How to Improve Your English for Your Career (Live Workshop) transcript

All right, welcome everybody to today's live stream. I'm just going to check to see if everything's working. If you can hear me, if you can see me, can you please write the word yes in the chat? If you can hear me, if you can see me, please write the word yes in the chat so I know everything is working. If you can see me, if you can hear me, just let me know in the chat. All right, looks like things are working here.

I had a an issue with the stream, but it looks like I've fixed it. So, we're just going to start in one moment. Thank you for your patience, guys. Just going to make sure everything's working here. All right. So, wow. Great to see you guys. Let me know where are you joining from. Which country are you joining me from? I'm in Canada. Vancouver, Canada on the west coast of Canada. Let me know in the chat where you're from.

Istanbul. Fantastic. I've never been to Istanbul. I'd love to go. Let me know where are you guys joining from. India, Hungary, Pakistan, Germany, Nigeria, Italy, Dominican Republic. Wow. Wonderful. We have students from all over the world, which is awesome. So, let's get into today's workshop. Today, I'm going to teach you how to improve your English for your career. Obviously, this is a very big topic. We can't go through everything today, but I'm just going to give you some phrases and some useful information you can apply to your workplace.

If you have to speak English at work or maybe in the future you're going to have to speak English at work, this is going to be very useful for you. So, I'm going to give you three ways to express yourself uh in meetings. Actually, I'm going to give you more than that, but I'm going to give you a bunch of useful vocabulary, useful phrases you can use. I'm going to give you a 30 sec 30 second structure for explaining your work.

If you ever have to talk about your work, maybe your boss asks you what you're doing or how things are going, then this 30- secondond structure is going to help you. We're also going to talk about small talk. If you know what small talk is, you probably also know that it's not easy. Small talk is difficult. Making conversation with strangers. Maybe you're in the elevator. You have to talk to colleagues in the elevator.

It's not easy, but it's very important. And lastly, I'm going to give you a simple email format that gets replies. Writing emails is easier than ever thanks to chat GPT and Claude and and Gemini. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't know how to do it yourself. And I'm going to give you this structure which will help you craft good emails. And lastly, there is going to be a chance to join my online programs. I see some of you guys in the chat are already uh in the programs, which is wonderful.

But if you'd like to join, I'm going to explain a bit more about that later. So stay tuned, watch until the end, and let's get started. Oh, you really do need a pen and paper. So if you are uh joining us today and you do need English for work, please grab a pen and paper cuz I'm going to give you some useful phrases you can use. Uh and I'd like you to write them down. Your only job will be to memorize them and to implement them.

I'll give you the phrases, but you do have to write them down. you have to memorize them. You can also take a screenshot if that's easier for you. Or you can do things the old school way and grab a pen and paper. Now, you don't need to know 5,000 words. A lot of people have this misconception that you need to memorize phrases and words, and you do, but you don't need as many as you think. Okay? I'll explain what I mean in a sec.

Now, before I start, I just want to introduce myself. My name is Michael. I was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. I have my Cambridge SELTA, which is a certificate in English language teaching to adults. I have over 5 million followers online, on YouTube, on Instagram, on Tik Tok, on Facebook. So, if you're one of them, I know most of you guys here are subscribed. Thank you so much for your support. It truly means the world to me.

If you aren't yet subscribed, make sure to subscribe to English at the Ready here on YouTube if you want to improve your English fluency. And lastly, I've helped over 3,000 students in our online programs. So, I don't just teach on YouTube or Instagram uh or Tik Tok. Obviously, those are great platforms to teach and to to spread knowledge and and education, but at the end of the day, if you want to become fluent in a language, you actually have to speak that language, you're not going to become fluent just by watching videos.

Okay? You're not going to become fluent by watching YouTube, by watching Netflix, by watching uh pod listening to podcasts. you're going to become fluent by speaking and that's exactly what we do in our programs and I'll talk more about those later. So, let's talk about speaking in meetings. Again, please grab a pen and paper cuz I'm going to introduce some new vocabulary to you. Let's talk about starting to speak. Okay.

So, sometimes you might need to interrupt the flow of a conversation in order to share what you have to have to say. Obviously, you don't want to interrupt too often and you don't want to do it in a rude way, but if you want to be more polite, you could say, "Sorry, can I jump in here?" "Sorry, can I jump in here?" Okay, to jump in is a phrasal verb which means to enter a conversation, to jump into a conversation. Can I add something to that?

