In November, we celebrated the fourth year anniversary of the English Fluency Club! It’s been one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done as an English teacher and it’s kept going even during the pandemic!
Here are the six biggest things I’ve learnt from running the English Fluency Club.
1. Listening to people is so important
Any club or community is made up of people. The person running it is less important!
I’ve always asked people in the Club what they want. For example, it could be more lessons, or more ways to speak with each other. Listening to my students is the most important thing I can do, and I then need to find ways to give my students what they want.
2. It’s always changing
During Covid, when people felt isolated, we increased the number of group lessons, but reduced other things like weekly challenges. There have been other changes as well, like adding personal evaluations or a way to get unlimited speaking practice. The important thing is that the English Fluency Club adapts to people’s needs.
3. It has a life outside the English Fluency Club
People in the English Fluency Club have great friendships with each other. In September this year, we had our first intensive course in the UK. Four wonderful people came to the UK for three days. We spent some of that time in lessons, but also in chatting, eating and having fun.
Another example is that we use an app to schedule unlimited speaking practice. This is important, because you don’t always need a teacher to help you get fluent. Talking to other people learning English helps you with speaking and listening outside the lessons – and helps you to improve your English even faster.
4. People stay for a long time
People often stay for months and years! That’s partly because they see results in their fluency, but also because there’s quite a lot you can do in the Fluency Club. We have group lessons, self-study fluency programs and both personal and group coaching. The people who stay the longest are also often the most active, coming regular to lessons, for example.
I’m very happy about this, as I want people to get a lot of value from the Fluency Club!
5. Effort gets results
To get a result, you need to make an effort. So if you want to get fluent, you need to speak – and this is obvious.
But fluency is also about confidence and self-belief. I would say that confidence is perhaps the biggest issue. What I’ve seen again and again in the Fluency Club is people who start to believe in themselves and in their English. People start to take part and to speak – and then the magic happens. It’s so satisfying and rewarding for me as a teacher to see people smile, have fun, and enjoy speaking in English.
6. People make the community
Because the English Fluency Club is a community of people, what makes it work is the people inside it. I’ve been very lucky that the members are such lovely people. I see the same qualities again and again:
Kindness to other people. This is so important. Everyone is on a learning journey and everyone experiences problems at one time or other. Supporting and helping other people is what makes the English Fluency Club such a nice place to be in.
Trust that fluency will come. It can be difficult some days to believe in yourself or that you’ll improve, but if you keep coming to the lessons, or keep talking via our app, you WILL get fluent!
Patience is part of this as well. Being patient with other people – and being patient with yourself.
Willingness to try new things. It’s good to change occasionally and try new methods. People in the Fluency Club are very open to new ideas and this helps to keep the learning fresh and exciting.
Acceptance that things might not work in the ways we expect. Sometimes there are technical issues (but not often!) and sometimes an activity works in a different way.
You could say that these qualities are exactly the same qualities that make you a good language learner!
Join the English Fluency Club!
When you join the English Fluency Club, you become part of a fantastic community of other English learners from around the world. You get regular lessons every month as well as unlimited speaking opportunities through the app we use.
But that’s not all! Every month you get group coaching and individual coaching with me. This helps you to improve your English even further.