How Do I Focus My Limited Study Time for the CELPIP?

In today's podcast, I'll be responding to a question I received from a listener and before I go ahead and read the question, if you have a question or a topic that you'd like me to cover in an upcoming episode, please feel free to get in touch with me.

If you're a if you're a subscriber to my free weekly newsletter, you can easily write me with your questions which I can answer right here, like how I'm about to do for Ximena.

To get my free newsletter, just go to celpipsuccess.com subscribe okay, on with today's episode, I would like to have your advice about the best method to practice for my CELPIP test. Specifically, I want to know if you think that practicing one skill per day works, or if practicing all skills daily works better.

For example, if I only have one hour a day available to study, can I practice listening on Monday, writing on Tuesday, etc. Or is 15 minutes daily for each skill what I should be doing? Then she goes on to say, speaking skills are my main weakness.

And I listen to podcasts in English almost every day during my commute. But speaking especially considering the short time we have to prepare for each task during the CELPIP test, it well, makes me sick. Can you help me?

Well, hello there and welcome to the Speak English Fearlessly Podcast.

This is the podcast for motivated English learners who want to speak English fearlessly and learn practical tips and strategies to conquer the CELPIP exam.

I also love to feature encouraging interviews with regular people, people just like you who are working towards becoming fluent in English so we can learn from their experiences together. Who am I?

My name is Aaron Nelson and I've been an English teacher for over 17 years and I'm a certified CELPIP trainer and I now help students prepare for the CELPIP exam through online classes. Okay, first of all, Ximena, thank you for sending in such great questions. I want to start by commending you on what you're doing right already.

Well done on trying your best to be connecting with your English as a part of your daily life. This is huge And a common mistake that many English learners make.

And by the way, in case you're not sure what I mean by that mistake, it is something that I like to call compartmentalizing. And what I mean by that is simply this.

Many English learners make the mistake of boxing their use of English to when they have class or when they are studying for the celpip and everything else they do is in their first language. So outside of their classes or outside of their CELPIP study time, they don't use English at all.

They have in effect, put their English into a box or a compartment, hence the name compartmentalizing. The problem with this approach is that you're never going to become fluent no matter how many years of work you put into it to fix the problem.

Look for ways to do what Ximena is doing. Make English a part of your day to day life. Let it flow into your hobbies, into your work, into your commute, into your life in general.

The more you can make English a part of your regular activities and lifestyle, the better. So well done, Jimena. I hope you've noticed that you are actually doing a lot of things right. So keep, keep at it.

Now, you pointed to speaking in English as being your main area of weakness. And you said that trying to prepare for an answer on the Celpip when you just have 30 seconds to get ready for it, for example, makes you feel sick.

It's so stressful. And Ximena, I get you. It is stressful to be working against the clock, isn't it?

Especially when you're dealing with something as important as the CELPIP examination. I mean, your immigration process depends on you getting this right, doesn't it? So yeah, there's no pressure there, is there? And I'm being sarcastic.

So yeah, I get you. And to help you out, first of all, I would like you to reflect on what you meant when you said I interact with native speakers at work and at home.

I'm taking that to mean that you speak with them native speakers at work and at home. Am I right? If so, like I just asked, I'd like you to take a few minutes to think about what you mean by I interact with native speakers.

Ask yourself, what kind of interactions am I having and how often are they happening and what kinds of things do I speak about with these native speakers? When we do talk, are the topics we talk about fairly routine or are they about different things every single time?

And finally, how long do these interactions last? Are you talking for just a few seconds or minutes each day Take a few minutes to think about or even journal about the answers to these questions.

The way you are interacting and using your English with native English speakers matters a lot.

If, for example, you notice that your interactions are fairly routine, like when you see each other, you exchange customary greetings hi, how are you doing? Fine, thanks, how about you? Or how was your weekend?

And when I say routine interactions, I am meaning the questions and answers are fairly predictable and quick. You rarely even need to think about your reply to them. They kind of just come out automatically.

If that's your case, then it's time to practice taking your next conversation a little bit deeper surface level talks that don't require more than a few predictable phrases aren't going to take you where you want to go with your English practice. As I mentioned a moment ago, you need to go a little deeper.

