Today’s video is a personal story that comes from my language past. Have you had any positive experiences learning English? I couldn’t stop smiling When I told you , I said that I cried on the first day of Spanish class because the teacher spoke in Spanish for one hour non-stop. So after I quit my Spanish class in college, I decided to join a French class. I really wanted to speak another language, and I thought that maybe the problem was with *the Spanish language* instead of the method. But that’s crazy. There’s nothing wrong with Spanish. On my first day of French class, I couldn’t stop smiling because the teacher let us speak French on the first day. She asked us in French, “How long have you been studying French?” All of the other students had taken a French class in high school. But I was two or three years older than them, and I’d never, ever taken a French class. The first semester was great! I learned the basics, like how to say: My name is Vanessa. I like bread andcheese. I’m happy today. I really recommend taking a language class if you have never, ever learned the language before. It’s valuable to learn the basics of grammar for a few months. But then came a problem. Is quitting always a bad thing? After my basic class was finished, I decided to join the next level. Unfortunately, the other students didn’t answer any of the teacher’s questions. Even though I had only studied French for 3 months, I was the only one answering questions. What a negative environment. So I decided to quit the class. I asked the French teacher if I could meet with her in her office to practice speaking. And she said yes! After I graduated during the summer, I joined a weekly French meetup group and listened and tried to speak in French. Then after the summer, I moved to France to work for a French family. It was great to speak in French with the family, but I talked with my friends more. Actually, my friends weren’t French. They were from Germany,Austria, Sweden, England, and all over Europe. But we spoke French together, even though none of us were native speakers. We went to museums together. Drank wine and had picnics together. Talked about our jobs and French host families together. These were so useful to me! Am I a *FLUENT* French speaker? Everyone has a different definition of fluency. My definition is this: I am *fluent* if I can speak the language without much hesitation about a variety of topics. That’s it. Pretty clear, right? So, with this definition, yes, I’m fluent. Can I talk about every kind of political and economic topic in French? No way. But to me, that doesn’t matter. Can I use absolutely amazing grammar in every situation? No. But when I speak with native French speakers, they feel comfortable and they can understand me. Can I still improve? Yes, definitely. In fact, I speak every week with a French conversation tutor online and meet twice a month with a local French group. Just like you, I need tokeep practicing so that I don’t forget. But speaking is fun, so it’s a great time for me. Here are the TOP 5 things that helped me become a confident, fluent French speaker Speaking one-on-one with someone who gave me feedback. Meeting with people in my city who also wanted to speak French or were native speakers Speaking in French every day with my non-native friends about daily life Now it’s your turn In the comments below, answer this question: What is one of the TOP things that has helped you to learn English more naturally? Is it a podcast? A YouTube channel? A radio station? A TV show? Was this video lesson useful to you?
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