Natalia Tokar | Native-Like Fluency

I opened my inbox today and I couldn't help it! I read the entire email out loud. Emails from Ash Ambirge are a manual to convincing, simple, and powerful copywriting. Or should I say "content writing?" The secret to convincing copy: SENSORY DETAILS. ➡️Instead of saying "don't overthink it", show your reader the consequences of overthinking: "They’re more successful while you're sitting in your living room with a salami sandwich in your hand, overthinking every step" ➡️ Instead of saying "Your brain is powerful! Change the way you think", show how powerful the brain is and make it relatable: "Your brain tells you you’re fat. Your brain tells you you’re dumb. Your brain tells you your work’s not good enough. That whatever you put out will be disappointing garbage; that no one will want what you’ve made..." *** You will find more examples, the text, the full audio, as well as the invitation to read with me and get feedback on your reading in the community of practice. Doors open on May 5. Apply today! nataliatokar.me/community

What if it's not true? What if our attention span is not shorter the the attetion span of a goldfish? A good example of "working with the source"

Who'd like to join the Advanced Grammar Call tomorrow at 12:30 (GMT +3)? ❤️ The TOPIC is "Direct and Indirect Speech". It's THE grammar for storytelling and summarizing skills. The usual price for non-community members is $72 per workshop. If you have never attended our grammar calls before, and you'd like to see how they go, join us tomorrow and enjoy a free ticket! If you would like to have the replay of the call, you can pay $72 to get 2-month access to "Native-Like Fluency. The Community of Practice" (which is 50% less than the usual price) and unlock EVERYTHING: the exercises, the lessons, the workshop replays, and individual feedback. ☝ The offer stands until tomorrow 12:00 (GMT +3) This is how we do it: ❌ I teach you grammar ✅ We open a grammar book together! We use the books written by and for native speaker, i.e. we learn directly from the source. And we figure it out together. We do the exercises, we practice, and we work on understanding rules, not memorizing them. I am there to help you NOT be afraid of such books and use them for your practice with confidence. I find these books and the examples in them to be THE most effective for advanced learners who want to tell stories of many people without overthinking grammar. If you want to join, leave a comment, and I'll send you the Zoom link

Find exercise #125 in the community of practice. Let's practice summarizing it together! If you're not a member yet, join us! https://community.nataliatokar.me/c/exercises/exercise-125

Learning to trust yourself is not just some self-help woo-woo thing for me, it's a serious question. When you're learning something new, you have to trust yourself that you can do it. However, many students struggle with self-doubt, constantly seeking validation and approval. They may do an exercise and doubt if they did it correctly, if they did enough, or if they made mistakes. These thoughts can keep you stuck in perpetual self-doubt if you don’t practice trusting yourself in adversarial situations. The first metacognitive strategy is planning. Use it. Before starting an exercise, ask yourself how you're going to approach it. Even if there are clear instructions or video tutorials, remember that they may not work for everyone. Ask yourself: “Will these instructions work for ME?”, “Is there a way make the exercise more feasible and enjoyable for myself?” Once you've completed step #1, congratulate yourself on your accomplishment and move on to step #2. Complete step #2, and move on to step #3. Trust yourself that you've completed the previous step successfully, and continue with the next steps. Mastering metacognitive strategies, such as planning, monitoring, and self-evaluating, can help you approach difficult tasks with more confidence and learn faster and more effectively. To learn more about these strategies, watch the full webinar in the community of practice. If you're not a member yet, join today to practice native-like fluency together! I also have a free video on metacognition on Youtube.

Both of these pictures were taken today, on the same day, and in the same forest, within a 5-minute interval. If you saw ice in the forest in April, would you ask it, "What's wrong with you? It's plus 15 Celsius, and everywhere else in the forest it's dry. What’s your problem? You shouldn't be here; it's already spring." No sane person would ask this question. However, we often talk to ourselves in a similar negative way: "What's wrong with you? Everybody else has already moved way ahead, and you're still here, still at the very beginning? Everybody can do it, look around! You're the only one who can't pull this off." Isn't that insane? Why do we hurt ourselves so much with this negative self-talk? Personally, I have always been a slow learner, and yet people often pushed me to do things before I was ready. I hated it. I hated competing with others because I had to focus on winning rather than on developing my skill. There was no way for me to win if I had no confidence in what I was doing. Even when I gained my confidence, I didn’t want to compete. Instead, I wanted to help other people. If we ask each other not "What's wrong with you?" but "What happened to you?", the world will be a kinder place. There’s nothing wrong with the ice in the forest. It’s the conditions that matter. This part of the forest is in the shadow, it’s more humid here, and the overall temperature is lower in the forest than in the city. The conditions created this result. People are often cruel to themselves. They ignore their own conditions and individual parameters and want to immediately become just like those other people who already perform at the world-class level. But think about it this way: the fact that these people exist means that you have someone to ask for help. It means that someone has already figured it out and can show you the way. It does not mean that you need to break yourself and change who you are to become just like them by next week.

Get ready to witness the transformation! In this interview, filmed 2 years ago, we talk about Clara’s journey as a language learner and our work together. Clara shared her insights for improving her leaning skills and confidence when speaking English. You need confidence and courage to speak in front of three cameras in a studio filled with people! I am very proud of her results. Looking back, it's amazing to see how much progress I've made myself in just a few years. From my vowels to my pace and overall confidence, everything has changed. But I didn't do it alone - I've been using the same exercises that I share with my students, and you can do them too! Join our community of practice to see what I do on a weekly basis and create your own practice routine that will work for YOU. Don't wait any longer, start a whole different language learning journey toward native-like fluency today! Doors open at May 5. Request to join today. Subscribe to my YouTube channel to be the first to watch the full interview and get access to exclusive language learning resources.

What is the 5th stage of competence? What do you choose? Mastery or Complacency?

1 min and 27 sec of practice! Let's do it❤️