It will help you to actually do a little bit of preparing beforehand by coming up with two or three questions that you can ask that will require more than a simple yes or no or predictable response. For example, instead of how was your weekend? Try tell me about something you did over the weekend. Instead of just asking how are you doing today?

Don't be afraid to ask a follow up question based on your conversation partner's response. Their predictable response might be I'm pretty good, thanks. And you and your response could be I'm doing well too. What do you have going on today?

You see what I did there? I added another question onto something that might be a predictable response. What do you have going on today?

You're not going to be able to get away with a simple response.

Probably you're going to have to elaborate your idea a little bit more or your conversation partner is going to have to elaborate a little bit more on their response and chances are they're going to offer you a return question that's going to give you an opportunity to elaborate a little bit more on what you have going on today. You see what I'm getting at? You need to create space for longer, more in depth conversations.

Most surface level greetings don't go beyond how are you doing?

And I'm fine, thanks and you do they so if you want to give your speaking skills a workout, practice asking a follow up question or two to go a little deeper with the person you're talking with.

It doesn't have to turn into a massive conversation, but taking it one or two levels deeper than simple customary exchanges is a great place place for you to begin to help you practice coming up with a response with just a few seconds to think because that's the whole reason why you face a time limit on the CELPIP exam. In real life conversations, we often don't even take 30 seconds or a minute to think about what we'll say next, do we?

The time between our thinking and our speaking is usually just a few seconds.

That's why I think getting into regular conversations with native speakers where you talk about more than just how you are or the weather, for example, is such an important and practical way to practice. These conversations present you with similar conditions you'll face on the exam. You're going to get a random topic.

You'll have little to no time to prepare what to say, having to come up with what to say next right on the spot and pressure.

Now, everyday conversations are likely not the same kind of pressure you may feel on the exam, but having to carry on a conversation that goes deeper than just surface level talking with someone can be quite challenging. So that's my first idea for you. Take some time to review what your speaking interactions are actually like right now.

If they are routine and quick, look for ways to make them more random with the questions that you ask and seek to make them last a little bit longer. The other idea I have for you today is around your very first question. What do I focus my study time on if I just have an hour a day?

The answer depends on where you feel the weakest with your skills. That area of weakness needs to take up the most of your practice time.

In your case, Ximena, you mentioned that speaking was where you needed to improve the most. That means you should be using the majority of your available practice time to focus on speaking skills.

It sounded like you had the other areas under control already. Reading, listening, and writing. And that's great.

You can still have time set aside to practice these, but your new primary focus needs to be on speaking.

Prioritize it, and here's a you got to be careful about this idea for you, your strengths Reading, listening and writing are all pretty safe skills when you compare them with speaking, aren't they? They don't really have a high level of risk attached to them, which makes them more attractive to spend time on. Do you know what I mean?

It feels safe to open up a book in English and spend hours reading. It may feel fun and enjoyable to queue up your favorite English podcast to listen to while you work out.

And writing that email to your native English speaker coworker isn't so bad because you can edit your words before you hit send, giving you time to correct mistakes or find better ways to say what you want to say. Speaking, on the other hand, is a whole other level, isn't it?

You get instant feedback on what you say, and you get instant embarrassment if you screw up a word or suddenly forget how to say what you want to say.

Speaking feels riskier, and that increased risk factor is why it's so easy to avoid doing it, or easy to keep your conversations in the safe and predictable territory of hi, how are you? And I'm not saying that to pick on you.

Everyone learning a language, and in our case English, has at least one skill that comes way harder for them than others. And because it comes harder or because it feels scarier, we have the tendency to avoid doing it.

It's kind of a self protection or self preservation thing. But regularly stepping into those areas of discomfort is vital if you want to see your speaking skills grow.

And if you're serious about working on your speaking skills, you can also join me in the CELPIP Success School. We just started a deep dive on the speaking tasks you're going to encounter on the celpip.

Just go to celpipsuccess.com listener and join today. Our next live group coaching call is this Wednesday. Will you join us? Thanks so much for listening to this week's podcast.

I hope that it has helped you as you work hard to get ready for your SELPIP exam. And Ximena, thank you so much for sending me in your questions. I hope this has helped you too. I'll see you all next Tuesday. Bye.