What’s your Speaker Stage in English? TAKE THE QUIZ

I have a question for you. Have you ever wondered what is the best way to measure your fluency? Now, I know that there are traditional levels, like A1 to A2 to B1 to B2. But let me tell you an interesting story and how I believe this is not the best way, or the only way, to measure someone's proficiency level and fluency.

As some of you already know, I moved to Spain in January this year. In April, I took a course and they placed me as an A1 speaker, granted, I did not speak Spanish. And they put me on week five or week six. However, recently, my friend, who has been living here for over five years, joined a Spanish course. And guess what level they placed her in? A1, week five.

Now, mind you that she has been living here for over five years. Every time we would hang out together, she would be the one speaking, she would be the one communicating. She had so much more confidence than I did. She understood almost everything. I went to her with questions, yet we were at the same level. How is that possible?

So maybe in terms of grammar knowledge or specific vocabulary that is needed for A1 level, we were at the same level. However, she had a lot more experience and a lot more confidence than me. And in the real world, she did so much better than me. But according to the school or the proper way of measuring fluency, that was the case. We were at the same place.

And my question to you is, is this really the only way to measure someone's fluency? Is it really the only way to measure real life fluency – how you show up in English, how you use English, how confident you feel.

I'm going to give you another example. I've had students who were placed as a C1 speaker, yet they had no confidence speaking in a group at all. They would avoid conversations, they would not communicate, they would only communicate through reading and writing, and never when speaking.

So even though, according to the books, they were at a C1 level, in real life they were not using the language. They were terrified to use the language. They were overly critical, they were perfectionists, and they would not use the language, therefore they'd avoid speaking. Here's what I'm saying. I know it's important to measure one's fluency according to the number of words they know, and the grammar they know, and how they're able to structure sentences. That is a given. I'm here to say this is not the only way to measure someone's fluency.

I believe that a speaker's fluency is also measured according to the confidence level they have, how they show up, how they behave in English, the choices they make in English, and the experience they have in English using the language in real life. Your mindset, behavior, habits, and experience determine your performance in English. Not just how many words you know, not just the grammar you know, and not just how well you structure sentences.

Now, I know it's harder to measure confidence, and it's harder to measure experience, but there is a way to know your level, based on your mindset, your confidence, and your behavior in English. And I'm going to tell you all about it.

I developed a speaking success path that outlines the experience of a speaker who already knows English at the level where they can understand English and use English without needing to use a translator. So, I'm not talking about true beginners who are just starting out with their English journey. No, I'm talking about people who have studied English and they understand English in a way that doesn't require them to use a translator. Now the path is somewhat linear, but you can also skip between the stages.

Now, I've used this success path with my students inside my program BEYOND. And it has been an incredible tool to help them identify where they're at and what they need to do to achieve that.

The speaking path ranges from the Avoider, to the Anxious Speaker, to the Brave Speaker, to the Challenger, to the Influencer. Whether you're the Avoider, Anxious Speaker, Brave Speaker, Challenger, or Influencer, there's a lot you can learn about how you show up in your experience in English once you understand that your fluency level goes above and beyond just the typical A1 to C2 levels.

Now, I created this quiz and you can actually take it right now, it's absolutely free. So you can identify your stage and also get resources and tips and strategies to get to the next stage. Sometimes, all you need to do is just change your mindset to get to the next stage. Let me tell you this, it's not easy, but it is possible. And sometimes it requires more effort or intentional practice to be able to reach the next stage. Everything is in the quiz.

So, if you take the quiz, it's going to take you five minutes. You'll need to answer a few questions, and then you're going to get a list of resources and my tips to help you move up the success path. From the names of the stages, you can already see that it's a little different than what you are familiar with. And here's the thing, I believe the traditional methods have led us to a certain place, and it's great. But what got you here, won't get you there.

If you want to get to your next level, you need to understand what you actually really need, that goes beyond the vocabulary or the grammar. It's about how you need to think, how you need to practice, where you should put your focus on, and also how you plan for the future. All of that is required to make any progress, definitely, in your English fluency journey. And it's so much easier to measure your progress based not just on tests, but on your own feeling, on how you feel about yourself and what's possible for you in real life.

If you end up speaking more, understanding more, having the confidence to make jokes or to stand your ground, you are obviously at a better place than someone who might be avoiding constantly, even though maybe according to the books, you are at the same level. It doesn't matter what the level is. What matters is what's possible for you and how you feel about yourself when communicating in English.

And I want to open a door to that possibility of you measuring your fluency and your ability and your performance in English in a different way, in a less conventional way, because maybe that is what you were missing. Maybe understanding how to put a spotlight on building your confidence, changing your mindset, changing the way you practice is all you needed to reach a breakthrough and get to the next stage.

So, I invite you to take the quiz, identify your speaking stage, and get the resources that you need to move up to the next stage. And you will see that as you move up the speaking stages, your fluency level and proficiency level will improve as well. Because here's the thing. Even at a level that is considered intermediate or lower intermediate, your understanding of the language is vast. You understand more than you're capable of speaking.

From my own personal experience, I can understand long podcasts in Spanish, but I still can't say 10 percent of what they're saying on my own without guidance. I know the gap, I feel the gap, and I know that you feel that too in English. I have felt that in English back when I first started out. So that gap, that gap between the English that you know and the English that you speak is not going to be resolved by learning more and increasing your knowledge. It's going to be resolved by changing your mindset, building your confidence, and practicing intentionally. And this is how you're going to be guided when you take the quiz. Alright? So, are you an Avoider? Are you an Anxious Speaker? Are you a Brave Speaker? Do you want to become a Challenger or an Influencer? The answer is in the quiz.

So here's what I want you to do. I want you to go ahead and take the quiz, then come back here. Let me know in the comments, what is your speaking stage? And then also, if you feel like it, let me know what you're going to do to move up to the next stage. I hope this was helpful, and I hope this helped you think about proficiency and fluency in a different way, in a way that takes you into consideration as an individual – with feelings and thoughts and habits and emotions and experiences that might prevent you from building fluency.

And unless you address those things and your pain points, and your struggles, it's going to be really hard to improve your fluency. It's going to be really hard to just learn more and expect your body and your brain to remember everything. We first need to take care of you and understand what you need. And then, it's going to be a lot easier to get on the right path to success. All right, so I can't wait to hear about your stages and what you thought about the quiz.

If you want more resources, go to hadarshemesh.com or come follow me on social media at @hadar.accentsway on Instagram or all the other channels. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the week, and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.