Can I add something to that? Before we move on, just one thing. I'd like to come back to that. I'd like to come back to that. You might also hear the word to circle back. to circle back. That's another very common one. You can use this one as well. I'd like to circle back to that or I'd like to come back to that. I have a thought. I have an idea. I have something I'd like to add. I'll go after Maria or whoever's speaking.

I'll I'll share that after. I'll go after. Can I say something about the timeline? building on what Alex said, right? Building on something means adding to something. Building on it. It's always a good idea to agree. That's a good way to find common ground, right? You want to agree and then you can add your point. That's a good point. And I'd add dot dot dot. the same here. And one more thing. Okay, so you're agreeing and then you're adding something.

People are more likely to be receptive to what you have to say if you agree with them and you show them that you actually think they have uh good ideas. Now, answering difficult questions. I know this is a topic that a lot of you find difficult. If somebody asks you a question and you don't know the answer, you first want to do what we call buying time where you give yourself a moment to think about the answer. You buy time.

That's a good question. Let me think for a second. That's a good question. Let me think for a second. Give me a moment to get this right. Give me a moment. Give me a moment to get this right. Give me a moment to get this right. You can also ask for clarification. Just to check you're asking about XYZ. Do you mean X or Y? Do you mean the budget or the timeline? And lastly, you can defer. To defer is a verb which means to push something off.

Sometimes you need to defer if you genuinely don't have the answer to a question. You can say, "Can I come back to you after the call?" "Can I come back to you after the call?" "I'll send you the numbers this afternoon or I'll follow up with you this afternoon. disagreeing. Sometimes you will have to disagree and it is an art form to disagree in a polite manner. I see it a bit differently. I see it a bit differently.

I'm not sure that holds. Here's why. Can I offer a counterpoint? A counterpoint is uh an opposing argument. Okay. Can I offer a counterpoint? You might want to flag a risk. One thing that worries me. One thing that worries me is what happens if that slips or what happens if that fails. Right? Slips here just means fails. Right? What happens if that fails or that doesn't work? That assumes X. But do we know that? Right? that assumes.

When we assume something, uh, we're operating under an assumption. We think we know something, but it depends on that one thing, right? That assumes X. For example, if you say, "Let's go sailing tomorrow," or "Let's go swimming tomorrow." "Let's go um let's go to the beach," right? That's a good idea, but that assumes that it will be sunny, right? That assumes it'll be sunny. If it rains, we have to change our plans.

Sometimes you just have to say no. I can't take that on this month. I can't take that on this month. Not by Friday. Wednesday after. Yes. Not by Friday, but Wednesday after. Yes. I'd have to drop something. Which one? If you're too busy and you can't take on everything, you might have to drop something. To drop something means to not do it. For example, oh, I got to drop that. I don't have time. And lastly, when you don't understand something, you can ask for a repeat, right?

Sorry, I missed the last part. Sorry, I missed the last part. Could you say that again? Could you say that again? You can ask people to speak more slowly. A bit slower if you don't mind. a bit slower if you don't mind. Can you take me through that again? Can you take me through that again? And lastly, you can check your understanding. Let me repeat that back. Let me repeat that back. Did I get that right? Did I get that right?

There's no shame in asking for clarification. There's nothing wrong if you don't understand something. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be sure by asking for clarification. Okay? Don't feel ashamed if you have to ask. Native speakers speak very quickly. Sometimes it's not even easy for native speakers to understand other native speakers, especially, you know, British accent, American accent, and different accents, right?

People speak quickly. If you don't understand something, it's better to be safe than sorry. So, please don't feel bad about asking uh for clarification. Okay, let's move on to number two. Talking about work. Before we move on, I want you to answer a question I have here uh in the chat. Do you speak English at work? I'm actually curious to know. We have about 170 of you guys watching, so welcome. Uh, it's wonderful. But let me know, do you actually speak English at work or do you have to use English at work?

Let me know in the chat. Do you use English at work? You have to speak English at work. Yes, this is a live stream. I'm I'm live right now. Some of you guys do. Some of you don't. Sometimes. Yeah, 100%. By work, I mean your career, your workplace, right? Do you speak English with your colleagues? Do you speak English with your uh with your boss? Yeah. Okay. Let's continue and move on to the second section here. We're going to touch on this briefly.

