Become a Confident English Speaker with a Speaking Journal

Tell me if one of these statements sounds familiar to you.

If I could only improve my grammar,

I would finally stop feeling afraid in English and I would be able to speak with

more confidence. Maybe I'll buy a new grammar book.

I think I'm going to listen to some podcasts in English that'll help me

expand my vocabulary so I finally have the words to say what I want with

confidence. This time I'm serious.

I'm going to study English every single day for an hour so I

can finally feel confident speaking English.

Are you quietly raising your hand to one of those statements?

If so, I totally get it.

Transitioning from learning with grammar books or other forms of

passive learning, such as watching YouTube videos, reading blog posts,

listening to podcasts,

and then transitioning into speaking out loud can be

scary, especially if like me,

you're someone who would describe yourself as a natural introvert,

which means you prefer to have time to think.

You want everything clear in your mind before you speak,

or if in English you feel shy or nervous in

conversations.

Becoming confident speaking another language takes courage

because it does mean that you have to speak,

but it doesn't mean that you need a new grammar book. And yes,

expanding your vocabulary is always helpful.

It's an important part of advancing your English knowledge. However,

you don't need more vocabulary in order to speak with confidence

now, and you don't need to study for an hour every day.

Lastly, it doesn't have to be scary.

In this Confident English lesson today,

you're going to learn how to use a speaking journal with six simple

steps to build a consistent English habit and become a

Confident English speaker.

Plus I have a special bonus for you to download to help you immediately get

started.

First.

If you don't already know, I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.

Everything I do is designed to help you get the confidence you want for your

life and work in English.

One way I do that is by sharing my weekly Confident English lessons where I

focus on targeted English topics,

including my top confidence and fluency-building strategies

just like in this lesson today. So while you're here,

make sure you subscribe to my Speak Confident English Channel on YouTube so you

never miss one of my Confident English lessons. To get started,

I want to answer three of the most common questions I get about starting

a speaking journal practice in English,

and then we'll get right into the six simple steps you can follow.

The three questions I get are, what exactly is a speaking journal?

How will a speaking journal help me with my English and help me become more

confident? And three,

how do you know if a speaking journal practice is right for you?

So first,

what exactly is a speaking journal similar to a written journal?

A speaking journal is a series of entries recorded,

in audio form,

and just like with an entry in a written journal,

you might use a speaking journal to process

emotions or brainstorm, problem solve,

tell a story or simply think through your day.

So how exactly would this speaking journal help you in your English?

Again, just like with a written journal in a speaking journal,

you're able to record your thoughts and then review them,

evaluate and revise.

What this means is not only can you use your speaking journal as a way to

process your emotions or talk about what you did over the last day like you do

in a written journal,

but you can also use it to focus on specific skills you want

to improve in your English, whether it's practicing new vocabulary,

focusing on pronunciation or on grammatical accuracy.

With every speaking journal entry,

you have the opportunity to go back and listen, analyze,

reflect on how you did, make improvements,

and track your progress.

The best part about it is it's completely flexible.

You can do it anytime,

anywhere you don't need others to practice with,

and any topic can be a speaking prompt for you to practice.

You get to choose what to focus on. Now,

if you've never thought about recording yourself in English before,

and if this idea feels a bit unusual to you,

I have a recommendation at my Speak Confident English website.

I have a full in-depth training called How to Say What You Want in English,

and in this training I highlight how effective

recording yourself is for making true lasting progress with your

accuracy, your fluency, and your confidence.

It's the perfect way to get started. So again,

if this idea is new to you, go to my website,

get that training to help you get started with this technique,

and then come right back here to follow the six steps I'm going to

share with you to develop a consistent habit using a

speaking journal. Now,

the third question before we get into those six steps is how do you know if a

speaking journal practice is right for you? Let me ask you a few questions.

Do you often feel stuck or struggle to find words that you've learned

in the middle of a conversation?

Are your grammar skills perfect on paper and perfect

in your mind when you're thinking about what you want to say but lacking

when you begin to speak?

