Mindfulness Reflections

Have you noticed that my messages and videos are all about bringing more awareness and reflection to your English language learning and moving steadily towards proficiency? Although it might be easy to place the blame for our lack of progress on something outside ourselves, the fact is that many times, it is our own thoughts, ideas, beliefs and emotions that prevent us from moving forward. In today's video, we look at how the Law of Attraction can help you overcome any resistance you might be inadvertently generating that prevents you from using English as easily and fluently as you would like. WATCH HERE: HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR ENGLISH FAST WITH THE LAW OF ATTRACTION Hope you enjoy and see you in the comments on YouTube! P.S. Do you wish you could bring more clarity, understanding and joy to your English? My signature programme helps you do just that. Based on encouraging autonomous learning through extensive exposure and reflective production, comb...

  ⛔️ Whenever I try and speak in English I get stuck because I don't have the words to express my idea. ⛔️ It's frustrating to speak or write in English because I don't have enough vocabulary. ⛔️ Speaking or writing in English makes me feel... nervous / stressed / anxious / insecure / bad / terrible. ⛔️ When I speak in English, I sound like... a robot / a child / an idiot / a simpleton / a buffoon. ⛔️ I don't have the words I need to make friends and socialise in English. ⛔️ I cannot participate during work meetings because I cannot put my ideas together fast enough to say anything. ⛔️ I feel invisible when work meetings are in English, but I want to be seen, I want to participate, I have lots of ideas, but I don't have the vocabulary. ⛔️ I'm looking for professional development, but I don't have the English level I need to look for a better job. If you identify with any of the above statements, then today's video is an absolute must-watch for you, as we...

The average number of vowel sounds in a language is 5 or 6, but English has as many as 20 vowel sounds, so it's no surprise when English learners feel unable to differentiate between similar vowel sounds. This also carries over into pronunciation, with learners pronouncing only the vowel sounds of their own language when they speak in English. Compounded with the challenges of distinguishing and pronouncing new vowel sounds is the fact that English is not a phonetic language, meaning that the way words are pronounced and the way they're spelt (that is, the letters they're written with) rarely correspond. Even for me, it was very helpful to learn about phonetic symbols when I was training to become an English teacher. It made me realise that English vowel sounds are not as erratic as they seem (hurray!), and that spelling patterns can be associated with particular sounds.  The key to overcoming these challenges is to become more aware of the vowel sounds themselves and to pr...

  Whenever I ask clients what aspect of English they need the most support with, the common denominator is always wanting to feel more confident and at ease. No matter what English level the person I'm speaking with has, almost everyone reports feeling insecure and unsure of themselves when they have to interact or write anything in English. I am no stranger to these emotions myself, and I realise that although clients may well need support with strategies and methods to help them learn and integrate English into their lives more efficiently, the question of confidence relates to the very ways in which we live our lives: from the moment we wake up to late in the evening when we get back into bed, most of us experience countless distractions, pulling us in opposite directions, and many of us feel trapped by our own thoughts, spinning the same unhelpful ideas over and over again, including notions such as, "my English isn't good enough" and "I'll never be able ...