Fear of public speaking is a common struggle, with around 75% of people experiencing it at some point. If you're feeling anxious about using your English, you're definitely not alone in this—many share this fear. In today’s podcast, I’m diving into four practical strategies to help you tackle that fear head-on and boost your confidence for speaking, especially when it comes to the CELPIP exam. We’ll explore the importance of regular practice, the use of notes during your speaking tasks, how to draw from your personal experiences, and the benefits of recording yourself. By implementing these strategies, you'll not only prepare for your exam but also develop your English skills in a meaningful way. So, let’s get into it and start turning that fear into confidence!

Takeaways:

• Recognizing that 75% of people fear public speaking can help you feel less isolated.
• Engaging in daily conversations with native speakers significantly reduces fear and builds confidence.
• Using notes during the CELPIP exam is crucial for staying organized and focused on your answers.
• Drawing from personal experiences strengthens your responses and makes them more relatable during exams.
• Regularly recording and reviewing your speaking practice can reveal mistakes and promote learning effectively.
• Overcoming the fear of speaking requires consistent practice and interaction, especially with others.

Links mentioned today:

Public Speaking: Getting beyond the fear through the three P's. (University of Florida.)

To Speak English Fearlessly, Maybe You Need To Take More Risks

Mentioned in this episode:

Let's work together to prepare for the CELPIP Exam

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Today, I'm going to share my top four strategies to help Aiden, who writes, and I quote, my biggest fear is speaking. Please, how can I get rid of the fear? Well, hello there and welcome to the Speak English Fearlessly podcast.

This is the podcast for motivated English learners who want to speak English fearlessly and learn practical tips and strategies to conquer the CELPIP exam.

I also love to feature encouraging interviews with regular people, people just like you, who are working towards becoming fluent in English so we can learn from their experiences together. Who am I?

My name is Aaron Nelson, and I've been an English teacher for over 17 years, and I'm a certified CELPIP trainer, and I now help students prepare for the CELPIP exam through online classes. One of the most common fears that people face is speaking in public.

According to one survey by the University of Florida, roughly 75% of the population struggles with this fear. 75%. And I've talked about this before, actually, so I'll be linking to it in my show notes today. But 75% is a huge number.

And if you're anything like our friend Aiden and your biggest struggle when it comes to speaking is fear, then first of all, you've got to know that you are not alone. And that's so important. Here's why.

I bet that if speaking in public or using your English in front of others fills your heart and mind with fear, you often feel like you're the only one who struggles with this, that every other English learner that you see around you has it all together. Except you. Well, if that's you, take heart, my friend, because you are not alone. Remember, 75% of the population struggles with speaking in public.

And the next time you are tempted to think that you are the only one, remind yourself of this. The fear of public speaking is usually ranked as one of the top fears people have, sometimes even above the fear of death. That's pretty high.

So you are most definitely not the only one.

Now, I know that being the only one or not being the only one doesn't do very much to help you deal with the fear that you feel when you're needing to use your English with others or when you need to face the speaking section of the CELPIP exam.

But it's an important place to start because if you listen carefully to what you're saying about yourself when you say, I'm the only one who struggles with this, there's usually another message, a sneaky, more devastating message attached to it. Do you know what that message is? It Goes something like, I'm so stupid. I suck at this. I never get it.

And the danger of those lies, of those words is that listening to those negative thoughts will lead you to one of the biggest mistakes I see English learners make all the time, and that is isolating themselves and avoiding situations where they have the opportunity to use their English. And the end result to isolating and avoiding situations where you can use your English is that your English skills will stop developing.

Do you want to know one of the most frustrating truths about learning any language, especially if you're an introvert? In order for your skills to grow, you actually have to use them. They never get better without interaction. Ah, that's horrible, isn't it?

If you're an introvert listening to this, I feel you. I'm an introvert too, so I know how strong a pull there is to avoid situations where you need to engage with others.

And I've shared this many times in my podcast. While I do enjoy being with small groups of people, I'm usually way more confident when I already know them.

If you were to put me into a room with people that I don't know, I promise you I'm going to probably retreat to hide in a corner somewhere.

And this is crazy to me because my work, the thing that I do during the day, my 9 to 5 job, puts me into positions where I need to meet and speak with people I don't know very well all the time. And to this day, I really have to push myself hard to connect with people I don't know very well.

Because my tendency is to withdraw at work if I'm not careful, I can safely hide away in my office doing work, working away for most of the day instead of connecting with the people I'm supposed to serve. It's just a natural part of my personality to overcome that.

I've had to purposefully and regularly push myself out of my office to go on little walks around the public spaces of the building where I work while I'm doing it, to stretch my legs and get some exercise. I'm also stepping outside of my office on purpose so that I can try and connect with people. And the results have been pretty great.

For one, I'm still here. You know what I mean? Like going out and talking with people. Even though it doesn't make me feel very comfortable, it hasn't killed me yet.

I'm still in here.

But one of the best results has been I've actually started connecting with random people as I roam the halls that I never would Get a chance to connect with. Because you know what? Many of them are also shy and introverted like me.

