Stop Memorizing Templates on the CELPIP — Do THIS to Break Past CLB 8

So over the past week, I've been traveling, I've been away because of work.

I was at a three day work retreat where I was away from my computer, away from my normal recording tools that I normally use, like a microphone and this computer.

And instead all I had was my cell phone with me.

And so, my friend, that is what I used to record this episode.

And I actually, I used my phone to create a video for my YouTube channel.

And my plan was to take the audio from that recording and share it with you here in the podcast.

So you are going to hear me talking about a video, talking about my phone.

And actually during the recording of that episode, my camera fell like three times as I was trying to express my ideas.

And I had to reach down each of those times, reach down behind the desk where it had fallen, bring it back up again, and stick it on top of the box that I had been resting it on.

Because if you remember, I was away on a work trip and so I didn't have any of the normal tools that I use and I was balancing the cell phone on a board game that I had brought with me in order to make the episode.

And like I said before, it kept falling.

It would fall at the worst of times and most unexpectedly.

But I decided to keep rolling.

I decided to not press stop.

The most important reason being for that decision is not because I was trying to be lazy and, you know, try to edit out all the mistakes, but the real reason was because I wanted to encourage you that in spite of all the mistakes that you are likely making, when you are trying to have a conversation in English, you have to keep going.

Even in the middle of it.

If you make a mistake, if you forget what you're going to say, if you suddenly use the wrong vocabulary word, you just have to keep going, don't you?

You have to make the most of the situation and keep going.

And I decided to do the same thing.

As you know, if you've been a listener for any length of time, I am working on stepping out of my comfort zone by making video.

And it's way out of my comfort zone.

So actually, as you will hear later on, if you keep listening, is that I confess that I was trying to make this recording.

Like not this one right here, this is future me talking to you.

But back when I was recording the episode, I actually had to re record it like four times because I would keep making mistakes.

I would get a little ways into what I was trying to say.

I would screw up, I would get frustrated with myself.

I would hit stop and try again.

But this time, the time that you are about to hear, I made a solemn promise to myself that I was not going to hit stop no matter what happened.

And everything happened in that episode.

Like I said before, the cell phone fell down three, maybe even four times and I had to keep my promise to myself.

I'm not going to hit stop.

So the worst, the worst mistakes happened for me in this recording and I kept going.

And that's my encouragement for you.

I'm purposefully leaving these falls, these big.

You're going to hear the phone crashing as it falls behind the desk.

I'm leaving that in here to encourage you that you can keep going and you should keep going.

Even when you make a mistake in the middle of a conversation, just keep going no matter what.

And you're gonna hear me, like I said before, you're gonna hear me mentioning about video about the YouTube channel, just because I'm talking into my phone and I'm looking at the video.

And honestly, my friend, I didn't have enough time this week to record a separate episode that's just audio.

So for every time that you hear me say a video, please understand it.

To me talking to you.

Anyway, here, my faithful podcast listener, I'm talking to you with this message as well.

Hello and welcome to the CELPIP Success Podcast, the most introvert friendly podcast on the planet dedicated to helping you confidently prepare for and conquer the CELPIP exam.

If you're tired of feeling nervous, stressed and stuck and getting ready for your exam, then my friend, this is the podcast for you.

Who am I?

My name is Aaron and I've been an English teacher for over 17 years and I'm a certified Celpip trainer.

And I can't wait to to help you get ready for your CELPIP exam.

A couple of weeks ago I got this question from Yash.

And first of all, Yash, I hope, or Yash, I hope I got your name right.

And if I didn't, I'm so sorry.

But you asked such a great question and I wanted to do my best to give you a great answer.

On here you asked.

I'm stuck at CLB8 in speaking, whenever I follow structured answers, I cannot explain my points or my details.

And when I try to avoid using structured answers, I'm not able to complete my answer in time.

So to summarize, when I follow a template, and I think that's what you mean, when I'm following a template, I get a good start.

But then when I Try to go into detail about what I'm trying to say.

I can't do it very well.

Or when I avoid using a template, I find that I'm not able to complete my answer on time because I kind of ramble.

I go into a lot of details, but I'm not able to contain my answer.

So I run out of time.

And I think that that captures.

I hope that captures what you are.

Trying to ask me, Josh.

But you are expressing an idea and a challenge and a problem that I think lots of people struggle with.

And, you know, I think it all.

You've also captured why.

One of the reasons why I don't think it's a good idea to use a template.

And that is.

Excuse me.

And that is what you expressed, that you're able to get your answer started.

But when you have to go into detail, that's where you struggle.

That's where it's no longer flowing as easily as it was at the beginning.

And here's why I think that that is happening.

It's because the template is giving you the Runway for your answer.

You know, it's giving you the exact words to say to start your response.

