How to Master English Fluency: My Best Secrets & Advice!

Welcome to this English Fluency master class.

Today, I'm sharing my best advice with  you to help you become fluent faster.

Of course.

I'm Jennifer from JForrest English.

Now let's get started.

First, in this master class, we're going to  

focus on your public speaking skills  because I know all of my students.

Want to look?

Very professional and feel  confident when they're speaking.

So first let me share 10 bad speaking  habits that you should avoid.

The first bad habit is using one.

Word answers.

Let's say you.

Were at a conference and your boss asked you.

How was the?

Conference and you reply back and you say.

Good.

Great.

Awesome.

What do you notice?

About these answers, they're all one word answers.

Now it might seem a little.

Comical that that's all you would say,  but I hear this from students all.

The time I'll ask them about their  vacation and they were on a two  

week vacation in another part of  the world and all they say was.

Good.

Great.

OK, not bad.

Very.

Short answers, this doesn't  sound very professional and  

you definitely don't sound advanced in English.

That an easy way to.

Solve.

This problem is to answer in a complete sentence.

Repeat the question.

The conference was good now.

Still, this isn't.

Enough information.

You can then expand on that and  you can provide the reason why  

or you can provide one example  from the conference or the trip.

The conference was good because I met a lot  

of new people in my field and  I have a lot of new contacts.

This sounds so much more  professional and advanced compared.

To good.

Our next bad habit is using weak words.

Let's say your boss asks you if  you can have the report finished  

by the end of the day and you reply back and say.

I think so.

I'll try.

These are all weak words because  they imply that you might not finish.

Finish the job or finish the request.

So instead of saying.

I.

Think I can change that to something  more confident, something stronger.

I know I can finish the  report by the end of the day.

I promise I'll finish the  report by the end of the day.

You can count on me to finish  the report by the end of the day.

The next bad habit is using very basic.

Words.

Basic words like.

Good.

OK, fine.

All of these are.

Very beginner words and they don't sound  very professional and they don't make you.

Look.

Very confident either.

So if you simply change that  to something more advanced,  

instead of saying the conference was  good, you say the conference was.

Very.

Beneficial.

And then you can move on and provide  more information like we talked about  

in the first Bad Habit, because often the  one word answers that you want to avoid.

Are also very basic words.

One bad habit you.

Definitely want to.

Avoid is speaking too quickly.

So imagine right now, I'm telling you.

About the rules.

Of something, and I'm speaking very fast.

Do you think you'll be able to understand  very well if that's how I spoke?

Well, a lot of students actually think they speak  too slowly, but in my experience that's not true.

They actually speak too fast.

And when you speak too fast, it's difficult  to understand, to follow your story.

So just take a breath, put some  pauses into your words as well,  

and that will help you slow your pace.

Now let's talk about.

Word fillers.

Word fillers are those words like.

Well, you know, like these words  that don't have any meaning,  

but people add them to their speech when  they're trying to think about what to say next.

So imagine you're in a meeting  and your boss asked you to.

Tell everybody about how the project is.

Going and you reply back and say  well the projects going pretty good,  

Well you know we just need to  obviously that doesn't seem very  

professional and you certainly won't feel  very confident when you have all those arms.

Let's talk about eye contact.

This can be a very.

Difficult one, especially because culturally  people have different rules for eye contact.

In North American culture, it's considered  polite and professional to make eye contact  

with the person you're talking to, but you  don't maintain eye contact 100% of the time.

You can absolutely look away, look down, look up,  

But you want to maintain eye  contact at least 50% of the time.

Next, let's talk about intonation.

Intonation is the natural raising and falling.

Of your voice, our voices.

Do this naturally.

Now.

If I'm way up high and then I come down low  and then I go way back up high and then I  

come down low, that's not very professional  and it won't make you look very confident.

But you also don't want to talk on  one specific note and maintain that.

No, Right now I probably sound more boring to  you because I don't have intonation in my voice.

That's the impact of not having  that natural rising and falling,  

and I hear this from students all the time.

So you could do.

Some vocal exercises and try to go up higher  and then come down lower and just try.

To.

Vary your intonation, which is the rising  and falling of your voice when you speak,  

to sound more professional  and to appear more confident.

Our next bad habit is on enthusiasm  and a lack of enthusiasm.

What do I mean by this?

Well, let's say you.

Went to this conference and you want to  tell your boss and your colleagues that the  

conference was very beneficial and you learned  a lot and you made a lot of useful contacts.

But if you deliver this, if you  communicate this without enthusiasm,  

they're not going to understand the message.

The conference was great.

I met a lot of people.

It was very beneficial.

It was really interesting, A lack of enthusiasm.

Your intonation goes down, your volume goes down.

Just think of it as being very  tired or bored or not interested.

So think about the enthusiasm  that you have in your voice now.

Part of showing your enthusiasm and  part of being confident is also.

Your.

Body language.

Notice how I said when you lack enthusiasm.

It's like you're tired.

When you're tired, you have a.

Hard time keeping your body up, but  it doesn't look very professional and  

I probably don't look very confident right now.

And same people, often they speak, they cover up  their body, which makes them appear very small.

That doesn't seem very confident either.

When you're confident, just  bring your shoulders back and  

take up about as much space as your shoulders go.

Think of that as your box, your communications  box, and that's where you want to be.

You want to make sure you stay upright  in this box when you're communicating,  

because that will make you seem very confident.

And then also that will help with  your intonation and your enthusiasm.

Because when your body is all crunched down, it  actually impacts the intonation of your voice.

And when you're upright more,  you can get more enthusiasm,  

more intonation from your voice as well.

So remember shoulders back and pay  attention to your body language.

Now finally, let's talk about hand gestures.

So hand gestures is just simply using  your hands when you communicate.

Now there are some things you don't want to do,  like completely not having any hand gestures.

So if I did the entire video like this,  maybe you could watch it for 30 seconds.

But imagine watching it for 10 minutes  where you don't see my hands at all.

