Tonight... I stand here. I stand here, not as a Guru 🧘 I stand here as a survivor.🏆 This journey has been long. It was full of dark nights. Many times, I wanted to quit! I thought: "English is too hard! My brain cannot do it!" But then... I saw your faces.😀 I read your comments. You gave me strength 💪 . You were the light ☀️ in my darkness.🖤 This Guru title is not mine. It belongs to every one of you who believed in me, even when I did not believe in myself! Thank you. Now, I must go. The drama is very too much for me 😭 . I need a large handkerchief 🤧 and a short nap, 😴 I’m really exhausted! 🥳 🤣

Hello, buddies! Before going to bed, I would like to share a good way to practice our speaking! This is not new, but some people may miss it! Hope it helps you a little bit! @Shane Peterson thanks so much for your sharing!

For the past year or two, I’d been only doing the regular blanks—the four red sections. I usually tried to finish it according to coach Shane’s recommendation-within 30 minutes. It became a comfortable routine, something familiar and predictable. But this morning, December 1st, something felt different. I opened the new month’s dictation files as usual, but when I glanced at the options, I noticed an advanced version sitting there—quiet, almost saying hi to me. I caught myself thinking, “Why not try the advanced one?” It wasn’t the first time that thought crossed my mind. I’d hovered over it before, even imagined clicking on it… but I always backed out. Even the regular blanks were challenging enough; the advanced version felt like a door I wasn’t ready to open. So why did I open it today? It wasn’t about testing how much my listening had improved. What I really wanted was to figure out what blue sections I kept missing or mishearing.— Afterall, these parts we also practice in live classes— If I could spot those weaknesses, maybe I could strengthen them in the future. It was a quiet shift in mindset, but a powerful one: “I’m not here to test myself. I’m here to improve.” And with that shift, everything changed. When I heard gibberish and had no idea what George was saying, I didn’t spiral. I didn’t blame myself. I didn’t ask the usual painful question: “Why haven’t I made more progress after studying for so long?” Instead, I thought, “Oh, so that’s what George said. I can follow the story, even if I can’t catch every word. I’ll understand the details when coach Shane shares the answers.” This mindset didn’t appear overnight. It had probably been growing quietly inside me for a long time. I’d typecast myself without realizing it—I just kept myself inside a small box because I thought that’s all I could handle. But here’s the thing: even while staying in that box, I never stopped learning. My dictation results over the past couple of years were hit-or-miss, but I kept going, little by little. Whenever I felt like “ Oh, my listening was finally improving, the next passage would completely stump me. And that’s normal. That’s part of learning. It doesn’t mean I’m incompetent.”

Do you understand how you drastically change a sentence simply by changing the location of ONLY one word?!!

Coach Shane, could I sell your courses in my country/city? I've always been very hesitant because my courses are really built with all my heart and soul. But I've decided that IF you are VERY familiar with everything we do, then I'm not opposed to it. So, if you are interested, I'm now considering it. Please DM me and we can discuss it. CS