Day 1: Stop Compromising Your Dreams

Hello, hello, hello.

Welcome to the English Fluency Festival 2022. How are you doing? How are you?

I'm so happy to have you here.

Welcome to day one of the English Fluency Festival. So it's going to take a minute or two until everyone joins in and finds the live and all of that.

So in the meantime, you know I love Lizzo. Let's do a little bit of dancing.

Definitely feeling good, baby. How you feeling? Dance with me, my friend. Can't see you, but I'm gonna trust that you're dancing with me.

All right.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, everyone. We're waiting for everyone to join day one of the Fluency Festival. Oksana is happy to be here. Lemon is from the United States. Arthur is here. Where's Laura? Arthur? All right, say hi. Tell me where you're from. Dusty is here from Germany.

Hello. Hello.

Leia is here from the US you're.

Gonna get to know Leia if you don't know her already.

All right. Where else? Javier is here. Good to see you. Giovanna from Italy. Hello. All right. From Colombian Wings.

Okay.

From Singapore. Hello. So, by the way, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna lower the volume for a.

Second just to let you know that if you're watching this on Facebook, you can click the link above my video and.

Yeah, do it. Do it now.

And when you click the link, I can see your name in the chat.

Okay. We have people from Pakistan.

We have from Peru, from Haiti, from the United Kingdom.

Okay.

It's pretty amazing. Andre from Brazil. Okay, you guys, I am so thrilled to be here with you. Are you as happy as I am?

Please let me know in the comments. Put yes in the comments.

And also write to me where you're from. This is day one of the English Fluency Festival, and we are going to get started right now. So let me share with you the slides. Just a little warning. My Internet is stable, but every now and then, there are some disconnects. So if all of a sudden the broadcast disappears, just stay tuned. It's going to come back a second later or five seconds later, and if there's a problem, I'll just switch to my other network. So, technicalities. Welcome to the English Fluency Festival, everyone.

So.

Welcome. We actually created totally new infrastructure just for the festival. And of course, as always, things happen, so we just have to deal with it. So let's celebrate. English. You get the point, right?

Okay.

What to expect. Let's do a little bit of housekeeping today just so you know what to expect during this Festival. First of all, there is the core training. If there is nothing else you can do and only watch the core training, do that. The core training is going to be every day, Monday through Friday at the same time. At this time, if you happen to. If you can't watch the live training, it's going to be recorded and uploaded to the website. You'll have access to it for the next two weeks. So don't worry about it. You will still have time to go through it. But that's the most important part. That is the core of the festival, the core training. Okay, we're going to have, like I said, Monday through Thursday, live training with me on Friday.

At the same time, we're going to.

Have real life success stories. You're going to hear real stories from real people. On Sunday, you're going to have a live coaching session with me. Actually, we're going to have two where you can sign up for hot seats and and work with me. My best and favorite part, on Saturday, we are going to have a special challenge in the Facebook group. So if you're not yet in the Facebook group, join the Facebook group because a lot of fun is happening there. We also have implementation workshops. The purpose of the implementation workshops is to help you get through the content effortlessly. We're going to facilitate the content. You're going to go deeper, you're going to ask questions. The implementation workshops are with my two amazing coaches, Christina and Yelena, and as you can see them in the calendar at your own time zone. If in your own time zone, if you look at the calendar on the website.

Okay.

We also have practice groups. In the practice groups and it's pronunciation practice groups.

You will learn about my method that.

I'm going to talk about today. I'm going to teach you that the pronunciation confidence method and the practice groups is an implementation of this method. It's a lot of fun. If you like the sprints, you're going to love this. It's an hour long. And it's as well with Christina and Jelena. We're also going to have conversation groups because you need to practice your English and to speak as much as possible. And you're going to have the pleasure of meeting the rest of the team, Karen and Amar, and join the conversation groups along with Christina and Jelena. We're going to break you out into small rooms. You're going to get to speak with two, three, four people about subjects that are relevant to the festival. Then we have sprints, daily sprints in the Facebook group and on the website do them first thing. That when you wake up, it's a really great exercise to train your muscles to improve your pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar all at the same time. It's only 10 minutes. Think of it like a workout. It's really good. Then we have the Make a Move challenge. Every time you challenge yourself in the Facebook group, this is the hashtag that you're going to use. Make a move. And you're going to learn more about that closer to the end of the training. Today we also have prizes. Who doesn't love prizes? Let's play with this a little bit. Who doesn't love prizes? Right? And actually, I'm going to tell you that every day we're going to be sharing with you an opportunity. We're going to. You're going to have an opportunity to win one of the prizes. We're going to give away our Sprint Master program, access to Beyond Coaching with one of my coaches, one on one and more. So stay tuned. And generally, when you join live, you can actually keep track of what is happening. And you're more likely to enter the raffle when you join live. So today's prize is our Sprint Master. It usually costs $97 and you will get access to it. It's not the Sprint Master, it's the Sprint Master 2.0. So even if you have the Sprint Master already, and I know a lot of you do, you're going to get access to a totally new sprint program with 30 different sprints. If you like the sprints, like I said, you're going to love this. How to win a raffle. Let me share with you right now. And then towards the end of the training, you'll know what to share even more. So here's how you enter the raffle. You want to share a story or a post on your Instagram account, something from the daily training. Could be a screenshot. It could be like the challenge that I'm going to challenge you to do today. The make a move challenge. An insight, a realization, maybe a practice group. Just don't post other people's faces, right? So if you take a picture of a zoom of a conversation group, it includes other people. So let's try to keep people's privacy in place and only post things of yourself. Then make sure that you follow me at Accents, Hadar Accentsway and tag me at the Fluency Festival and make a move. Okay? And then we'll be able to trace all those. All those shares. All the people who share will enter a raffle and we'll announce every day the winner of the raffle. Okay, good. How do we communicate? This is important. First of all, like, if you feel confused or overwhelmed, here's something that. Here's what you need to know. First of all, we communicate over email. We'll send you every day an email in the morning. That's where everything is, right? If you didn't get emails from us, then make sure it didn't go into the promotions tab. Just move it to the primary tab, which is to the left. We also communicate over the website. Everything important that you need to know is going to show up there. That's where the live broadcast.

A lot of you are watching this on the website already, right?

That's the portal of the Fluency Festival. That's where you'll find the calendar. All the events there are going to be shown in your time zone. Okay. You can click on that button where the arrow is and you can sync it with your Google Calendar and then you can see it and it's going to be more available to you. We also have the Facebook groups, events and announcements. Everything is featured, is pinned to the top. But knowing Facebook, knowing the tendency of people on Facebook, it's very distracting.

It's very confusing.

There's a lot going on. There are a lot of notifications. So if you want to understand what's going on, go back to the emails or go to the website. Alright, good. Community ground rules inside the Facebook group. I'm sure you all know that already, but quickly, let me just make sure that we're all on the same page. Treat others like you'd like to be treated. If you're about to say something and you would not want to hear that, please don't say that. And no private messages and no friends requests. You guys, I know that the intention is good and to make friends, but you have to establish mutual connection. All right. And will to connect. So I'm not saying don't make friends here. On the contrary. But you can request friendship. Like you can request them to become your Facebook friends after you've established a relationship inside the group and you both want to make that connection. Definitely no private messages. If you upload videos and you start getting a lot of private messages, please let us know because it's against the community rules and that person is going to be removed. Next up, no feedback on each other's English. All right? Even if you know that it has and not have, that's like, there is no room for that. We're not here to correct grammar or pronunciation. Leave that to us coaches. Okay? With all good intention that can be received in. People don't always want to get feedback. Sometimes they do. You never know. Sometimes they just like, maybe they had the courage to post something for the first time in their life and then.

Someone comments on their English.

This is the last thing we want people to experience. Even again, if the intention is good. So as a ground rule, no feedback on each other's English. Connect, communicate and speak. That's a ground rule because we want to see you get results from this event. Okay? So make sure that you make an effort, and I'm going to talk about it, to connect, communicate and speak. And also engage in the comments because that will help you practice your writing skills. That would help you to make those connections. If you feel like, oh, I can't find friends, I can't find people to speak with. It starts with commenting on people's posts. Really. I've been in the community world for so long, it does not start with just, oh, let's, you know, let's be speaking partners.

You have to like each other or.

To have mutual interests. And the way to do it is starts with comments. And like I said, it's a great way to engage and get yourself out of your comfort zone, especially the shy ones out there and the introverts. Okay, thank God we have the ability to write. So, my friends, why you're here, you're here in the Fluency Festival because you feel that your English is preventing you from doing the things you want to do and getting the things you deserve to get. Does that feel right to you? Do you feel like that? Do you feel that your English is preventing you from doing the things you want? And if you say yes, then today is definitely for you because we are going to talk about that.

Okay?

Maybe you're here because you want to feel like you in your own skin when you speak. You want to feel authentic. You want to feel like what you think is aligned with what comes out of your mouth. Right? It's like there is no gap. You want to feel that people feel what you are feeling and not something else, that they're getting what you're saying and not like feeling like there is a miscommunication. Maybe you're tired of the negative self talk that keeps keeps you in an endless loop of frustration like, oh, no, you're not good. You're not doing this and it's not good enough.

Why?

Why bother?

How dare you?

You made another mistake. Your accent is horrible. They're not gonna like you.

You Know you're gonna embarrass yourself.

This is so shameful. I made a mistake. All of that, right? And you're tired of it. And you just don't know how to lose that mindset of, like, the negativity. And you think it's just because your English sucks, but no, it's not. It's not. Day three is all about that, right? So maybe you just know there must be a better way to improve. Maybe you feel like you're stuck on a plateau. Maybe you feel like you've been doing the same thing over and over again. Maybe you're tired. Maybe you lost motivation. Maybe you just want to get excited again, right? Whatever it is, right? You know that there is a better way. So what if I told you that there is a better way? It is possible to speak English in a way that feels free, clear, and powerful. All right? I want you to know that. So I want you to all take a deep breath right now and tell yourself it is possible to speak English in a way that feels free, clear, and powerful. And I'm gonna add, and like myself, right? Just feel like myself. Okay? Another deep breath. Close your eyes. I need you to believe in this, because I've seen it happen.

Okay?

Now, how did we get here? How did we get to a place that you had to join the Fluency Festival? Because you're feeling all those things, like the negative self talk, or you feel like you're stuck, you don't have a good way to improve. Maybe, maybe, maybe you feel like, you know, like you're just tired of not improving, and you feel like there's an opportunity out there that is. Just feels so far away. How do we get here? So, and some of you might already know this, I always talk about the old way of learning English. And unfortunately, that's the most popular way, right? That's the most conventional way of learning English. And the old way of learning English has brought you to where you are today. The old way to fluency creates information overwhelm. You learn a lot of things, a lot of things more and more and more and more, and you just don't know what to do with all that information. It's really hard for you to. To prioritize to know what's more important, what's less important. Everything feels equally important. You can't make mistakes. Your brain cannot process all those things. And your mouth, let alone your mouth, right? So information overwhelm. Also mistakes will get you punished. Because when you learn in school, and that's just the school system. When you learn, for those of you who do, who did learn English in school, you know, you have tests and quizzes and you speak up in class and then you get feedback from your teacher, and then you might be like, oh, that's great. No, that's not good, right? So it's like, yes or no, did I get it right or did I make a mistake? And usually when you make a mistake, you get punished. How do you get punished? You get a low grade and then you have to deal with your teacher and your parents and who and yourself, right? Maybe you might be ridiculed or embarrassed, be made to feel embarrassed in the classroom because you made a mistake or a pronunciation mistake. I know so many people. And put yes in the comment. If you had, if you resonate with that, if you had an experience where you made a mistake in class in school and you felt ashamed by it, you were made to feel ashamed by your teacher or classmates, right? And you guys, these things have an impact on us, right? It doesn't just go away when you're 6 years old or 10 years old or 14 years old and you have that experience. It's like a mini trauma that happens to you and it stays with us. And we learn about the world through these experiences. And when you have one or two and even a few negative experiences, it determines how you think and feel about your English. So when you feel that when you make a mistake, you will get punished, it will totally determine your freedom inside the language and ultimately will get you to where you are today. Yes, I see some yeses. Yes. Passive consumption over active production. In school, you learn how to pass the pass pass exams, when you watch YouTube videos, you consume when you listen to podcasts, when you read books, you consume and consume and consume. And there's very little time for active implementation of everything that you've learned, right? Very little time. Because no one has time in class to allow everyone to speak. So we're trying to be concise and we're trying to be effective and you know, all of that and to keep time and capitalism and all of that, that no one gets to speak. And then you don't have the confidence, so you don't initiate it yourself and you end up not using English anyways. If you want to speak and to get fluent, you have to speak, right? Like it's. It's just you can't read something and then expect yourself to speak. And we're going to talk about it more tomorrow. Not a lot of active implementation. And as a result, this is where you are today. One style of teaching for all students. Some students need to take it slowly. Some need to take it fast. Some need to focus just on pronunciation, others just on grammar and vocabulary. Some like to listen to lessons. Some have to see, you know, the visual representation of what they're learning. Different people have different styles of learning. Their brain absorbs the information differently. But we don't get any of that. Not in school, not in any language institution, not online, usually, right? It's just like, here it is. And then we need to adapt. And if it doesn't feel right, we blame who? We don't blame the person who created that handout or worksheet or book. We blame ourselves. We're like, oh, I don't get it. I'm not getting this. If you're not getting something, it's not your fault. You were not. Whoever is delivering the content has not facilitated in a way that is easy for you, which is okay, because if you learn with teachers who teach online, it makes sense, right? But you need to know that it's not your fault. But in class, we don't have this opportunity to choose when we grow up, when we learn in school. Not addressing mindset, you guys. Mindset, as you'll see, one of the most important elements of speech. I'm seeing a comment from Marcelo here in the Facebook group, and he can tell you that mindset is probably one of the most important things that you need to work on when it comes to achieving anything. Okay. It's not just about English, but it's also about English. Right? And English is what you're focused on right now. And as a result, like I said, you have to incorporate mindset. If you don't want to, that is okay. This festival is probably not for you, because I will be talking. Talking a lot about it, but you have to understand how you process the conversation inside your head and how you approach everything related to English. Speaking English. Written English is prioritized over spoken English. I'm sure you have experienced that as well. That creates a gap because pronunciation and spelling do not correspond. And then when you are so involved in the written English, you get very comfortable with writing English. There is a gap between your ability to communicate and your ability to read and write, which is usually a lot better. But also, there is a gap between how you perceive the language through the letters and how you use the language. That's pronunciation, and they're not aligned. So if you're not using English and learning pronunciation to understand how they connect the written language and the spoken language, it creates a gap, and that creates insecurity and fear and all of those things that you are experiencing right now. And also, our culture encourages not enoughness and shame. You will be shamed until you make a change or until you purchase a program or until you invest money in a course. You will be shamed into doing that because for many years, and it's changing, but for many years, this has been the way to get people to spend money. Okay, you are not, like, why? Because people gravitate towards negative things. Your brain gravitates towards negativity.

So when you'll see something like, these.

Are like, stop making these mistakes or you will sound stupid. If I'm exaggerating. No one says that, but you get the point. If you'll see that, you will gravitate towards that and you will feel that it's true, which is not so. This is why it's very dangerous, and we need to become more aware of that. And that creates, like, this feeling like, I'm not enough.

I'm not enough.

Like, this is not, you know, I will never be able to do it. Like FOMO and not enoughness. FOMO is fear of missing out. And not enough is just the feeling of not being good enough and measuring fluency through levels, which ended up creating this measuring stick that is sometimes not sensitive to the true experience of the learner. Because ultimately, I'm going to switch here, because ultimately, levels are fluid. That's how I see it. And I'm going to take you through my perception of levels, which is something new that I've been kind of, like, reflecting on tomorrow. So make sure you join. But how can we redefine levels? This is a question that we all need to ask yourselves. Because when you. We put labels on people, they feel limited. And this is why. This is one of the things that have been keeping you. One of the things that has been keeping you. A mistake. Who cares? One of the things that has been keeping you stuck and feeling like you're feeling right now. So here's something important that I want you to know. Oh, and teaching how to pass exams. I just added it, right? Like, they teach you just to pass exams and not to win a conversation. Now, the old way has led to forming the identity of the eternal English learner, right? Like a strict. A constant student. Like, no, no, I'm not ready to go out to the real world. Like a Chekhov character, right?

Like, oh, I'm gonna be learning all.

My life because I will never be able to stand up for myself and just to kind of like be on my own. The identity of the eternal English learner, and I'm gonna go through this really quickly. Is in constant. Let me make it a little bigger. In constant overwhelm and confusion as to do what to do next. And let me know if you recognize yourself inside of this. Afraid of making mistakes because of, you know, mistakes will get you punished. Needs permission and validation from natives and teachers. Did I do okay? Am I okay? How do I sound? Is my English good? Not learning and practicing and not learning and practice. Habits in place. Everything is scattered.

Right.

There is no real methodology in how you practice and learn because you always feel not enough. So what's the point? And also, it's not a part of your life. Maybe the eternal English learner loses motivation. Often values perfection over communication. So if there is an opportunity to choose between the two, to speak with someone, possibly with mistakes, or not to speak because it's not perfect just yet. Right. Then they would choose over perfection. Right. Not to speak unless it's perfect. Feels unclear. Right. Because of the gap between the written communication and written English versus spoken English. So you don't really know what to do with the sounds in your mouth.

Doesn't like how they sound.

Right. A lot of judgment, a lot of criticism. And has a victim mentality. Oh, it's because of my teacher. Oh, it's because I don't get a lot of opportunities to speak. Not an ownership of their journey.

In a way.

It's like I, you know, I was born in a non English country and it's just. It's just how it is. I can't, you know, it's. It's. There is no way for me to improve. I don't have money to buy courses. I don't. So this is also something. Something that I see sometimes with people who feel that they're trapped inside this identity. Okay, I speak fast. I'm going to slow down a little bit.

Yeah.

Loses. Which one resonates most with you? Let me see.

Let me know in the chat.

Yeah. So Lemon says avoid of making mistakes. Exactly. John says exactly how I feel every time I speak. We don't speak. Exactly. Yeah.

I have another.

I totally relate to the identity of the constant English learner. I was valuing perfection over communication. Abdelaziz. I'm hearing was. Which makes me happy because it feels like it's in the past.

What else?

Loses motivation often. Oh, I get you. I hear you, Angelica. I feel reflected. You're not alone, my friend. You are so not alone, as you can see. Same here. Right? Because I definitely am going to give you tools to overcome this. Okay. We're here for you. We're here to get, to sort this out. Good.

Because I have something else.

And. Yes? Does this sound like you, You've already responded. I want you to know.

Take a deep breath again.

Some of you might feel like a lot of emotions right now. It's not your fault.

Right.

And I'm going to read this slow, slowly, and you have it in front of you. You just inherited and developed a flawed approach to what it takes to reach fluency. I'm going to say that again. You inherited and developed, because of the circumstances around you, a flawed approach, the wrong way to approach what it takes to reach fluency.

You see, we live in a modern.

Culture that's designed to create these vicious cycles of failure and hierarchy.

Right? Failure.

Like, you know, we constantly, like we're always looking at our failures and it's not enough. We're not there, we're not a native speaker. And that go all those, the, the, those cycles go against the way our brain and bodies are built to thrive when it comes to mastering a language. So that system that we are born into, the culture, right, the norms of our culture, they actually go against what's good for us, what's right for us to thrive and evolve. When it comes to everything, really, but especially when it comes to mastering the language, when it comes to perception of time management, when it comes to the perception of personal achievements, when it comes to the perception of body image, how we eat, how much money we have, but also how we speak and how we learn something. But there is a new way of learning English. There is a new way of learning English. And the new way will help you form the identity of a new speaker of English. The identity of a new speaker of English. And really think through the things that I'm going to talk about and tell me if this is something that you'd like to have in full ownership of their journey, in the ups and downs, they're in full ownership. Right? No victim mentality here. The new speaker does not need permission or validation from anyone. They're okay, they can give themselves permission if they did good or they didn't do well. Strong learning and practice habits in place because it's a must. You cannot improve, you cannot own the language unless you have. Unless English becomes your la, your lifestyle, a part of your life. If you're healthy, you eat healthy, right? It's not something you do on the weekend. And Then you can say, I'm a healthy person. I eat healthy. Generally, if you eat a salad once a week, no, it's like being healthy, being making conscious decisions daily. Right? And the same thing with your English. Embraces and celebrates mistakes instead of fearing them. Hey, I made a mistake. Let's laugh about it. Let me learn from it. Who gives a crap about the fact that I said has instead of have? Has that changed the impact that I had with what I had to say at that moment? The new speaker is motivated to improve, learn, and use English. The new speaker is responsible for their choices. The new speaker values communication over perfection.

Right.

So it does not have to be perfect. As long as I communicate, as long as I say what I have to say, their voice is important. And the new speaker of English knows how to use speech and voice in an optimal way. Because when you use speech and voice in an optimal way, it's more aligned with what you think and how you feel and what you'd like to express. And you're not trapped. You are not trapped in a voice that. That is not yours. You're not trapped in a language that does not feel right to you. Right. And it doesn't mean that it needs to sound native. It just needs to sound to you clear and like it's your own voice. Right. And there is a way to do that. Now, a question to you. Would you like to own the identity of the new speaker of English? Let me hear it all the way from where you're at, across the oceans, across the deserts, across the continent. Would you like to own the identity of the new speaker of English? Because I told you before, it's possible for you, but it does not mean that it's easy or quick, but it means it's possible. Yes. We have a lot of yeses, Tanya.

Yes.

With 10 exclamation marks. Yay. Okay. Amazing. All right, let me hear it. Good. I'm going to tell you about Yuko. Yuko is a student of mine from New Sound, and she has gone through this transformation from being the learner to the fluent speaker, building confidence. I just want to show you that it's possible because she says, before, whenever I called a friend from another country, I felt anxious and fearful, but now everything is different. I simply enjoy having a conversation. How would it feel like to just simply enjoy having a conversation without, you know, overthinking it, without obsessing about it, without having the anxiety when you speak? Right. And maybe you want to hear the story of Adriana.

Adriana said that one of her big.

Wins was understanding that my voice is important now I speak up at work. My co workers say I sound more confident. I don't avoid taking calls at work anymore. I can do it. I feel the power. And what about Emerson? Emerson says, before new sound, which is my program where I teach you all the things that I'm going to teach you a little bit in the festival as well. I used to say I was an English learner, but now I say I speak English fluently. Amen to that. Let's have a little bit more of that. Or Iris. Iris. I live in a place where everyone speaks English, and I needed to talk to my kid's teacher or a doctor, and this was very frustrating. Immigrants in the room can definitely relate with that experience, especially when their kids are fluent speakers, native speakers of English, and they have to kind of like, adjust and adapt. And Iris says, today, I feel free. That fear of making mistakes was keeping me stuck, not only in English, but in my life. And that's true. When you open up the channels, when you start fixing the places where you're stuck, you see an impact. It's the ripple effect in other areas of your life. So I'm here to help you do that. Like, I helped the students that you just got to know. And for those of you who don't know me, maybe you're new to me. Some of you just came through, you know, a friend or an ad or post somewhere. So let me take two minutes to tell you a little bit about myself. So, as you know, I'm Hadar. That's my name. And C was the grade I got in my English final grade in high school. So as you can see, I'm not a native speaker of English. I studied English in school, and I did not do so well. And this is me growing up in Padahtikva. And this is my family, Gil, Amalia and Asya. And this is me in New York playing Lady Macbeth Back in 2003, I think. And that's where my passion for pronunciation and speech has evolved. But I need you to know that it wasn't always like this. I wasn't always this confident. And actually, after I graduated, like, I completed my studies in New York and I had to move back to Israel. I actually had a breakdown. My confidence shattered. I totally felt incompetent. I lost my dream of becoming an actor actress because it was a new. Like, I came back. Everything changed here. I did not feel like I belong, and I totally lost my voice.

Good. And like I said, like, I said, and this is something that I want you to remember. It's not something that, you know, like, that happened all at once, but from that time where I felt totally incompetent and, like, I lost my voice, I found it back, and now, you know, this is the transformation. Let me just see. You can see the slides, right? Yeah. I have over 5,500 students in my online programs and local schools. I train teams in the largest companies such as Google and Microsoft and. And Facebook and wix and IBM. We didn't have as many technical issues back then. I also helped design and create the pronunciation tool for Google that is now being used all around the world. And you might have known me through fate, through YouTube. I have over 660,000 subscribers. Actually, it's 666, but we decided we'll just use this. And over 29 million views on YouTube. I'm not telling you to brag. I'm just telling you to see that I have learned a way that helps me use my voice to make a difference and connect, create a love, a life that I love. You know, once I stopped saying no to showing up in English and to opportunities and to being myself, which was a big thing for me, I was just hiding, hiding. And I felt incompetent, like I really physically lost my voice.

My voice was a lot different than.

