What if you lived in the US?
Or in England?
Would your English improve?
Maybe automatically? Easily?
That’s what Cenan thought.
But it wasn’t so easy.
Here’s her story…
From Istanbul To Toronto
In 2017 Cenan and her teenage son flew from Istanbul to Toronto.
At the time, all she could say in English was, “Hello, my name is Cenan.”
Daily life was a challenge.
Once, she had to go to the doctor and couldn’t tell him what the problem was.
She couldn’t even speak to her neighbors.
And making friends was hard.
But she wanted to build a new life in Canada.
So she got serious about solving her English problem.
First, she found English teachers on Youtube.
They helped, but she never got to practice speaking.
Next, she attended English classes.
That also helped, but still, she didn’t get enough speaking practice.
Finally, she got an email from me.
I invited her to practice her speaking online with other students.
She knew this was what she needed — lots of speaking practice — but she was afraid.
She didn’t want to join because she thought the other students would think she’s stupid.
But then she told herself, “I have to try.”
Her plan was to attend a meeting but not speak, only listen.
However, she was surprised.
Right away, she met friendly people.
She knew they would not judge her English ability.
And she relaxed.
Now, every weekend you can find her online practicing her English.
She’s also started to talk with her Canadian neighbors.
They even invite her sometimes for coffee and to take walks.
It looks like Cenan is on her way to building her new life in Canada…