Talking about your work. Okay. Let's say your boss asks you, uh, what did you do today? Or what's the status of this? What can you say? I'm going to give you a 30 secondond structure. You start with what happened. You go to why it matters, where it is, and what you need. This last one is quite important. What you need is what we call a call to action. So, you're asking for action. You're uh you're clarifying the next steps.

Let me explain what happened. I finished the customer survey. Okay, I finished the customer survey. Why it matters? Most people are leaving because of setup, not price. where it is. The results are written up and shared with the team. They're shared with the team. That's where it is. And lastly, what you need. I need 30 minutes with you next week to go through what we change. If there's one thing you take away from this structure, it's this last one.

You always need to be as clear as possible about what you need in American and British, also Canadian as well. English speaking workplace culture, we we value clarity. You don't want anybody guessing what you need. You you want to be as clear as possible and as direct as possible. I know in some cultures there's a tendency to be more indirect, but in English-speaking cultures, we're normally quite direct with our language, especially when it comes to the next steps.

So, take a screenshot of this structure and I'll give you a few seconds to do that. Okay. Use clear language. Yeah. So, one tendency I notice uh a lot of students think that sounding more advanced just means using bigger words and longer sentences. And yes, sometimes this can be true. Obviously, you want to continually uh expand your vocabulary, but sometimes it's better to be simple, right? Instead of saying we are currently in the process of implementing, be as direct as possible.

Just say we're building, right? We're building. There's no need to uh to to use a convoluted structure like this. due to the fact that because I would like to request your assistance regarding. Could you please help me with at this point in time right now? We will endeavor to finalize the deliverable. We'll finish it. If you read an American or British email, you'll notice that they are not very formal in this sense.

They use clear language, short words, direct speech. And that surprises a lot of students. A lot of students think that, you know, to be, as I said, to be more uh advanced or to sound more professional, you just have to use bigger words, longer sentences, and that's not true. Be as direct as possible. I know in some cultures there's a tendency to be indirect. So, this will feel a bit weird, but there's nothing wrong with being direct.

You still have to be polite, but again, being direct, being to the point is valuable. It's it's it's valued highly in English- speakaking workplace culture. Now, transitioning, opening a conversation, right? There are three things here. The structure, three things. I'll keep this short. I'll keep this brief. Two points. First, second, last, you have the structure. Okay, that's the first one. The second is, and lastly, closing to summarize, to recap.

So, the one thing to take away is these are all transitions. Again, you want to be as direct as possible. You want to be as organized, as logical as possible because we value efficiency in English speaking workplace culture. We're very efficient. Uh not everybody is, but that's the ideal, right? To be efficient, to be direct, and to communicate openly. That's how things get done. Small talk. Let me know in the chat if you find small talk difficult.

If you find small talk difficult, let me know in the chat. This is something that a lot of students find very difficult. Small talk making conversation with strangers. Maybe you're at a networking event. Maybe you're in the elevator. Let me know in the chat if you find small talk difficult. Yeah, lots of you guys find it difficult. It's not easy even for native speakers. A lot of native speakers don't like small talk.

I used to not like small talk, but I recognized it as a a necessary evil. It's it's not evil, but uh it's something that you you need to be good at if you want to form connections with people and build relationships. Yeah. Boring. That's fair. It is. Yeah. It's very surface level. It's not uh not very deep or profound. So, starting the conversation, how's your week going? How's your day going? How's your uh h how are things going?

Right. How's your How was your weekend? How's the weather where you are? How's the weather where you are? Are you working from home today? Are you working from home today? How was your weekend right on Monday? On Friday, you could say, "Any plans for the weekend?" "Any plans for the weekend?" If you've met somebody before and you're starting another conversation with them, you could follow up on something that you previously discussed.

How did the launch end up going? How did the meeting end up going? How did the interview end up going? Did you get that trip booked? Did you get that project finished? etc. So, take a screenshot of this because small talk is not difficult. If you have the right sentences, if you if you have the right phrases memorized, it's not difficult at all. Take a screenshot. I'll give you one moment and then we will continue. [snorts] Okay.

Answering. This is something that trips a lot of students up. When somebody asks you a question, you need to It's like playing a game of pingpong, right? You hit the ball uh to the other side to the other person and then they hit it back to you and then you hit it back to them and vice versa, right? If you just answer with a good thanks, the conversation dies. You don't want to do this. You want to uh send the ball back to the other person, right?