Now if my hands are like this, most  likely my body is going to start to.

To sag as.

Well, and I'm not going to  have good body language,  

but when I bring my hands into it, I'm  more likely to keep my shoulders back.

Remember I said you want to have a  communication box because you also  

don't want your hands wailing and frailing  about and just being all over the place.

As well, you want to keep your hand  gestures within this communications box.

So just keep them very slight, very natural.

You don't want to go.

Too far away, just.

Close to the body, but just keep  them going and that will again help.

You with your body language,  it will make you look a lot.

More confident and you'll appear more  professional because all professional  

speakers use their hands when they're speaking.

And if you avoid these ten  bad speaking habits, I know.

You're going to.

Look instantly more professional and you're  going to feel more confident as well.

So which bad habit?

Do you think you need to improve the most?

Share that in the comments below.

Do.

You get nervous right before you're  about to speak English in public.

Maybe your hands start to shake,  or your heart starts racing,  

or you get that feeling in your stomach.

Does that ever happen to you?

Well, don't worry, because in  this video we're going to talk  

about how to not get nervous speaking  English and public in any situation.

But before we begin with my 5 best  tips, I just want you to know one thing.

It's totally normal that reaction that you get,  that physical reaction is absolutely normal.

Did you know that public speaking is the number  

one fear in the entire world And  that's in your own native language?

So you can imagine how much  more difficult it is when  

you're speaking in a foreign  language in front of people.

So first of all, just know  there's nothing wrong with you.

It's totally normal to have that reaction.

Now let's talk about the five  tips that you can use to feel  

confident and not get nervous  when you're speaking in public.

Tip #1, the first thing that  I want you to do is relax.

Now, when I say I want you to relax,  I'm talking about your physical body.

I want you to physically relax your body.

Because when we're nervous, when  we're under stress, we also tighten.

We tighten up our body, but did you know  that it has been scientifically proven by  

the medical community that you cannot feel  stress if your body is physically relaxed?

So just relax your back, relax your arms, relax  this area of your chest and stomach as well.

So just relax, relax.

But I want you to still maintain  good posture because it isn't very  

professional to be hunched over in a bad position.

Although it is very relaxing  to do something like that.

So you need to relax your body, but still maintain  a professional position for when you're speaking.

So that's tip #1.

Tip #2 is to use positive visualization.

Because let me guess.

When you think about speaking in public,  not that you're actually speaking in public,  

but when you just think about speaking in public,  most likely a negative image comes to mind.

You imagine the audience judging you  because you made a grammar mistake,  

or judging you because your accent is too thick.

Or you imagine yourself forgetting all  your words and not knowing what to say.

You imagine yourself not being  able to answer the question.

You imagine yourself feeling really nervous  and not confident and doing a bad job.

Well guess what?

Do you think having all of those negative images  

in your mind are going to help you  feel confident going into a situation?

Isn't it just a normal reaction that  you would feel stress and nervousness?

If you anticipate something negative  happening, that is your body doing its job.

If you have a negative image in your  mind and your body reacts negatively,  

everything is working properly.

That is what your body is meant to do.

So one thing that you can do is  to change those mental images.

Change them to successful images.

Imagine yourself opening your mouth and  having the words flow out confidently.

Imagine the audience cheering for you  and telling you you did an amazing job.

Imagine yourself standing in front of that  audience, feeling confident and feeling proud.

Now, do you think you would have  a different feeling in your body  

if you had all of those positive  images instead of negative images?

Well, of course the answer is yes, so you  need to work on your positive visualization.

Tip #3 is to focus on your  audience and not yourself.

Now when I use the word audience,  

I'm not talking about 100 person Ted  talk, although that may be the case.

Your audience could be one person.

Your.

Boss Your coworker, your friend, a hiring manager.

It could be just one person, but a lot  of students, when they go into a real  

situation and they're going to be speaking,  they're focused on themselves themselves.

They're focused on their accent, their  English, their feelings, their emotions.

But aren't you forgetting the reason  why you're public speaking anyway?

You have a message to share, right?

Maybe your message is simply updating  your boss on the status of the project.

Maybe your message is explaining  to the hiring manager why you  

would be the perfect choice for the position.

Now, if you go into a situation and  you're only thinking about yourself and  

you're not thinking about your audience,  well, that's kind of selfish, isn't it?

And when you think just about yourself, it's  going to be more likely that you have all  

of these hesitations and negative  thoughts and judgments and fears.

But if you put all your focus on your audience,  

then you're not focusing on your English  skills or your fear, your anxiety.

And if we don't put focus on something,  it will just not naturally minimize.

So if we don't focus on our anxiety  and our nervousness, and we focus  

on the audience and the information  you want to share with that audience,  

your message, well then you're going to  just feel more relaxed, less nervous.

And your audience is going to really  appreciate the attention that you're  

giving them, and it's going to make  them think that you really care.

So it's going to help you feel less nervous and  

also help you impress your  audience at the same time.

Tip #4 is to structure your ideas.

Imagine you needed to go to a job  interview in a different part of town,  

a different part of your city  that you've never been to before,  

and you get in your car and you don't  have AGPS and you just start driving.

Are you going to feel a little bit nervous,  A little bit nervous that you might get lost,  

a little bit nervous that you  might not get there in time,  

a little bit nervous that you have no idea where  you're going or how you're going to get there?

Well, of course you would feel  nervous in that situation if  

you were going somewhere new without AGPS, right?

Well, if you go into a situation where  you're public speaking, in a meeting,  

in a job interview, giving a presentation, and  you have no idea how you're going to begin,  

how you're going to transition to your  next idea and how you're going to.

End you're going to.

Feel nervous, right?

It's the same situation, trying to  get to a location without a GPS.

Well, in this situation, when we're talking about  public speaking structures, simple structures are  

going to help you get to your message in  a very easy way, in a very organized way.

Just like a GPS helps you get to your  destination in a very easy to follow way.

