If you want to improve your speaking abilities, a good method is to socialise. If you are in a social environment you do not have the stress you may feel in the classroom. In a test the people who watch and listen to you, are the people who judge your future. To know that can make you nervous. In just over 14 minutes, your future will be decided. Examiners are like school teachers, some are more lenient than others, some are stricter than others. How do you know if a marker is strict or lenient? The answer is, you don’t. You go in there, and hope for the best. While the examiner listens to you, they may try to find as many mistakes as they can. You may not know you’ve made mistakes, until the test is completed. They may do this because they are bored, sadistic, picky, they love the power or they take their job too seriously. Not all examiners are like this. But the truth is it’s hard to know.

However, in a social environment, you are more relaxed and calm. You are with people you know, people you like, people you trust and people you can depend on. These people will tell if you’ve made a mistake. If you feel you’ve made a mistake, you can ask them. You can be yourself. They are your friends, family, work mates, and you know them well enough to ask questions. You can request their complete honesty about anything. They don’t judge you, and they don’t decide your future. You can depend on them for help. You can be yourself. One student asked their lover if they made mistakes or not. While another learnt expressions from their friends. My trainer said, a Somali cab driver in New York, doesn’t just learn English in the class room, they learn it from discussions with their passengers.

While you’re in a social setting, you can pick up new words at your own pace, you can take your time to learn new expressions. You can test out sentences you’ve heard, you can hear new words. This can be a productive learning experience, and a safe learning environment. Little to no fear of ridicule.

In my next blog, I will tell you about the benefits of electronic media, in practising your speaking and listening.