Improve Your CELPIP Speaking Skills by Deciding to Contribute One Idea!

But here's something that I've been thinking a lot about and working on. My mindset and what I mean by mindset is the way I think about myself and my Spanish skills.

I've noticed that when I don't intentionally choose how I will be in a situation where Spanish will be used around me, that I will default towards my introverted preferences of staying on the edges of a conversation rather than leaning into it to speak with those around me. Hi, I'm Aaron. Welcome to the Speak English Fearlessly podcast.

This is the podcast where motivated English learners, just like you, learn how to speak English fearlessly and learn practical tips and strategies to conquer the CELPIP exam. You know something? Your mindset towards your next interaction in English matters. And I know this from personal experience.

In my own journey to become fluent in Spanish, I'm mostly an introvert. For me, that means I tend to prefer small groups of people that I already know.

I've found that my introvertedness and sometimes not feeling confident with my Spanish skills, which is my second language, can keep me away from the interactions that I desperately need to be having in order for my fluency skills to get better. I've had things like this go through my mind, and maybe you can relate to some of them or maybe all of them.

Here are some of the things that I think about. There are so many people I don't know here.

I'm not good at meeting people, so I'm just gonna keep quiet or I won't know what to say once I get past the initial hello, and then it's gonna get awkward. Oh, I hate awkward. I better keep quiet. How about this one? I don't have anything valuable to say. I better keep quiet.

Or I get so embarrassed when I mess up and I forget how to say something. I better keep quiet. Oh, my horrible accent. Everyone's gonna notice. Everybody's gonna hear me making all these badly pronounced mistakes.

I better keep quiet. And finally, and this one is probably one of my strongest ones. It's just so much easier to be invisible. I better keep quiet.

Like I said, at one point or another, I've had every single one of these thoughts when faced with an opportunity to use my Spanish. Even now, I can still hear those thoughts and can fall into listening to them if I'm not careful.

But here's something that I've been thinking a lot about and working on my mindset and what I mean by mindset is the way I think about myself and my Spanish skills.

I've noticed that when I Don't intentionally choose how I will be in a situation where Spanish will be used around me, that I will default towards my introverted preferences of staying on the edges of a conversation rather than leaning into it to speak with those around me.

I've also found that by simply deciding with myself before the Spanish interaction happens, that I will share an idea or opinion at least once that I actually do it. And that one interaction I found helps me to create momentum so that I end up sharing more. So here's what this might mean for you.

If you're learning and practicing English, your mindset will either keep you quiet or get you growing. How about you try this before your next English conversation or meeting? You need to decide just one thing, and that one thing is this.

I will contribute, even if it's only one idea or one opinion to start. Just one thing, one idea, one opinion. Then actually do it and see what happens. Sometimes that one step will. Will be all you take. And you know what?

That's still progress. You used your English with someone else or even in a group of other people.

And if you're an introvert, that one thing, that one offering of your ideas or one offering of your opinion can take all the mental and social energy that you have, and you just kind of need to retreat and hide again. And that's okay. You did it. You took a step and you tried. You used your English. That's the important thing. What we're trying to do here is get rid of.

Well, not get rid of. We're trying to lessen or reduce the amount of times where we just show up.

English is happening all around, and we're so nervous, we're so scared of making a mistake that we decide to just stay quiet, to remain invisible, to not engage, to avoid making mistakes, to avoid looking foolish in front of somebody else. Oh, I can't tell you how many times I've done that.

Like, when I lived in Mexico, I had so many moments where I just didn't do what I'm suggesting that you do here today. And I lost so many opportunities and, like, I couldn't even count how many times I can think about them right now. I can remember them.

Those gatherings with my wife's friends, those gatherings, even with friends who are my friends, too.

But because I was listening to my introvertedness more than what I should have been, I found myself not getting involved and just kind of sitting there on the edge, feeling bored. Honestly, like, I can think about several occasions just by closing my eyes.