So a simple structure that you can use is you  need an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

If you go into a job interview and you know how  

to start your answer and you  know how to end your answer.

That's already going to make you feel a  lot more confident and feel less nervous.

And if you know what to put in the body of  your answer as well, and you can do that in any  

situation, you can have a simple introduction,  body, conclusion for anything you're asked.

Even in a social situation, when you're  telling your friend about what you did  

last night or your upcoming vacation,  in any situation you're communicating.

You don't want to just open your mouth and  see what comes out, because most likely what  

comes out isn't going to be very good, and  that's going to make you feel very nervous.

But if you open your mouth and you  have a clear beginning, middle,  

and end, and you know how to transition  from the beginning, middle and end,  

then you're going to feel confident  and you're not going to feel nervous.

And tip #5 is to practice, practice, practice.

Now When you go into a job interview,  of course you should practice.

Many people practice the day before the night  before as they're driving to the job interview,  

and obviously you're going to feel nervous.

If you've only practiced once or  twice, you need to practice again.

And again and again and again and again.

If you feel a lot of nervousness, that's  probably just your body telling you that  

you haven't prepared and  you prepare by practicing.

Now some nervousness is natural and will always  be there even if you do practice and prepare.

So you're not looking for 0 nervousness,  but you are looking for a low level of  

nervousness where it doesn't impact your  message and you can practice any situation.

You can practice answering  questions you weren't expecting,  

and then when you're asked a  question you weren't expecting,  

you'll feel confident because of all  the practice you've done in the past.

So if you want to feel confident, it's absolutely  going to come from practicing and preparing.

Let's say you're in a meeting at work and you  have this amazing idea that you want to share,  

and you open your mouth and you start  speaking, and as you're speaking, you just.

Can't think?

Of that word, you have a very  specific word in your head,  

and at that exact moment when you're  speaking, it's not coming to you.

This is something that I hear  from students all the time,  

and it's one of the reasons that a lot  of students will avoid speaking because  

they're afraid that is going to happen,  Either because it's happened in the past,  

they've heard stories of it happening to other  people, or it's just a fear that they have.

But here's what you need to know.

It is normal.

It is normal for you to be speaking and not  remember a word, not remember an entire idea.

This.

Is.

Normal.

Even if you practice what you wanted to say, and  you practice and you practice and you practice,  

and then you get to the point  where you're sharing your idea.

Maybe it's in a job interview  or at work in a meeting,  

and you're speaking and you're  speaking, and then you forget.

You forget the word that you just  spent hours and hours practicing.

Why does that happen?

Well, you just have to realize that,  for one, your brain is not Google.

OK?

I think a lot of people have this  expectation that their brain's job  

is to give them the precise piece of  information the moment they want it.

Now that would be amazing  if the brain could do that.

And our brain is capable  of doing incredible things.

But it it does not work the  same way that Google works.

When you want some piece of information, Google  or Siri will give you that information instantly.

Your brain is not like that.

Your brain has all that information, but  it doesn't have a filing system that it  

can just open a file and take that  piece and give it to you on demand.

That is a limitation.

So you need to understand that this is normal.

You have to think about this  in your own native language.

Are you telling me that you've never been speaking  

in your own native language and  forgotten what you wanted to say?

Forgotten the name of a movie?

The name of a restaurant?

The name of a street?

The name of a Co worker?

And you know their name, but just at  that exact moment you can't remember it?

Are you saying that doesn't happen  to you in your native language?

Well, of course.

Not, of course.

It happens to you in your native language,  

so why wouldn't it happen to you when you're  speaking in English as a second language?

The best solution I can offer you is to have  strategies in place when you forget your words.

So I want to tell you about one of my  students in my program, Speak to Impress.

Now, this is a public speaking program, so my  students practice their public speaking and  

they learn strategies to help them share  their ideas effectively and impressively.

So one of my students was talking  about her favorite Disney movie.

Now as she was talking, she couldn't  remember the name of the Disney movie.

A lot of times students will  just use a lot of word fillers.

They'll get really stressed out, or they'll just  stop talking because they forget a specific word.

But remember what I said.

You need strategies.

So this student was able to keep talking.

So she forgot the name of the movie.

She instantly started talking.

Oh, I can't think of the name of the movie.

Hmm.

What's that name again?

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

So as I was saying, so she  talked for a little bit to give.

Her.

Brain some time to think of the information.

The information was not  coming, so she had to move on.

She had to keep going.

And that's what my students learn.

They learn to have these problems,  like forgetting their words,  

and they learn how to overcome them with  specific strategies so they can keep talking.

So you just need to have some strategies in place  

to help you keep talking when that situation  happens, because that's a normal situation.

It is going to happen.

It's going to happen when you're in a meeting.

It's going to happen when  you're at a job interview.

It's going to happen when you're giving a  speech at a networking event or a conference.

It's going to happen.

When you're at a party, just  socializing with friends,  

you cannot stop talking, You have to keep going.

So you just need to have some  strategies to help you keep talking.

So ultimately you can just relax  because that is a normal situation.

But there is one thing you need to  understand, and that's that our brains.

Don't.

Work as effectively when we're under stress.

So if you have a fear of public speaking and  before you go to speak, you're already nervous.

Before you begin the presentation,  before you go to the job interview,  

your heart is raising your hands or shaking.

You have that feeling in your stomach.

At that moment, your body is under a lot of  stress and in that stressful environment,  

your brain doesn't think as clearly.

Your brain is under stress at that moment  so is going to be more difficult for you to  

organize your thoughts and think  clearly and get the words out.

Just think about how you feel when  you didn't get a good night's sleep.

Let's say you had a terrible night's  sleep, you only slept two to three hours,  

and your you're in a meeting in your  own native language and you're asked  

a question and you've only had  two to three hours of sleep.

You're not going to be able  to articulate your ideas  

very clearly or effectively because  your brain isn't working properly.

It's only had two to three hours of sleep.

Now, that exact same thing is true  when your body is under stress.

