Podcast Episode 37 – Toastmasters

In episode #37 of the English Fluency Now podcast, I am discussing Toastmasters International. Nicole and I attended our first Toastmasters meeting this week. Our town has a rather new local chapter of Toastmasters International. They call themselves PT Smooth Talkers. PT stands for Port Townsend (our town) and a smooth talker is a person […] Read more »

TPRS: Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling

Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) is the method that I use in the Success with Stories program. TPRS was developed by an American Spanish language teacher named Blaine Ray. There are a few key components of the method that I think are very important and I want you to know about them. 1. […] Read more »

Sample Question and Answer Lesson – Juan Goes to New York

One of the most effective methods for becoming a better speaker of English (or any language) is the use of Question and Answer lessons (or circling – as it is known by teachers who use the TPRS method of language acquisition). This technique is effective because it gives you lots of repetitions, so you can […] Read more »

Are You Afraid to Speak?

  Are you afraid to speak English? Are you worried about making mistakes? Are you embarrassed if someone asks you to repeat something? Well, join the crowd! Just about everybody I know who has tried learning another language has been afraid to speak. The most common reason to learn a language is to be able […] Read more »

Become an Excellent English Speaker with Success with Stories

Last Sunday, I released the first volume of a new series of programs that I have created to help English learners become excellent speakers of English.  The program is called Success with Stories and it uses the Teaching Proficiency Through Stories (TPRS) method developed by Blaine Ray. The program gives you MASSIVE amounts of comprehensible input […] Read more »

Relax, You Will Be Able To Speak English Fluently

  One of the most common questions I get from my students is: “How can I improve my speaking?” My answer is usually a two-part answer, depending on the person’s current level of English. The basic idea is that in order to speak English well, with confidence, you must first understand English. You do this […] Read more »