December 2, 2024 • 13 mins
In this episode, you’re going to learn one of the most effective ways to build confidence in English conversations. This simple and practical method is often overlooked by English learners but can transform how you approach speaking English. By the end of this lesson, you’ll know how to create personalized sentences that will prepare you for most conversations and make you feel more fluent and confident.
Listen to episode 52 to learn how to use AI.
Listen to episode 19 for the fluency method.
💡 WHY PERSONAL SENTENCES ARE SO POWERFUL
1. MOST CONVERSATIONS ARE ABOUT YOU
Conversations often begin with questions about your life, such as your job, hobbies, or recent experiences. If you prepare answers in advance, you’ll save time, reduce stress, and speak more naturally.
2. TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF DOESN’T CHANGE
Since you often discuss the same topics—like your job, family, or interests—you can prepare answers that are nearly perfect and use them repeatedly.
3. SPECIFIC SENTENCES ARE MORE INTERESTING
Generic sentences are fine, but specific details make your answers more engaging and easier to remember. For example, instead of saying "I like tennis," you can say, "I love playing tennis, but I only play in the summer."
💡 HOW TO CREATE YOUR PERSONAL SENTENCES
1. LIST COMMON TOPICS
Start with basic topics like your name, age, and where you’re from, then move to more detailed ones like your job, hobbies, family, and recent experiences.
2. WRITE SIMPLE, NATURAL SENTENCES
Create sentences that are clear and easy to say. Focus on natural phrasing instead of trying to sound complex. For example, "I’m a graphic designer. I create logos for small businesses."
3. PRACTICE REGULARLY
Repetition is key. Use methods like flashcards or the listen-record-repeat-compare technique to internalize your sentences and ensure they sound natural.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
✨ PRACTICE WITH AI OR TEACHERSUse tools like ChatGPT or practice with a language teacher to refine your sentences further. AI can help you generate examples or correct your sentences.
✨ PREPARE COMMON QUESTIONS
Don’t forget to practice asking questions too. For example, “What do you do?” or “Are you into sports?” These will make your conversations more dynamic and engaging.
🌟 THE BENEFITS OF THIS METHOD
This approach builds confidence, improves fluency, and helps you internalize vocabulary and grammar naturally. As your life changes, you can update your sentences while maintaining the same method.Start today by writing 10 sentences about yourself. Practice them regularly, build on them over time, and use them in real conversations. This simple method will help you feel more prepared and confident when speaking English. Try it, and see the difference it makes!
Listen to episode 52 to learn how to use AI.
Listen to episode 19 for the fluency method.
💡 WHY PERSONAL SENTENCES ARE SO POWERFUL
1. MOST CONVERSATIONS ARE ABOUT YOU
Conversations often begin with questions about your life, such as your job, hobbies, or recent experiences. If you prepare answers in advance, you’ll save time, reduce stress, and speak more naturally.
2. TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF DOESN’T CHANGE
Since you often discuss the same topics—like your job, family, or interests—you can prepare answers that are nearly perfect and use them repeatedly.
3. SPECIFIC SENTENCES ARE MORE INTERESTING
Generic sentences are fine, but specific details make your answers more engaging and easier to remember. For example, instead of saying "I like tennis," you can say, "I love playing tennis, but I only play in the summer."
💡 HOW TO CREATE YOUR PERSONAL SENTENCES
1. LIST COMMON TOPICS
Start with basic topics like your name, age, and where you’re from, then move to more detailed ones like your job, hobbies, family, and recent experiences.
2. WRITE SIMPLE, NATURAL SENTENCES
Create sentences that are clear and easy to say. Focus on natural phrasing instead of trying to sound complex. For example, "I’m a graphic designer. I create logos for small businesses."
3. PRACTICE REGULARLY
Repetition is key. Use methods like flashcards or the listen-record-repeat-compare technique to internalize your sentences and ensure they sound natural.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
✨ PRACTICE WITH AI OR TEACHERSUse tools like ChatGPT or practice with a language teacher to refine your sentences further. AI can help you generate examples or correct your sentences.
✨ PREPARE COMMON QUESTIONS
Don’t forget to practice asking questions too. For example, “What do you do?” or “Are you into sports?” These will make your conversations more dynamic and engaging.