So it's really important that you learn  to control your fear of public speaking.

It's very normal to have  a fear of public speaking,  

but you need to take action to  minimize those negative emotions.

I'm not going to tell you that  you're going to eliminate them 100%,  

but you can absolutely minimize them.

You can minimize the  nervousness, the heart racing.

The.

Handshaking.

You can reduce it and minimize  and minimize and minimize,  

and with enough practice you can  get it as close to 0 as possible.

And when your body is not under  stress, your brain is going to work  

more effectively and it will be able to give you  the information that you need when you need it.

So first of all, understand that it is normal.

Even when you're not under stress, your  brain does not operate like Google.

But understand that when your body is under  stress, because you're having a negative  

reaction to public speaking, your brain is not  going to work as effectively as if you were calm.

One strategy that I can offer you to overcome your  fear of public speaking is to use your breath.

So take big breaths in the big breaths  in hold, and then a big exhale out.

So take it in for three to five seconds,  

hold it for two to three seconds, and  then exhale for five to 10 seconds.

And when you take those big  breaths in and big breaths out,  

your heart rate is going to slow  down because your body is in stress.

You need to get your body  back into a calm environment,  

and you can do that with your breathing.

So before you go to the job interview,  

just sit in your car or go to the bathroom  and just do some breathing exercises.

Or let's say it's a few days before the  job interview and you're thinking about it  

and you get nervous just thinking about it, and  your heart starts to race at that exact moment,  

do some breathing exercises  the second you have that fear.

Obviously you can't do that in the middle  of the job interview while you're speaking.

You can't do that, right?

I think that's obvious.

I don't need to tell you that.

So you have to do this as a preventative  before you go into the event, and that that  

will just help your body stay in that calm,  relaxed state so you can think clearer.

Another reason why you forget  your words when you speak is  

because you're thinking too much about your words.

You're obsessing over your English, and you're  thinking too much about individual words.

And you're forgetting the  purpose of communications.

The purpose of communications is to share an idea.

You should not be thinking about the  individual words that you're going to use.

You should be thinking about your overall  message that you want to communicate,  

and then focus on your message.

Because there are many, many, many different ways  that you can communicate a message in English.

But I find that students,  when they're public speaking,  

they forget that they're not in a classroom.

When you're at work and you're in a  meeting and you're sharing your ideas,  

you're not in a classroom.

In a classroom, you might be required  to practice specific verb tenses or  

to practice a specific phrasal  verb that you've been studying.

And when you share a practice example in  a classroom setting, you have to practice  

that specific phrasal verb when you're in the  workplace environment and you're communicating.

And let's say you want to share an idea, and  you want to share it with that phrasal verb,  

but you can't remember that phrasal verb.

If that's what's happening, then you've  forgotten the purpose of communications.

You've forgotten why you're there.

You're there to share an idea.

Whether you share that idea with a  specific phrasal verb or a different word,  

a synonym of that phrasal verb, does not matter.

But in the classroom, it matters.

In the real world, it does not matter.

You should not be thinking about individual words,  

individual verb tenses, individual  phrasal verbs, individual expressions.

That is not your goal.

Your goal is to communicate a message.

So if you focus on the message,  

then you won't worry about what words  you use to communicate that message.

So the only thing you need to do as a solution  is you just need to focus on your message.

Focus on your message and remember that there are  

1020 a hundred different ways  to say the exact same thing.

So you may have wanted to  use a specific phrasal verb.

Who cares?

There are many other ways you can  communicate the exact same idea.

And remember, you're not in English class.

Your boss, the person interviewing you, doesn't  care about your phrasal verb vocabulary.

They care about your ideas.

They care about the value that  you can bring to the organization.

They care about the solutions that you.

That's what they care about.

They don't care about your English.

So stay focused on your ideas and remember.

You're.

Not in English class, so now you  know why you forget your words and  

you also have some very simple strategies,  strategies that you can use starting today  

to overcome this problem so you can share  your ideas effectively and impressively.

Now let's move on and I'm.

Going to share 7 habits of  highly confident students.

And if you simply follow these habits,  then you'll feel more confident as well.

Let's get started with habit number one.

Habit number one, highly confident  students are OK with mistakes.

I have to be honest with you if you're afraid of  

making mistakes or if you get upset  when you make mistakes in English.

If you think making mistakes is something to be  avoided, you shouldn't be learning a language.

Because learning a language, learning anything,  in fact, is all about making mistakes.

Making mistakes is how you learn and confidence.

Students understand that they're OK  with going to a job interview and  

explaining their background and making a mistake.

They don't view that as a  completely negative thing.

They understand that they  will make mistakes in English.

They likely even make minor  mistakes in their native language,  

and they will make mistakes  in everything that they do.

So the very first thing that you need  to do to truly become confident is  

get comfortable with making mistakes,  because you will make a lot of them.

Now, next year, in five years, 10  years, you will always make mistakes.

Habit #2 Highly confident students  take risks and try new things.

A confident student will raise their  hand in a meeting and share their idea.

Even if they're not 100% sure it's a  good idea or they're not 100% sure,  

they can communicate it perfectly.

Because remember, tip #1, highly confident  students are OK with making mistakes.

A lot of students will wait to try  public speaking, or will wait to  

join a social group in English or a  new activity in English until they've  

improved their English because they think  their English needs to be perfect again.

Habit number one.

But confidence students?

They're OK with just getting out  there, going for the job interview,  

joining a new team, joining  a new course or an activity.

And it's by trying all these new things, by  taking risks that they gain the experience.

Because confidence is really about seeing,  proving to yourself that you can do something,  

and you can only prove to yourself that  you can do it if you've actually done it.

So get out there, take new  risks and try new things.

That's what confidence students do.

Habit #3.

Highly confident students don't criticize or judge  

others because they understand  that learning is a process.

They understand that perfect does not exist.

They understand they have their own mistakes,  their own areas that they're trying to improve,  

and they would never want  to criticize someone else.

But I see this with some of my  students, and it really upsets me.

