Preparation and training are what make you a great speaker.
You simply must practice daily in order to improve and master the fear of public
speaking. It’s not easy, but it is highly rewarding. Public speaking mastery will open
many opportunities.
When you speak to an audience, you are able to reach tens,
hundreds, or even thousands of people at a time. Your influence grows. As your
influence grows, so too will your career.
CHAPTER 22
English Connects You With The World
Think about why you are studying English. Chances are it has something to do
with communicating or connecting with other people. English conversation is about
connection. That is the purpose of English conversation –
to connect with people
around the world. We want to connect personally and emotionally. We want to
connect with business partners, clients, and customers. We want to connect with
professional peers. We want to connect with new friends.
In short, you need a community to use English. As a learner, it’s especially useful
to join a community of other English learners in order to practice and improve. The
kind of community you join, however, is very important.
Your peer group has a strong effect upon your ultimate success. A “peer group”
is simply a group of people who are interconnected with each other.
Your friends
are a peer group. Your family is another peer group. If you join an English class in
a school, your classmates become your peer group. When you join an online
community of English learners, they become your peer group.
Peer groups influence their members because, as a group, they share and promote
certain values and behaviors. The group as a whole has certain standards and every
member of the group is pulled towards those standards. This group effect can
produce powerful positive or negative results.
A negative peer group is one with generally low standards. These groups are
typically characterized by frequent criticism, focus on errors, complaints, and even
insults among members. Such a group
tends to pull down its members,
discouraging and distracting them from success. Sadly, such groups are especially
common in schools and online – the two most common English learning
environments.
You want a peer group to pull you up. You want to join a group that encourages
you, that feeds you positive thoughts, that interests and entertains you. You want a
group that will boost
you when you are struggling, and celebrate when you are
successful.
Peer groups create spirals, either upward or downward. Through their shared
interactions,
standards and values, peer group communities exert ever-increasing
influence upon you. Participation in a toxic peer group will eventually erode your
confidence, no matter how strong you are. On the positive side, an inspiring peer
group will empower you to improve, grow, and achieve tremendous success, even
if you now feel hopeless.
Choose carefully. When considering a class
or online English community,
research it thoroughly. Notice how the members interact with each other. When a
member is successful, are they celebrated, or do other members gossip jealously?
When a community member struggles, do other members jump in to encourage and
help them or are they ignored?
While it seems obvious, many students forget
the ultimate reason they are
learning. In traditional English conversation classes it’s easy to get too focused on
tests, textbooks, grades, and “levels.” After a while, you as a student are so worried
about these artificial measurements that you forget your ultimate purpose for study.
At the deepest level, English conversation is about international community-
building and sustaining meaningful connections between people.
What kind of
people do you want in your English speaking community?
One of my ongoing goals is to use our seminars and courses and online groups
as a way to create strong international communities. I want to help people connect
and communicate in positive and meaningful ways – and help them stay connected.
One way you can do this is through our member forums and conversation clubs.
They’re designed to allow you to interact and ask questions of other students who
are learning English just like you.
I also want you to always keep in mind why you are studying English in the first
place. Forget grades, tests and worrying about mistakes or how you might sound to
others. Just focus on communicating and trying to connect with positive people.
Surround yourself with enthusiastic people who love speaking English.
The more you connect with people who are excited about English, the more
excited you will become. Enthusiasm is contagious! So is negativity.
Choose your
peer group wisely.
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