🌟 THE BENEFITS OF THIS METHOD
This approach builds confidence, improves fluency, and helps you internalize vocabulary and grammar naturally. As your life changes, you can update your sentences while maintaining the same method.Start today by writing 10 sentences about yourself. Practice them regularly, build on them over time, and use them in real conversations. This simple method will help you feel more prepared and confident when speaking English. Try it, and see the difference it makes!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In today's English Fluency lesson, we're going to talk about
one of the best things you can do to build
confidence in English. And this is something that most English
learners completely overlook. To overlook something means to not think
about doing it, So most English learners don't even think
(00:21):
about doing what I'm going to talk about today and
what it is is going to really help your confidence
when you're having natural conversations with someone. It is very simple,
very practical, and we're going to talk about how to
do this step by step before we go into it.
(00:41):
My name is Jack from to Fluency. If you are
watching this on YouTube, welcome to you. And if you
are listening to this on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, then
welcome to you too. Be sure to check the description
to get the best English learning resources. So today we're
(01:03):
going to talk about how to prepare yourself for most
conversations that you're going to have in English. By focusing
on one simple idea, it's going to give you the
confidence to know that you can have these conversations without
having to think too much about what to say. And
it's this creating personal sentences. Creating personal sentences that are
(01:30):
specific to you. Think about this. When you meet somebody new,
what do you usually talk about? When you meet somebody new,
what kind of sentences do you usually use? It's one
of two things. You're going to talk about yourself and
you're going to ask questions to the other person. Let's
(01:53):
focus on yourself. You're going to talk about your job,
your likes and dislikes, your personal situation, your experiences, and
other things related to you. You're going to talk about yourself.
But most learners freeze in these situations. Most learners feel
(02:15):
like they don't know what to say about themselves simply
because they haven't prepared. Here's a secret. You already know
what you're going to say in these conversations, because talking
about yourself doesn't actually change. So why not make it
perfect or close to perfect in advance. Why not come
(02:39):
fully prepared with these sentences in advance, So by the
end of this episode, you know how to create fifty
personalized sentences about yourself, sentences you can use again and again.
These will become your secret weapon for sounding fluent and
confidence in English. So stay until the end because this
(03:03):
technique will transform the way you approach conversations in English.
So let's start with why personal sentences are so effective.
Most conversations revolve around familiar topics, things like introducing yourself,
talking about your family, explaining your job, or sharing what
(03:25):
you did last weekend. This is what most people are
going to ask you at the start of a conversation.
So imagine that you meet somebody in a pub, or
you meet somebody at a language exchange. They're going to
ask you about your family, your job, what you did
last weekend, and similar sentences to this. And if you
(03:46):
prepare your answers in advance, you'll save time, reduce stress,
and speak more naturally and fluently in English. Here's an example.
Imagine somebody asks you what do you do? What do
you do? If you've already practiced saying I'm a graphic designer.
(04:06):
I design logos and branding for small businesses, you'll answer
this without hesitation. If somebody asks you are you married,
do you have children? And you say yes, I have
two children, one boy and one girl. One is aged
seventeen and one is aged twelve. They go to school
(04:27):
at the moment, et cetera, et cetera. So you can
think about creating sentences about your family, and the same
with hobbies and interests. For example, if you spend a
lot of your time playing computer games, you can say
things like I play computer games. I really like this
game or that game. So these sentences that you practice
(04:47):
along with the questions will become your foundation. These will
be your go to sentences when you start talking with
somebody who you don't know. They're not just words, they're
tools you can rely on in these types of situations.
Now you know why this is so important, Let's talk
(05:08):
about how to create your fifty personal sentences. In fact,
I'm going to help you in the description by giving
you a list of things that you can focus on,
a list of topics that you're going to find really useful.
So start by thinking about the things you talk about
most often. Here are some ideas. Your name that's an
(05:29):
easy one, how old you are, although this is going
to change, and where you're from. So those are the
simple ones that maybe you're thinking, I already know how
to do those. The next topics could be your job
or your studies, your hobbies and interests, your family and friends,
(05:49):
your recent experiences, what you normally do at the weekend.
And then you can think about some fun facts or
things that you've done in the past that are interest.
For example, you might have traveled to specific countries, so
write down five or ten topics that you'll know will
come up in conversations. Once you have your topic, write
(06:13):
a few sentences that are clear, easy to remember, and
sound natural in English. So let's go back to the
example of you being a graphic designer. You can say
things like I'm a graphic designer. I work with small
businesses to create their branding. I love designing logos. Right now,
(06:34):
I'm working on a big project for a local coffee shop.
