Regaining Your Focus

Here in Spain, August is when most of us are in vacation mode.?

Where I live in the north (Asturias), not as many people feel the need to travel far, as the heat is much more tolerable up here along the Cantabrian coast. The numerous coves and beaches, with their mountain views in the background, are pretty incredible too!?

My mom came to stay with us for a month. As it was her fifth visit, she’d already seen the biggest tourist attractions, so we could go off the beaten track this time.?

Besides a little road trip to the nearby province of Galicia, there was plenty to keep us entertained locally.?

After a couple of years without the boisterous local summer festivities, the locals were eager to finally let their hair down – with plenty of local sidra (natural hard cider) to go around! There's even an annual Guinness World Record event for sidra pouring, which attracts around 10,000 participants to Gijón each year.

?Was it a relaxing “staycation”? Umm, not exactly...?

After all, how relaxing can an intensive month with your mother, husband, active 5-year-old and dog in a small farmhouse be? Let’s be realistic...

Maybe you spent part of August sipping mojitos under palm trees in your hammock, reading some fabulous new books in silence on a golden beach – ok, I’m a little jealous.?

Or maybe you found yourself more stressed than the average work day – resorting to hourly deep-breathing techniques and counting the seconds until the little one(s) start school again.?

Either way, getting back into work/study mode can be a challenge!

If you’ve made improving your English communication skills a priority this year, here are a couple of simple steps to help you get back into the flow:

?STEP #1 - Make a list of REALISTIC weekly goals to keep moving forward?

NOTE: If you make them too complex, you’ll probably stop before you even start!

Examples:

????- Learn 5 new English phrases per week to use in therapy sessions

e.g. Would you mind + (verb) + ing…? / Would you mind explaining what you mean by “upset”??

??- Learn 5 idioms used to describe emotions & create a sentence with each

e.g. ANGER - to bottle up (an emotion), to lash out at someone, to fly off the handle

?- Is there a specific accent that you find difficult to understand??

Find an interesting podcast or TV series from this region that you can listen to, so you can?improve comprehension. YouTube is also full of useful videos that can help you decipher specific challenging accents and dialects.

STEP #2 - Schedule time in your agenda to do these tasks – preferably on the same day(s) each week to create a real habit.

Examples:

• I’ll set aside 20 minutes, 3 times per week to focus on learning new vocabulary and functional language (i.e. phrases) for therapy sessions.
• Every Saturday morning I’ll spend an hour watching an interesting TV series, TED talk or documentary* with useful expressions, vocabulary and phrases for therapy sessions. I’ll write them down in my notebook, then look up the definitions/meanings as needed.

* www.topdocumentaryfilms.com has some great documentaries!

• I’ll spend 10-15 minutes writing in my English journal every evening, briefly describing my day, my thoughts and any issues I experienced that need to be digested or resolved.

Keep these appointments with yourself!

STEP #3 - Review your notebook and put the new language into practice!

Ideas:

• Create a mindmap with your new phrasal verbs – group them by topic and preposition.

e.g. ?UP - fed UP / cheer UP / choke UP / lighten UP

• Make flashcards to test your memory of the idioms you’ve learned. There are also easy apps online for this. Can you use each of them in a sentence correctly?
• Create a short story that incorporates new vocabulary you heard in a TED talk / TV series / film. Make associations in your dominant language to help you remember them!

“The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who IS this.”

― James Clear, Atomic Habits

Creating these little weekly habits will help you see amazing progress in your English communication skills over time. If you’re a person who suffers from self-discipline in this area (I think we ALL do to some extent), I highly recommend reading Atomic Habits, by James Clear.?

I’m sure that you and your therapy clients can benefit from his words of wisdom and useful framework for creating positive new habits and breaking other habits that don’t serve us.

See you next month for more ideas and confidence-building tips.

Until then, I wish you a smooth transition back to work/study mode!

Warm regards, Heather

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Do you dream of communicating more effectively with your clients and collegues in English, but lack the confidence, feedback and an effective method to follow??

Sign up for the "5-Step Mindset Map" from my website below and DM me to book a 30-minute chat. I'd love to help you reach your professional goals! ? ? ? ?

Let me know if there are other topics you’d like me to cover in future newsletters.?

Email: [email protected] / Website: www.myenglishtherapy.com