Sometimes a student will write something in  a YouTube comment and another student will  

criticize that person because they made a grammar  mistake, or they said it in an awkward way.

Or I hear students criticize other  students because of their accents.

That shows the insecurity of the student.

If they're criticizing someone else  because they're making English mistakes,  

they make their own mistakes.

So it just shows that they are  very insecure about their own  

mistakes and they're projecting that onto others.

Confident people.

They don't criticize and they don't judge  because they understand that perfect doesn't  

exist and they respect others for trying,  for taking risks and trying new things.

Habit #4.

Highly confident students are always  learning and always improving.

A lot of students, they have this  idea that they can get to a certain  

level and then they're done learning  a language or done learning anything.

But that's just not how it works.

Imagine your doctor graduated from medical  school and never learned anything new.

Would you want that person to be your doctor?

Of course not.

Everyone keeps learning and  keeps trying to improve.

You're never going to get to a point where  you're just done learning the English language.

There's always something new to learn,  a new skill to develop and improve,  

and highly confident students, they  recognize that and they embrace it.

They love learning new things.

They love improving themselves.

They understand that learning is a process,  a process, and they enjoy the process.

It's not about getting to this final  destination where they're fluent.

It's about every day, every  week, every month, every year,  

proving just a little bit in seeing that progress.

Habit #5.

Confident students prepare a lot.

Sometimes people think well when  you're confident you can just go  

into a situation without doing any  preparation, without doing any work.

That is not true at all.

The most confident people are taking  the time to prepare and prepare.

Prepare before a job interview, prepare before a  presentation, prepare before recording a video.

Like I'm doing now.

I prepared for this for hours because I under  understand that is in the preparation that I'm  

able to improve, I'm able to do a better job  and I'm able to become even more confident  

because I've prepared O for you going  into a language exam, a job interview,  

even going into a social situation  where you'll be introducing yourself.

It's all about preparing and  that is what confident people do.

Habit number six of highly confident  students is they invest in themselves.

They invest in themselves by learning new things.

They invest in themselves by spending the time.

They invest in themselves by spending the money.

They understand that in order to get the result  they need to invest, they're investing their time,  

their energy, their focus, of course,  their financial resources as well.

And they're doing this because  they have the confidence.

They have the confidence Confidence to say yes,  

I worth investing $500 in my  development is worth $500.

And they also have the confidence to know  that I am going to earn more money in the  

future because of this investment  or because of the time I spend now.

I have the confidence in myself that I  can earn more based on this investment.

Highly confident students.

They look for opportunities to  constantly invest in themselves.

And finally, habit #7 of highly confident students  is they understand that confidence is a skill.

Confidence is a skill and you  can absolutely develop it.

How do you develop confidence?

Well, all of these habits will help.

And if you want to develop confidence, the best  thing you can do is just recognize it's a skill.

It's not something that you're just born with.

I didn't wake up confident  recording YouTube videos.

My confidence came from all of the  points that I previously mentioned.

A baby is not confident walking, but every  adult, you and I, we're confident walking now.

We've developed the confidence in all our areas  of our lives and a language is no different.

You can develop confidence.

Students are not born being confident  learning English or speaking English.

They developed that and you can develop it too.

So now you have 7 habits, 7 habits  of highly confident students.

And if you follow these habits well, then  you will be acting like a confident student.

You will be acting like a confident  English speaker and then you will  

become a confident English speaker,  confident with the English language.

So which habit do you think  you need to work on the most?

Put that in the comments and remember,  

confident people are okay with admitting  that they don't know everything.

They don't feel insecure by saying I  need to work on this specific skill.

So if you're want to be a confident person,  then put what skill you want to work on,  

what habit you want to work  on the most in the comments.

Now this master class is to help you  become fluent as quickly as possible.

So next I have some very useful tips for you that  

will help you learn English  faster, help you save time.

So let's get started.

Number one, create a study schedule.

This is extremely important.

Your study schedule should identify the specific  day or ideally the specific days of the week that  

you're going to study, and it should also identify  the start time and the end time of that session.

So for example, Monday, Wednesday,  

Friday from 6:00 to 6:30, and then maybe  Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 to 9:45.

Ideally, your goal should be five days a  week for 30 minutes each day as a pro tip.

I want you to choose the day  and time extremely carefully.

Make sure the time.

Time you put in your calendar is realistic and  you can actually spend the time on your studies.

And when it's in your calendar,  treat it like an appointment.

You wouldn't miss an appointment,  so don't miss this time.

Your study time Tip 2 Set a clear  goal for each study session.

The worst thing you can do is sit down at your  

scheduled time and then say to  yourself, what should I study.

Or just randomly watch YouTube videos or  randomly look through an English textbook.

That's going to waste a lot of time.

Before you begin your study session, you  should know exactly what you're going to do.

With that time.

For example, before you sit down, you know that  you're going to complete the practice exercises  

for week two of your lesson in the Finely Fluent  Academy, which is my premium training program,  

and my students get a study schedule that  I've created for them when they join.

So as a pro tip, make sure  you take 5 minutes before  

your scheduled study time,  or ideally the day before.

Just take a few minutes and plan exactly what  you're going to do in that scheduled time.

Tip #3, you want to maximize your study time.

30 minutes is not created equally.

Some people will have 30 minutes and they  will accomplish nothing with that time.

Another person will have 30  minutes and accomplish a lot.

So how you use that time matters.

You can maximize your 30 minutes by,  first of all, removing all distractions.

You need to turn off all social media  when you're focusing on your study time.

You need to turn off all notifications.

Lock your pets in another room so they don't come  and distract you and take your attention away.

Have your water, your tea, whatever  supplies you need for that session  

already in the room so you don't have to leave.

And get a glass of water which will take time  away from studying and also make sure you.

Set a timer.

So if your study session is for 30 minutes,  set a timer, because even just wondering what  

time it is, how much time has passed takes  your attention away and you're losing time.

Now as a pro tip, make sure you leave your.

