"Let’s Speak with Confidence" is the theme of the recently launched "ALWIS English Speaking Club" which offers participants the chance to fully engage in an English-speaking environment, helping to strengthen their spoken English abilities and boost their confidence in expressing their thoughts during interactive sessions covering various topics.
The Club was launched on July 14th and hosted a special guest ‘Jas Dhaliwal’, an English teacher with over 24 years of experience who was born and bred in London. She has a hands-on approach to teaching using real-life experiences.
Find below a summary of her talk.
Learning English
First, find your purpose for learning English. Is it for your career, studies or traveling, etc?
Set yourself realistic goals.
To learn English, you need to understand the culture.
Languages can’t be learned just through reading books.
You need to learn about culture when learning a language to really master it.
Learning about how native people live and talk, introduces a human side to the language, which keeps you hooked on learning.
To understand culture you need to go further than textbooks and dictionaries.
According to research(2009), there is no way in which someone can learn a language without accepting the culture that comes with it. Therefore, as one learns the language he/she is forced to accept the culture of it.
Confidence in learning English: How to build confidence in learning English.
Breathe- sometimes it’s easy to forget something when you are nervous. So take a step back and breathe.
Allow mistakes, celebrate your mistakes. We all make mistakes when we are learning. You have to make mistakes in order to learn. Don’t be too hard on yourself remember it’s not a bad life it’s just a bad moment.
You don’t need to know everything, if you don’t know something, just say you don’t know.
Make sure you’re having fun, time flies when you’re having fun so use this in learning.
Accents are where you are from. There are 40 different accents in the U.K. and about 30 in America. Having an accent doesn’t mean that you have mastered the language. Good pronunciation and confidence are important. Be proud of where you come from and remember that your accent is part of your Identity.
Don’t just study for doing tests and understanding tests, have life and world skills in your new language.
Think this is a really important point. Are we taught to think or are we told what to think? Better thinkers equal better language learners learning is thinking.
Accept criticism and welcome it - it’s what helps you grow.
Some tips
Write Down What You're Going To Say.
Develop Your Skills In Lower-Risk Environments.
Define Why Your Voice Is Important.
Take Action, Rather Than Seeking Perfection First.
Imagine the Conversation First, Then Act.
Phrase Statements Through 'I Think' And 'This is Why '
Celebrate yourself.
Resources spoken about during the conference:
BBC news app
https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=peppa+pig
English with Lucy (youtube channel)
BBC Learning English
=>Find out more about ALWIS English Speaking Club: