Above all, don’t be afraid to speak. You must try to speak, even if you make mistakes. You cannot learn without mistakes. There is a saying: “The person who never made a mistake never made anything.” So think of your mistakes as something positive and useful.

Speak as much as possible! Make as many mistakes as possible! When you know that you have made a mistake, you know that you have made progress.

SPEAKING PRACTICE

As for your speaking practice, you have it easy in the language school: if your teacher asks you a question, take the opportunity to answer. Try to say as much as possible. If your teacher asks you to speak in pairs or groups with other students, try to say as much as possible. Don’t worry about your mistakes. Just speak!

Apart from the language school, you should try and find the opportunity to speak to other people different from your teachers and other students. When you go home, you can still practise listening, reading and writing, but you probably can’t practise speaking. Here you have some options:

Conversation Clubs

Many cities around the world have conversation clubs where people can exchange one language for another. Look in your local newspaper to find a conversation club near you. They are usually free although some may charge a small entrance fee.

Shopping

If you are living in an English-speaking area (remember you are very close to English-speaking communities: San Fulgencio, Gran Alacant, etc), you have a wonderful opportunity. Practise speaking to the local people such as shop assistants. Even if you don’t want to buy anything, you can ask questions about products that interest you in a shop. Often you can start a real conversation – and it costs you nothing!

Pubs and Bars

In all Spanish towns, there are often American, British, Irish and Australian pubs. If you can find one of these pubs, you’ll probably meet many people speaking English as a first or second language.

A colleague has just sent you an email relating to a meeting you’re having in one hour’s time. The email is supposed to contain key information that you need to present, as part of the business case for an important project.

But there’s a problem: the email is so badly written that you can’t find the data you need. There are misspellings and incomplete sentences, and the paragraphs are so long and confusing that it takes you three times more than it should to find the information you want.

As a result, you’re under-prepared for the meeting, and it doesn’t go as well as you want it to.

Have you ever faced a situation similar to this? In today’s information overload world, it’s vital to communicate clearly, concisely and effectively.

The better your writing skills are, the better the impression you’ll make on the people around you – including your boss, your colleagues, and your clients. You never know how far these good impressions will take you!