Episode 136
What does EFFECTIVE CELPIP speaking practice look like for introverts?
Effective CELPIP speaking task practice for busy introverts revolves around one-on-one conversations with native English speakers. Instead of getting lost in course books or spending endless hours on YouTube, we need to focus on real-life speaking interactions. It’s all about stepping out of our comfort zones, even if it’s just for a couple of minutes at a time. I totally understand the urge to stick to reading or listening, but diving into speaking is crucial for building confidence and fluency. Remember, the goal is not to have long discussions; it’s about having frequent, meaningful exchanges that help us think quickly and express our ideas clearly. So, let’s make a plan to chat more, even if it’s just a minute or two at a time!
Takeaways:
- When preparing for the CELPIP speaking exam, focus on actual conversation practice instead of passive activities.
- Avoid spending excessive time on reading or writing; prioritize speaking with native speakers instead.
- One-on-one conversations can be short yet effective; even brief interactions build your speaking skills.
- Practice often and in small doses; frequent short conversations are more beneficial than infrequent long sessions.
- Engaging with people helps you think on your feet, mirroring the exam's quick-response nature.
- Stepping outside your comfort zone is crucial; don’t shy away from speaking just because you're an introvert.
Transcript
So what does effective Celpip speaking task practice look like if you are a busy introvert trying to get ready for the CELPIP exam while balancing a million different tasks going on in your life?
Speaker A:I'll start by giving you some things that it does not look like.
Speaker A:Because I think so often when we think about practicing for the CELPIP exam, we get a million different things going on in our minds about what that should look like.
Speaker A:And what I want to do with you today is give you some ideas about what it doesn't look like as well as what it does look like.
Speaker A:So what it does not look like, what effective speaking practice does not look like.
Speaker A:And you'll be surprised by these because I'm taking from actual students that I've worked with and coached to try to help them to develop their speaking skills.
Speaker A:And what they were actually doing were not actually practicing their speaking skills.
Speaker A:They were doing a whole bunch of other things, like diving deep into course books.
Speaker A:Course books are great.
Speaker A:They're helpful, they serve a purpose.
Speaker A:But when you are working to build your fluency skills and your speaking skills for the Celpip, you don't want to be spending time behind a course book staring at pages.
Speaker A:That's not what you need to be doing.
Speaker A:You also don't want to be spending all of your time practicing your reading skills and your writing skills or your listening skills.
Speaker A:And believe it or not, I've talked with students over the years who have.
Speaker A:When I've asked them what they're trying to focus on to get ready for the exam instead of like, if speaking was their target and they've said that to me, like in their emails back and forth with me, they would say, yeah, I'm working to develop my speaking skills for the celpip.
Speaker A:That's what's most important for me right now.
Speaker A:And then when I asked them, well, what are you doing to get ready?
Speaker A:They have come up and said that I've been working on my reading and my writing and my listening skills.
Speaker A:And especially I'm digging into my listening skills right now.
Speaker A:I'm really focusing hard on that.
Speaker A:And I remember thinking, well, you said just a few moments ago, I need to build my speaking skills.
Speaker A:And yet you're spending all your time in reading, writing and listening.
Speaker A:And here's the secret to that.
Speaker A:Most people will spend their time working on things that they're feeling more comfortable with, things that their confidence level is high on, which is usually not speaking skills.
Speaker A:When it comes to being an introvert, we don't like Stepping outside and you know, outside of our comfort zone.
Speaker A:We like to be deeply inside of our comfort zone, don't we?
Speaker A:I know this is true because I'm an introvert and my comfortable place is not usually with a lot of other people.
Speaker A:I prefer those quietly contained skills like reading, writing and listening.
Speaker A:That's where I feel comfortable.
Speaker A:So I totally get those students that said, yeah, I need to be building my, my speaking skills for the celpip, but what I'm actually doing is working on the things that I'm very comfortable with.
Speaker A:I totally get that, my friend.
Speaker A:And if that's you, I'm not throwing shade at you.
Speaker A:I'm not judging you.
Speaker A:I am in your shoes, my friend.
Speaker A:I know that temptation is strong to stay where it's comfortable in the reading and the writing and the listening, that that's comfortable.
Speaker A:But where we need to be is in that speaking section, right?
Speaker A:Another thing where I've seen students being where they don't need to be is spending hours and hours watching YouTube videos about speaking skills.
Speaker A:And this is one, this is one of those videos.
Speaker A:And I'm going to be trying to encourage you to, to get off of this video as soon as possible.
Speaker A:But yeah, spending hours watching those YouTube videos, again, you're staying in that safety zone of listening and of watching, but you're not actually doing what you need to be doing to build your speaking skills for this help.