Pretty good. Busy week, but I got out hiking on Saturday. How about you? How about you? Save this this phrase, these three words. How about you? You can really use it in so many different situations. How about you? Fine, right? I'm fine. Not bad. We just finished a big project, so it's calmer now. How's your side? How's your side? Right. How are things on your end? How's your side? Yes, I'm from Poland. Yes, Warsaw originally, but I moved to Berlin 2 years ago.

Where are you based? Okay, so you see, we're volunteering some information. You don't want to volunteer too much information. It should be 50/50, right? 50% you and 50% the other person. And you always want to continue the conversation by asking the other person a follow-up question. Okay. At the end, here's a great line you can use to leave the conversation. Anyway, I'll let you go. I'll let you go. This is a great one if you think about it.

I'll let you go. It's almost like you're doing the other person a favor by leaving. So, it's very humble. But it achieves what you want, right? It ends the conversation effectively without making it sound rude. Anyway, I'll let you go. I'll let you get on with uh the evening. I'll I won't take up any more of your time. Very effective. Okay. Very polite. very diplomatic. Save this line. Anyway, I'll let you go. Let's talk about the 3- second rule, which is the key to making small talk.

This applies to any conversation. If you feel nervous to speak English, actually, let me know in the chat. Do you feel nervous to speak English? Let me know in the chat. Do you feel nervous to speak English? Yeah, very very common. Very common. If you feel nervous to speak English, you need the 3-second rule. You see a person and you have 3 seconds to start a conversation with them. Don't overthink. It doesn't matter what you say.

You have 3 seconds to open your mouth and to get into a conversation with that person. Of course, there are some times when, you know, you need to think before you speak, but at a networking event or in the elevator, you know, open your mouth within 3 seconds, say something simple about the weather, basic conversation starters like we saw earlier. And once you're in the conversation, it's easier. It's just about breaking the ice.

Breaking the ice is the hardest part. Once you've broken the ice and you're in the conversation, things flow. It's easier and you don't really have to worry so much about about things. But you just got to get into that conversation. And that's why I like the 3-second rule. You give yourself 3 seconds to get into a conversation with somebody just to open your mouth. Now, let's talk about emails. Let's talk about emails.

I know a lot of you use chat GPT cla or other AI tools like Gemini to write emails and there's nothing wrong with that. Uh people can tell, just so you know, people can tell if you're using Chat GPT or Claude to write emails. Um make of that what you will, but it's obvious to many people. So, I always advocate for writing your own emails. And there's a simple way to do this. There's a simple structure. You have a subject.

You ask something or you prevent uh present information. You explain why. And then again, a follow-up, a call to action. As we discussed earlier, you need a call to action. You need to provide next steps, right? Otherwise, there's no point in sending an email if you haven't provided uh any follow-up steps or you have you have to share what you want in the email, what you want to do. So, this is a very typical English uh email.

You'll see this in in American workplace culture. You'll see this in British English workplace culture. Uh the subject is very concise. Approve Q3 budget by Friday. Okay, you have a deadline, you have a noun, and you have a verb. You don't need articles like the or in the subject. So, it doesn't matter. Uh, correct grammar doesn't matter here. Approve Q3 budget by Friday. That's a very concise uh simple email subject.

You'll also see these when you're reading uh news articles. If you see the headline, if you look at the headline of uh a news article, you'll see that it doesn't actually use proper grammar. So, there are no articles. It's kind of abbreviated like this. Now, open the email with high or Yeah, high is perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with with high. Um, dear is a bit more formal. If you don't know the person, it's a really formal email.

You could use dear. But nowadays, especially in the US, uh, most people just say, "Hi. I need your sign off on the attached budget by end of day Friday." Okay, that's your ask, right? That's why you're emailing. Why are you emailing? Uh, well, these are the numbers from our call on the 6th with your headcount edits already in. Finance closes month end on Monday. Again, abbreviated, short, simple, right? This is a very, very typical email that you'll see uh if you communicate with American colleagues or British colleagues or Canadian colleagues.

And lastly, your call to action. The approval link is below. If something looks wrong, reply by Thursday and I'll fix it the same day. Obviously, you would also sign your name. You could say best wishes, best or just your name like Michael, right? So, very very typical email. Another one, training moves to the 19th. New date inside. Okay. New date inside. We're not saying there is a new date inside. We're saying new date inside.