What it is today. And I learned how to let go of judgment, which is probably my biggest achievement. And feel free when I speak, even when it's not perfect. And I can tell you, you can even go back. I encourage you to go back and watch my videos from the beginning. Watch the first few videos that I have, and you will see what I'm talking about. Right? I did not have the confidence that I have now, yet I was showing up. So I want to tell you that it's not because I'm special. I'm not talented. It's really hard for me to learn languages, but I was able to get there simply by discovering a new way to fluency that I'm going to teach you here today. So are you ready to find your path to fluency? And here's how we're going to do it. We're going to go through the training and the content. Day one is all about reclaiming your dreams. Okay, so we're going to go into the training really quickly. You're going to identify where you are stuck. We're going to talk a little bit about pronunciation, about fluency, about goals, about levels, English levels. We're going to redefine them. I'm going to help you redefine them and understand where you're at. In day three, we're going to step into the flow fluent mindset. Please make a point of watching this training because unlike day two, that teaches you all those tools and then you need to do the work, which is also really important. Day three can create a mindset shift, and mindset shifts can happen instantaneously. Sometimes just hearing something or understanding something can make a huge difference. Okay. And then in day four, we're going to discover the fluency pronunciation roadmap, the one that I actually use in my programs and when I teach my students. So I'm going to go through it and tell you, because I've been doing this for so many years and I've done so many different things and so many ways of teaching, and this is the one thing that really works. Okay? It's a collection of a bunch of things that I've learned. In day five, you're gonna get inspired by real life stories. In day six, you're gonna challenge yourself. That's on Saturday, so get ready, not for the faint hearted. And day seven, you're gonna get coaching and support from me and from the team. So let's talk about how to reclaim your dreams. All right, let's take a moment. Let me see how people are doing here. Are we okay? My face is so big here. Beautiful. Looking forward. Thanks, Pat. Everything starts from mindset. I agree 100%. Eva Hadar's method can be implemented in learning other languages. That's very true. I have students who have been doing it with. With their other languages. After they have come, like, owned English, it's like, okay, I'm ready for French. I'm ready for Spanish, which is pretty incredible and exciting, except for the community, because there is no community like our community. Okay, See what else you have to say here. That's a true story. Okay, Valentina. Mindset is crucial. I'm glad that we are in agreement here. Looking forward. Okay, my friends, are you ready now? Just to remind you. Let me see if it's here. Yeah. Okay, so I have a question for you and you can see it on the screen. Is the connection. Okay? Can you see it like this? So I have a question for you, and I want you to be active in the chat because I'm going to be looking at answers and I'm going to be. That's. That's the purpose, right, for you to engage and really reflect on the questions that I'm asking you. What is Something that you really want to happen or change in your life. Now, please. It does not have to be about English. So don't tell me. I want to get fluent. I mean, I get it. I get it. It's really important. So actually, if this is what it is, you can add it, but I'm talking about something tangible, like something that is that you really want to happen. Even if it's something practical or simple.

Simple. Right.

I finally want to get my. Get a new car. Right. But I'm gonna make it a bit more specific. What is something that one thing that you are procrastinating, overthinking, waiting for the right moment, waiting to be ready, waiting to figure it out. Waiting to get others's approval. Is there something like that? Okay. A better job. And to live alone. Another job. Move to a new job. Move to a new job. A lot of jobs. I want to become an English teacher. I love it. To believe in myself. I want to have a job. Wait, that requires me to speak English 24 7. Get a better job. My God. I mean, I always know that. Like, I know because you change your circumstances. A job is not just, you know, like a financial thing. A job is so crucial because it is what you do every day, most of your day. You want to be happy and you want to feel fulfilled. You want your job. You really want your job to be something that represents your. That. That allows you to use who you are.

Right.

Like all your skills. And to like that it will. You will take advantage of everything that you have to give. You want to leave a legacy behind, and you want to do it by the things that you do. Okay, wait. A better car, a house and a level of life. Great. And even for that, like, what needs to happen for this? What needs to happen to get there? That's an outcome of something that needs to happen. What else? To become a wonderful English speaker. Now, I'm going to ask you another question. So think about that one thing, right? That you are procrastinating, overthinking, waiting to be ready. It's on your to do list for a few months or a few years. And I want to ask you, what are you currently doing that is moving you away from this dream? So what are you currently doing and not doing that is moving you away from this dream? I want to open a speaking club.

Yeah.

Trust myself more. I want to travel and live in another country. Amazing. But wait, you're not answering. What are you currently doing? Slash, not doing that is moving you away, farther away. Now, if you Think of a timeline, right? Even if you're not doing anything, the dream is moving away because time passes. So what are you doing or not doing that is moving you away from this dream? Avoiding talking. Okay. I don't practice English as I should.

I over.

I overthink so much. Not put aside, wait, it's going so fast. Time to mail a clear plan with timeline. Exactly. Practice habits. I want to open new possibilities. I don't want to move. I want to move to the US Right. I overthink so much. Yeah, overthinking is definitely something that you're doing that is moving you away. Overthinking is, is, is, is a potential enemy when you think about it, right? Because you really don't want to be stuck in overthinking whether or not you should be doing something. And during that time, time passes, opportunities pass, and then you're still stuck with, you know, the same reality. James Clear, who is the author of Atomic Habits that I highly recommend for those of you who haven't read, because it's a great opportunity for you, you to learn about establishing healthy habits and new habits and the importance of habits. Because it's like, it's so critical for your English journey as, as you've seen. And he says every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become. Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become. Now, if we think back of what I asked you, what are you, like, what do you want to achieve? Achieve, Right? Like, and what you want to achieve is kind of like an, a manifestation of the person that you want to become. And the actions you take lead you towards that goal or away from that goal. So it's easy to have a dream, it's easy to know what you want. It's easy to write a goal on the paper. But what's hard and what's really important and what's going to make a difference in your life is the daily action, the tedious, the boring, the hard action that you take every single day. That's what matters. So every action that you take is not just, you know, I need to practice my English 10 minutes, who cares? It's not going to help anyway, right? But if you choose to take that action, even if it doesn't make an any, like, feasible change on your English, at least you know that you are on the path to becoming the person you want to become. And that alone opens up opportunities. Because think about it, if you are stagnant and you're not doing anything, what Is your perception of yourself someone who is incompetent. Right. A couch potato. None of you are because you're here. I'm just talking about, like, this idea of, oh, you know, I want to do something, but I'm not doing it. And then what? Right? Like, what happens? Then you're like, you. You feel incompetent, and then you're like, what's the point? I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm lazy. I'm this and that. And then we start assigning words that are not right, the wrong words. Just like, again, the.

The.

The influence that we have from our culture and society. And then ultimately, you know, you don't believe in yourself. You don't even believe that it's possible for you. And this is why I'm introducing you to the make a move challenge. Now, before I continue, I'm going to give you a second to tell me how you feel, and I want to read a little bit what you've written here. Okay? A lot of comments. I would like my. So fantastic. Please add that. And I'm going to check my other camera for a sec. So. Make a move. Make a move. Are you ready? Make a move. Something to make it interesting. Make a move is make a move in your life. Today I am challenging you to make a move and do something that will bring you closer to your dream, to your goal. Something small. Here are a few examples of those things. Make that call that you've been procrastinating on, right? If there is a phone call that you know you need to make, ask for a favor. Ask for mentorship from someone. Maybe it's an uncomfortable call to a colleague or a relationship that you want to end a friendship, something. Make that call. Make a move, right? Even if it's not about English. I'm inviting you today to use the momentum of this festival of all the people who are around. We have nearly 900 people in all platforms watching this live right now, and 10,000 people signed up to watch it. The replay. Okay, you guys, use this momentum. There is a. There is a reason why we're doing this together. Make a move. Make that one thing. Like I said, it's not even just about English, but anything that you've been procrastinating. If you do it, then you'll feel better about yourself and it will create that positive, ongoing, energetic vibe that you need to make a change in your life.

Okay, wait.

Another suggestion. Invite your neighbor or colleague for coffee. If you feel you don't have connections, you don't make friends. Just invite them for coffee or for a drink. Make a move towards opening that business you always wanted. If that means researching it, researching the market, maybe sending emails to people, maybe. I don't know, whatever that looks like. Maybe create a plan. Make a move.

Right?

