English with Ruth

There’s a quote that I’ve heard recently that says:

🟢Only compare yourself to your previous self, not to others.

And as we finish the month of June, and we are halfway through the year, I have been reflecting on the progress I’ve made this year especially related to my own language learning in French.

In January I was still struggling to write professional emails in French. I was afraid of making mistakes and for every email I sent in French, I would get my partner (who is bilingual in French and English) to check it before I hit the sent button. This was extremely slow and ineffective and I felt so stuck and limited when trying to communicate in French. I was so afraid to make mistakes that I often avoided communicating in French when it was possible.

But just this morning, I sent an email in French without hesitating…

My past self would be so happy and proud!

I now rarely ask my partner to check my emails. I may make a few mistakes but I know that I can communicate and connect with people in French

Why?

For the last 6 months a lot has changed:

🟢I started taking weekly individual and group lessons in French which helped build my confidence and vocabulary

🟢I challenged myself to listen to native French podcasts and videos on topics such as sociology and politics that I really enjoy but I thought were too advanced for me in French. To my surprise, I can generally understand 80-90 percent of most content and I am exploring some fascinating topics in the process

🟢I took on a work opportunity where I taught beginners English to French students - one of the requirements was that I needed to explain things in French and this pushed me to speak more and give precise instructions and feedback to these students in French

I would love to know in the comments:
🟢Where were you in January this year? What would your previous self be proud of today?

PS if you want to start making more progress with your English, go and check out my free workbook to help you achieve greater English fluency in 30 days. The link is at my profile bio.

Professeure d'anglais anglophone donne cours particuliers pour adultes en ligne et a Nivelles en personne

Voir cette brochure pour plus de détails et des avis de clients ⬇️

Are you taking action today to bring your dreams into reality?

Comment below and tell me:

What is your dream?
What do you need to do to achieve this dream?

I would love to know!

And if you feel stuck and don't know how to advance your English, send me a DM. I would happy to help with some tips and advice!

Today's is something I am frequently asked by my students:

How can I better understand natives?

Here are my 3 tips! ➡️➡️

🟢 Tip 1:
Build your vocabulary by listening to a variety of native resources.
Analyse short video and audio clips to learn new expressions, collocations, phrasal verbs and get used to natural pronunciation.
For a range of different native resources, browse the national media broadcaster of each English-speaking country. Here are a few:
USA - NPR
Canada - CBC
UK - BBC
Ireland - RTE
Australia - ABC

🟢 Tip 2:
Learn the features of connected speech - the natural way of connecting words and sounds together when speaking.

Remember that a sentence may sound very different to how it looks when you read it.

Here are some examples:
He asked ---> Heyasked
Next door ----> nexdoor
want to ---> wanna

🟢 Tip 3:
Pay attention to word and sentence stress.

Usually, native speakers will stress the information words in a sentence - the words that are unstressed will be spoken faster.

For example:
The words in caps lock are the stressed information words, these will be stressed in speech and heard most clearly.

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