Do you get nervous when speaking English. In today’s episode Chare shares some tips to help you become a more confident speaker. Enjoy!

Show Notes – Notas del Episodio

Expressions

To dive in: To get started into the topic

lurking around:

Transcript

Como superar tu miedo a hablar inglés

Do you get nervous when speaking in English?

Hi, Charo here, from, Hablar inglés y más, with some tips to help you feel calmer and become a more confident English speaker.

If you feel anxious when you have to speak in English, you’re not alone. Psychologists say many people fear public speaking more than death. When you add a second language into the mix, it can be even more challenging! but if you apply the tips I’ll share with you in this podcast, it doesn’t have to be that way.

So ready to overcome those speaking fears and become a better communicator?

Let’s dive in. 

Tip number one: Reframe your fear.

We usually avoid things that make us uncomfortable or scared, right? It’s a natural instinct. 

However, our greatest accomplishments often lay behind our biggest fears

So what can we do?

Let’s use fear to our advantage because feeling a bit of fear is not a bad thing…

It keeps you alert, enhances your ability to respond, and sharpens your mind. Next time you you feel the fear of speaking n English, tell yourself, «This fear is making my mind sharper.»

Okay, we know a bit of fear can be good. But what if your fear is too big? I have a couple more tips to help you with that.

Tip Number Two: Start Small

Ever heard the saying, «Practice makes perfect»? Well, it also true that practice makes you calmer. By practicing your speech over and over again, you train your nervous system to calm down while speaking.

 Start small—give your speech to an empty room, give it to your cat  or to your dog. It doesn’t really  matter. Once you feel more at ease, practice by recording your voice on your phone. Do it several times. Once you’re comfortable with that, record yourself on video. That’s the closest thing to speaking in public!

After a bit of practice, speaking in public won’t seem like such a big deal any more.

And the third and last tip I have for you is this:
Water Down Your Anxiety

What do I mean? Before you begin your speech, take a sip of water. Way back to Cave days, human beings had to be very careful in order to survive.  There were many dangers lurking around. So one of the things they learned it’s to never stop to drink if surrounded by threats.

This instinct is still coded in your genes!

So taking a sip of water you are sending the message to your nervous system that there are no dangers, that you are safe.

Let me recap here.

-Use fear to your advantage by reframing it.
-Practice in a safe place before going public.
-Take a sip of water at the beginning of your speech and…

Let me know how it goes!

Have you found this episode useful? Then please, share it with a friend who might need it.

Till next time. This is Charo signing off.

Thank you for listening!
Charo

Do you find yourself learning English words with the wrong pronunciation? In this episode, Charo shares why this is so common and her 3-step process to learn the correct pronunciation from the very beginning.

Notas del Episodio (Show Notes)

Expressions:
*From the get-go:
It means from the very beginning.



Transcript

Hi, it’s Charo from «Hablar Inglés y Más.»

Are you struggling with this?

There’s a common issue among Spanish speakers – they learn English vocabulary but with incorrect pronunciation. They memorize English words with the sounds they would have if read in Spanish.

And that’s a huge problem.

Why? -would you ask. Well, Because now it’s more challenging for them to learn the correct pronunciation. They need to unlearn the wrong information and grasp the correct sounds. That’s twice as hard as learning it correctly from the get-go.

This occurs mainly because we mostly read in English and don’t spend enough time listening.

So today, I’m sharing with you  a step-by-step process that you can use to ingrain the right English sounds into your memory from the very beginning.

Step One: Listen

Simply turn on the podcast or watch the video without any subtitles and try to understand. Give your brain a chance to identify the sounds, words, and sentences as you would in a real-life situation. Repeat it a couple of times if necessary, and let your brain do its best to comprehend what’s being said.

Step Two: Read the Transcript While Listening

Read the transcript or subtitles while, and this is crucial, listening at the same time. This way, you’ll memorize the correct sounds of the written words. Above all, avoid merely reading it. It won’t help with your listening skills. so do it at the same time.

Step Three: Listen Again Without Reading

Now, listen again without reading anything, just listen, and pay attention. Do you understand better now? Do you recognize more words or sentences?

Your brain will be so happy that it will reward you with happiness hormones, yes! And it will increase that way your motivation to keep learning and improving your English.

That small effort you put into trying to understand without any subtitles whatsoever will help you remember more in the future than anything else.

So there you have it.
Step One, just listen to the podcast or video.
Step Two, listen while you read it at the same time.
And Step Three, listen again without reading and enjoy the rewards of understanding everything.

That’s all for today.

I hope that was helpful. Thanks for watching, thanks for listening. And if you want to read the transcript now, hop to my blog and find this episode.
Hope this was helpful, till next time.
Bye for now.
Charo

Have you ever wondered what happens inside a bilingual brain?
In today’s episode I’ll share with you 3 fun facts about the bilingual brain.
Enjoy!