It does not mean that you have to have a business tonight, but who knows? Maybe a YouTube channel that you've been wanting to open for so long. Open it. Have a name. Create a name. Create a thumbnail. Create a cover. And don't publish anything, but at least make a move. Apply for that job. Search for that job. Start collecting potential positions. Connect to that hr. A lot of you talked about jobs here. Make a list of your 10 dream jobs, okay? Be. Start creating a vision. Start creating clarity. Not just I want a job, but know exactly where you want to work. Set a meeting with your boss and ask for a raise. How many of you would like a raise, right? How many of you feel that you're not getting compensated, as you should do that. Ask for a promotion. If you feel like you're ready for it and you haven't gotten it and you deserve it, and even if you don't feel that you deserve it, and if. Even if you feel that you're not qualified but it's time for you to get a promotion, ask for that promotion. Set that meeting. Research universities abroad. If you're thinking of learning, at least get it going. Because again, that creates a momentum. Find your first student. If you're a teacher, email your friends and family and tell them, I'm starting to teach English. I'm taking a few students for free. I'm open, right? So make a move. Oksana says, but I would like to admit just a few. Okay, so the conversation here. Not a race. I want to work remotely. Already asked. Was denied. So make a move. Is finding another job. I love it. Marta, let's do it. We believe in you. Find that job. Make a list of 10 ideal positions that are open, even if it's not like applying right now because you need to work on your cv. Yeah, but if you know that you want to work remotely and the world is opening up for it and there are remote positions out there, go do it. Okay, hold on. Give me a sec. Going to go flip through all those bullet points. In the meantime, please keep the conversation in the comments. Okay? Now, if you feel like English is where you want to make a move. Because if English is an important part of this goal, here are a few things that you can do. Find a speaking partner. Be vulnerable. Share posts. Say, here's me. That's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for someone to speak with. Dare to show up on video. Live or not live, Just show up on video. If this is hard for you, that would be your. Make a move. Okay. Do things differently. Challenge your instincts. My friends, if you see something and instinctively you say, I, no, not for me. Oh, I'm busy. Or I don't want to open up. No, I don't know these people. If this is the case, then I'm inviting you to dive deep and do it if you know that it's good for you. Because if it's. If it's a good mission, then it's good for you. So do things differently. Challenge your instincts, because your instincts have gotten you far. But especially when it comes to English or getting that, reaching that goal, not far enough. So what got you here won't get you there. Okay? So you need to do things differently. Think differently. Think big out of the box. Be open and vulnerable in a converse. In conversations, we put a lot of shields and guards and everything's okay and this and that. And then we only share the bare minimum. And challenge yourself to do things differently and to really be open and trust others. Join conversation groups. If you're like, no, I don't have time. Join the conversation groups or create your own conversation groups. Like I said, challenge your instincts. Because always, like, think, is this really something that is right for me? Is it my gut feeling, feeling saying no? Or is it just, you know, like my primal brain trying to keep me safe because I'm actually afraid of judgment, or I'm actually afraid of people making fun of me, or I'm actually afraid of making mistakes. And again, we'll talk more about that on.

Wednesday.

But still, I want you to start reflecting on that and please speak as much as possible. Make a move. Make something. Like, make a move in your life, but also make a move when it comes to speaking. Do things differently. Okay, how can I join a conversation group? Go to the website if you don't have access to the website. Maybe you're watching this on YouTube somehow you found this live stream. Then go to hadar shemish.com forward/festival sign up. Get access to the website. The in the calendar, you'll see all the events and links to the conversation groups. Okay. Yeah. Julio is saying. Julio is saying it's going. I want to get rid of the daily scheme and try to find something that really get me, that take my time and finally find Something that motivates me a lot to move away from my comfort zone. Do what you can in this week. And like I said, and this is, this is scientifically proven, I don't have the research to back it up, but in my own science beliefs, it is proven that if you start taking, making a change, right? If you start getting out of your comfort zone in some areas in your life, you build the courage and you start believing that it's possible and you start doing it in other areas of.

Your life as well.

You know, I can tell you from my own personal experience that I not only had my experience, you know, making moves in English because I had, I definitely had to battle a lot of demons and a lot of fears around being a non native speaker, teaching English, teaching pronunciation, God for God forbid, right? She's a non native speaker. Who does she think she is? Like, this is a conversation that I had in the first five years of teaching and definitely the first two years of opening a YouTube channel. And I was, I was really afraid. I was like on guard to not make mistakes. And what if people find out and what if people say something and what can I say? And, and you know, like, I think that what helped me get to where I am today, apart from all the things that I'm going to be teaching you in days two and three, is just like to constantly not be okay, not be comfortable with being comfortable, right? So that was my decision. When it gets too comfortable for me, it starts becoming uncomfortable. It starts becoming like, oh, you know, I can know, you know, and this is a habit that I have developed because every time I wanted to push myself, I had the courage to push myself and to be like, okay, let's do this. And a lot of conversations of why it's okay and I should keep doing it. So I did that in English. I did that with my business. And now I have like a beautiful business with a beautiful team and I'm so grateful for it and an amazing platform to speak to people like you right now. What a gift, right? Like, I make. I feel like I'm. I'm using my voice. So all of that is possible for like, like I said, the daily action, sometimes tedious, right? Making videos, sending emails, all of that, but also not being comfortable with being comfortable. So I want to challenge you to get into that mindset as well, because I know it works, right? What's. This is too easy. How can I, how can I make it more challenging for myself now? For every person here that's going to look differently, right? For some people it would be just like to record themselves. And I would say amazing, you know, you're a winner. And for other people, it would be to quit their job, introduce and like to start applying for other jobs. It looks differently for each person here. So there is no right and wrong. But you know, you know what's right for you, right? You know, what is that thing that you know you should be doing but you're not doing? Now I'm going to remind you that not only that we're here to celebrate you, we're here to also give you prizes for making a move. So if you make a move and you share that on social and you know what, even if you share that inside the group, but like you inside the group is like I, it's part of the festival, but we track it on Instagram. So if you want to to enter Apple to win the Sprint Master, share your move. What are you doing differently? How are you making an impact in your life?

Right?

And you can win the Sprint Master if you joined us a little later. Let me tell you how you can participate in the raffle. You can follow me on instagram@hadarchemish.com. accents way at Hadar Accentsway and share post or a story about your move. Okay. Use the hashtag Fluency Festival and the hashtag make a move and make sure that you tag me so I can see it. Okay. Because if it's a story, you have to tag me, otherwise I won't be able to see it, and that's a shame. And then, you know, I won't be able to enter you into the raffle. All right. I'm so curious. Do you know what your move is going to be? And in a minute I'm going to open it up for questions. So any question you may have for me, please, you can start posting it in the comments. And we have our team who is collecting the questions. And in a second, I'm going to also tell you no questions just yet. In a second, I'm going to tell you how you can continue asking questions even after the live is over. Maybe you're watching the replay. So I'm going to tell you how you can do that. Now I want to remind you that we have a workbook for you that collects all the, you know, kind of like helps you go through the content, remember it. Because the thing is that the recordings are not going to be available for a long time. So you want to have access to the content. And the workbook is a great way to keep track of your thoughts and insights and the content that I teach you here. Okay? And tomorrow, before we go into questions and conversation, which is happening in just a few minutes tomorrow, we have day two, and I'm going to help you identify where you are stuck, which is a very important conversation because for some of you, you're. You have the motivation, you're willing to make a move. It's not an issue about making a move. You just don't know what you need to do. Right. And what to do to see results, what to do to make it effective. So this is where we're going to talk about. I want to tell you this. The journey is long, right? I'm not selling any magic solutions here. As you know, it's not going to be like, oh, three months, and that's it. You are at a totally different place. Even though in three months, you can gain a lot of clarity and make a huge transformation. But other than that, it's a lifelong journey. For me, it's still a journey.

Right.