Phone in an.

Entirely different room.

Assuming you're not using your phone to  study, that will definitely eliminate the  

distraction and that temp mutation to pick up  your phone during your scheduled study time,  

which will of course waste a lot of time.

Tip #4, Improve multiple skills at once.

A lot of students study using wordless, and  they have an individual word and a definition,  

but that is only improving one skill.

If you follow my YouTube channel, you  know I love sharing videos where we  

learn English with the news because you're  learning so many different skills at once.

You're improving your reading,  your listening, your vocabulary,  

your grammar, your pronunciation, your speaking.

You're doing all of that at once,  

so you're maximizing your time  by focusing on multiple skills.

Tip #5 Learn words in context.

So again, you use a vocabulary list  and you learn an expression off  

track and you see the definition for that  expression off track, not making progress.

But when you learn a word in context,  it means you have a full sentence.

That's a natural sentence, the way a  native speaker would use that expression.

For example, yesterday our meeting went off track  when John brought up the consultants report.

So here you see the word being used in context,  

you understand the meaning a lot more  and you also understand the grammar.

You understand that you need to  go off track and then you see, OK,  

yesterday I need the past simple went off track.

And you learn a lot more when you  see grammar or vocabulary in context.

Tip number six.

Repetition, repetition, Repetition.

It's so important I repeated it three times.

According to scientists, we forgot about  50% of new information in one hour,  

which means one hour from now  you'll forget half of these tips.

And scientists say that we forget 70%  of new information within 24 hours.

So you won't remember very much from this lesson  tomorrow unless you repeat, repeat, repeat.

Our brains were designed to remember  information only if it's repeated,  

because that tells our brain  the information is important.

So if you want to remember what you're  learning, you need to repeat, repeat, repeat.

And as a pro tip, it's more beneficial  to have a quick review multiple times a  

day rather than once a week and having a longer  review because we need that constant repetition.

Tip 7.

You need to recall information, which means your  brain provides that information without seeing it.

So we do this when we quiz ourselves  or when we complete practice exercises.

You're recalling that information,  so let's try that right now.

We didn't make a lot of progress at the meeting.

The meeting?

How would you complete that sentence?

Based on the expression I taught you just a  few minutes ago, the meeting went off track.

The meeting went off track.

So right there you just recalled that definition,  

which will make it a lot more likely  you'll remember it the next time.

And as a pro tip, you can complete just the  

quizzes in my lessons frequently  to help you recall information.

Tip #8 is quality over quantity.

According to scientists, we can  remember about 5 to 9 new words per day.

That's about the maximum  capacity that our brain has.

So it's not very beneficial to review  a word list of 300 positive adjectives  

because you're not going to  remember very many of them.

It's more beneficial just to learn the top 8  

or 9 adjectives that you can use in a  meeting to sound professional at work.

As a pro tip, you can take my videos which  teaches you many many words, more than 5 to 9  

in each lesson, but you can divide that lesson  into smaller pieces and just focus on a few.

Words.

5 to 9 Ideally, learn them,  practice them, repeat them,  

recall them and then move on with the lesson.

Tip #9 Practice different skills.

Students are obsessed with  practicing their speaking skills.

Of course speaking is important, but there are  many other skills you need to improve as well.

So practice writing right example sentences.

Of course, practice speaking.

Say it out loud.

You can focus on your pronunciation by recording  yourself and then comparing the pronunciation.

And you can improve your listening skills by  hearing your new vocabulary in a natural context.

So do all these different exercises  to improve different language skills.

And as a pro tip, make sure you add these  different areas to your study schedule so  

you remember one day practice speaking,  another day practice writing, another day  

practice pronunciation, and finally tip #10, my  personal favorite, which is to reward yourself.

When you reward yourself, it creates positive  reinforcement, which means you feel positive.

And if you feel positive, you're  more likely to do the action,  

so you're more likely to spend 30 minutes  and really concentrate on that time.

If you reward yourself now, the  reward should just be something small.

Very small.

But it needs to immediately make you feel good.

So here are some ways I reward  myself after spending a focused time.

I listen to a song I really like.

I sing and I dance.

I spend time with my pets.

I check the YouTube comments and I  reply to them because I love doing that.

I might watch some cat videos on YouTube  for 5 minutes, not an hour, but 5 minutes.

You could eat a piece of chocolate or  something very small that you like.

Or you could go for a walk or a  bike ride and do something physical.

Remember, it can be very small, but it  has to make you feel good immediately.

And as a pro tip, reward yourself  immediately after the behavior,  

because that will create  the positive reinforcement.

Now, all of these tips work, but  they'll only work if you do the work.

So put I'm committed, I'm committed.

Put that in the comments so I  know you're ready to do the work.

Amazing job.

Now let's review 7 free ways to  help you improve your fluency.

Of course, these videos will help you.

So this is your 8th way, but I have seven other  

resources that I want to share  with you, so let's get started.

Number one, watch clips on YouTube.

You've probably heard that you should use  TV shows and movies to improve your English.

What I'm recommending is you use  a clip of ATV show or a movie,  

and you can find these for  free right here on YouTube.

What's a Clip?

A clip is a shorter segment of  a full TV show or a full movie.

So a clip could be 30 seconds,  3 minutes, or 13 minutes.

Why should you use clips?

Because it's more effective.

If you watch a 30 minute TV show or a two  hour movie, you're going to be exposed to a  

lot of English, but you probably won't remember  anything specific from that TV show or movie.

If you study a 32nd clip or a three minute clip,  

you can improve your  vocabulary and learn a lot of.

Grammatical structures.

Plus, because it's only 30 seconds or three  minutes, you can watch it again and again,  

and that repetition will help  with your long term memory.

#2 Watch Ted talks.

What's a Ted talk?

A Ted talk is a presentation  on an educational topic,  

and these presentations are  a maximum of 18 minutes.

So when you watch a Ted talk, you're going to see  

a professional speaker share  a presentation in English,  

which will give you a lot of tips and advice  on how to improve your public speaking as well.

