From A1 to C2 (and beyond)

Hello. How are you? Are you happy with your English? I don’t know the answer to that question but I suspect that your English is better now than it was in October. Is it true? If that is the case I suppose that you are doing something right. Of course if you find these opening lines a little too simple you have probably passed the B1 level, which is great.

Some people believe that a learner’s command of a foreign language depends on his/her grammar and vocabulary and there is some truth to that. However, I have seen talented students get the upper-intermediate blues. This happens because the more you progress the more you become aware of how much there is to know. In other words, the initial false sense of security starts to fade away. In the B2 classes it is usual for pupils to have the sneaky feeling that they might never get to the advanced level. The pressure soon becomes utterly overwhelming. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Your self-esteem hits an all-time low and you begin to toy with the idea of quitting. You draw the conclusion that it is pointless to do any more fill-in-the-blanks exercises nor is it useful to audit an advanced course because you know full well that one can’t make much headway just by being a fly on the wall.

Furthermore you understand you are prone to expressing yourself in a much less demanding register, which favors the views of those who seek to bolster the contention that a glut of ill-advised C1 graduates on the market is lowering the bar. And then it dawns on you: you’re far more versatile than you thought you’d ever be. All those years of devoted learning are finally starting to pay off. In a moment of clarity you realize what the key to your success is and, consequently, decide not to hold yourself to unreasonable standards, like the perfectionist who shies away from any open debate lest a blunder tarnish their already frazzled self-image. So one day you choose to speak out.

Long gone is the crippling sense of unease, the feeling of being perpetually stricken with self-doubt. You vanquish your worst fears and manage to dazzle headhunters, examiners and professors alike, all of whom feel the irrepressible urge to sing your praises. It is then that your neurons in the pleasure centers of your brain fire off like the fountains in front of the Bellagio. Your speaking skills are, once and for all, off the charts. You’ve reached nerdvana.