<font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – They are good for you!</font>

<font face="Calibri"><font color="#000000" size="3">I find it common that students are held back from reaching their next level as </font><font color="#000000" size="3"> </font><font color="#000000" size="3">language students because of their own insecurity, but I am here to let you know that you are not alone and it’s ok to make mistakes.</font></font>

<font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">A natural part of each and every one is their sense of worth, which could be put in other terms as their EGO. Any ambitious student studies to use their newly acquired language to the best of their ability, so naturally it may be disheartening, if we keep making mistakes or if our accent is not quite right, which could lead to some embarrassment and hold us back from communicating and thus improving further.</font>

<font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">What you have to come to terms with is that making mistakes is part of the process and the more mistakes you make, the more you learn, but it is also important to take time and identify the problem to learn from it.</font>

<font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">Secondly, keep talking! It doesn’t matter if you don’t sound like a native yet, keep practicing and you will. It’s fine if you sound like a foreigner and get every other word wrong, as long as you keep practicing you’ll improve eventually.</font>

<font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">In fact, there had been a study commenced at Cambridge where EGO was found to be the main factor holding us back from speaking fluently. Students may feel ashamed of their mistakes or lack the confidence to learn through trial and error. During the mentioned study the inhibition of EGO was looked at and it was soon confirmed that students who had some (small portion!) of alcohol before the class acted more confident and were much more outgoing when speaking their second language.</font>

<font color="#000000" face="Calibri" size="3">Lastly, look at children, the very small kind that’s still in their cradle uttering random sounds. Their parents will often encourage the child to speak back at them, even if the first sounds uttered by the child are far off from any word that we may know, but the point is that the child doesn’t know it yet! Children keep practicing and all they usually face is their parents encouragement and smile and that is my advice for you today. Do not give up. The next milestone in your learning is usually just right round the corner.</font>

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