Plus, these presentations are  more formal, more academic,  

so you'll be exposed to more advanced vocabulary  and advanced grammatical structures as well.

And because they are on specific topics,  

you can find Ted talks that are  very interesting and you'll learn.

At the same time, you'll  enjoy watching the Ted talk,  

and that will make it educational for your  own purposes and for improving your English.

And as a pro tip, join the  discussion in the comments,  

because in the comments everyone  is going to discuss that Ted talk.

Talk about what they liked about it,  their opinion on that and you can read  

the the discussion comments and also participate  and add your perspective as well #3 read blogs.

Blogs are short articles on specific topics.

So if you have a hobby and you're a photographer,  

you can find a photography blog and you  can read short articles about photography.

Now.

You can find a blog for  professional reasons as well.

So if you're in marketing, you can find a  marketing blog or a graphic design blog.

Or, if you're a pilot, you can  even find a blog for pilots.

Reading is one of the best ways to improve your  vocabulary, and that's how blogs will help you.

And because they're all very short  and they're on topics that you are  

really interested about, you'll  really want to read them as well.

So you'll learn about interesting topics  and you'll improve your vocabulary.

Learn advanced grammatical structures  and you'll see your new word being used  

in context, which is so important for learning.

And just like with the 10 talks,  blogs often have comment section,  

so you can join the comments and you can  comment on topics that are of interest to you,  

but you're practicing your English  at the same time #4 listen to music.

This one you can just listen to any music.

All of the streaming services now have  playlists, so you can go onto Spotify,  

Apple Music, YouTube and just find a playlist and  

have it in the background so you can  use this as more passive practice.

You don't have to specifically listen to.

The words listen to the lyrics.

Just have it on in the background while  you're checking your e-mail or doing the  

dishes or driving, and your brain is learning,  even if you're not paying attention to it.

Your brain is learning pronunciation.

Your brain is learning sentence structure.

Your brain is improving listening skills.

Your brain is learning a lot passively.

So music is great.

For more of a passive way to learn #5.

Write in English.

Writing is such a great way  to improve your English.

Because you're using your vocabulary,  

you're using your grammar, you're using advanced  sentence structure, so it's active practice.

You're using everything that you've  learned in the previous tips.

Most students don't know what to write about,  

so here's something you can  write about every single day.

Summarize your day.

You can imagine you're writing to a  friend, your sibling, your parents,  

your spouse, a coworker, your boss,  and just tell them about your day.

You don't have to send it to them just so.

Set aside 5 minutes or 20 minutes  a day and just summarize your day.

You can answer these questions.

What did I do?

Why did I do it?

Did I like it?

What did I learn?

What would I do differently?

And every day you can simply summarize your day.

So now you have a reason to practice  your writing every single day.

Number six, Find a speaking partner.

Students always tell me they want  to improve their speaking skills.

But guess what?

Thousands of other students  who also want to practice  

their speaking skills are watching this video.

Right now.

All you need to do is look  in the comments section and  

you have hundreds of potential speaking partners.

So right now put in the comments I want a speaking  partner and then people will reply to you.

You can reply to other people and then you can  coordinate a specific day and time to meet.

You can do this every single week.

There are many many free  resources online where you  

can find a speaking partner  like my language exchange.

I personally used this when I was learning  French and I did find speaking partners easily.

So you can find a speaking partner  as well #7 teach what you've learned.

This is my personal favorite because the best way.

To.

Fully understand a concept.

To fully consider yourself an expert  in a concept is if you can teach it.

If you can teach someone else  how to use the present perfect,  

well then you, my friend, have  mastered the present perfect.

But you don't have to be an expert  on a topic in order to teach it.

You can teach your friend, your brother,  sister, parents, Co worker, a stranger.

You can teach them one word, that's OK, but  teaching them that one word reinforces it for you.

And if you're thinking right now,  I don't have anyone I could teach.

Well, guess what?

You can teach yourself.

Remember, tip #5 was to write in English.

Why not write an explanation of what you  learned today in the way of teaching?

For example, you could write.

Today I watched.

A really great YouTube video by Jay.

For his English.

Jennifer shared seven different  ways to improve my English.

Her first tip was to learn from TV  clips rather than the whole show.

A clip is a smaller section of a full TV show.

Notice how you're summarizing tip #1, and you're  including the definition of what a clip is,  

which will make it so much more likely  that you will remember what a clip is,  

and you will also remember all the  tips that I shared in this lesson.

So you can absolutely teach yourself every  single day by summarizing what you learned.

Now I've saved the best for last,  

because now I'm going to share a  very effective study plan for you.

This study plan is absolutely free,  and it only takes 20 minutes a day.

And I promise you, if you follow this  study plan every single day, you are  

going to drastically transform your English in  the next 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and beyond.

So let's review the study plan now.

Step one, you're going to find three to  five blogs that you find interesting.

Once a blog, blogs are educational websites that  

provide short articles on  specific topics or themes.

How can you find blogs to use?

Well, first, simply identify your  personal and professional interests.

So let's say in your personal life  you're interested in gardening and  

piano, and in your professional life you're an  accountant and you're interested in leadership.

So now you have 4 topics for blogs.

All you need is to go on to Google and  search gardening blogs, blogs about piano,  

blogs for accountants, leadership blogs,  

and you can review the options and bookmark  your favorite one from each category.

Step 2, you're going to read one to three  paragraphs of a specific blog article.

Now, in those paragraphs, your goal  is to find three to five words that  

you want to learn and add to your vocabulary.

If you find 3 to 5 words in the first  paragraph, well, then you can stop reading.

But if you've read 3 paragraphs and you  still don't have three to five words,  

then keep reading until you find  the words you want to learn.

You're probably wondering  how you should choose words.

You want to choose words that are commonly  used and that are relevant to your daily life.

This will make sure you're learning  words that will actually benefit you,  

because you can start using them in your speech.

