About self-assessment in learning

From a conversatiion with a student.

You're closer than you think.
You probably know more English than you use.

It's time to focus not on your English, but on sounding like yourself -- in English. This is what I do.

I help my students express their real, authentic self in English and... not collapse, especially when they're unprepared.

the secret is...you don't need to be prepared to be YOU.
you need to focus your practice to express your truth.

if you know it's TIME for focused 1:1 work, DM to book a discovery call.

AUDACITY: how meaning matches form.

An example of what “mental images” are when learning a foreign langauge

Sometimes we get to see ourselves and freak out.

We freeze.
The awareness hurts too much.
And we pretend we’re dead, numb, incapable, invisible, and unable to change what we saw.

So we hide. Sometimes, we hide in far away places so that even our own conscious energy can’t reach those ugly parts that we saw.

Seeing your destructive patterns or parts of yourself can be VERY scary.

Seeing your mistakes can be devastating. Especially when you keep repeating the mistakes that harm your future self and stall your progress.

But hiding is not a solution.

Many non-native speakers who get to advanced levels of fluency hide behind the words they have learned.

They hide their true voice, their authentic self, and their stories behind a reduced version of themselves that they created in English.

They see their inability to express more than “small” or “reduced” versions of who they are and …they freeze. They go numb. Some pretend it’s okay. Some say it’s enough.

I’m taking to those who feel and know it’s not enough for them, and there’s more.

Because there is more.

You CAN have soulful conversations in English, and it’s a life changing skill. This level requires courage to see the numb and scared parts of yourself and not look away.

Authenticity is scary.
Very vulnerable.
Feels very unsafe in the beginning.
Feels like you have no control….until you realize that you have full control around how you want to show up in English and who you want to become.

Native-Like Fluency is not just a skill that can be learned in a course. It can’t be taught with a textbook.

It’s a decision.

Once you make a decision, you practice from a place of dedication, not desperation.

And when you practice, you build new skills that make you competent.

Competence makes you confident.

Everyone who has ever wanted to work with me told me they want “confidence” in English.

However, they had been shopping for confidence in the wrong places. You can’t get milk from a hardware store. And you can’t learn mastery in a textbook or a recorded online course.

“You’ve survived 100% of your worst days so far. The evidence says you’re unstoppable.”
— THERAPIST-APPROVED MANTRA