Stephen Gowlett

Online Instructor, English language coach & material creator

About Me image
Hi there! My name is Steve Gowlett and I am an Englishman born, raised and schooled on the south coast of England who has been living in Spain for more than 30 years.  I am an experienced English teacher with a passion for helping students improve their English skills.

I have full understanding of the differences between English and Spanish, and I am qualified and experienced to help learners improve their English skills in a way that is natural, effective, and fun.

In my classes, I use a wide variety of techniques and resources to make sure that the lessons are interesting, productive, and tailored to each student's needs. My goal is to help my students improve their English proficiency in a natural and fluent way, so that they can confidently communicate in any situation.

Whether you're looking to improve your speaking skills, grammar, or vocabulary, I can help you achieve your goals. I specialize in fluency enhancing classes, where we discuss current and interesting topics that give you plenty of opportunities to learn new words and expressions.

I offer online classes that are flexible and convenient, so you can fit your lessons into your busy schedule. And don't worry if you're not in the same location as me - I have experience teaching students from all over the world!

My students have seen great results from my classes, and I am proud to say that many of them have recommended me to their friends and colleagues. See what they have to say in the testimonials section.

I am dedicated to helping my students reach their full potential in English, please contact me for more information and I look forward to working with you!

Thanks for visiting my website.

100% ONLINE ENGLISH CLASSES FOR ADULTS

100% ONLINE ENGLISH CLASSES FOR ADULTS

Highly engaging,interactive classes for adults via webcam for individuals and companies. Build your English skills with fluency and confidence. Online classes give you the flexibility to take classes from anywhere without being restricted to a classroom and specific location. Whatever your objective with the language is, I have a solution for you. See inside for more details.

Learn More
ONLINE COURSES AND MINI COURSES

ONLINE COURSES AND MINI COURSES

Not everyone has the need or the time to sign up for a series of classes all year, but there are times when some help in English is necessary. All my mini courses focus on specific areas of English language training or skills development. They offer standalone and Teacher-led content in resource-rich packages for English learners to purchase without the need of signing up for continuous classes month to month. Check inside for details, availabity and discount codes.

Learn More
PROOF READING & TRANSLATIONS

PROOF READING & TRANSLATIONS

Apart from my classes and online courses, I also offer a proof-reading service to help you prepare accurate reports, emails, and presentations. In addition, I also do non-juridical translations of documents from European Spanish to English and English to European Spanish.

Learn More
EXCLUSIVE FREE AND PAID MATERIAL ON PATREON

EXCLUSIVE FREE AND PAID MATERIAL ON PATREON

"Get insider access to exclusive free & paid content!" I upload various posts each month for my Patreon members including some free content available to all public. To access the free content, select "public" or "free content". But this is only a small sample of the content available for paying members. Consider becoming a paid member to unlock a lot more useful content and services specially for you!

Learn More
MY PODCAST & YOUTUBE CHANNEL

MY PODCAST & YOUTUBE CHANNEL

These channels combined offer over 135 useful free lessons for learners covering grammar, expressions, corrections and recommendations. Follow my Podcast across multiple audio streaming platforms and subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking the links inside.

Learn More

This is a blog for learners and teachers. Learners should not feel bad if this takes a while and teachers should not tell students to "think in English!" and expect that to make everything ok :) Thinking in English is a process that takes time.


Thinking in English


So, how long does it take until you can think in English? Well, how long is a piece of string?

The answer to both questions is….it depends.


It takes time to acquire the ability and that time varies from person to person. It is a process. In fact, I would even suggest that the objective is not to think in English, but to not be aware you are thinking at all.

In this blog I am going to talk about how thinking in English is achieved through speaking and what you can do to train your brain to think in English when reading and writing.


Speaking and thinking in English

 

“…you have repeated those answers so many times…”

 

If I ask you the following basic questions:


How are you?

What’s your name?

Where are you from?

What’s your job?


I am sure your answers would be instant. You would not be aware of the “thinking process”. This is because you have answered those questions and you have repeated those answers so many times since you started learning English. They have become interiorised, automatic. Your brain recognises the questions and can transmit the answer to your vocal cords with no delay.


I am sure at some point you have heard an English teacher say: “Think in English” or “Don’t translate”.