We're not saying the training. We're just saying training. you're presenting the news or the reason you're emailing. Hi Anna, the training session won't happen on the 12th. The new date is Thursday the 19th. Same time and room. Why? The trainer's flight was cancelled and there was no seat before Wednesday. I should have booked her a day earlier. And what's your call to action here? I've sent a new invite and told the eight people who registered.

If the 19th doesn't work for your team, tell me by Friday and I'll look at the following week. Okay, very standard typical email. Sounding more confident. Dear sir/madam, I am writing to inform you. Sounds a bit old-fashioned. Sounds a bit stuffy. I wouldn't phrase it like this. I would keep it simple. Hi, Sarah. Quick update on the report. Sorry to bother you again. It's like you're asking for forgiveness. Sorry to bother you again.

Keep it simple. Keep it confident. Following up on this. Any update? Let me know your thoughts whenever. Again, not very assertive, not very confident. Could you please confirm by Thursday? You're setting a clear deadline and you are doing it politely, right? Could you please is a very very polite way of requesting something. I was wondering if you might possibly be able to I was wondering if you might possibly be able to Okay, very very convoluted.

It's very polite, but it sounds almost a bit over the top. So, I would be more direct. I would say, "Could you please? Could you please? Could you please again? Perfect way to make a request. Could you please? Could you please do this? Could you please do that? Please find attached here with a very formal, very old-fashioned. Don't say this. Just keep it simple. I've attached the file. I've attached the file. Okay. Getting a reply.

Many people are afraid of following up. They think that they're bothering people. They think that they're being rude or they're being intrusive. But if you need information, if something is critical, there's nothing wrong with following up. Don't be afraid to follow up. Of course, there's a limit to how much you should follow up, but you know, following up one or two times is is not a problem at all. The reality is people get a lot of emails.

They probably just forgot and they would appreciate a little reminder. So, if you want to nudge someone, a nudge is like a push. You're pushing somebody. You're nudging them a little bit. You can say, "Just bringing this back to the top of your inbox." Okay, your email inbox is where you see all your emails. It's called your inbox. Just bringing this back to the top of your inbox. Checking in on this. Is Friday still realistic?

Checking in on this. Checking in on this. If you need to nudge them again, no rush, but I want to make sure this isn't blocked. Should I go ahead without sign off or wait for you? Okay. Again, following up is not bothering anybody. If you need the information, if it's critical. So, what I want you to do is to use one of these strategies this week. If you use English at work, and I know many of you do, listening to me teach you, listening to this live stream is great, and thank you all for being here.

But you actually have to implement this into the real world, right? If you're not using these strategies in conversation, if you're not practicing, you're not going to improve. So, take the phrases we learned. This recording will be available later on YouTube. So you can watch the recording later. Um and you can also again take screenshots of the video of the strategies just so you have them there for reference. A lot of students actually and this is something I teach inside our programs.

If you have meetings on Zoom, if you ever have a meeting on Zoom, print out some of these phrases, like phrases for meetings we talked about earlier, print out a a sheet or write out a sheet of these phrases and have them next to you, next to your computer so you can easily look at them. It's it's a very simple strategy, but it it's actually quite effective. So, we're going to get into some questions in a moment, but before we do that, I want to introduce to you our online programs.

Because, as I said before, studying English on YouTube, on Netflix, through podcasts can help you, but it's not enough. You actually need to speak. So, if you would like to study English with me, if you want live speaking practice, if you want real feedback and correction, and you want to learn using methods that have helped 3,000 other students, then I'm inviting you to apply. You can go to the description of this video and you can click the link.

I'll get you to fill out a very short form. I'll ask you a couple questions about your English and then I'll match you with the best study plan. We have options for every budget and we have options for every uh amount of time you spend. Right? Some programs need a bit more time like 3 to 5 hours a week. Others are are good with 1 hour. It's enough to to study just 1 hour a week. It really depends on your time, how much you want to invest, uh, and obviously your level of English as well.

We have uh, private lessons. If you want to study with me privately, that's also an option. We have small group lessons. We have study resources. We have 120 video lessons. We have an amazing community. I know some of you guys are in the community. Chris, Chris, welcome. It's nice to see you here. Uh, a lot of you guys are watching. I know you're you're in the program. So, I'll see you later today or tomorrow in class.

Uh, you can also uh if you're preparing for the IELTS or the TOEFL exam, we also have programs for that. It really depends on your needs. So again, click the link in the description below. Uh English ready.com/start and submit an application to study with me and uh you'll get more information about the programs. Again, we have classes on Zoom every week on the weekend during the week as well. And we have a community.