But it doesn't have to be hard or boring or defeating. You can find a joyful way to practice and use English, one that makes you feel proud and accomplished. And most importantly, you certainly, certainly don't have to do it alone. And as you'll see, and I'll talk about it in day two and day four, community is everything, right? You don't want to. Not only that, you don't have to. You shouldn't do it alone. Because English is meant to be learned with other people. English is meant to be spoken, and that happens with other people. Okay, good. So wait, moving on to questions. All right, let me just kind of like grab my iPad here and look at the questions and let's see. Okay. The first question that I see here. Oh, no, I'm seeing people connecting already, making partners, which I love. This is amazing. Connection is. I know. This is the good Internet that I was working so hard on getting, but it got disconnected at the beginning. But thank you for the validation. We will make sure to fix it by tomorrow. Crossing fingers. Okay, do you talk? Wait, I have two questions here. And then Amar is going to start sharing with me. Amar and Yelena. Let me see. Maybe they have their list. Okay, First question. Do I really need an American accent? Do you. Do you know people in the world that don't have an American accent? And they're doing just fine. The question is, why? What are the goals? And we'll talk about it tomorrow for sure. But, like, you know, what is the purpose of Having an American accent. Now, if you are an actor and you, you want to work in Hollywood, then the answer might be yes, because then the oper, not a definite, you know, not a must, because we know a lot of actors, we don't have an accent. But also we know that there is this bias, especially in the TV and film industry. And sometimes to have an American accent just opens up more doors for actors. Okay, so then it's a different conversation, but for anyone else. And this is, by the way, the reason for me to work on my accent, because I was in an acting school and that was the purpose why I started changing my accent or acquiring an American accent. But like I said, to succeed, to be fluent, to own your voice, to be the new speaker of English, you don't need any accent or any definition of an accent. Like, it does not have to be British, Canadian, French, German, Russian, Mandarin Chinese. It does not matter, right, how you sound. The most important thing is your personal experience and your clarity and your ability to express, express your thoughts, okay. Which is ultimately Fluency, right? Being able to take what's here and put it here and make sure it gets here right. All in a seamless process. And again, we'll talk more about that. But to answer your question, unless you're an actor looking for American roles, no, you do not. Luis is asking what English level is necessary to be in your courses. So first of all, if you enjoy the Fluency Festival and my videos, then you have a place in my course. I don't do levels. I just want to make sure that you understand my videos. There are captions, there are, you know, all these tools to help you. You could slow down the video, but you, you need to understand the video. If that's the lessons. If, if that is okay, then I don't do levels. It's like if you feel that it's right for you, then it's right for you and you belong there. Like you belong here. Like for the Fluency Festival, we have several different people with different experiences and what we call different levels. So it's all welcomed again, as long as you feel that it's relevant for you. Does it make sense to have a non native language partner? Not only that, it makes sense. I think it's really, really beneficial. It's beneficial for several reasons. One, because there is more. It's more likely to find a non native speaking partner. Let's start with that, because the interest is mutual. So you just first of all need to find someone who interests you. It does not have to Be, oh, you have to be perfect in English or you have to have a non native, a native like accent. The second thing is that sometimes when we speak, speak with native speakers, there is this fear that you haven't like that you weren't able to overcome just yet, which you will ideally, you know, and we'll talk about how to do that. But there is this fear around speaking with people who are native speakers because like talking to your boss or talking to a person in power, we create, like we create in our heads this hierarchy around what is a native speaker and English, their English is so beautiful and all of that. So that creates fear. And that fear creates like, you know, you might feel inhibited or you won't feel comfortable to communicate with them. You won't feel that freedom that we want you to have. And then what's the point? Right? So it's better to practice with someone who is in the same, the same place as you are, who have the same, who has the same needs.

Right.

And who understands you and what you're working on. Another misconception is that, oh, we're going to catch their mistakes. You can't catch someone's mistakes like you can't catch someone's correct grammar or pronunciation.

Right.

It's just not how the brain works. The brain, the mistakes are basically a conflict between the grammar of the language and the grammar that is inside your head. It has nothing to do with experience. Exposure. Exposure can help. Exposure can help you understand, you know, like where to go. But when you're communicating, you're so focused on yourself and on structuring the sentence and retrieving words. You're not like just sitting and listening to the other person and kind of like taking notes and memorizing what they said. No, you're busy surviving the conversation. You're busy just being present, being a listener. Right. So you're not going to catch their mistakes, you're not going to catch their accent. On the contrary, you're going to find it very, very valuable. So like I said, I think it's, and honestly, again, scientific. It's scientifically proven in my world, not peer reviewed, but scientifically proven because I've seen my community in the influency community, our free community community in beyond my membership and in new sound. My program, it's all about connections and communicating with each other and it's all about the community of the non native speakers. And it has been working remarkably, really no words to describe it. So yes, it works. I can speak English but cannot use the Standard vocabulary and complex sentences. What should I do? This is really good. So I think tomorrow is the right day for you because tomorrow we're going to learn how to gain clarity around where to focus and what to practice so you see results in the areas that you need. So I'm going to save that question for tomorrow and if it hasn't been answered, please ask it again. By the way, we're going to share with you in the email and in the Facebook group a link to submit your questions. And before each live, I'm going to take some of those questions and answer them at the beginning so. Or at the end. But anyway, we will try to address all your questions either in the live Q A at the end of each session in the implementation workshops, you can ask questions on Facebook, hashtag ask. Okay, so we're here for you. It's not just me. We have an incredible team here to support you. Yeah. So like I said, I also have some videos that can help you, which we're going to share with you tonight. Tomorrow, how do I measure my progress? Okay, so I think it's really hard to measure fluency because fluency has a lot of elements and fluency, sometimes you're more fluent, sometimes you have this regression, but it does not mean that you're progressing. And one of the ways to measure fluency is through just observing your actions. Right. Are you more active? Are you speaking more? Are you practicing daily? Right. So just tracking your habits can show you your progress. Because if you're consistent, there is no way that there isn't improvement in your English. Also, another way that you can start measuring yourself is to. If you want to measure your pronunciation, let's say you're working on pronunciation, one of the ways to do that is to record yourself at different points in time. So let's say you record yourself at first. This is what we do in new sound. We record a certain. Like when I teach a new sound, we record one sentence and then they go back and record it again after practicing and learning that sound. Right. So that's how you can measure progress. You can actually hear it.

Right.

And then maybe you can do it again in the future. So recording is a great tool. And if you keep track of your recordings and if you keep track of your videos, then you can always go back to old videos. Yellenau, who's here in the comments, she used to be. Now she's the head of our training department and head of community, and you're going to get to know her. And she used to Be my student. And I vividly remember in one of my. At the end of one of the courses, one of the rounds where she participated as she started giving feedback after doing the program a few times. So she said that, you know, at some point she was like, I don't feel the progress. I don't feel like I'm changing. I feel like I've been working so hard for so long. And then she found an old video of herself and she was like, oh, my God, I did not remember this right. Like, and she felt she sounded totally different. Her voice was a lot more confident and her pronunciation, because it was a pronunciation course. And it's just a reminder that we don't notice the changes. And one of the ways to notice it and to measure our progress is to track it. Right? And it was, and I invite you as well to go back to old videos. And then you can also, you can just say for yourself, what is different? How are you different? How is your English different? So that's, that's a good way. What is the best way to get rid of a strong accent? So I would like to offer a reframe here because we don't want to get rid of anything. There is nothing wrong with your accent. It's just, you know, you were born into one language and now you are. You want to speak another language, but you haven't developed the pronunciation habits of the new language. You haven't learned it. You were not informed about it. You haven't practiced it to make it your own. And this is why you are in this. You're stuck in, like, you know, you know, the, the features of, are of your first language, but the language is English, right? So there is nothing. You don't need to get rid of anything. You want to acquire, you know, maybe clearer pronunciation. And again, you don't need to. Like I said, there is nothing wrong with an accent. But if you feel unintelligible, unclear, then yes, it's something that is holding you back. And then I would say definitely, this is something that I would work on. Now, I will be teaching you that tomorrow what needs to happen to improve pronunciation. And I'm also going to. You're also going to learn about that in the pronunciation practice groups. But in short, in short, and that's basically my pronunciation confidence method. You need to identify what are the things that you need to work on, because you don't need to work on all the sounds, then you need to learn how to form those sounds.

Right.

And the way to do it is to Understand how your mouth works and what you need to do to create a sound and what you don't need to do, because a lot of times we add a lot of tension that is not needed. And then another thing that we need to do is to make it a habit, right? And that's repetition. That's practice building, kind of like muscle memory. And then you want to use it intentionally when you are speaking to other people. You want to make sure that it's not just, you know, okay, let's practice it. Let's learn how to.

Do it and.

