(12) Is it easy to measure the English skills of beginners? >>

■The first step to improving your English conversation skills is knowing your own level!

There are many indicators such as Eiken and TOEIC to objectively measure the level of English conversation. However, you won't know your level unless you take a certification test for any of the indicators. Therefore, the CEFR proposed by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) is useful as a way to easily understand your general position without taking any exams.

However, CEFR has a major "missing". The problem is that I am not able to express the level of beginners who are below the lowest "A0 level".

Therefore, let's define the following two levels under the CEFR "A0 level".

・A-1 level: Learned and understood the basic rules of English before English conversation.

・A-2 level: Ready to learn, including mentally, and able to stand at the starting line of learning.

Let's call this CEFR2. For details, please refer to column ``''.

<< Why do English conversation beginners fail? >>

■Shocking fact. English conversation for beginners is all about the first three months!

Many people come to our school who have failed at other schools, online English conversation, or self-study, but when we unravel their experiences, we discover the shocking fact that ``80% of English conversation beginners fail within three months.'' It's coming up.

It has become clear that "beginners to English conversation experience slumps as early as the first few lessons." During that initial slump, without proper guidance from instructors and counselors, I continued to be unable to foresee my future prospects, and ended up giving up after taking 10 lessons. There are many students like that.

■If you want to improve your English conversation skills, be aware of the "learning curve"!

This shows the relationship between study time and results (growth). This rule applies to all learning, not just English conversation.

(1) As you continue learning, your results will improve dramatically.

(2) A slump (plateau) occurs during the growth process.

The following image is shown in the diagram.

What we can say from this diagram is that for beginners, ``the important thing is to start learning.In particular, how to overcome the initial slump is the difference between success and failure.''

If you fail at the first slump, you will never be able to get to the starting line to reach even higher goals.

■The causes of beginners' frustrations are surprisingly common!

When we ask students who have experienced a setback once (or more than once) and come to our school about the reasons for their past setbacks, we find that there are fewer physical factors (such as being too busy and unable to attend on time, moving, etc.), and more to do with psychological factors. There were an overwhelming number of people who said, ``I felt tired of continuing'' due to these factors, and when I looked deeper into why they felt tired, one common denominator emerged.

Many beginners of English conversation have ``graduated from school'' and have forgotten the feeling of ``learning and learning itself.'' Even if you start lessons in this state, you will feel a sense of failure at an early stage, and going to lessons will become painful.

Many English conversation schools start with a "trial lesson." During the trial lesson, the counselor will check each student's English proficiency and come up with an appropriate teaching recipe. However, it seems difficult to judge a person's ``readiness to learn''. After a trial lesson, a common mechanism for beginners' frustration is that they feel uncomfortable during the first regular lesson, and after a few lessons, that discomfort turns into a feeling of frustration. If the instructor cannot see through the student's situation at that stage and deal with it appropriately, the student will definitely drop out after 10 lessons. 　

Through counseling students who have experienced setbacks in the past, I have come to realize that many English conversation schools are aimed at people who have recently graduated from school.