How Benny transformed his English with Master Real American English

- Hey there.

This is Christina from Speak English with Christina,

where you will learn American culture

and business know how to become confident in English.

And today, we have a very special video with Benny

who is one of the past students

on the Master Real American English Program

and I wanted to share his story with you

because I am super proud of video and all of the students

in the Master Real American English program really

and I just wanted to share his story with you

because it is so inspiring.

As you'll see in the video, he talks about his hesitations.

He wasn't sure if his level was good enough.

He wasn't sure if he would have the time to do the program

and he also talks about his frustrations with English.

Going into a meeting, knowing what he wanted to say

but not having the words and the just leaving the meeting

frustrated because he couldn't express his ideas

and he talks about how he changed all of that

through the Master Real American English Program.

And I just wanted to share this with you

'cause maybe you feel the same way as Benny.

You're hesitant about your level, about your availability

but you know that you need to do something.

So, without further ado, as we say in English,

without any more waiting,

I'm gonna let you listen to Benny's story

because I'm sure that you'll find a lot of inspiration.

You'll feel proud of what Benny accomplished

and you can feel proud of what you can accomplish as well

but let's go ahead and listen to Benny's story.

So Hello, everyone.

Today I'm here with Benny, who has just recently finished

the Master Real American English Program for three months.

Benny, thank you so much for taking some time

to share your experience with us.

Really appreciate that.

To start, maybe just to give us a little bit of context,

can you tell us a little bit about you, about where you live

and maybe why you wanted to improve your English?

- I'm Peruvian.

I live in Panama City.

I work for a company, manufacture products in the US.

So I have to constantly write emails

or talk with my colleagues in the US

and we also buy and sell products

for another parts of the world.

So there are a lot of communication involved.

Our manuals are in English.

So for me is very, very important to do it right

and to speak right with people

and feel comfortable every time I do.

- Right.

Yeah.

Because it sounds like you use English pretty much every day

in your work, is that correct?

- Yes, yes, every day.

- Okay, right.

Every day, yeah.

- Even on weekends (laughs)

- Even on weekends, it never stops, right?

- Yeah.

- Right sure.

So you've got that opportunity

to use your English every day.

So what was it that you felt when you joined the program?

What was the feeling or the frustration or the block

that you had that made you decide

to start Master Real American English?

- Okay, so I realized that it's not enough just hiding

in the closed captioning when you see videos on internet

or maybe I sometimes trouble trying to say

what I have in my mind

and so I want to one and for all master that.

So, I was in a meeting

and so the guy leading the meeting ask questions

and I already have my answer in my mind

but I struggled trying to do what I wants to--

Sorry try to say what I want to say

and I at the end say one or two words

and I got out of the meeting frustrated

not to sharing that and yep.

- Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

It's like you were in this these kinds of situations

where you understood what they said,

you knew what you wanted to respond

you had even formulated it in your head

but it just didn't come out to basically.

- Yes.

I remember feeling like ready to say what I want to say

and when I tried to say it out loud,

my voice sound weird and I feel shy.

So I think nobody understood me

and I wanted to take the bulls from the horns, right?

- Yeah, right.

- And master that and feeling comfortable doing it.

- Okay.

Yeah, yeah, just like okay,

I have this problem.

Like you said, take the bull by the horns,

good expression there and just really fix the situation.

And so that was when you started or before you started

the Master Real American English program

and after the three months in the program,

what has changed for you in terms of speaking English

and using English?

- So definitely feeling more comfortable talking

to strange people or people I never met before.

Foster fluency club was very good at that.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- And so I feel that my hearing is more trained

to get new accents right.

- Yeah, 'cause in the fluency club,

it's like you have people from all over the world

and you have to get used to hearing their different accents

and their different ways of speaking English

and I think that's kind of like in the real world

because you can work with native speakers

or people of other nationalities and you have to learn

to communicate with them, yeah.

- Yes, yes.

What else?

Pronunciation.

We have to speak in our sessions.

We have to talk more frequently.

Finding a new words, also.

- Right, yeah.

Are you talking about the group coaching sessions?

- And what else?