We have a place where you can practice speaking English. You can learn English from me. You can ask questions. Uh you can view other members on the map and you can go through the 12week study course we have as well. We've helped 3,000 students over the last 3 years and we have amazing students in the program who have seen a tremendous improvement in their English. So I'd love to help you as well. Again, click the link in the description below to apply and to find the best program for you.

You can fill out the application, which is a short form uh which will ask you questions about your level, your goals, and your availability. It takes 3 minutes at most. Uh if we can help you, we'll send you more information about the options, and then you can get started. You can start today. I'm actually giving classes later today and tomorrow, but you need to apply. So, click the link in the description below to learn more.

Again, we've helped thousands of students from around the world improve their English speaking skills, vocabulary, uh English for their career, their listening skills, their pronunciation, their accent. So, if that's you, if you want to improve your English, click the link in the description below to apply. I really want to see you in class. And of course, if you have any questions about today's class, about the programs, I'm going to open the floor now.

So, I'm going to answer your questions. Just uh answer or ask your questions in the chat below. I'll give you a few minutes here and we can uh go through these together. What's the cost? We have programs for different budgets. So again, you can fill out the application form uh and you'll see all the options available to you. We do have private classes as well. We have group classes. We have private classes. Again, uh fill out the form and you can uh you can learn more about that.

It's in the description. I'll also uh put it here in the chat. Yes, I am from Canada. From Vancouver, Canada on the west coast of Canada. If you've ever been to Canada, you know Vancouver is probably one of the most beautiful cities in Canada. Again, the English.com/start. You can also find the link in the description of this live. Okay? I want to see you in class. I want to help you improve your English. I'm giving classes today and tomorrow.

I give classes every single weekend. Uh the time difference, good question. So we have students in Asia, in Europe, in North America, South America, Africa, Australia. So we have classes at uh different times depending on your time zone. You can find uh a time that works for you. Yeah, you can see uh you can set your time zone here. So, I'm in Vancouver, but we have classes also in different time zones. Yeah, it's morning time here.

[snorts] Just go to the chat or rather the description of this live and click the link. You can learn more about the programs there. You can submit an application. Eduardo. Yes, good to see you here. Eduardo is in the community. Eduardo, you made big progress uh over the last uh couple years on your English, and it's been a pleasure to work with you. I'm happy to answer any questions you have about speaking English, about your vocabulary, about your pronunciation, about the programs.

Let me know in the chat if you have any questions. I'd love to answer your questions. Do I have offline uh classes? No. No, not uh I don't. I we only do online classes in Vancouver. Sometimes we've done in-person workshops like last August we did a a live workshop here in Vancouver, but uh yeah, mostly we just do online classes. Thank you for your support guys. It means the world to me. How can you study by yourself after the class?

As I said, uh go through the video. The recording of this lecture will be posted on YouTube. I recommend you study the phrases that we learned, you print them out, you have them next to you on uh your desk. So, next time you're at a meeting, next time you're speaking with your boss or your colleagues, you can actually quickly look at uh or glance at the phrases next to you. Remember, to improve your English, you have to speak.

It's not enough just to listen. It's not enough to watch movies. is you actually have to take what you learn and apply it to a conversation. Do I recommend learning English in English? Yes. Uh if you can understand 50% of what I say in my videos, then you should absolutely be learning English in English. If you're a total beginner, like you're at the A1 level, then it's probably best to start with a teacher or to start with um resources in your language.

But once you're at the A2 level or the B1, the B2 level, then I absolutely recommend learning English in English because it's the most natural way to learn. If you think about how a child learns their first language, they learn it entirely in that language. So, it's a very natural way to learn. Uh, and you will pick up a lot of different nuances and and meanings that you wouldn't have otherwise if you were learning in another language.

So, yes, I do recommend learning English in English. Do you think I can improve your English? Uh, sorry, Camila, I see your question. My English is B1 and I want to be a translator. Do you think I can improve my English to the C2 level? Sorry, your English is B2. Can you get to C2? Um, in one year. It's hard to say. Uh I think it would be possible but not guaranteed. So you you have to spend a lot of time with it. It also depends on you, right?