So here we are talking about what you do, if
you like it or don't like it, and what you're
working on right now. Don't try to sound overly complex.
Focus on sentences that feel comfortable and natural, and then
(06:54):
also make your sentences specific. Generic sentences are okay, but
specific ones are much better. So instead of just saying
I like tennis, you can say I love playing tennis,
but I only play in summer, or I love playing tennis,
(07:14):
I try to play twice a week. I love playing tennis,
but I'm not that good at it at the moment.
Specific details make your sentences more interesting and also easier
to remember, so people will be more interesting what you're
saying and you're more likely to remember this. Now leave
a link to the episode I made about using AI
(07:36):
to help you learn English, and you can use this
in this stage as well. You can use chat GPT
to come up with some of the most interesting sentences
based on you and your life. Okay, the next step
is to practice your sentences, because knowing what the sentences
are and creating these sentences isn't enough. You want to
(07:59):
practice them so that you can just use them naturally
and without thinking why you're in conversations. Now, if you
have followed me or watched my videos in the past,
you'll know that I love specific methods, and again I'll
leave a link to the methods that I think work
so well when it comes to remembering sentences, things like
(08:21):
using flash cards, things like using the listen, record, repeat
compare method where you take the sentence, read it out loud,
record yourself saying it, and then you can actually compare
your sentence to what it should sound like. But the
idea is that you're going to need repetition here and
(08:42):
to practice speaking in saying it correctly in order to
remember how to say this naturally. The more repetition the better,
but you can do smart repetition too, you can repeat
it in a smart way. And again, all I recommend
you do here is go to the description of this
video or the podcast episode and check out the video
(09:05):
I made on that because it goes through how to
use these sentences step by step. And then the idea
is to practice these sentences in real life situations. And
by doing this, you'll be able to practice it in
a way that feels real. But you'll also notice how
much easier it is to talk about yourself. Once you
(09:26):
have practiced this, and once you have these sentences in
your memory, you can actually practice with AI. Again, go
watch the video I made on that. But also another
tip is when you're having these conversations, you're often thinking, Oh,
I wish I could say that easily, or I wish
(09:46):
I could talk about this topic, make notes about that,
and then create more sentences that are specific to you
so that you won't have that problem in the future.
So what you're going to do is create these sentences
based on you, based on different topics, and make these
sentences specific in natural Then you're going to practice these
(10:10):
sentences on your own before using them in real life
situations with AI or with a teacher, and then also
build on these sentences over time. So you can start
with fifty to begin with, but as you get going,
as you start speaking and talking more about yourself, you
can add sentences to this list. And this is going
(10:33):
to give you such a confidence boost because when you've
practiced talking about yourself, you'll feel prepared and confident in
almost any conversation. It also builds fluency because these sentences
help you internalize vocabulary and grammar so that over time
you'll speak more naturally without thinking about rules. And it
(10:55):
also allows you to use them in a flexible way,
because as you're life changes, you can update your sentences.
The method stays the same, but the content will evolve
as you grow older. So the task for you, the
challenge for you is to write ten sentences about yourself today.
(11:17):
Start with ten. Use ones that are going to challenge
you a little bit. So if you already know how
to say I'm forty years old, that's okay, but start
with someones that you might need to challenge yourself a
little bit. Practice these sentences and commit to practicing them
over the long term. Add to the sentences as you
(11:40):
go and then start using them in natural conversations. Now,
a bonus tip here is to also have common questions
to ask. Have common questions to ask. Now, this might
sound quite simple, and you might think, oh, I'm an
advanced learner or I know English quite well, I don't
(12:02):
need to practice these sentences. But I have noticed through
teaching and interacting with people that even if people have
quite a high level, they can still benefit a lot
from practicing simple questions things like what do you do?
Using correct pronunciation, So what do you do? What do
(12:24):
you do? Or where are you from? And then sentences
such as are you into sport? Are you into football?
So your goal is to write ten sentences or more,
and then check out the description to watch videos on
how to internalize these sentences and repeat them because that
is the key in order to speak more naturally and fluently.
(12:46):
And then send this episode or this video on YouTube
to a friend so that they can benefit from it too. Now,
if you haven't subscribed already or followed the podcast, then
do that. Now, thank you so much for listening or watching.