Thanks to these little walks of mine, I've started to build little friendships with people I hardly see.

And that leads me right into my very first strategy for you about what you can be doing to begin dealing with fear so that it doesn't trip you up on your exam day. And I'm going to say this right now right up front.

I'm sorry, if you're an introvert, you're likely going to hate the next few minutes of this episode. But hang in there. Every word I'm about to say works.

I've seen these strategies help me, and I've seen them help others, too, so I know for sure that they're going to help you, too. Okay, all right, strategy number one. Practice more. Duh.

I can hear you saying that all the way over here, but this needs to become something you do on purpose with yourself, even if only for a few minutes each day. Make it your goal to engage in a conversation with a native English speaker at least once, once a day, for a few minutes at a time.

Now, I know that just listening to this probably is causing some of you. Well, maybe it's causing you to break out in a cold sweat. The strategy is scary, I know it. But powerful.

This strategy is scary, but powerful because the more often you do it, the less ground fear has to keep holding onto you. And sadly, the opposite is also true.

The more you avoid using your English with native speakers because you feel afraid of making a mistake or not knowing what to say, the louder and stronger that fear will become. I promise. I know this is true because I've experienced it myself.

Stepping out of your comfort zone and engaging with native English speakers on a regular basis. Repeating this is the key to building confidence. And I promise you, it won't kill you.

It might feel like you're dying inside when you're actually doing it, but I promise you, it won't kill you. And the more you do it, it will become a little bit easier each time. So practice more. My second strategy, Use notes.

When you're practicing for the CELPIP exam, make sure you use notes to help you stay on track on each speaking task. You'll usually have around 30 seconds to think about what you're going to say before you actually begin recording your answer.

You won't have time to build out a complete script, but you will have time to quickly bullet point out some ideas you can speak about.

Use them, refer to them when you're actually recording so that you have something to go along with so that you're not trying to come up with thoughts on the fly. Use your notes Number three, your personal experience.

Never forget this on the exam whenever possible and I hope you write this down and underline it whenever possible. Rely on your own experience to help you as you give your answer.

If you've already experienced the situation the exam is asking you about, draw from how you felt and what you did in that situation. Speaking from personal experience will help you give a stronger and way more convincing answer because you lived it.

You can talk about all the details that were involved with what you experienced, which will lead to a better, stronger answer. So whenever possible, speak from personal experience and my final tip, my final strategy for you is be recording and listening to your answers.

Record your practice answers and listen to them. Use your voice memo feature on your cell phone to record your practice answers.

I know that this might seem like really boring and maybe, maybe you're wondering, well, what's the point to doing that? Well, I'll tell you. Practicing in this way is vital. And they're vital for two reasons.

Number one, when you are recording yourself speaking into your phone so you can play back your answer, your actually placing yourself in the same situation that you're going to experience on the exam. Namely you're going to be talking to a machine and not a person. You've got to get used to this.

I've met many students who have said that this part of the CELPIP threw them off the most because they weren't used to speaking into a microphone and not seeing a person's face. Practicing with your cell phone will help you get used to it before you actually have to face it on the exam.

Alright, so make a point of practicing in this way. Record practice answers into your cell phone, play it back and then do it again.

The more times you record yourself speaking into a machine and not talking to a person when you're practicing, the better when you're preparing for the celpip, that is.

Now you might be thinking, oh, I can just like lock myself in my room and practice speaking into my phone and that's going to be how I improve my speaking skills for the celpip. Yes, that will help you because on the exam you're going to be recording your answer by speaking into a microphone and recording it on the computer.

You won't be talking to a person. But as far as improving your English skills in general goes, you need to be speaking with other people so you can't escape that part. Okay? All right.

Number two. Repetition promotes learning. Repetition promotes learning. When you play your answer back, you'll begin to hear when you're making a mistake.

Make note of what you want to change and focus on re recording your answer again, but this time trying to avoid the mistake you just made. I've had so many students say that this kind of practice was what helped them become stronger and more confident speakers.

So make sure you're using this simple strategy to help you defeat your fears. So, just as a review before we end today's episode, in order for you to begin defeating your fear, you need to practice more.

Don't let your fear lock you away and keep you from using your English with other people. Unfortunately, using your English is the only real way for your skills to get better. Number two, don't forget to use your notes on the exam.

You'll be able to read off of your notes that you make when you're brainstorming for what you're going to say in the speaking portion of the exam. Make use of your notes. Number three, whenever you can, use your own personal experience to help you as you're giving your answer.

And number four, always be practicing speaking into your cell phone or some other tool that's not a person in order to help you get ready for the exam. Because remember, you won't be speaking to a person. You'll be recording your answer into the computer.

So the more you get used to that kind of interaction that isn't really interaction, the more you get used to speaking into something that's not to a person, the better it will be to help you to become comfortable with it for your exam day. All right, that's it for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening. I hope that it has helped you to begin taking steps to defeat your fear.

Have a great week, and we'll see you again next Tuesday. Bye.