Master Spoken English. The Secret

Master Spoken English – The Secret

Hi, I’m Mark Smith and I have been coaching Japanese language students to master spoken English since 1996. Although many of the students I meet at first, do not believe they will master spoken English, please let me remove this fear. I have seen hundreds of Japanese students achieve their English goals. I have witnessed the happiness my students feel when they realize that their English conversation skills are rapidly improving. So, what secret do these successful English conversation students all share?  It’s simple to know, hard to take the first steps, and very enjoyable once you let it happen. In one word, this secret known by all my students is trust.

Grammar is Hard

When I coach Japanese students English conversation I know they have studied English reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary for several years at school. Sadly, I have noticed that whenever my students deliberately try and access grammar and vocabulary taught at school, it is hard for them, and this becomes stressful and demoralizing. To master spoken English students need to stop searching for grammar and trust the know more than they think. Certainly enough to master spoken English

Grammar Comes Without Trying

Happily, I know after many years observing my students that although they may not be able to quickly deliberately recall the grammar and vocabulary they learned at school, those lessons are still retained within their minds. And, these lessons do help my students master spoken English. It is really quite amazing just how well the Japanese department of education has taught English reading and writing. Now here is the really good news for the Japanese, I know, after years of teaching English, that once students begin to trust in themselves and their teacher these lessons learned at school will begin to come to the front of their minds naturally, without deliberately trying to access them. I’ve seen this happen over and over again. Every student I have taught always doubts this will happen for them, but it does. So I rarely teach English grammar to Japanese adults.

Trusting and Waiting

What I do is build trust. I want my students to trust themselves to try and to trust me to help them. How do my students and I do that? We do it together. At the start of every lesson, I ask them to tell me something, anything they want to talk about. And then I wait. There are often uncomfortable silent moments but once my students begin to speak the success begins to happen. The next thing I do, or should I say, don’t do, is that I do not correct my students while they are speaking. I wait. Yes, I will often offer some better ways of saying things, but only after my student stops speaking.

The Secret

So my advice to all students of English conversation who have studied English grammar and vocabulary at a Japanese department of education school has only one secret and one key point. The Key Point is to find a teacher who listens patiently and ensures you are speaking more than the teacher. And finally, the secret is that Japanese students of English must trust they can do it. All Japanese can master spoken English.

Master Spoken English. You Can Do It

If you believe you can master English and enrich your life, you can do it, take the first steps, start with simple phrases and short sentences. Take your time in class. Don’t think about grammar because it will just happen, it might be deep inside your mind but it will come back to the surface. Just think about what you want to say and begin to speak. You the student must control your English lesson. Find a teacher you trust will wait and give you time to speak. Student talking time is a priority for all Smith’s teachers. Trust yourself. You can master Spoken English.