Speaker A:If another one that I've heard from students and I've read online a lot, especially in the last, you know, year or so, is spending time practicing with AI and well, none of these things that I am offering you today, none of them are, you know, unhelpful.
Speaker A:None of them are wrong to do.
Speaker A:They all serve their purpose, right?
Speaker A:Taking time to study up in a course book like working on your grammar maybe or watching a couple of YouTube videos for tips or suggestions, none of those things are wrong to do.
Speaker A:But when it becomes the whole focus of your practice, like if you're spending all of your time arguing with chat GPT, that's such a hard thing to say.
Speaker A:If you're arguing all the time with AI, trying to get the right prompt, practicing back and forth with it, and actually not having real human to human conversations with people, you're spending all your time in the wrong places.
Speaker A:What your real focus needs to be, not books, not reading, not writing, not listening, not hours of YouTube, not arguing with AI.
Speaker A:It is having conversations with native English speakers.
Speaker A:If you are wanting your speaking skills for the cell book to improve and to get better.
Speaker A:If you want your self confidence to get better, better and stronger, you need to be out there having those conversations.
Speaker A:Now if you are an introvert, when you hear me say those words, you need to be out there having one on one conversations with native English speakers.
Speaker A:I know that in your mind you are instantly in panic mode.
Speaker A:You are instantly envisioning big groups of people that you have to be in front of and talking with.
Speaker A:Like you instantly imagine yourself having to be the life of the party where everybody's talking to you and you're talking to them and, and you're just being someone that you're not.
Speaker A:And that fills your heart with terror and you're probably sweating just thinking about it.
Speaker A:But when I say you need to practice by actually speaking with native English speakers, I'm not wanting you to be someone that you're not you, if you're watching this, you're probably an introvert like me.
Speaker A:And we are probably not created or designed to be, you know, having those big long conversations with lots of different people, being the life of the party, our superpower, what we're really good at, what I'm really good at is one on one conversations.
Speaker A:And when I am encouraging you to practice by engaging in actual practice in actual conversations with native English speakers, that's what I'm envisioning for you.
Speaker A:A one on one conversation, one person, you sharing one idea, you listening to one person and engaging with them back and forth.
Speaker A:It doesn't have to be long be effective practice either.
Speaker A:Like if you are envisioning, when I say you need to have conversations with a native English speaker, I don't want you to be thinking hours, I don't want you to be thinking, you know, multi day conversations that are going on with someone because our minds, I'm speaking to myself.
Speaker A:When I think about that kind of practice, my mind instantly goes to.
Speaker A:I have to go super long.
Speaker A:I have to speak to lots of different people in order for this practice to be effective.
Speaker A:Wrong.
Speaker A:Wrong.
Speaker A:If you can engage with one person for just a minute or two, that's effective practice.
Speaker A:The thing is you need more of it.
Speaker A:It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to happen more frequently than what it is right now.
Speaker A:Because here's the thing, us introverts, we tend to prefer our own company.
Speaker A:We are, we tend to feel at our best when we're not around a lot of people.
Speaker A:We just like to be on our own.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:At least, at least that's me.
Speaker A:I mean, I do like people don't get me wrong, but I tend to prefer quiet places.
Speaker A:And unfortunately, being in that quiet space all the time is the least effective way for you to build your speaking skills for the SELPIP exam and your speaking skills in English in general.
Speaker A:So we need to step out of that, you know, quiet bubble sometimes and it doesn't have to be for a long time.
Speaker A:One person, share one idea, have one conversation with that one person and then retreat back into the safety of your, of your office or the safety of your home or just, you know, go to a quiet place and re recover your energy a little bit and then when you're feeling like you're ready to go, go back and do it again.
Speaker A:The whole idea of this is, is engaging in more practice, not less, but more practice that is built and suited to who you are as an introvert.
Speaker A:I think that, you know, God made me as an introvert.
Speaker A:If you're listening and watching this, you have been also created to be an introvert.
Speaker A:That's who you are.
Speaker A:And being an introvert isn't bad and it's not going to work against you necessarily.
Speaker A:As a language learner.
Speaker A:I think that God gave us special, us introverts.
Speaker A:He's given us special skills that he didn't give to extroverts.
Speaker A:For me, I know that one of my special skills is one on one conversations with people.
Speaker A:I'm really good at listening.
Speaker A:I'm really good at, you know, sharing ideas with just one person.
Speaker A:And over the years I've gotten better at being in front of groups of people too.
Speaker A:But my specialty, where I feel most at home in who I am is just with one other person or just a small group setting.
