAGE. That's because you still have to make common set phrases automatic, so you can use them spontaneously, without hesitation and with a clear pronunciation. To MAKE FREQUENT PHRASES AUTOMATIC it is not enough to simply expose yourself to the language. You need to know: - what to focus on - how to practise so you can remember in the long term - follow a training routine - learn how to deal with mistakes, uncertainty and misunderstandings. If you'd like to make language automatic and gain speaking confidence, let's talk!
GOING UP At this point you have the basic vocabulary and grammar to MAKE YOURSELF UNDERSTOOD. Still, you mostly think in your own language. This makes your SPEAKING SLOW and your interaction with fluent and native speakers difficult, uncomfortable, sometimes embarassing. At this stage what you need is not more vocabulary and more grammar. What you really need is to FOCUS ON ACTIVATING the VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR YOU ALREADY KNOW but cannot use accurately and fast enough in real-life situations. The FluencyRoutine method takes you through specific language activation steps: Understand-Activate-Use. If you'd like to speed up your speaking and gain clarity and confidence, let's talk!
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE Have you been practising with some regularity without making any significant progress? Still MAKING THE SAME MISTAKES over and over again? At this stage you might feel frustrated and a bit discouraged. You might even start blaming the lack of time or talent. I'm afraid you are stuck in the so-called "intermediate plateau". And the truth is that neither more time nor talent alone will get you unstuck. What will then? CLARITY: you need to clearly identify what is holding you back and slows you down. INTENTIONAL PRACTICE: specific techniques to help you overcome exactly those aspects that keep you stuck MINDSET TRAINING: develop tolerance to discomfort, fight procrastination and limiting beliefs, break bad habits and build good ones. If you'd like to get unstuck from this stationary stage, let's talk!
FLUENCY TURNING POINT You've managed to get past the intermediate plateau and now the progress to overall fluency feels slower, simply because it is a matter of FINE-TUNING: making small adjustments, adding natural expressions and structures, working on fast speech pronunciation and intonation. If you'd like to fine-tune your English to reach overall fluency and go beyond, let's talk!
FLUENCY and BEYOND You THINK DIRECTLY IN ENGLISH and are confidently using daily-life natural expressions and structures that can express accurately and fluently your thoughts. You now FEEL CONFIDENT enough to actually listen to people, you understand almost every word they say, enjoy having a conversation, without worrying about your turn to speak. Is there anything else beyond overall fluency? Yes, there is: COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS CONTEXTS. When you need to give a speech, make a presentation, negotiate, attend meetings or job interviews, you need to acquire and practise the adequate formal language you need to perform at your best under pressure. If you'd like to be able to perform in business-related contexts as effectively as in your own native language let's talk!