How Nilgun improved her pronunciation in English

- [Christina] Okay, hello everyone this

is Christina from Speak English With Christina.

And today I am here with Nilgun who has just finished

three months in the Master Real American English program.

Nilgun, I'm very excited to

to say congratulations for finishing your program!

And just also for you to share a little bit of

the experience with others.

So to start, maybe you could just tell us

a little bit about yourself.

- [Nilgun] So, I'm Nilgun.

I'm originally from Cherokee.

And I moved to Chicago about a year ago.

And then, I'm trying to get used to the culture

and language here.

And this is why I started to work with Christina

in order to improve my language and

try to get used to the culture.

- [Christina] Mm-hmm okay, yeah, sure.

And so, you know before you started the program

for you living in the U.S. and with the culture

and the language, like what was the,

I guess the difficulty or the challenge

that you, you know, faced about three months ago?

- [Nilgun] So, one challenge was native speakers

they didn't really understand me and

they were like surprised to, you know, hear my accent.

I sounded kind of like communication problems.

And second, group settings was always very challenging.

I had hard time understanding them or perhaps fitting

in in the group settings, so it's very

most two important challenges I had before.

- [Christina] Okay, yeah, sure right.

So, when you were looking at, I guess,

the content or the format of the Master Real American

English program, what made the program

attractive for you?

- [Nilgun] I was, actually going over your YouTube videos,

and I really thought, that

what you described was really fitting to my situation.

- [Christina] Yeah.

- [Nilgun] So I was curious to see how it

was working with you.

- [Christina] Okay, all right, great, yeah.

And maybe for like students who are kind of

in the same situation as you,

could you maybe describe what it was like going through

the program, from a student's perspective?

- [Nilgun] So, we had three months, we started

so we had weekend meetings, one group meeting,

and one personal meeting with my individual coach.

And,

so,

what was it like?

- [Christina] Lets see, what did we have?

Because it's a lot of stuff in this program.

So, lets see, what did you,

we had the, you had your individual session with

the teacher. So, like 30 minutes. Who was your teacher?

- [Nilgun] Ben. Ben was my teacher.

- [Christina] Okay, you were with Ben.

Then you had the one hour of group

coaching session every week.

Then the fluency club,

so the conversation practice.

And then the online course Understand

Real American English, and then I think you

also were working with a book about pronunciation as well.

- [Nilgun] Pronunciation as well.

- [Christina] Yeah, yeah.

- [Nilgun] So there was all sorts of things

going on.

So, actually I liked individual coaching it was

more concentrated on accent.

And sometimes we were coaching as well.

And I feel like,

So I think it really helps to know that

I have a session. Twice in a week.

So that I feel compelled to work and

be prepared for those sessions.

So that I can program myself, and you know,

it's like, if it was just me,

I may think of, like, you know,

just be compelled to something else, to something else,

which is just pulling you to these things.

But, now I know I have a session,

I just feel responsible.

More responsible to take my work to the session

where we can talk about it.

- [Christina] Yeah, and I think a lot of students

they say the same thing.

They're like 'I know I have an appointment

with my teacher, my coach, which means

I have to prepare this session.

So I do the homework.'

And I guess its a good structure, you know,

to force you to find the time to do it.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, okay, and so what was maybe

the part of the program that you appreciated the most?

- [Nilgun] I actually don't know, I liked

all things.

I mean, I really liked first of all, Ben.

He was very patient with me,

and he's a great speaker, you know,

I really admired like the way that he speaks,

and I had a really fun time with him,

and learned many things from him.

And yeah, that was one of the things

that I really liked about it.

- [Christina] Yeah, just having that

individual session, and you know,

Ben is a fantastic person.

He's really nice.

Yeah, okay, great, great.

And so, I guess now after the three months

how do you feel if we compare before

you started the program,

and now that you finished?

Like, what's the change?

Or the difference.

- [Nilgun] Well, I mean I definitely feel more confident.

So, first thing that I wanted to learn

what I was doing wrong, like with fluency

And I found other things,

about things I do wrong with my accent.

I will be, and I am still working

on it to fix them, but it's very important for

me because before I had no idea.

- [Christina] Right.

- [Nilgun] And then, second thing

is how I learned to stay calm,

and try to slow down, and try to articulate.

So if you get really excited, just stop thinking.

And instead, I just calmed down and stopped thinking,

and I slow down, these things.

And these things really help you

to cover excited, or being excited

when you're talking with someone.

- [Christina] Right, yeah. Just like to remember

like, hey, calm down, it's all gonna be okay.

And then it is okay.

So, yeah right.

Okay, and I guess the final question

would be for someone who is

maybe considering joining the program,

is there anything you would say to them

about the program, about making

the decision, anything like that?

- [Nilgun] So, I would, the only advice

is to participate in this program.

But make sure you schedule your time

to be prepared for the sessions.

Because most of the learning is

not within the sessions.

Most of the learning is before or after the session.

And you just bring your questions there.

It's definitely helpful.

And you can proceed by only your own working,

but it will help you to gain more knowledge.

- [Christina] Yeah, no, you know,

that is really good advice.

Because I think a lot of people,they think

that the work happens during the time

with the teacher, and the work does happen.

But, the big, big, big results come

from the work that you do.

- [Nilgun] Because when were young

we go to school and we learn that.

But, now this is not like that.

I think this is more like you learn yourself,

but then you need coaching and help from coaches like you.

It's how it works.

- [Christina] Yeah, that is a good way to describe it.

Because it's really like we're here to

point out what you need to do,

point out the resources to guide you,

and correct you, tell you and like you said, tell

you what you are doing wrong so you can go and fix it.

- [Nilgun] Those things you cannot do yourself.

Those things you cannot because it's still you,

teaching it to yourself.

All of us need some type of coaching.

You have to work yourself, because it's hard.

It's very hard.

You cannot fix it in a half an hour.

- [Christina] Yeah, yeah exactly you need like that outside

intervention to help you.

But then you have to go and apply it in

'the real world' lets say, to make the change.

Okay, great, thank you, thank you

very much Nilgun.

And again, congratulations on finishing up the program.

- [Nilgun] Thank you.

- [Christina] And for sharing

your experience with us. Thanks.