Speaker A:And maybe that's the way you feel too.
Speaker A:So that's what for me, effective celpip speaking task practice is all about more frequent one on one conversations that don't have to be for long that get you using your English with intention like you are actually out there trying to talk with somebody.
Speaker A:And these are great ways to practice.
Speaker A:Like you might not, you might be thinking to yourself, well, what is a one simple conversation going to do for myself of speaking skills?
Speaker A:Well, it's going to do a couple of really important things.
Speaker A:Number one, like I was saying a moment ago, it's just great for your general English skills in general.
Speaker A:Like you're.
Speaker A:I said general a lot there.
Speaker A:But it's great for you to be building your speaking skills in general.
Speaker A:But it's also great and this is where it's celpip specific.
Speaker A:Like when you are engaging in those real life conversations.
Speaker A:It's great because you have to think quickly when you are talking with someone.
Speaker A:Like right now, I'm doing my very best.
Speaker A:I'm not going to edit this precisely because I'm trying to put this idea into practice myself.
Speaker A:Thinking quickly.
Speaker A:I'm used like I have got, I've got my notes here in front of me.
Speaker A:You probably, if you're watching this, you've seen me looking off to the side, but I'm not reading a script.
Speaker A:I'm talking to you about something that I have in my head that I wanted to share with you.
Speaker A:So I didn't practice this.
Speaker A:I don't have it scripted out.
Speaker A:And the SELP of exam is the same way.
Speaker A:If you, if you are engaging in regular conversations with people, you are putting yourself into very similar conditions as what you'll face on the self of examination where you're going to have to come up with something to talk about really quickly.
Speaker A:You'll have to respond to what they say to you.
Speaker A:Now on this help up, you're not going to be responding to somebody, you're going to be responding to a question and you're not going to have a lot of time to think about it.
Speaker A:Sometimes 30 seconds, sometimes 60 seconds to think about what am I going to say, how am I going to organize my answer.
Speaker A:So if you are spending a lot of time engaging in real conversations with people, you are doing excellent practice for helping you to think quickly about what you're going to say.
Speaker A:And another thing that this kind of practice is great for is what I'm doing right now, just expressing my ideas, making mistakes, correcting them in the moment as I go along, pushing through them.
Speaker A:Like a few moments ago I had a coughing spell.
Speaker A:I actually had to hit pause really quick because I was really coughing a lot.
Speaker A:But those kinds of things are going to happen to you on the SELPIP exam as well.
Speaker A:Maybe you will start to cough, maybe you will get distracted a little bit by something that's going on around you.
Speaker A:But you need to get in there and continue on with your answer just like you would and what you will need to do in a real life conversation.
Speaker A:Finally, story this is high pressure.
Speaker A:I mean, when you are in a, in a conversation with somebody, there's a heightened level of pressure, isn't there, where you feel like I have to do my best.
Speaker A:I need to try to say what I'm trying to say without making a mistake.
Speaker A:I need to try to express my ideas as completely as I, as I can.
Speaker A:That's why engaging in those conversations are so important and helpful for you.
Speaker A:Now the thing is that is missing, I think are two.
Speaker A:There's probably more.
Speaker A:But one, you don't have a clock ticking away as you are talking to the person that you're talking to.
Speaker A:That part is missing.
Speaker A:And you also don't have, you know, the, the pressure of this is an exam.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of things, you know, depending on the results of, of what I'm about to say.
Speaker A:You don't have that part inside of a day to day conversation, but there's a lot of other things that are very helpful that are a part of those things.
Speaker A:So that's why I want to encourage you to engage in daily conversations.
Speaker A:One person, share one idea, listen to what the person says and then if you need to, just pull away for a little bit, but go back and do it again.
Speaker A:Small conversations repeated over time is what's going to help you to get ready for the speaking section of the celpip.
Speaker A:Even if you are an introvert like me.
Speaker A:And I just want to say thank you for watching, thank you for listening.
Speaker A:My name is Aaron.
Speaker A:Welcome to this episode.
Speaker A:If this is your first time here, and I can't believe I'm doing this again, I forgot to talk to you about this at the very beginning.
Speaker A:But hey, you know, if you've watched all the way to this, thank you so much.
Speaker A:If you have never been to this podcast or this channel before and this is your first time, welcome.
Speaker A:I'm glad that you're here.
Speaker A:I'm here to help you to get ready for the speaking section of the CELPIP exam.
Speaker A:And thank you for watching today's video.
Speaker A:I hope that you have a fantastic day.
Speaker A:Fantastic week.
Speaker A:Bye.
Speaker A:Bye.
