Hello Reader,

To get better CELPIP scores, you need better practice. (Duh!)

But not the kind of practice where you get lost behind a course or grammar book. Those might help...a little...but they're not near as powerful and potent for practice as...(drumroll please!) actually using your English in day-to-day situations.

Excuses Reasons To Avoid Practice

I've got many friends who are immigrants. Most of them, not all of them, but most of them rarely use their English skills.

• They are afraid of making mistakes.
• They don't feel confident to start or hold conversations with English speakers.
• They feel embarrassed about their accent and pronunciation.
• They feel their English simply isn't good enough.

So they avoid the most important (and readily available) source of practice you can get if you're already living in Canada: talking with English speakers.

I totally get where they are coming from. I struggle with and have struggled with the exact same problems when it comes to me and my Spanish skills.

The Cost Of Avoidance

Sobering thought: when you avoid day-to-day opportunities to use your English, you are slowly adding years to your English learning journey.

YEARS.

I've told this story likely hundreds of times, but I have great friends who have lived here in Canada for nearly 20 years, but they still have a beginner level of English.

Why?

They have built a first language bubble around themselves so they don't have to use their English if they don't want to.

Worse? Now they need stronger English skills in order to apply for their citizenship status, but sadly, though they've got 20 years of experience here, their English level isn't strong enough.

More Practice. (But the right kind!)

Practice. I want to encourage you because you likely need more of it! The practice where you are out there, away from course books, classrooms, and your first language! The kind of practice where you are actually talking with the English speakers around you.

You need more of that! Daily more!

Fill your life up with that kind of practice and just watch how fast your English skills grow!

• You'll make mistakes, but each one will help you get better!
• Confidence comes the more you use the English you have.
• Accents? Don't get rid of yours. It makes you who you are! Pronunciation? This also gets better the more you practice!
• Afraid you're not good enough? Nobody speaks English perfectly. Even native speakers make mistakes (and lots of them!). Perfection comes over time (and never 100% perfect!) But it can't come if you're not using what you have.

Over to you: Does it feel like you avoid practice opportunities? Why?

Aaron