Step three, learn the meaning of your new  words and learn how it's used in a sentence.

This is why we're using blogs,  

because you don't want to just take one  single word and understand what it means.

Because in English, one word  can have multiple meanings,  

but when you see that word in context in  a sentence, it has one specific meaning.

So you're going to learn that  specific meaning of the word.

So let's say I find an article in a leadership  blog and I'm reading it, and there is this one  

word that I don't know discreet, and it seems  like a common word that I could use in my speech.

So I want to learn it first.

I'm going to look this word up in the dictionary  and I'm going to see what the definition is,  

what type of word it's used, and I'm going to  review the example sentences of that word being  

used to make sure you really understand how  this word is being used in a specific context.

You can also ask ChatGPT.

So you can go on ChatGPT and you can type  in what does discrete mean in this sentence  

and then paste in the specific sentence  from the blog and ChatGPT will give you  

a detailed explanation of what that  word means in the specific context.

You can even ask follow up questions  if you're not sure about the meaning.

Remember I said that you should  choose three to five words right now?

You might think that's not enough words, Jennifer.

I want to improve my English as quickly as  possible, but this is a daily study routine,  

meaning you're going to repeat these steps  every single day, ideally five days a week.

So if you learn 5 words a day, five days  a week, that's 25 words in one week.

Now, maybe you still might think that's not  enough, but in one year, that's 1300 words.

That's a lot of words.

Step four, you're going to learn the  pronunciation of your new words with Youglish.

What's Youglish?

Youglish is a free website where you can search  for a specific word or a specific phrase and you  

can get results of native speakers using  that word or phrase in natural context.

So you'll hear the pronunciation,  

but you'll also hear many different accents  and styles of speech, which is so beneficial.

And your goal is to listen to five to 10  different Youglish examples for each word.

So you'll hear 5 to 10 different  accents and different styles of speech,  

which will really help you  with your listening skills.

Now, as a pro tip, you can also review the example  sentences to learn sentence structure, grammar,  

concepts, so you're not just using Uglish  for pronunciation and your listening skills.

You can also learn grammar and  sentence structure at the same time.

Step five.

You're going to repeat the  Uglish sentences out loud,  

and you're doing this so you  can practice your pronunciation.

So you'll listen to the sentence  on you Glish, you'll hit pause,  

and you'll say what you just heard out  loud, and you'll try to imitate the speaker.

This is called shadowing or simply imitation,  

and it's a very effective way  to improve your pronunciation.

Repeat the sentence out loud until you  feel comfortable with the pronunciation,  

and do it a minimum of three times.

Step 6, Write three example  sentences for each word.

Writing is such a powerful way to make sure you  permanently Remember Remember your new words.

Now, when you write, you should pay  attention to your sentence structure,  

your grammar, and your writing skills as well.

And as a bonus tip, you should write  each sentence using different sentence  

structures, different verb tenses,  or different grammatical structures.

So you can ask a question  for one of your examples.

You can write a negative sentence.

You can write a sentence using the  present simple or the present perfect.

So you're practicing your grammar and  sentence structure at the same time.

Step seven, you're going to form  realistic sentences out loud.

You've already practiced  your speaking with Youglish.

You've improved your pronunciation.

You've imitated the native speakers,  

but now it's your turn to practice speaking  without seeing the sentences written down.

So you're going to form realistic sentences.

What do I mean by realistic sentences?

I mean how will you actually use  the new word in your personal life?

How can you use the new word  in your professional life?

So imagine you're talking to  your friend, your sibling,  

your spouse, and you want  to use the word discreet.

What would you say to them?

Maybe you would say I went to  three discreet stores today,  

but I couldn't find the shoes I wanted.

Now, remember, you're not writing.

This down you're.

Saying it out loud to practice your speaking.

Now that was an example in your personal life.

Let's say you're in a meeting at work.

How would you realistically use this word?

Maybe you would say after  interviewing 5 discrete companies,  

I can confident say that Jay  Forest English is the best.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate that.

Let me summarize all seven  steps of your new study routine.

And this is available as a PDF download as  well, so you can look in the description.

To download it, first read one  to three paragraphs from a blog.

Then choose three to five new words.

Next, learn your new words  with the dictionary or ChatGPT.

Learn correct pronunciation with Youglish.

Practice your pronunciation by  shadowing the Youglish examples.

Write three example sentences using  different sentence structures for  

each word and finally form  realistic sentences out loud.

Now let me share my best tips and advice so you  can get fast results with your new study routine.

First of all, I already said this, but  this was designed for you to do every  

day for a minimum of three days  a week, ideally five days a week.

You have five days a week.

You can do this, right put I can do it.

Put I can do it, I can do it in  the comments, but I can do it.

So I know you're committed and my best  tip for you is to choose the specific  

time you're going to spend on your new study  routine and and put the time in your calendar.

If you see it in your calendar and  you treat it like an appointment,  

like a doctor's appointment or a meeting at  work, then you're more likely to follow through.

And finally, this study routine was designed  for you to do at one time in one session.

But you should absolutely practice your  new words throughout the day as well.

And it would be a really great  practice to do a weekly review as well.

So you can spend 5 days on the  study routine and then a sixth  

day where you just review all  the words that you've learned.

Because remember, that's 25 new words.

Now you have a step by step  English study plan for 2024.

I know this will help you get results fast so  

you can finally become a fluent and  confident English speaker in 2024.

Now if you want me to make more videos  where I share tips and advice to help  

you become fluent faster than put study  plan, put study plan in the comments.

So I know you like this video and you want  me to make more videos just like this.

Put study plan in the comments.

Amazing job with this master class.

Now do you want me to share more tips and advice  with you to help you become fluent faster?

If you do, then put let's go put let's go  in the comments so I know that you're ready  

for more videos just like this and  you can get this free speaking guide  

to help you speak English fluently  and confidently in six easy steps.

You can click here to download  it or look for the link in the  

description and you can keep improving  your English with this lesson right now.