How Sébastien became more confident in English

Okay, hello everyone.

This is Christina from Speak English with Christina.

And today I'm talking with Sebastian,

who has just finished three months

in the Master Real American English program.

Sebastian, thank you for agreeing to share your experience

with some future students, let's say.

And, to begin, can you just

give us a little introduction of you?

Okay, hello Christina.

Hello everyone.

So, I'm Sebastian, I'm French,

as you can hear with my French accent.

(Christina Laughs)

Pretty typical.

So I'm living in France, in Paris

and I work for

an American company.

I'm 45 years old, married with three kids.

Mhmm.

And, in my daily work I need to speak English.

So...

I was not a very good student when I was young,

so I need to increase my level in English.

Okay.

That's why we talked together today

and we talked three months ago.

Right, exactly, yeah.

And so you work for an American company,

and so I imagine that you use English

like every day in your job, is that correct?

Absolutely.

So, my colleagues are from the U.S.

and all around the world.

So, our language for business is English,

not French or Spanish, only English.

Right.

Only English, so I need to write in it,

do some phone calls, conference calls in English.

So, I need to use English daily.

Okay, great.

So, you know you joined this program

three months ago.

When you were looking for a program,

or thinking about deciding the program,

like what was the difficulty that you felt with English

that motivated you to join this program?

(clears throat)

I was not confident about my delivering English,

so very difficult for me to take my,

to do a phone call, - Yeah.

the conference call, or just to talk to someone

during conference, during break.

So, my target was to be

more confident about me,

Yeah.

about my delivery in English.

Yeah.

So, that's why I chose your session,

which was very compact for me

dedicated to me with individual lessons and group sessions

Yeah.

I thought it was a very good way to work my English

to work my speech with other people

speaking English

with different accents, which is very important for me.

Yeah, yeah 'cause I think, like you said,

you work for an American company,

but you don't only speak with Americans,

you speak with lots of different accents.

Absolutely, you have to speak with people

coming from India, Poland, or Italian

everybody has a different accent

and we try to speak English well, it is not always

our natural language.

Sure, yeah.

Could be difficult to understand a natural, U.S.

speaking guy, or someone from India, difficult accent

so I have to practice

and to better understand

how to hear and understand the words.

Right, yeah, exactly. Now, maybe for someone who is

looking at the program, and they're, you know,

kind of curious about how it works and things like that.

Like, how would you describe

the experience of the program?

Like, you know, how would you describe, yeah,

what you went through for three months?

It's a very flexible

solution, so very good for people

working, like me, - Yeah, sure.

with an erratic calendar

for everybody, the same day is not the same, every day

is not the same day, so it's very flexible

so we can have some face-to-face sessions with our teacher

which is very, and put it in my calendar when I need it

And there's a lot of group sessions

for different day of the week

which is very flexible for me and for the other students.

So, that's why I chose this program, because it's like me

a lot of things to do at the same time

so, it's easier to follow this kind of

flexible experience

Yeah.

So, yes, that's why.

Okay, yeah, and I think that's, you know, part of the

when we put together the program, was trying

to find something that fits in, with, like you said,

People have busy lives, with their work and family and

things like that, so, you have to find a way to make it

like you said: compact, but structured, but flexible

at the same time, so that people can do it.

Basically, yeah.

And, it's a good opportunity, potentially for us

to meet new people.

Awesome.

A lot of students coming from different countries

so it's very interesting.

I found some very good persons, and we talk about

a lot of different topics,

not only about business

but about daily life, which is very good and positive for me

It's very, very positive.

Yeah, 'cause I mean, even in business, you don't only

talk about business, you talk about, you know, life,

the news, and things like that, so yeah.

Right, yeah.

So, what has changed for you and the way that you

use English now that you've finished the program?

Now, I'm okay to speak in English,

which was not the case before.

I was very, very shy, so now I'm okay with that.

So, I need to increase, still, my level

I have a lot of work, still, so I think I have to

continue to work, maybe just on my side, I don't know.

But, yes, it was a very good experience for me.

I'm more confident about my level, and I want

to increase my level more and more.

So, I wish, very to practice.

I like speaking in English now.

I like to talk to someone in a conference

during a conference or a bar, or during a party or a dinner.

So, it's a fantastic way for me.

It's very, very positive.

Okay, yeah. Great.

Well, thank you very much, for that, Sebastian!

Final question, is there anything else that you would

like to share with a student

who is maybe considering the program?

Any final words for them? - Yeah.

Speaking English is necessary in our world

we, all of us travel, and meet people.

English is the linked language, so, we need to speak

this language. We need to speak daily this language.

So, I think it's a good way for everybody to learn more

and be confident, it's not very difficult.

We just need to speak, practice.

Yeah.

And, yes, I recommend this program.

Okay, well, thank you, thank you.

It's a great honor to hear that.

So, thank you very much, Sebastian

for taking some time and sharing your story with us. Thanks.

Thank you.