To do it well while practicing. But. But you want to make sure that you're using it when you're actually speaking. And it takes time. It takes time. And this is why using it consciously while speaking is a great way. But again, when it comes to pronunciation, I'm definitely going to give you more tools. And remember that it's not just one day, it's the entire festival that is designed to help you with that. Okay? How can I put passive vocabulary to my active speaking? Great question. So here, this is again the pronunciation confidence method. And I have a video about it and we'll talk about it tomorrow. But in short, it's the same thing. You need to identify the words that you know but you don't use. And you need to use because they're frequent in the language, right? You need to know how to pronounce them. It has to be clear to you what ha. What's happening here, right? Let's say you want to start using the word creativity, right? Because this is something that is used around you a lot, but you're afraid because you're afraid to say it and get it wrong. You're not sure what to do with a T there. And the R is uncomfortable for you, so you have to clarify it for yourself. Because when there is vagueness and lack of clarity around pronunciation, you're going to avoid using the word. And then the word is not going to be used, right? So you have to learn how to say it. You want to say it out loud quite a few times. And then again, building that pronunciation confidence, you want to gain clarity around how to pronounce it. The Internet has plenty of tools to show you that for free. And then you want to build the rep, like create repetition. Say that word over and over and over and over again. Creativity, creativity, creativity, creativity. So your mouth feels used to this word. It's like you haven't had the experience of physically using it, so you're doing it artificially, right? And then you want to make sure that you can use it in the right context. So you need to find and research for how it's used by people who, who use this word often. And then you have tools like YouGlish or Google sentences where you can find examples of sentences with this word used. And then always out loud, never read it. Never. Just think about it. Always out loud. You have to read it out loud. And then you have to create your own sentences with that word. And even if it's obvious to you and you know how to use it, this is the process. So you want to kind of like create two, three, four sentences, not to write them down. It's all out loud. You want to make that process of thought into utterance.

Right.

A lot smoother. Okay, so that is the basic format of, of how to. How to start doing that. But we're going to talk about about it tomorrow more elaborately and definitely in the practice groups. Lena is asking some questions about new sound, which methodology and new sound course do you have Zoom classes. We have all of that, but we're going to. Towards the end of the festival, I will introduce you to new sound if you would like to continue with me after this festival. And you'll also be like, you'll have an easy way to learn about. Learn more about new sound. But I'll save it for. For Thursday. Okay, Tell me about time management. Bahiru is asking how to divide four skills of English equally. Pronunciation, speaking, listening, grammar, etc. So actually I don't like focusing on too many things at the same time. I actually like less focus. So one thing for per week, let's say, or per month, let's say pronunciation is the thing that you focus on. If you try to focus on too many things, you'll end up doing very little for everything. So either to organize it that you have like this sequence of days when you work on something, or I like to think of it as weeks. Now in general, I'm going to introduce you to the fluency wheel, which is my method to measure what you need to improve in your fluency and how to gain clarity and to be very specific. We'll teach you that tomorrow. But let's say you have your top three, right? Because again, you can't fix it all. You can't work on everything. But let's choose three things that you think are most important for you during this season, right? Like right now. So maybe it's pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. The big three. How do you work on that? I like giving a full week for each element. And then within each area, you want to also find your focus. You also want to find the 20% of the things that would really help you and move you forward. For example, let's say pronunciation is one of them. And then of course, you can have, like, all the different sounds of English, but you say, okay, but for me, R is important. For me, connected speech is important. And that's what you're focused on. You're focusing on not too many things at the same time. But let's say in one week, you work on two, three things daily, a little bit every day, not too much. I don't believe in practicing for two, three hours. No, of course you can listen to a podcast, you can read a book, you can. I'm not talking about that like, I'm talking about actively speaking. 30 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, minutes a day. Even if you don't have time, even if you just do a sprint a day, that is going to help you. So like I said, it's not about how to manage your time. That is something else. Like, you need to look at your schedule a week in advance, block out spaces for practice, right? So it has to be in your calendar. And then plan out, focus on the top three elements of English, pillars of English that you need to focus on. And inside each pillar, you want to focus on two, three things that you think are crucial, that bother you, that you think are preventing you from advancing. So you have clarity around what you want to practice, and then you just schedule it in the time slots that you have created for yourself, right? So you say, on Monday, I'm going to be working on the R, and sometimes I would even recommend to prepare for it. So the day before, or like on the weekend, you'll find the links or you'll find the resources to prepare. So you don't spend time on looking for content when you have this designated practice time. So in your calendar, you write what you're going to be practicing, right? And then you should have like, a, a list of all the, the three pillars and all the elements that you want to practice, and you cross them off when you practice. And then once you feel that, like, once you go through this cycle, you can do it again, because practicing something once is not enough. So that is how I see it. I know it sounds complicated. For those of you who don't even know how to get started with that again, like, we'll talk more, more about it. You have the implementation workshops and the coaching sessions where I can help you do that. And if you do continue with us into new sound, inside of new sound, we do have like a daily schedule where you know exactly what you need to do because we know this could be a challenge. But there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do it on your own. Oh, my goodness. We have a lot of questions. How can I improve my English to sound more professional? This is really good because sometimes, again, it's part of the misconception out there that believe that professional sounds a certain way, right? You have to have a certain voice, you have to use certain vocabulary. Honestly, you need to sound professional in your emails, right? Because there is a different, like formal versus informal writing. But you don't. I don't feel that like you want to sound formal when you're speaking to sound professional because that has changed. It's not like the 80s where you had to sound like a man, you.

Know, in, in his 30s to be.

Able to, to sound authoritative and powerful. No, it's changing. And even like the corporate voice that we think about or public speakers, like old school, that is changing too. And people's voices are more varied and versatile and they're more sounds and more Englishes and more, more accents out there. And I think that we need to leverage that and kind of like lean into that and trust that our voice is like my friend Samara Bay says, is the new set. This is something that we need to understand. And when you are clear, when you are confident, right, you know what you want to say, when you say what you want and you're not hiding. And when you're able to be expressive with your voice so people feel what you are feeling.

When you have all of that, you.

Have all it takes to succeed professionally. Okay? You don't need to learn certain vocabulary. You just need to be able to communicate, right? Like, you need to know the words to reschedule a meeting. You need to know the words to say to argue against something. And then that's vocabulary work. But it's just vocabulary, general vocabulary, not necessarily professional vocabulary. So you need to just improve English to be more professional and improve those elements. Be more confident, right? Be clear and have like, be concise and know how to say what you mean in a way that is clear to other people and fluency goes into that. And then be expressive and connected to your emotions and your voice is expressive so that people understand and know what you want. Now in emails, that's a little different, right? Because we do have some structures, but that is easy. You have a lot of online tools to help you with formal writing. And when you write emails, the stakes are a lot lower. They're not as high as when you're speaking. Okay. You guys are so amazing. I'm so enjoying this conversation. Okay, great question. An eat is asking, is it possible to learn to understand all accents that are in different English speaking countries and states? I mean, everything's possible. So if you make a point of learning all those dialects or getting acquainted with them. Absolutely. Right. When I was in the second year of acting school, we focused on dialects. And what are dialects if you know all the sounds of English? Standard American dialects are basically when two sounds switch. Right. For example, mate.

Right.

Hey, mate. In Australia, the a as in day is replaced with I might. Hi, mate. Hey, mate. Hi, mite. Right. A I.

A as in day.

I as in mine. Another example, the I sound, I as in mine becomes oy as in toy in some British dialects, like the cockney. So I like, may sound like oi loike, oi loike. I like, hey, mate. Hi mite.

Right.

So basically it's replacing sounds. So when you understand that, it's just reorganizing sound sounds. And some dialects have some reductions in different vocabulary. So we need to take that into consideration. Exposure is key, and we teach you well. In inside of, you know, my programs, I do teach how to develop your listening skills, but working on your pronunciation definitely helps with that because you understand how the language is organized in your brain. So to answer your question, yes, do you need to do that? Not necessarily. You need to expose yourself to people, people you are more likely to speak with. But if you'd like to do that, then start collecting videos of people who have different accents and just listen, expose yourself more to those people and try to understand the replacements. And if you want to go really deep, go into dialect coaching videos and learn how to make those accents right, like those dialects. So go to how to learn the Scottish accent and how to learn the British accent, and then you understand the replacements and then you can understand those speakers better. I also. Okay, I'm seeing this, Mara. I also want to practice, but I don't feel comfortable in a group. If you were here when I spoke before, I said that we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. All right? And we need to be uncomfortable with being too comfortable. Because when you're uncomfortable, then you're pushing your boundaries and you are growing. Growth doesn't happen when you don't push your boundaries. Growth doesn't happen when you are too comfortable, because then you're just doing more of the same. Now, it could be that it's something that has, like, it's a religious thing or maybe something like past trauma that you're dealing with. And then I want you to know that you have, I have full respect for that. So, you know, we just need to identify the, the reason why that happens. If it's just like, I don't want people to judge me, then I would encourage you to do it anyway. If it's something else, then you can just find a partner. One on one partner. That would be amazing and sometimes even better. So, you know, just post in the group and say, I'm looking for a partner. I don't want, you know, I prefer speaking to one person than a few. And then find a partner as long as you take action. And that's it. But what I wanted to say is to make sure that the reason why you're choosing not to do something is the right reason and not the wrong reason. The wrong reason is because we're afraid of something. Okay. We have to ask deep questions to understand if, like, we're like, what is the underlying fear? I'm going to help you do that in day three.

