Megan Miller is back on the podcast with me! 
 
 We recorded at the end of last week, so it’s still January and I wanted to offer something a bit different from the usual content that we hear at the beginning of a new year.

 We talked about:
 • How being too prescriptive about habits can steal our joy – language is important
 • How saying “no” and being intentional about what we really want can create space to start new things or give us more time for things that are really important to us
 • The importance of self-care and self-compassion as we think about how we want to allocate our time and energy resources. Figure out what works for you!
 • The importance of boundaries – with ourselves and others.
 • How life works in seasons. What kind of season are you in right now?
 
Check out the show notes page here: https://englishwithkirsty.com/episode267/

Or go back to episode 240 to listen to our first conversation.

How has 2025 been for you so far?

For anyone who's listening in January 2025 - wishing you a year with interesting encounters, opportunities that help you to grow, and people who will support you along the way! If you have discovered the episode at a later date - have a wonderful day!

You won't get one of the typical new year episodes from me about what you should be thinking/starting or doing differently. There's enough of that around and a lot of it lacks self-compassion. 

I think any time can be a good time to make a positive change. However, sometimes for us in the northern hemesphere, the middle of winter is not the best time to start pushing ourselves to do something radically different. Sometimes a gentler start to the new year is better. 

But I have been making changes here at English with Kirsty. Last year I posted about them on LinkedIn. I rewrote parts of my website and reorganised the pages. I changed how I approach my content creation so that I now concentrate on 7 main topics ... and I didn't talk about those here on the podcast.

So this is a quick episode to tell you where my focus will be this year so that you'll know what's coming up on the podcast.There may also be other things that I don't know about yet, but this is a fair snapshot of what I'm doing right now.

In July 2025, the English with Kirsty podcast will be 10. I want to run some kind of online event to celebrate that, so let me know using the contact form on the show notes page or via LinkedIn if you have any ideas!
 
https://englishwithkirsty.com/episode266/
or you ca email me - [email protected]

My "31 ways to improve your English" challenge is back again and we'll be starting on 1st January 2025!

I don't believe that the beginning of a new year is the best time to start new things or bring about change! But it is true that our routines change throughout December and sometimes it's hard to get back into the habit of practising our additional language skills outside of the things that we need to do for work.

Also, sometimes people want to learn new things, but they feel bored with what they're doing at the moment and want to change things up a bit.

This is where my 31 ways to improve your English challenge comes in.

Each day, you receive a new activity to develop some aspect of your language. If you're doing it to improve your English, you also have access to me to ask questions or get written feedback about any of your tasks.


Find the show notes page here: https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode265/

or sign up for the challenge here: 
https://englishwithkirsty.com/about-the-lessons/31days/
The challenge costs £22 and we begin on 1st January 2025. If you come across this episode after that time, check my events page for current events:
https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/events

I met Dolores a few months ago at a networking event and since then I’ve been getting to know her better at my networking and language exchange events for language professionals.

Dolores is also a podcaster – in fact that was one of our first topics. I thought it would be interesting to talk about Dolores work, her podcast, and why she decided to split it into two separate podcasts with content in both Spanish and English.

We talked about:

You can find all the links and further details on the show notes page:
https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode264/

In this week's episode I'm talking about my new interactive workshop, which is all about the challenges that we can face as advanced language learners. We've got our language to a good level, but then, for whatever reason, we feel stuck and it's hard to move forward.

We'll explore 5 challenges that you might be facing and what you can do to move past them.

Talking about problems isn't fun, so I wanted to make it a bit more approachable and light-hearted. I also didn't want to make case studies with these 5 challenges in case anyone had the same name as the characters. So instead, we have 5 dogs. You can see the retriever in the picture here - she struggles with perfectionism. Does anyone relate to that? If you do, come along to the workshop!

We also have 4 other dogs with different situations, so if you come, you'll discover whether you're more like the spaniel, the labrador, the German shepherd or the collie!

Or maybe you'll have elements of more than one. As a language learner, I do!