How much time are you spending? Um how much time can you spend? How motivated are you? How consistent are you? I think it's possible. I obviously don't know your situation, but um it's not guaranteed. So, one one thing we we don't do is we don't promise uh results in a certain amount of time because it it really depends on you. It depends on how often you know you study, how you study, how often you speak. Um but I would say it is possible.

I I have known students who have improved from B2 to C2 in a year. Uh but again it really depends. Is having one perfect format or blueprint of any uh type of conversation a good idea? I think it it helps you to have uh a framework not necessarily um a script for for every conversation but it definitely helps you to to have a a framework. And I'll show you this earlier, right? Um, if you know what to say when you're disagreeing, if you know what to say when somebody asks you a difficult question, you can focus more on what you want to say and less on how to say it.

So, I think it's definitely useful to have a structure, but you don't need to memorize every single line. Oh, Gamza, nice to see you. Community and classes are genuinely so good. Yes, Gamza, uh you've made great progress over the last few months. It's been a pleasure to see you in class and uh you should definitely be proud of yourself. Thank you for your support. I really appreciate it. I work with ocean transportation.

Oh, that's interesting. I see English the whole day at the office. Technical vocabulary. Yeah. So, Raphael, the advice I would give you is to again print out some of these uh phrases and next time you're on a meeting in Microsoft Teams, uh have this document next to you or have have these phrases next to you so you can actually look at them. What should you do if you feel stagnant in your English learning process? So, if you feel like you've reached a plateau and you don't know how to reach the next level, what should you do?

Um, you have to do something differently. What gets you from A1 to B1 is not what gets you from uh B2 to C1. You might need more speaking practice. You might need more listening practice. Right? So what I would recommend you do is you identify your weaknesses. If you find it really difficult to speak, don't focus on on listening. Focus on speaking, right? Have as many conversations with as many people as possible. If you find it really difficult to understand English speakers, you don't need to worry as much about grammar, right?

You need to worry more about uh improving your listening skills. So listening to different types of English, British English, Canadian English, Australian English, uh, and whatnot. So think about what you're not good at and work exclusively on that. [snorts] Wonderful. It's truly fantastic to see so many of you guys uh from all over the world. That's something I like a lot about uh about teaching English. I meet students from all over the world, from Asia, from the Middle East, from Africa, from Europe, South America, North America, Australia, and it's truly truly great to learn about different perspectives, different outlooks, different ways of living.

So yeah, that's wonderful. Do you think we should stick to a particular accent? Good question. Um, [clears throat] I I think a lot of students worry about this too much. They they make a big deal of this when in reality it's not that important. If you live in the US, you should focus on American English. If you live in Canada, you should focus on Canadian English. If you live in Australia, Australian English, you get the point.

But English is still English. So, don't let that stop you from speaking, right? If you're given two pronunciations and you're given the choice to choose between the British and the American pronunciation, you can make that decision, right? If you're in the US, then choose the American way of speaking. If you're in the UK, choose the British way of speaking. But don't overthink it, right? I always encourage again the 3-second rule, right?

Speak. Speak up. If you're ever nervous to speak, if you ever ask yourself, should I speak or should I not speak, right? Get into that conversation because that's going to make the biggest difference for you. Fasa, it's so nice to see you here in the live and obviously in classes in the community. Again, guys, if you want to study English with me, I give classes every single week. You get live speaking practice. You get real feedback from me and my colleagues, native English speakers.

Uh we have private lessons. We have study resources. We have group classes. We have master classes. We have a community. We have basically everything you need in one place to improve your English. If you want to study with me again, click the link in the description below. There is an application. I want you to fill out the application. Uh there's going to be a few questions about your level, your goals, and then I'm going to uh send you more information about the best program for you.

And then once you're ready to register, you can register and study with me in class. Again, we have classes every single week on Zoom. Uh we've helped thousands of students around the world improve their English, and I really want to help you, too. Whether you're improving your English for work, for daily life, whether you need to improve your accent, your pronunciation, your grammar, your speaking, your vocabulary, or your listening.

So, click the link in the description. This recording will also be available after the live finishes. We're just going to wrap up in a moment, so you can watch this uh lesson again. If you want to study with me, again, the link is in the description below. Thank you so much for your attendance today. I wish you all the best on your English learning journey, and I hope to be a part of it in the future, whether that's on social media, on YouTube, on Instagram, on Tik Tok, or in our online programs.

Thank you so much, guys. I hope you have a wonderful day. Take care, and I'll see you soon.