The reason why I’m speaking about the importance of inner state is that native-like fluency means confidence in SPONTANEOUS conversation.

We can’t prepare every single word that we’re going to say. But we can prepare ourselves to have the confidence to say the right words.

NEW schedule!
StoryCLUB and BookCLUB for international teenagers - every Tuesday at 19:00 MSK (GMT+3)
The meetings are free of charge.

We're inviting teenagers who love to read books and listen to good stories in English to join the weekly club meetings. Every session is 60 min long.

It doesn't matter what your first language is. All teenagers from all parts of the world, including bilinguial children, are welcome to join our group of story enthusiasts and practice better reading & speaking skills. Currently, we are all reading the same book, and you can absolutely join and dive into the dog mistery too! (the book is about a dog that was mysteriously killed) We're also learning to tell better stories in English.

During the last session, our club members presented about a Crab Nebula, a Double Slit Expreminent, and Prime Numbers! Now we all know more about physics:)

Here are the skills that we practice during our sessions:

1. Presentation skills in English
2. Structured storytelling
3. Reading out loud
4. Tone of voice and speech delivery
5. Understanding fiction characters
6. Expressing your opinion in English
7. Sharing ideas with others
8. Better reading skills (attentive reading, pronunciation, phonetics, stress etc)
9. Summarizing information


To join us, please send an email to natalia@upskillme.ru with a Subject Line "A club for teenagers"

Listen to this excerpt of 'The Deep Places' by Ross Douthat in preparation to join us this weekend for an opportunity to come together and read aloud to one another.

By reading out loud, we become more attuned to our delivery and our own feelings. When you read to others, you want to make sure they can hear how you feel about the text.

Native-Like Fluency is so much about feeling the language and the people who speak it.

The FOCUS of this practice:
- The rhythm of English (pauses, pitch, stress, volume, etc.)
- Strong verbs and adjectives
- Intonations
- Making sense of information
- Delivering ideas so others receive precisely what you intended to send
- Proper understanding (you can read the passage beautifully only if you truly understand it)

I encourage you to bring a sample of text that you love and allow others to experience the beauty that the page holds.
If you struggle to find a piece you would like to share, please let me know, as I can help you with suggestions.

I'll see you there!
The exact location will be sent to all the confirmed participants.
RSVP here: https://community.nataliatokar.me/c/calendar/reading-practice-sep18

PS - For the full audio clip (and many more) Penguin Random House on Soundcloud has a fantastic selection of audio clips available for a wide variety of books:
https://soundcloud.com/penguin-audio/the-deep-places-by-ross

A community of practice is a dedicated platform for advanced learners who need endless inspiration, consistently high novelty, and a clear, structured approach to improving their language skills.

Think of it as a gym where you would go to do different workouts to train specific skills: endurance, strength, mobility, better wheel pose, more confident handstand, badass pistol squats...

You would probably plan your workouts. If today is your leg day, you probably do NOT want to be doing benchpress for 60 min.
If you want to work on your flexibility, then you probably should not be on a treadmill for the next hour. You should be doing the exercises to help your body become more flexible.

As you learn to create a practice routine to continuously advance your English and your English communication skills, you explore different "workouts" and learn the exercises that you should be doing to target certain skills. You will also learn what exercises you should stop doing (because you've outgrown them) and what practices you should not stick to (because they take you further away from your goal).

If you want to learn to have more confidence in spontaneous conversations with people, you do not want to be doing grammar exercises or passively watching entertaining video lessons. You need to pick a different workout.

If you want to change the way you speak (your accent, your pitch, your choice of words), you should be doing the self-correction exercises out loud, instead of attending speaking clubs where you will be repeating what you already know and maintaining the level that you already have.

Learn to pick your "workouts" wisely.
Learn to enjoy them.
Then, learn to create your own exercises and your own workouts.

This is what the community of practice is about.

I need you to know that a structured, systematic approach to achieving native-like fluency exists. You can learn it, apply it, practice it together with other people, and you can teach yourself to continuously improve your skills without ever losing inspiration or feeling stuck for longer than a few days.

Join us and learn by doing.
Learn to create your own practice routines to achieve native-like fluency in English.

Read more and sign up here - https://cutt.ly/ACNAepY



My Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliatokar
Podcast - https://nataliatokar.me/#podcasts
Instagram - @nataliatokarr
FB - https://www.facebook.com/nataliatokarr
Blog - https://nataliatokar.me/blog
Free interactive exercises - https://nataliatokar.me/challenge
Community of Practice - https://community.nataliatokar.me

How about we do an exercise together? What is "grit"? Listen to the voice message above and share your definitions in the comments. I am goign to share mine too 🙂 https://community.nataliatokar.me/c/updates/exercise-what-is-grit-let-s-practice-clarity-brevity-and-attentiveness

Don't know about you, but I'm getting ready for our meeting on Sunday!!!

My FOCUS, as I did this exercise, was flow & emphasis.

Of course, I paid attention to the thought chunks, pitch, stress, volume, intonation, pronunciation... This goes without saying. However, I wanted to do some deliberate work to practice emphasis, and I think this excerpt is perfect for this purpose.

I am happy to share this book with people who are planning to join the reading practice on Sunday! Who wants it?

What book are you bringing on Sunday?

P.S. If you're not in Moscow and you can't join the session in-person, you can always send your recording to me, and I'll make share that we all listen to it during our session. I will also be very happy to give you feedback in a voice message back.

You will find the links to listen to this track and practice you reading skills on my blog https://nataliatokar.me/blog/tpost/yfotjuf8g1-reading-practice-the-bodyguard-by-kather

To learn like me, you gotta work out like me, dress like me, think like me, eat like me, and be me…
Do you really want that?
I want for you to be you.

I did 1200 jumps today, 250 of which were double-unders. I know people who’d say “It’s a joke” because they do 2500 three times a week. And I know people who’ll say “That’s impossible” because the last time they used a jump rope was in kindergarten.
We all have different needs, different bodies, and different individual parameters. We need to respect them. However, we’re all very similar: we all have human bodies, we share similar thoughts and values, we’re inspired by similar goals. Respect both the similarities and the differences. Respect your own effort to live the best life for you.

To be able to concentrate like I do, you gotta be willing to do as many workouts as I do.
To practice like I do, you gotta have as many years of work behind you as I do, and this is simply impossible.
People always inspire me, but I don’t want to become them or copy their lives. People inspire me to become who I know I can become. They inspire me to transform some of my qualities that are detrimental, to learn to be more organised, to eat better, to self-regulate my processes, to think sharper, to find my style and my way.

The purpose of my work is to give everyone the power to organise their own learning, to build their own practice routine that will never feel like a “mundane routine”. If your goal is to improve your fluency, you gotta structure your practice around YOU, and not around a textbook or a program.
The methodology that I’ve created is beautiful because it gives the power back to the learner, and to learn is a very natural process. There should be nothing artificial about it. Take your effort seriously and start with a simple practice routine to improve just one thing. For example, give yourself a week to unlearn an annoying pronunciation mistake that you’ve had for years. If you need help with creating such a routine, raise a hand in the community of practice. Join and find tools to create a practice routine that will work for YOU.

A whole minute of double-unders

Watch this video - this is exactly what we will be practicing this Sunday. Come UNprepared:))
And we will be learning to find our focus in each new situation.

Register here https://community.nataliatokar.me/c/calendar/reading-practice-sep18

I did this exercise today. It's a great choice if your FOCUS is the rhythm of English, better pronunciation, better diction, and delivering good stories. The post is public. Join the practice here - https://cutt.ly/OVdw6KF