Hey there! This is TOP episode 317. The Hard Truth About Fluency Nobody Wants to Hear
You read English. You understand English. You’ve been learning for years, but when it’s time to speak your mind just freezes, and the words don’t come out. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. My name’s Ola, and this is Teacher Ola Podcast. I’m here to help you finally speak out loud. This isn’t about perfect grammar or fancy vocabulary. This is about your voice. Your words. Your real English.
Today I want to talk about something I see in almost all of my students: the struggle to speak fluently even though they try so hard.
Before I get into that I need to remind you. Today, Sunday 23 November 2025 is the final day. It’s the last day to join the Winter edition of Say It Out Loud. This is my email address: contact@teacherola.com, you can also catch me on TikTok and Instagram. Look, if you have any questions, if you feel like it;s for you but still hesitate, contact me. Most of the people who hesitate but really want this course are perfect candidates! You don’t believe in yourself, you think your level is too low. Trust me, all you need is practice and a boost of crazy confidence. That’s what you’re gonna get inside. Crazy, insane amount of confidence!
And remember, you join this program forever. You get lifetime access to all materials: grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation. You get unlimited access to me and this learning energy that you will need when life hits you. This is the place where you have constant access to English speaking practice. Even if your life gets busy I am holding you accountable. Not just me, all SIOLers. Go to teacherola.com/kurs and sign up.
Most of my students have the same problem. They really try. They try many times. They try different methods. They buy so many products. They jump from one-to-one lessons to group lessons. They buy e-books, courses, pronunciation trainings, grammar trainings, native-speaker classes. They listen to podcasts. They watch films, videos, series. They do so many things.
And yet, their results are mediocre. They’re frustrated. And they blame themselves. They think, “I’ve done everything. I’ve tried everything. Maybe I’m not talented enough.” But here’s the truth, and it’s a hard truth: you can’t pursue everything. You can’t learn everything. You can’t improve everything at once. Not in business, not in life, and definitely not in language learning.
And the craziest thing is, my students are ambitious people. They’re perfectionists. They do well in so many other areas of life. They’re organized. They have routines, habits, structure. They genuinely care about becoming better. They want to make their lives as great as possible. But language learning punishes that perfectionism. Because the more they try to fix everything, the more stuck they become.
The problem is that when you try everything, you make progress in nothing. There are so many opportunities, courses, apps, materials, and you think “maybe this time it will finally work.” You try to learn advanced vocabulary, difficult grammar nuances, more reading, more podcasts, another pronunciation course, another book, another app, another list of 100 new words. Meanwhile, the one thing you actually need, the one thing that moves the needle, the one thing that builds fluency, is speaking. Having conversations. Using the language. That’s the thing you avoid, because it’s uncomfortable, because you cringe, because you hear your own mistakes, because you’re scared you’re making even more mistakes you don’t even hear.
But fluency cannot grow in passive soil. It grows only in conversation. Everything else gives you a dopamine hit. You feel good because you bought something new. You feel productive because you have a new tool or just because you do something. But it’s temporary. Then comes the familiar cycle: burnout, and guilt, “I must try something else.”
Many people think they need to fix their grammar or learn more words before they speak well. But I’ll be honest, brutally honest. Most of you already know enough grammar. Most of you already know more than enough vocabulary. What you don’t have is automation and above all: confidence. These things come only from speaking. Not from podcasts. Not from Netflix. Not from another set of phrasal verbs. That’s why students feel stuck. They keep improving the wrong things.
Every time you switch your learning method because you’re bored or you don’t see results immediately, your performance drops. Yes, even if the new method is good, even if it feels fresh and motivating. Every time you switch, you lose rhythm, you have to adapt to new materials, you’re starting again from zero, and deep down, you’re still avoiding your real problem: lack of speaking practice. Constantly changing methods keeps you circling around passive learning. It keeps you stuck. It wastes your precious time and energy. And it never fixes your fluency problem. You don’t want your time wasted like this. You don’t want your energy wasted like this.
I know how tempting it is to switch to something new. New feels exciting. New feels like progress, even when it isn’t. So here’s the tactic I recommend.
Step one, don’t change your method immediately. Write the idea down. Create a list. Every time you think, maybe I need more vocabulary, maybe I should read more, maybe I should buy that pronunciation course, put it on the list. Don’t act on it.
Step two, ask yourself why you’re bored. What’s really missing? You might be bored because your conversations are too easy, because your speaking partner doesn’t challenge you, because you always talk about the same topics like weekend, work, or weather, because you don’t see progress because the tasks are too safe. So instead of changing the whole method, adjust the challenge, not the activity. You still need speaking.
Step three, find a place where you grow through speaking, not through consuming. You need a space where you’re pushed, a space where you’re interested, a space where you can make mistakes openly, a space where you get feedback, a space where your creative energy can actually be used. When you find this, you finally see results, because you’re doing the one thing that builds fluency.
People dream of speaking fluently but treat the process like a series of random side-quests, a new app here, a new book there, a new course there. But fluency needs time, consistency, patience, a safe tribe, real conversations, and a lot of imperfect, awkward, funny attempts. It doesn’t have to be cringe. It doesn’t have to be stressful. When you find your community, your tribe, speaking becomes the most natural and fun part of your week.
Don’t pour your energy into collecting books. Pour it into speaking. Don’t pour it into learning 50 advanced words. Pour it into using the 10 you already know. Don’t pour it into fixing every grammar nuance. Pour it into building confidence and flow. Confidence is the foundation of fluency. And confidence only grows through action. And the action is speaking.
Say It Out Loud, a 12-week speaking program, is your place. All the details are at teacherola.com/kurs, and all opinions and referrals are at siol.pl. The deadline to join is Sunday, November 23rd, because classes start Tuesday, November 25th, 2025. Teacherola.com/kurs. This is the last call.
Now, let’s do some practice. Repeat after me:
I need to focus on speaking.
I am going to say no to unnecessary vocabulary and grammar.
Speaking with real people helps me improve faster.
I will challenge myself in conversations every day.
My fluency grows when I practice consistently.
I don’t need to do everything at once.
When I find my community, speaking will be fun.
I’ll pour my time and energy into speaking
I will track my progress and celebrate small wins.
Confidence comes from practice.
That’s all from me now. I hope to get to know you better soon, I hope to see you among my students! Go to teacherola.com/kurs
Also! Don’t forget to head to teacherola.com/317 and grab your free worksheet. It’ll help you repeat the key phrases from this lesson.
Thank you so much for listening. Stay fearless, take care, and say it out loud! I’m your teacher, Teacher Ola, and you’ve been listening to Teacher Ola Podcast. Bye for now! See you inside the SIOL course!