Do you feel so self-conscious and so nervous speaking with others in

English that you prefer to say nothing to stay quiet?

Are you looking for an easy way to track your progress?

Does your current schedule and lifestyle only allow you

small blocks of time to practice English?

Do you need a more autonomous flexible way to practice speaking or

do you feel like you've plateaued, stagnated,

or stopped making progress in your English?

So you need something new to challenge you?

Did you say yes to most of those questions? If you did,

then a speaking journal practice is definitely something you should consider.

So let's take a look at six simple steps you can follow to get started.

Step one, set yourself up for success.

We are more likely to make habits stick when they are easy

and achievable. So to help you set yourself up for success,

I have three little tasks I want you to complete as you start your

practice. First,

choose a speaking journal app for your smartphone that is easy for

you to use. Currently, there are multiple options available,

and if you're not sure where to get started,

I will share with you a list of recommendations apps that many of my

students like to use at the Speak Confident English website to get those

recommendations.

You can visit this lesson at the website and I'll share a link

to this lesson just below in the show notes to find the right app for you.

I recommend that you test two or three of them.

Make sure that they're easy to use and they have all the features you need,

including the ability to record yourself,

keep multiple entries and it's easy to listen back to what

you've said.

The second task I have for you to help you set yourself up for success is

to determine a schedule for your speaking journal habit and put it on

your calendar.

I know there might be the temptation to say that you're going to do this every

day and plan five, six,

or seven days a week where you'll practice your speaking journal habit.

I recommend starting with two or three days a week and no more,

more than 10 minutes. Start small.

Make your habit easy and achievable.

You can always add more time and extra days as you

build your habit. To help you do this,

I want you to use this sentence I will dedicate and then

determine the number of days and the amount of time of your practice

every week to my speaking journal. Once you've made that decision,

put it on your calendar, make it important,

and now the third task is to get a notebook that you use for

your speaking journal practice.

This is the perfect place to record your progress over time.

We'll be talking more about that in a moment and also keeping notes on

any improvements you want to make, words that you're learning and so on.

Now, before we go to step two,

if you typically struggle with building new habits,

I have a full lesson on how to build effective habits,

and I'll share a link to that in the notes below the video.

Step number two is test the waters and iron out the flaws.

To test the water means to try something in advance and

determine whether it will be successful. Before you proceed,

before we get too involved in your speaking journal practice,

let's make sure everything's working correctly,

and that's where ironing out the flaws comes in.

We're going to walk through how to do a mock speaking journal

entry just as a practice opportunity,

and if we notice any difficulties,

we're going to iron out the flaws.

We're going to fix those errors so it's easy for you to build this habit

to do this. Once you have an app identified,

I want you to practice recording yourself. Keep it to 30 seconds,

set a timer, and I want you to use a prompt, for example,

talk about what you did yesterday. Think about what you did,

who you saw, where you went, how you felt,

and while you speak, while you record yourself,

don't worry about any grammar mistakes that you might make.

If you notice you've made a mistake or if you start to feel stuck, that's okay.

Don't stop recording, don't delete it.

Just allow yourself to pause for a moment, take a deep breath,

collect your thoughts, and then continue speaking when you're ready. Remember,

this is just a practice entry. We're ironing out the flaws.

Once you've done that, I have a few questions for you to consider,

and if we notice some problem areas,

I have ideas of how to fix them. So question number one,

after you record yourself for the first time with this test practice,

how do you feel?

Do you notice any particularly negative feelings before, during,

or after you complete this activity?

It's very likely that you'll feel uncomfortable listening to your voice,

and I want you to know that's okay. It's completely normal.

Native speakers also struggle with hearing their voice in recordings,

and I can promise you as you continue,

as you build a consistent habit,

you will feel more and more comfortable with your voice.

You might even start to like it.

The second problem area to consider is your environment.

Do you feel uncomfortable recording yourself in that particular location?

We highlighted that one of the best things about a speaking journal practice is

its flexibility. You can record from anywhere, a cafe, your office,

your bedroom while kids are doing their homework,

but after this test practice round,

you might notice that it's not as comfortable as you thought.