If you're on YouTube, and go and watch those videos
I've mentioned, or go watch another video or listen to
(13:10):
another podcast episode now again. My name is Jack from
Toffluency and I will speak to you soon Bye for now.
In today's English Fluency lesson, we're going to talk about
one of the best things you can do to build
confidence in English. And this is something that most English
learners completely overlook. To overlook something means to not think
about doing it, So most English learners don't even think
(00:21):
about doing what I'm going to talk about today and
what it is is going to really help your confidence
when you're having natural conversations with someone. It is very simple,
very practical, and we're going to talk about how to
do this step by step before we go into it.
(00:41):
My name is Jack from to Fluency. If you are
watching this on YouTube, welcome to you. And if you
are listening to this on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, then
welcome to you too. Be sure to check the description
to get the best English learning resources. So today we're
(01:03):
going to talk about how to prepare yourself for most
conversations that you're going to have in English. By focusing
on one simple idea, it's going to give you the
confidence to know that you can have these conversations without
having to think too much about what to say. And
it's this creating personal sentences. Creating personal sentences that are
(01:30):
specific to you. Think about this. When you meet somebody new,
what do you usually talk about? When you meet somebody new,
what kind of sentences do you usually use? It's one
of two things. You're going to talk about yourself and
you're going to ask questions to the other person. Let's
(01:53):
focus on yourself. You're going to talk about your job,
your likes and dislikes, your personal situation, your experiences, and
other things related to you. You're going to talk about yourself.
But most learners freeze in these situations. Most learners feel
(02:15):
like they don't know what to say about themselves simply
because they haven't prepared. Here's a secret. You already know
what you're going to say in these conversations, because talking
about yourself doesn't actually change. So why not make it
perfect or close to perfect in advance. Why not come
(02:39):
fully prepared with these sentences in advance, So by the
end of this episode, you know how to create fifty
personalized sentences about yourself, sentences you can use again and again.
These will become your secret weapon for sounding fluent and
confidence in English. So stay until the end because this
(03:03):
technique will transform the way you approach conversations in English.
So let's start with why personal sentences are so effective.
Most conversations revolve around familiar topics, things like introducing yourself,
talking about your family, explaining your job, or sharing what
(03:25):
you did last weekend. This is what most people are
going to ask you at the start of a conversation.
So imagine that you meet somebody in a pub, or
you meet somebody at a language exchange. They're going to
ask you about your family, your job, what you did
last weekend, and similar sentences to this. And if you
(03:46):
prepare your answers in advance, you'll save time, reduce stress,
and speak more naturally and fluently in English. Here's an example.
Imagine somebody asks you what do you do? What do
you do? If you've already practiced saying I'm a graphic designer.
(04:06):
I design logos and branding for small businesses, you'll answer
this without hesitation. If somebody asks you are you married,
do you have children? And you say yes, I have
two children, one boy and one girl. One is aged
seventeen and one is aged twelve. They go to school
(04:27):
at the moment, et cetera, et cetera. So you can
think about creating sentences about your family, and the same
with hobbies and interests. For example, if you spend a
lot of your time playing computer games, you can say
things like I play computer games. I really like this
game or that game. So these sentences that you practice
(04:47):
along with the questions will become your foundation. These will
be your go to sentences when you start talking with
somebody who you don't know. They're not just words, they're
tools you can rely on in these types of situations.
Now you know why this is so important, Let's talk
(05:08):
about how to create your fifty personal sentences. In fact,
I'm going to help you in the description by giving
you a list of things that you can focus on,
a list of topics that you're going to find really useful.
So start by thinking about the things you talk about
most often. Here are some ideas. Your name that's an
(05:29):
easy one, how old you are, although this is going
to change, and where you're from. So those are the
simple ones that maybe you're thinking, I already know how
to do those. The next topics could be your job
or your studies, your hobbies and interests, your family and friends,
(05:49):
your recent experiences, what you normally do at the weekend.
And then you can think about some fun facts or
things that you've done in the past that are interest.
For example, you might have traveled to specific countries, so
write down five or ten topics that you'll know will
come up in conversations. Once you have your topic, write
(06:13):
a few sentences that are clear, easy to remember, and
sound natural in English. So let's go back to the
example of you being a graphic designer. You can say
things like I'm a graphic designer. I work with small
businesses to create their branding. I love designing logos. Right now,
(06:34):
I'm working on a big project for a local coffee shop.
So here we are talking about what you do, if
you like it or don't like it, and what you're
working on right now. Don't try to sound overly complex.
