Learning English Conversation-Fear of Making Grammar Mistakes – Watch on YouTube
For the SCRIPT, click the link below:
[SCRIPT]
AL: Alright, the final, uh, fear we’re going to discuss today…I think is the most common, uh, fear of them all…and that is the “fear of making grammar mistakes.”
Alright, we’re all afraid of making grammar mistakes, and why is that?
Ok, if I just said before that, you know, there’s really no right or wrong in the real world. It’s just, you know, understand or be…or don’t understand, or don’t be understood, why are we afraid of making grammar mistakes?
Ok, well of course we need basic grammar to be understood. Ok, I’m not saying it’s not justified. Of course it’s very natural to feel, uh, afraid of that.
But, what are the other reasons?
Ok, well, we have to think about our cultures. We have very “test taking-type” cultures where, you know, when we take a test of anything…but particularly English or language, there’s often a right or wrong answer.
Ok, and through these kind of tests that we take, we kind of develop this fear of making mistakes. Uh, because if we make a mistake our test score is going to be lower. And that’s just a, you know, natural part of the system.
What happens then is we become afraid to speak in the real world because we’re afraid of making these same mistakes.
Ok, now the reason why this fear is so destructive to people’s, uh, learning and communication is because it often affects how you speak. Uh, often when you feel afraid of making a mistake, you’re going to, you know, have breaks in your, uh, speech, you’re gonna-your pace is going to be off, sometimes you’re going to stop and start again, and um, it’s just going to cause a lot of damage to your fluency and to your overall communicative effectiveness.
And so, that’s why we’ve got to overcome this fear as soon as possible.
Now, how do we do that?
Ok, well the most important thing is to know that, making mistakes is part of the learning process.
Let me say that one more time.
Making mistakes is part of the learning process.
Ok, now think about for example, when you learned how to ride a bicycle. Well, of course, you had to fall a few times, right, before you could ride it. Or when you were a baby learning how to walk you had to fall many times before you could walk.
Ok, it’s part of the learning process!
Now, once you understand this, wouldn’t you want to speed up that process to help reach your goal faster?
So, in other words, make more mistakes!
Keep making them faster and faster!
And that will truly speed up your learning process and you will reach your goal much, much faster.
Ok, now, if you try to be perfect every single time, that’ll slow down your process. It is destructive to your process, in fact.
Now, that’s the natural tendency because that’s the way we’ve been taught to think, uh, in school and, uh, in our classes.
Ok, so I’m telling you now…I totally believe we’ve got to make mistakes frequently and often in order to speed up our learning process.
Now, the other thing is…we have to learn from our mistakes of course!
So, we have to apply what we’ve learned to future interactions. Ok, we can’t just keep making the same mistakes over and over. We have to learn from them.
And the key is to make NEW mistakes!
Ok, and the more you keep making new mistakes and keep learning from them and keep applying them to your future interactions, I guarantee you, the faster you will achieve your English goals.
Ok, so here’s your Action Plan for today’s lesson.
Number one, always speak with confidence.
Number two, know that the listener wants to communicate with you.
And number three, make lots of mistakes and make new mistakes.
Ok, so there’s one thing I want to leave you with.
And, the good news about this is that it doesn’t cost a thing!
The only cost to you is CHANGING YOUR MINDSET.
And, everyone can do that!
Everyone has the chance…has the ability to raise their level to English 2.0.
So, I want you to really think about these things and overcome these fears as fast as you possibly can.
And we’ll see you at Level English 2.0!