This is where you can find out more about the workshop on 28th November 2024 and book your place:
https://englishwithkirsty.com/dogs-and-language-learners-tips-for-advanced-learners-to-get-unstuck/

And this is where you can listen to the episode on my site:
https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode263/

If you use access technology or have other accessibility requirements, you can’t just find a good language course and sign up for it! First you need to check out how accessible that course will be for you, how willing the course provider is to make any adaptions, and then you can make an informed decision about whether it’s going to be a good option to meet your needs.

I’m a learner as well as a teacher and I have a lot to say about this too, but I thought it would be more interesting to have a discussion with one of my clients who also uses access technology.

I’ve known Elisabeth for a number of years now. In fact, she was my second customer! We talked about:

Find out more on the show notes page:
https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode262/

Today I'm talking about some of the activities in which I've been participating in order to develop my language skills in a way that's relevant to work. Whether that was attending a Women in Localisation webinar in Portuguese, meeting a Toastmaster's group in Portugal, or planning future attendance at a workshop in German - all of these things are somehow work-related and at the same time, they help me to develop relevant, work-related vocabulary. 

I should add that I didn't need to look for these opportunities. all of the invitations came to me through my network. If you spend time getting to know people and building relationships, those people will probably invite you to things!

I also talk about some other things you can do such as looking for industry-specific podcasts, publications, or social media accounts.

Whether you're developing your passive listening skills at a webinar, participating in a workshop, or even going on a podcast in an additional language - all of these things can help you to grow and become a more confident user of your additional language/s.

Here is the show notes page. 
https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode261/

You can send me a message with any feedback at [email protected] 
or come and find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/ 

You first met Maria in episode 244 of the podcast about the conversation club.

I first met her at our networking for language professionals events and through her interview on the Language Worker podcast.

Maria also shared more of her story at one of our conversation club meetings and I thought it would be interesting to share this story with you as well.

We talked about:

* Maria’s interest in writing and how it has continued throughout the different stages of her career
* Maria’s blog in Portuguese
* Tips for how writing can help you to improve your language skills – either in your first language or an additional one
* How writing by hand and typing in other languages with additional characters are good ways
* How writing or journalling can help us to be present and get to know ourselves better.

We also discussed Maria’s upcoming course for those who want to learn more about subtitling. You can find the details here: 
https://www.translastars.com/course/master-subtitling

Who is Maria?>
Maria Virgínia Barros is a passionate wordsmith with a background in export and international communication. After completing her degree in contemporary languages and literature from the University of Porto, she deepened her skills through a postgraduate program in specialised translation at Porto Executive Academy.
Today, Maria Virgínia dedicates herself exclusively to translation and subtitling projects for various companies and television networks.
Her love for language extends beyond professional work. Maria Virgínia continues to write poetry and has maintained a personal blog, Sítio da Saudade, for nearly two decades. She believes that poetry and translation share a fundamental connection: the pursuit of the perfect word.

Find out more on the show notes page: https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode260/

Connect with us on LinkedIn:
Kirsty - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/
Maria - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariavirginiabarros-language-consultant/ 

September can be a time for new beginnings, although really, we don't need to wait for a certain month to start something new. Still, lots of people are talking about new plans and ideas at the moment and it got me thinking...

Some people just get an idea and run with it. For others, there are a number of things that get in the way or that make us put things off. Sometimes just taking the first step and getting started is the hardest part.

So what are those things? This week we're looking at 8 of them and what we can do to prevent them from getting in the way of us starting something new and exciting!

Here is the show notes page. 
https://englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode259/
I mentioned my 3 main programmes too - details of all of them can be found on the home page of my English with Kirsty site. 

***********
Send me an email if you have any questions or suggestions about the English with Kirsty podcast:
[email protected]
or come and find me on LinkedIn 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/

Today I'm bringing you my conversation with Helen. You may remember her because she featured on episode 235 about the conversation club.

This is part of a new series where I'm talking about different aspects of learning languages. We'll explore some of the challenges that my clients have faced and how they overcame them.

Helen isn't someone who loves learning languages, but she needed English for some professional training that she was doing and she was motivated enough to get some help with it. Helen went from someone who felt nervous about speaking English to someone who now talks to strangers at the gym and prepares presentations for us at the club.

What changed? Find out in the episode!
 
Find the show notes here: https://www.englishwithkirsty.com/podcast/episode258
and you can connect with me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-wolf-a8478235/