Focus on sentences that feel comfortable and natural, and then
(06:54):
also make your sentences specific. Generic sentences are okay, but
specific ones are much better. So instead of just saying
I like tennis, you can say I love playing tennis,
but I only play in summer, or I love playing tennis,
(07:14):
I try to play twice a week. I love playing tennis,
but I'm not that good at it at the moment.
Specific details make your sentences more interesting and also easier
to remember, so people will be more interesting what you're
saying and you're more likely to remember this. Now leave
a link to the episode I made about using AI
(07:36):
to help you learn English, and you can use this
in this stage as well. You can use chat GPT
to come up with some of the most interesting sentences
based on you and your life. Okay, the next step
is to practice your sentences, because knowing what the sentences
are and creating these sentences isn't enough. You want to
(07:59):
practice them so that you can just use them naturally
and without thinking why you're in conversations. Now, if you
have followed me or watched my videos in the past,
you'll know that I love specific methods, and again I'll
leave a link to the methods that I think work
so well when it comes to remembering sentences, things like
(08:21):
using flash cards, things like using the listen, record, repeat
compare method where you take the sentence, read it out loud,
record yourself saying it, and then you can actually compare
your sentence to what it should sound like. But the
idea is that you're going to need repetition here and
(08:42):
to practice speaking in saying it correctly in order to
remember how to say this naturally. The more repetition the better,
but you can do smart repetition too, you can repeat
it in a smart way. And again, all I recommend
you do here is go to the description of this
video or the podcast episode and check out the video
(09:05):
I made on that because it goes through how to
use these sentences step by step. And then the idea
is to practice these sentences in real life situations. And
by doing this, you'll be able to practice it in
a way that feels real. But you'll also notice how
much easier it is to talk about yourself. Once you
(09:26):
have practiced this, and once you have these sentences in
your memory, you can actually practice with AI. Again, go
watch the video I made on that. But also another
tip is when you're having these conversations, you're often thinking, Oh,
I wish I could say that easily, or I wish
(09:46):
I could talk about this topic, make notes about that,
and then create more sentences that are specific to you
so that you won't have that problem in the future.
So what you're going to do is create these sentences
based on you, based on different topics, and make these
sentences specific in natural Then you're going to practice these
(10:10):
sentences on your own before using them in real life
situations with AI or with a teacher, and then also
build on these sentences over time. So you can start
with fifty to begin with, but as you get going,
as you start speaking and talking more about yourself, you
can add sentences to this list. And this is going
(10:33):
to give you such a confidence boost because when you've
practiced talking about yourself, you'll feel prepared and confident in
almost any conversation. It also builds fluency because these sentences
help you internalize vocabulary and grammar so that over time
you'll speak more naturally without thinking about rules. And it
(10:55):
also allows you to use them in a flexible way,
because as you're life changes, you can update your sentences.
The method stays the same, but the content will evolve
as you grow older. So the task for you, the
challenge for you is to write ten sentences about yourself today.
(11:17):
Start with ten. Use ones that are going to challenge
you a little bit. So if you already know how
to say I'm forty years old, that's okay, but start
with someones that you might need to challenge yourself a
little bit. Practice these sentences and commit to practicing them
over the long term. Add to the sentences as you
(11:40):
go and then start using them in natural conversations. Now,
a bonus tip here is to also have common questions
to ask. Have common questions to ask. Now, this might
sound quite simple, and you might think, oh, I'm an
advanced learner or I know English quite well, I don't
(12:02):
need to practice these sentences. But I have noticed through
teaching and interacting with people that even if people have
quite a high level, they can still benefit a lot
from practicing simple questions things like what do you do?
Using correct pronunciation, So what do you do? What do
(12:24):
you do? Or where are you from? And then sentences
such as are you into sport? Are you into football?
So your goal is to write ten sentences or more,
and then check out the description to watch videos on
how to internalize these sentences and repeat them because that
is the key in order to speak more naturally and fluently.
(12:46):
And then send this episode or this video on YouTube
to a friend so that they can benefit from it too. Now,
if you haven't subscribed already or followed the podcast, then
do that. Now, thank you so much for listening or watching.
If you're on YouTube, and go and watch those videos
I've mentioned, or go watch another video or listen to
(13:10):
another podcast episode now again. My name is Jack from
Toffluency and I will speak to you soon Bye for now.
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