Well hello there, Reader, I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to connect with you today.

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Here are 4 simple steps I want you to take today that will help get unstuck with your CELPIP speaking practice. Ready?

1. Pick one. Just pick one of the eight tasks to practice. For this example, I'll pick task one: giving advice.

And I'm also going to take a moment to encourage you: You’ve done this before! Stop and think about this for a minute! In your lifetime, have you ever given advice to someone in your first language?

I betcha you have, and I bet you’re pretty good at it, too!

So…you’ve done this before. Tell yourself that.

Now, I know it’s a little different when you try to do it in a different language, but please remind yourself of this truth: you’ve done this before!

2. Write the problem down. Think about that time when you gave advice. What was the problem or situation? What advice did you give? Go ahead and write that down - feel free to do it in your first language to start, but I challenge you to try and do this in English as much as you can.

3. Notice your answer. What did you do to make your advice helpful for the person you were talking to? How was your tone of voice? Did you offer them examples or stories of things you’ve experienced to help? Did you offer reasons why you were giving them the ideas you gave? What do you notice about how you gave your advice?

The way you gave your advice that time, maybe in your first language, is how you need to try and do it this time!

Use a calm, kind tone of voice.

Offer some reasons why your idea is a good one for your person to follow.

Do you have a short story that happened to you that you can share?

Use these to help you as you practice. Try to use them in your answer.

Use English. If you haven’t already, this is where I want you to try and use English to tell the story. Try and write it out.

We’re just free practicing right here. Don’t worry about time. Just get your story out in English. When you’re done, move to the last step.

4.Record. Grab your cell phone, open your voice memo app, hit record - and then read your answer off.

That’s it.

You’ve recorded an answer for the speaking task one.

It will likely suck. That’s ok. You recorded an answer!

Your answer likely took way longer than 30 seconds to prepare, and that’s ok! You recorded an answer!

And your final answer likely took much longer than 90 seconds to record, that’s ok - you know what’s coming, don’t you! You recorded an answer!

You’re moving.

Here’s the secret: if you’ve been feeling stuck - the best thing you can do is start moving forward, and if you followed along with me here, believe it or not, you are now moving.

Not perfectly moving.

But you’re moving.

And I’ll tell you another secret: it’s way easier to improve on your answer when you actually have one to work with!