I can see myself around a Big table, you know, where we're with family and friends and there's food on the table. Everybody's engaging, everybody's talking and laughing, and there's me sitting quietly. It's not that I didn't understand what was going on around me.

I did. I understood the Spanish. I understood what they were laughing at.

Sometimes I would laugh with them, but instead of joining in, I remained painfully quiet. And I lost that opportunity to practice. And I don't want that to be happening to you. I totally get where it comes from.

Like, this is not me pointing my finger at you and shaming you.

If you are an introvert and you really struggle with using your English skills, because it just feels like it's so much of a step outside of yourself, I get that. I get how hard that is.

And that's why I think choosing before you go into a conversation to engage at least once can make such a big difference for you. I'm seeing it happen in my own life, even. Even in English, you know, I'm an introvert in both languages.

I'm an introvert with my Spanish, even more so, I think. And I'm also an introvert, an introvert in English as well. And it applies to both situations.

My tendency is to not get involved in conversations happening around me in both languages. That's just my default. But I don't want my default to be what governs me. You know what I mean?

I don't want it to be the thing that dictates how I will be. Not that I have to. And I need to be clear about this. Not that being an introvert is wrong or it's bad, because it's not. It's actually an advantage.

And I'm going to be talking about that in the next podcast, I think. But you don't have to erase your personality in order to develop your English skills. Absolutely not.

But you do need to kind of press out of it a little bit.

Like, not totally divorcing yourself from your personality, but stepping into something outside, like pressing the envelope, stepping outside of your comfort zone a little bit needs to happen if you want to see your English skills grow. And so I went off on that little tangent there.

But the thing that I want to share with you, that I want to encourage you to do, especially if you are an introvert and you just find this to be so hard, is to. Before you know you're about to go into a situation where you're going to be using your English skills, decide. Decide one thing.

And that one thing, like I said a few minutes ago, is to contribute, even if it's only just one thing, and then actually do it. And sometimes, like I said, that one thing will be all you do. And that's good, that's progress.

But I'm willing to bet that you'll experience this, and I often experience this, that when you dare to step out and when you dare to actually share your opinion, that one time, that you will find the courage to engage some more, giving your English skills, and in my case, my Spanish skills, a powerful workout. And honestly, you'll just have way more fun. I know. I have found that to be true.

Once I get over that initial step of offering my first thought or my first opinion, I find that my confidence kind of grows, it gets bigger, and I don't feel so nervous or afraid to try it again.

And before I know it, I'm involved in the conversation happening around me and I'm not caring so much if I'm making a mistake or if my accent is off or whatever, you know, all the things that we kind of criticize ourselves about. But instead I'm actually talking with the people around me. And that's what you're shooting for.

That's what we're shooting for when we're working on our English skills or whatever your the skill, the language is that you're trying to learn. For me, Spanish, you, probably English, it's not perfection. That comes over years and years and years of practice.

And honestly, if you've been listening to what I've been sharing here, you've heard me make mistakes. So you know, I've been an English speaker for, I'm getting close to 50 years, so I still make mistakes. It's not perfect.

And your English will not be perfect either. That's not the point. The point is being able to interact with the people around you and share your ideas, share your opinions and be involved.

So now it's your turn. How about this?

Before your next English conversation or your next meeting or your next family or friends get together where, you know, English is going to be happening, make a decision before you get there, even if it's just one or two minutes before, like as you're getting out of your car or getting off of the bus and you're walking up the steps to where that, that English engagement is going to happen, decide that you are going to engage at least once and then keep your word to yourself. Actually do it and see what happens. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Speak English fearlessly. Podcast.

I hope that it has help you and encouraged you as you are working towards your goals with your English. I hope you'll come back again next Tuesday. Bye. Bye. Testing, Testing your mindset towards your next interaction in English matters.

If you're anything like me, you've walked into Converse not because you didn't have something to say, but because you didn't feel ready or maybe confident enough to say it in English. Oh my gosh. Let's try that again. Sam.