Improve English speaking skills by zooming out and in

Lenora’s a nurse from Spain who’s working as a caregiver in a retirement village while waiting for her New Zealand nursing registration to come through.

This is her first time caring for people in English. She wants to show her empathy not just in the way she looks after the residents but also in how she speaks to them and their families.

So how can Lenora get her speaking skills up to speed?

One of her colleagues referred Lenora to me and she signed up for an express coaching session.

We role played some work situations to get a handle on Lenora’s current performance.

We discovered her message could generally be understood without too much effort. But there were several pronunciation errors, gaps in vocabulary and common mistakes. (My favourite is always foot fingers instead of toes.)

Then we set two kinds of objectives.

1. We zoomed out to Lenora’s destination in 90 days.
   She visualised having a conversation with a resident where she spoke clearly, compassionately and confidently.

2. We zoomed in to set milestones on the 90-day journey.
   Pronunciation, vocabulary and fluency targets at the 5-day, 15-day, 30-day, 60-day and 75-day marks will keep Lenora on track.

Breaking the journey into doable stages with achievable wins is key to making steady progress.

And Lenora’s now ready to put her plan into regular action.

Need support in getting your professional English unstuck? I can help. 

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© Christina Wielgolawski