Perhaps there's a lot of noise or distractions. If that's the case,

try to find a new location where you feel more comfortable speaking out

loud in English and recording yourself.

The third potential problem area to analyze is the time of day you plan

to practice.

Maybe you initially thought you would practice three days a week in the morning

before starting work, but on this very first day,

you already found it difficult.

The kids were late getting ready for school and there were too many things to

do. If that's the case, change the time of day,

and now the fourth potential problem to consider is any technical

difficulties. How did that app work for you? Was it easy to use?

If you're having trouble with it, try another app.

Once you've solved those four potential problems,

let's move on to step number three, organize, align, and record.

Once that testing phase is over,

it's time to determine your goals and identify the

specific speaking prompts that will help you reach those goals. Now,

I know the ultimate goal is confidence in your speaking.

You might also be focused on your fluency and overall accuracy. However,

it's important to set smaller specific goals to help you reach those larger

ones,

and you need to identify specific speaking topics that will

help you reach those targeted smaller goals.

For example,

perhaps a goal is to become more concise and clear in your speech.

To do that,

you would need a series of speaking prompts that allows you to focus on

word choice, structure, organization,

and pausing while speaking with each goal you have,

it's important to focus on it for a period of time.

You might focus on one goal for a week or several weeks.

Another example might be your accuracy with pronunciation

and one week you might focus on the final ed sound

in past tense, regular verbs,

and so you would identify a series of speaking prompts that are focused on

the past. Once you have a goal and some speaking prompts in mind,

I have four tips to help you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Number one,

set your goal and focus on it for a period of time that allows

you to really practice and make progress in that area. Number two,

start with simple speaking prompts,

like talking about what you did yesterday.

When you begin a speaking journal habit,

there can be some anxiety at the beginning and that's okay. It's totally normal.

It is harder to think clearly when we feel nervous,

so start with simple topics and then you can make them more complex

as you get more comfortable.

My third tip is if you have a speaking prompt and you're ready to

start recording but you don't really know what to say, your mind is blank.

Pause the recording and do a quick mind map.

Get a piece of paper or your speaking journal notebook out and

do a mind map on the topic. Get some key words on paper,

and then while you're speaking,

you can take a look at those keywords so you've got them in mind and

you know what to talk about.

And the fourth tip to avoid overwhelm is set a time limit.

Don't do this for 20 minutes. Start recording yourself.

If you make a mistake, it's no big deal. You can either just simply pause,

take a deep breath and continue when you're ready or click the stop

button, delete it and start over.

But set a time limit five minutes or 10 minutes and stop when

that time limit is up. Now,

if you're looking for a super easy way to get started with all of this,

I have a recommendation for you with this lesson at the Speak Confident English

website. I have a free PDF you can download with 30

speaking prompts and with each prompt I've included a

grammar focus so that you have a specific goal ready for

you. With that pdf, you have a variety of options.

You can choose a different speaking prompt every time you practice,

or you could choose one speaking prompt to practice for a week.

If you did that,

you'd have 30 weeks of a practice ready for you

to get that free PDF and immediately start your practice.

Visit this lesson at the Speak Confident English website.

I'll leave a link just below the video if you're thinking all of this

sounds fantastic.

I just wish I could have some accountability or I wish someone could listen

and tell me how I'm doing.

I'd love to tell you about the Confident Women Community.

It's a private members only online community for women

all over the world to get speaking practice together and gain confidence in

their English skills inside the Confident Women Community,

we combine real life practice with accountability and support.

You can practice having English conversation with discussion partners,

get monthly downloadable materials so you always know what to study.

You also get weekly speaking prompts perfect for a speaking

journal habit,

and you can join live workshops with women from around the world,

all guided by me and my Speak Confident English team.

Every month we give you a step-by-step plan so you always know what

to practice and you're sure to make progress.

The Confident Women Community is open to all women from around the world with an

intermediate level or higher in English. If you'd like to learn more,

I've got a link for you just below the video.