But once those words run out, once that Runway finishes, it's completely over to you to fill in the missing details.

And if you're not used to doing that, if you're not used to freestyling your answer, then you're going to run into a lot of trouble.

And honestly, I totally get you.

That is the struggle that I am going through in trying to make these videos.

This is my fourth attempt or so at creating this video for you, Yash.

And here's what I'm trying to do.

I wrote down your question here, and I wrote down a couple of points that I'm going to try to cover as I talk.

And.

My phone fell.

But you know what?

Oh, my goodness.

I'm not gonna stop.

I'm just gonna keep going, because this is part of the deal.

This is the part of what I'm trying to get good at doing.

Freestyling.

You see, my normal.

And I've shared this before, but my normal process has been that I try to map out every single thing that I'm going to say.

And I just read the script, and I feel comfortable doing that that way.

I feel calmer, I feel more relaxed because I know what I'm going to say, because I thought about everything before I talking.

So what I'm doing here with you right now, I am completely off my script because I knocked my phone off of the.

The stand that I'm on in case you're.

I'm not at home.

I'm actually on a work.

A work retreat.

So I'm not in my office.

I'm not in my normal place where I record, where I have a stand that I can just record from.

I'm actually balancing my camera on top of a board game that I brought along with me, and it fell.

So what I'm trying to say here is that I am practicing a skill that I'm not good at, and that is freestyling.

That is talking without a script, which is kind of what you are describing in your challenge.

In your problem, you are saying that it's really hard for you to go off of that template.

Like, once the template is finished and you actually need to explaining your details and your reasons for your answer, that's where it gets really, really hard.

And what I want to tell you is that it's totally normal to feel that that challenge, that because it is hard, it is hard to express your ideas in any language.

For a lot of people, but especially in a language that's not your first language, you are.

You are increasing the level of difficulty by quite a lot.

So first of all, give yourself a little bit of grace on this, okay?

Because it's not an easy thing to do.

I am talking to you in my first language and I still struggle.

Like what I was saying at the beginning of this.

This is like my fourth take in trying to get this started.

And I made a commitment with myself that no matter what happens with this video, this time I'm not going to press stop and I'm not going to try again.

I'm just going to go ahead and run with this as I go.

I have my outline.

I know what I want to say, but I'm not scripting out my response.

And that is what I want to offer for you.

It's okay to have maybe some ideas to help you to begin.

Common responses.

But where this gets problematic is.

Is when you are relying on those.

Those templated responses to get you through the whole answer, which is what I do with these podcast episodes or with these videos.

I rely on a script so much that it's very difficult for me to just talk to you as if I don't have a script.

I'm not good at that.

And in order for me to get good at it, do you know what I need to do?

I need to put this away and just talk.

I know where I'm going with what I want to say.

At least I hope I do.

But I need to practice just speaking and expressing my ideas.

And I think that that's what can help you with this.

And it sounds like it's like a pat answer, if you know what I mean.

It just sounds like a cliche answer for me to say this.

But, but in order for you to get better at this, like working without a template, you really do need to spend more time talking with people in regular everyday conversations where you do not follow a script at all, where you're just speaking as it comes off the top of your head from your heart, or just responding to regular questions that people can ask you.

That is in my books, the number one thing that you should be doing and what everybody should be doing in order to improve their speaking task responses.

If you are stuck at a speaking task level, like you were saying, CLB8, if that's where you're stuck, I want to encourage you to check back.

Like I've said this before and I'm going to keep saying it because it's so important and it's so true.

Look back over your week and how many times did you actually engage in conversations in English?

I'm willing to bet that if you are stuck somewhere on the exam in the speaking section and you can't seem to get your score up, I'm willing to bet it's because one, you're not using your English enough so that you get used to thinking on the fly about what you're going to say next.

Or it's because your English level is actually at that level that CLB8 and the exam is just telling you again and again, this is your current level of English CLB8 and it's not a fail.

It's not, it's not a pass either.

And I know you're aiming for a higher, you know you're aiming for a higher score.

But if you are repeatedly getting that 8 and ate and ate again, it's not because you're dumb, it's not because you can't speak English.

It's, it's because that, that might very well be where your current level of English is at.

Or it's, it's that you just need to get more practice in using your English on a day by day basis with people who only speak English so that you get used to expressing your ideas on the fly without the support of a template to help you.

Just today in my work retreat that I'm on, we were talking about our like, we were doing like a, almost like a not A personality exam or test, but more of our emotional iq.

Like, we were doing some deep dives into how we see ourselves versus how other people perceive us.

And part of the exercise was that we, in a small group of people, we had a couple of questions that we needed to talk with each other about.

And one of the question was to talk about your family of origin.

And that was the question, talk about your family of origin.