Okay.

How much time do we need to practice every day in order to develop that habit? Great question. I personally don't think that you need more than 15 minutes a day if you do it daily.

All right.

Because sometimes what happens when you practice for an hour or two hours every day? It lasts for a few weeks, maybe a few months. And then you're like, I don't have time for this anymore. And then it's also okay, you take a break as long as you come back. But to build a habit is to keep engaging yourself with English daily. So ideally, what I would say is to do it daily, but then have three times a week where you spend more time, like 30 minutes to an hour to practice English and for the rest of the day, spend 15 minutes to do some drills, focus on something, learn actively. And by learning, I don't mean listening to videos or watching or listening to audios. Right. Like active practice for active, intentional practice for 15 minutes could go a long, long way. Carlos says. Carlos, I believe being a woman, given the. Okay, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna explain what you said. Like, what I understand from you being more talkative. So men have a disadvantage. I think what you're talking about. I think in a way it's like a stigma. Women are being talkative. It's. It's very it really depends on the personality of the person. So let's not use like cultural stigma. But I think what you're saying is that some you find that you personally probably have, you know, you have a harder time maybe connecting with people or you feel that men are more internalized maybe in your community. And I get that. I totally get that. But you also have to understand that when you're speaking, speaking a second language is very, very different. There are a lot of. There's a lot of crap that goes in our head and a lot of need to be perfect. And women in particular have to deal with a lot of, like, demand of being perfect and getting it right and not making mistakes. It's like, you know, for decades and decades and decades, dealing with decades and decades and decades of silencing and not using our voice and being little girls, being told like, oh, don't say that, don't be nice, be friendly, do this, smile. This really, really gets in, in this, in our system. So what you're saying is, yes, it's an advantage to be talkative, but when it comes to being like, when it comes to communicating and the possibility of being judged, this is where I see often that women get shut down a lot quicker or they are afraid of using their voice or they even don't know what their real voice sounds like because of all that past experience and conditioning that we experience in, you know, growing up. So I think that in general, we can say that people who have an easier time connecting and communicating and that could be extroverts might have an easier time, but even they might have to kind of like make manage the negative self talk. Okay. Okay. A lot of questions about New Sound and I love it. I love that you're interested in continuing with us, but I do want to focus on the training and I promise that I will take you through all the things that you need to know about New Sound. New Sound, for those of you who don't know, is my signature program. We open it two, three times a year, two, twice a year, up until today, up until now. And it's my most transformative program. Everything that I teach you here is the foundation for what I teach there. We just go a lot deeper and hold your hand at it. So, just so you know, for those of you who are not sure what New Sound is, and at the end of the festival, we are going to invite those of you who want to connect to join us into New Sound that opens on September 12th. Okay, let me go back to some of the questions here. How can I think in English? It is sometimes hard for me because my mother tongue is not English. Pelin. I know. And this is a challenge for many, many people. I'm sure a lot of people here would resonate with that. I will talk about it tomorrow. Because it's the process of transitioning thoughts into words. But here is the thing, and that's the foundation of everything. If you want to get better at something, you have to do more of that something. So because you're not thinking in English, if you're telling me that you're not thinking in English, which is totally legit, no one, you know, if that's not your first language, why would you. It tells me, without even knowing you or your practice habits or your life, that you're not like you're not surrounding yourself with enough English speaking opportunities, right? And does not mean that you need to move to the US it just means that you need to create more situations where you speak. Because when you have a lot of English practice, it starts happening naturally now. And if you do have a lot of practice, maybe you're not really fulfilling that you're speaking like all your speaking opportunities. Maybe you're just listening and not speaking a lot. And it has to do with fear. So to do, to get better at something, you have to do more of that something and more of that something. When it comes to speaking is thinking. Like actively thinking in English, like practice. Train your brain to think in English. There's a lot that you can do with your brain, right? So train your brain to think in English. Sit in your home and just think in English. Think about the things that you need to do. Think about the things that you, that happened to you that day, so on and so forth. Okay, What competence should I prioritize between speaking, reading and grammar speaking? Because reading is okay, but it's not going to help you if you improve your reading. If you need to speak with someone now, I would say yes, of course. Expose yourself to more English and read more. But you know kids, when they're five years old and they're born into a language, they know how to speak fluent, fluently. And they don't know how to read, but they can still speak fluently. So you're able to speak. Learn how to speak fluently without reading, right? The brain already knows how to do it. You've done it once with your first language. So that's what I'm thinking. And between speaking and grammar, again, speaking, in my opinion is more important. You need grammar, at least basic grammar. But Definitely. You definitely need to. When you learn grammar, focus only on the things that will help your speaking. Be clearer. Right? Not mistake free, but clearer. So you have the confidence of saying what you need to say. All right, one last question. Let's see. Okay, wait. I'm trying to decide which question. How is it possible that I feel comfortable listening to you, also able to understand you? I would say 90% of 90%, 95%, which is amazing. Congratulations. And when I go out there, I can't understand even 60%. How is that possible? Okay, there are a few reasons for why that's possible. If you are listening to people live, let's say you're speaking to someone, there is a sense of, like, stress level in real life that affects how you perceive the language. Right? It affects your brain. It affects everything. And if, if that's what you're talking about when you said I go out there, is it in real life, then it, it has to do with that. Also, my pronunciation is closer to standard American, and if you're exposed to that, it's easier to understand than dialects that you haven't been exposed to. I'm also a speech coach, so my sounds are very clear. And I do reduce words, but not as much as, you know, people who are unaware would. Would speak. Right. So sometimes people, like, slur and, and reduce a lot of things and speak a lot faster. And this is why you're struggling. So this is why in our print, in our listening sessions, I'm not sure we're not going to have it in the festival, but we do have it in our programs and in, in the influencing community for free. And in those sessions, it's important to train your ears to understand those reductions. Okay, so this is, this is why. But working on your mindset and working on your listening is going to be very helpful. Technical question. Can I participate without a Facebook account? Yes, you can. You can watch the training on the website. Absolutely. And just have access to the emails. And the Facebook group is just if you want to be active, if you don't have an account, don't open an account for the festival. What if the conversation group chat. Miss, is there another time to get to speak? Well, I think that first of all, there are several conversation groups at different times. And if you don't have an opportunity to speak, I think they have a few rounds so you can find the opportunity, but make sure you seize the opportunity. So if you know people are speaking around and, and you feel like you haven't had the opportunity to speak, then say Hey, I. I have something to say, right? Like, be proactive about creating that opportunity for yourself. But like I said, there are plenty of speaking sessions. How can I win prizes? Like I said, take. I'm gonna go back, and then we're gonna wrap it up. I'm going to go back to. To reminding you of. This. Make a Move. The Make a Move Challenge. Do something that is going to make a difference in your life, something that you've been procrastinating, something that you've been overthinking. So I want you to do that today and then share it. First of all, share it in the group with a hashtag, Make a move. And if you share it on Instagram and you don't have to share just the moves, right? Like, anything that you share from the Fluency Festival on Instagram, tag me at Hadar Accentsway. Hashtag Fluency Festival, and hashtag Make a move. When you share that, you enter the raffle if you share a move, and if it's a courageous move, we're going to give you two opportunities to win. So we're going to put your name twice. Okay? So just so you know, when you make a move and you take action, then you're more likely to win the Sprint Master. And that's the prize for today. All right, my friends, I so apologize for all the technical issues, for the bad connection, really. I did my best to prepare. It did not work, but I hope you still found value and that it was interesting. It was amazing talking to you. Thank you for making. The chat was always on fire. I was like, wait, I want to see what they're saying. But I have to concentrate on speaking. So thank you for being so active in the chat. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you had a good day.

Do the Sprint.

If you haven't just yet, download the workbook and start collecting your insights and thoughts, and I'll see you here tomorrow.

Okay.

For day two, it's going to be super interesting. You don't want to miss out on day two. All right. I know I'm gonna say it about every single day, but really, it's, like, very different every day. And there's a lot of content, so no housekeeping know. How is this gonna work? We're gonna dive straight into the content tomorrow. I'm excited about it. I hope you are, too. Thank you so, so much, everyone. Sending you love and hugs, and I'll see you soon. Bye.