The fourth step for starting a speaking journal practice is listen

and reflect. Now,

I know there's the temptation to listen to yourself

immediately after you finish recording,

but I'm going to ask that you allow some time to pass before

you do that. For example,

maybe you practice recording yourself on Monday after you're

finished, click the stop button and then walk away.

Don't listen to it until Wednesday. Give yourself some time.

This will help you to be more objective when you evaluate how

you did. Once you're ready,

I want you to get your speaking journal notebook and listen to your recording.

Remember your initial goal, whether it was to focus on being concise,

use pauses while speaking,

use the final Ed sound and take notes on how you did.

Make sure to write down anything you notice that you did well and

note down opportunities you have to improve.

What might you do differently next time?

That's the benefit of this practice.

You can always change what you want the next time you record,

and when you recognize those opportunities for your own improvement,

it's more likely for those changes to stick. Moreover,

with this process, you have the opportunity to listen,

evaluate and practice again. In other words, you're getting repetition.

If you've been following me for a while,

you know that repetition is the key to automaticity.

The ability to use language automatically,

whether it's vocabulary, grammatical accuracy or pronunciation,

repetition will help you achieve that ultimate goal.

Step five for your speaking journal practice is check in with yourself.

What this means is to analyze your thoughts and emotions with

the ultimate goal of self-improvement. Once again,

I want you to have your speaking journal notebook available,

and I want you to ask yourself a series of questions that will help you

analyze how you're doing, help you make improvements, and most importantly,

track your progress. I don't know about you,

but I love having documented proof,

a record of what I'm doing and how I'm making progress.

Your notebook and your answers to your questions will give you that.

So here are a few questions to ask.

How much did I enjoy this practice today?

How confident did I feel after this practice today?

What got in the way of that confidence?

It might be that you're feeling tired or stressed about work.

It might be that you struggled to remember specific vocabulary. Overall,

what went well? What could I improve next time?

What's my takeaway or what's something I learned from this practice today?

Whether your speaking journal habit is once a week or four

or five days a week,

I want you to ask yourself these questions and record your answers in your

notebook at least once a week so that you're creating that documented

record of your efforts and your progress.

And now step number six,

challenge yourself With a consistent practice,

you will become more comfortable, and as you do,

it's a great opportunity to increase the level of difficulty.

Similarly,

if over time you begin to feel that you're plateauing,

you're staying at the same level of progress, again,

challenging yourself can help you move forward. When you're ready to do this,

here are four different ways you can challenge yourself with your speaking

journal practice. Number one, play with time.

Maybe at the beginning you set a limit of 30 seconds.

You recorded yourself speaking for 30 seconds. When you're ready,

increase it to one minute, then 90 seconds, then two minutes.

You might even go up to five minutes.

A second way to challenge yourself is to use more complex or more

difficult speaking prompts. For example, you could try critiquing a film

summarizing a TED Talk or a podcast,

tell a story or share your opinion on a controversial topic.

The third way to challenge yourself is to take only a few

notes or write down a few keywords before you practice.

At the beginning,

you might have the temptation to write down full sentences of what you want to

say once you're ready to speak, but over time,

I want you to just write down a few key words to help

trigger your ideas as you speak.

And the fourth way to challenge yourself is to do it all spontaneously.

Don't take any notes.

Simply give yourself a speaking prompt and speak in an impromptu

manner.

Having used a speaking journal in my own practice and having helped hundreds

of students develop speaking journals,

I can promise you that with a consistent habit,

you absolutely will become comfortable with your voice.

You will gain confidence in your speaking skills,

and you can improve your fluency and your accuracy.

So now I have two things for you. Number one,

I want to know which of these tips you're going to start with today.

If you're looking for a bit of that accountability,

let me know in the comments how you're going to get started. And number two,

I want you to visit this lesson at the Speak Confident English website,

so you can download that free PDF with 30 speaking prompts

To help you get started. If you found this lesson useful to you,

I would love to know. You can tell me in one very simple way,

give this lesson a thumbs up here on YouTube,

or you can go even further and add a comment below,

letting me know what you learned and how you're going to get started

using a speaking journal practice to become a Confident English speaker.

Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time.