And thankfully, the leader of the discussion group volunteered to go first so that she could model for us what she meant by that.

Because everybody in our small group, we were just like, I don't know what that family of origin story, what I need to say about that?

Like, what do I say?

And so she went first, and she began by saying, I grew up in a family of four.

My parents and I had one sibling or one younger brother.

Ah, now I know what I need to talk about.

And so when it came my turn, I was able to use that same, if you will template.

I grew up also in a family of four.

I had my mom and my dad and my younger brother and me.

That is my origin, family of origin story.

Obviously, there's a lot more to it,.

Which I won't bore you with here,.

But the template, if you will, was I grew up in a family of.

And then you'd say, who was in your immediate family?

That was the template.

We had a whole 15 minutes to tell our personal story, answering different questions that we went through.

But the template, what I'm trying to say only got me the first 10 seconds into my answer.

The rest was up to me to fill in.

And that's what I'm trying to get at with you, Yash, or with you if this is something that you are struggling with.

Like, how do I go off of templates and begin expressing my ideas?

It's getting practice in of actually going without a template.

Like, what I am doing here with you, I. I am not using a script.

I am practicing what I'm sharing with you.

It's so important to do this.

If you have a hard time just expressing your ideas without, like, a lot of structure behind it, the worst thing that you can do is avoid it.

And I know how hard that is.

Me doing this.

It feels so hard.

Like I said, this is my fourth attempt at doing this because it's hard for me.

It's hard for me to just talk without knowing exactly what I'm going to say next.

So I feel your pain, my friend, if this is where your struggle is.

But the best way to deal with it is to practice doing it.

And the best way that you can do that is by the opportunities that are probably happening all around you all the time.

Get into conversations with people.

No scripts, no templates, just you interacting with another human being.

That is probably the best way for you to begin working on unblocking yourself from that CLB8.

Now I'm going to check my notes again just because I want to refresh what I'm going to say to you next.

And oh, so when you don't go without a template or when you do go without a template.

Sorry, you said that you find it difficult to finish your answers on time.

And I hear you.

The structure helps you to contain your answer.

The structure of a template or the structure in my case of writing out everything that I want to say before I start talking.

It gives me structure to know what I'm going to say and also when I'm going to finish.

But here's the deal.

If you want to get good at not rambling and finishing your responses in time, That's the second time this thing felt.

And I'm not going to stop it.

But if you are struggling to finish your answers, just going to set this up one more time.

Hopefully it won't fall.

But if this is where your struggle lies, then the best.

This has been a hard video to make, but I'm not going to stop.

I'm not going to stop.

But if this has been your struggle finishing on time, then this is your best friend.

You need to start practicing using the clock.

That's really the best way for you to begin practicing containing your answers.

Give yourself a timed goal.

Like if you're aiming to practice finishing your answer in one minute, set your timer for one minute and practice giving your response again and again and again until you can finish your answer in one minute.

Minute.

And keep doing that.

Keep practicing recording yourself answering the same question over and over again until you can limit your response down to your target time.

That, my friend, is the only way that I know for you to get better at containing your answer when you're not following a script, when you're not, you know, mapping out exactly the words that you're going to say so that you do finish on time.

When you are moving away from that and you, I think you really need to the best way that I know.

Like I said, time yourself and keep doing the same question again.

Excuse me, Keep repeating the same answer over and over again until you can finish on time.

That is how you will get better at working without the template.

And working to contain your answers inside of a certain amount of time.

It only comes by focused practice on the skill you're trying to improve.

For me, I'm working on improving the skill of talking with you without a script.

I hope I did a good job today and I'm only going to get better at it if I continually force myself to limit myself to just a couple of notes, a couple of bullet points, and talking to you from that.

And the same is true for you.

You will only get good at speaking without a template if you actually practice speaking in regular conversations with no template.

And you will only get better at speaking or recording your response inside of a certain amount of time by actually recording yourself and trying to contain your answer into a certain amount of time.

I hope that this video helps and if you would like to get some extra help in looking at the way that you are getting ready for the CELPIP exam, I want to invite you to a totally free 30 minute celpip clarity call where it's just going to be me listening to you talk about what you've been doing to get ready for the exam.

I'll work with you to look at if your prep strategy is actually helping you to obtain the score that you're hoping for.

I'll help you to notice if there's something that you're doing that might be working against you, or I'll even help you to notice if maybe there's something that's missing that you can add into that process that might help you to move to the next level.

There's no sales.

There's no pressure from me.

I'm an introvert.

I don't like pressure at all.

And I'm not going to pressure you.

This is just an opportunity for me to to get to know you and to see if there's some way that I can help you in a little way as you're working towards your goals.

And if you'd like to take me up on that offer, there's going to be a link in my show notes today for you to book that free call with me and I really hope that you'll take me up on it.