Yeah, the group coaching sessions

and the private sessions too.

I know you've been notice that when I'm listening

to a song in English, I understand more quickly the lyrics.

That wasn't like something I wanted to do but--

(laughs)

- That wasn't your main objective but it's a nice result.

- Yeah, yeah.

And I finally said this works, right?

- This works, yeah right.

I'm kind of the same way.

I like to learn languages

but whenever I'm listening to a song

is if I can catch an expression I'm like,

hey I got that and then I like to sing it

'cause I know what they're saying

and I get very excited about that.

Okay, fantastic, fantastic.

Now before you joined the program,

if you can remember back three months ago,

were there any kind of questions or hesitation

that you had about the program?

- I think the big question was is my level of English

enough for joining the program?

Or feeling comfortable, am I going to really, really use it

or is going to be good for me?

If I feel my level of English is not good enough

and I think that it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter at all.

You have to just do it, yes.

Sure you have to work a lot.

Do the homework or preparing yourself

before the decisions and everything

but that's normal, right?

- Yeah, exactl.y - You have to do it.

- Yeah, I mean, it's like anything.

It's like if you wanna make a change

or you wanna make some sort of improvement,

you can have all the motivation in the world

but if you don't do it nothing is gonna change.

And I think that's maybe, I don't know

and you can tell me what you think as a student

but when we put the program together,

we were like, what can we create,

that's going to give the students lots of opportunities

to practice, to prepare things, to do homework,

so that it's quite structured in fact

and that you get enough different opportunities

to really focus on the things that you wanna focus on

or to come with your questions and that kind of thing.

- Oh, so the program have different parts.

- Elements, parts, yeah.

- And you feel that it is designed to face

different kinds of situations

and all together is going to improve your English.

- Yeah, yeah 'cause English it's a lot of things,

it's grammar, it's vocabulary, it's pronunciation,

it's communication skills

and you gotta kind of do all of it.

So yeah.

Right.

- And it's never going to end.

It's not like you are going to-

Or at least for me,

I know that I have to keep studying English

and practicing forever, right?

- Yeah, exactly.

It's not one of these things where it's like,

Okay, I'm finished.

Even native speakers they take training on,

how to be good at presentations

or how to be good at networking.

And I mean, it's just a never ending cycle of learning

but that's why it's fun.

- Yeah, that's why it's fun

- (chuckles )Right.

So, I guess one final question is,

for a student who is maybe looking at the program

and maybe who has the same questions as you had,

is there anything that you would say to that student

to help them to make their decisions?

- I think it's for everybody.

I think that you will have to work hard

to make it work, right?

- Definitely.

- I think it's fun because you meet people

from around the world,

you face different situations.

You can even find new friends and it's going to help you

in different aspects of English, right?

Pronunciation, word expressions, idioms

but it's going to do it in real life.

It's going to prepare you for a real situation, right?

- Yeah, exactly.

'Cause I mean, it's like real interaction,

real situations and things like that.

So yeah, right.

Okay, great.

Well, Benny, I just wanna again,

say congratulations for finishing the program

and thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us.

- Anytime.

- So there you have it, that's Benny's story

and the other students

from the Master Real American English Program,

they all have similar stories and when you join the program,

you will have a story like this too

about how much more confident you feel

when you're speaking English.

Realizing that it's not as difficult

as you may be imagined it was but that you can do it

because we're all here supporting you

and even to make the whole process, like Benny said, fun

because you meet people from around the world.

Now, if you're not sure if this program is for you,

go ahead and complete the application form.

You have until Tuesday, January 28,

to fill out the application form.

I'm gonna have a look at it

and choose the students who would be good for this program

and if I see your answer and I feel like honestly,

this is not the right program, it's okay.

I've got lots of other programs

that will help you to reach your objective,

no matter what your budget, your availability is.

We will find a way to help you reach your goals in English,

feel more confident about yourself

and just feel proud of yourself for doing it.

So go ahead, complete the application form.

I'll put the link below this video

and I'm really looking forward to contacting you

and helping you finally feel confident

when you're speaking English.

Alright, thanks a lot and I will talk to you soon.