Both messages are valid, of course, but it is not as easy in practice. Translating, for example, is a completely natural process and until we are really familiar with sets of expression, subject matter, vocabulary, and grammar, some translation is to be expected. You cannot just switch translations off.


Learners tend to want to have an exact translation for new words and expressions. This is not always possible as your language base is likely completely different.

However, you can train yourself to be less dependent on translations.

When taking notes of new words and expressions, it is a much better practice to do so in English too. This helps you become less dependent on translations and gets you into the habit of thinking of explanations in English.

If you do translate, remember to look for something that is the equivalent in your language, with the same overall meaning even if it does not translate word for word.

For example, if you translated, word for word, this typical English expression for torrential rain into your language, I’m sure it would be lost in translation: “It was raining cats and dogs!”

As I mentioned, the ability to think in English without the need to translate, is a process and it takes time. This is true of any language, and many EFL teachers are learners of a second language themselves, so they do appreciate this.


We also make associations with situations and places and the language we use. I live in Spain and whenever I go to the supermarket, I speak in Spanish to the staff there. Then, when I find myself in a supermarket back in the UK, I often say “gracias” instead of “thanks”. This is because I have associated the language or a set of expressions with a situation or place.


So, repetition and familiar situations and subjects will help for speaking. But how else can you help yourself to start thinking in English?


One way is through reading.


Reading and thinking in English

 

“..Don’t stop every time you find a word you don’t know..”

 

There are two points I would like to focus on when talking about reading in English.

The first is reading for context. This is something I discuss in one of my podcast lessons and I recommend you give it a listen.



To summarise, I always recommend continuous reading. Don’t stop every time you find a word you don’t know. A lot of people do this. They stop and look up the meaning of an unknown word. This may sound like a good way of learning something new, but it breaks the brain’s natural learning process. Keep reading. In most cases, the meaning of the word will become apparent through context and this is, in fact, a more effective way of retaining the new word in memory.

As you read the first page, or pages, you may feel you haven’t understood much (or anything), but as you continue to read, things will start to make sense. A picture or story will start to form in your mind. While you read, your brain is stitching together words and sentences, adjectives, verbs, nouns, tenses, etc…. and you realise that, almost by magic, you understand the story or article.

It really works!


Now, the second point to mention regarding reading and thinking in English is “reading out loud”.

Grab a book, a blog, news article, whatever you prefer and start reading it out loud to yourself, but don’t stop until you finish it, or you finish a chosen section.  When you finish, if you have understood what you have read, then it is a clear indication that you have been thinking in English (or subliminally understanding at least 😊.)

It works better when you read out loud than in your head and it also allows you to practice your pronunciation too.

This is an activity you can put into practice immediately and the more you do this, the faster the learning process gets.


What else can you do? Well, what about writing?


Writing and thinking in English

 

“...If you are checking your writing, you are thinking..”


For many English learners, writing is the preferred form of communication. It can be more comfortable as we usually have more time to think than we do when speaking. You also have time to review what you have written; to make changes if necessary. You can ask yourself if your text reads naturally and sounds English? Does it translate too easily into your language? If it does, maybe you have translated things too directly and need to apply some changes.


There are things to check when writing, like spelling, the use of pronouns, the correct form of the verb, the level of formality, etc… If you are checking your writing, you are thinking 😊

And another great activity, if you have time, is to try to think of alternative ways of expressing the same idea.


Here is an example sentence with various alternatives:


The sales dropped last month but we are now seeing an increase.


After a drop in sales last month, we are now seeing an increase.

After a drop last month, we are now seeing an increase in sales.

Sales are improving this month compared to last month.

We have seen improvements in the sales figures since last month.

Despite a decrease in sales in the previous month, we are seeing positive results now.


I could keep going….


Each time you look for alternatives you are training your brain to think in English.

 

So, when a teacher tells you to think in English or stop translating, these are the ideas behind those words 😊. And for teachers, be aware of all the processes involved in turning your “recommendations” into a reality 😊


It is a process, but there are ways you can help yourself. And then, one day, if it has not already happened, you will wake up in the morning and realise you even had a dream in English😊


Let me know in the comments if you feel these tips have been useful and have worked for you, or if you have other suggestions to share with other learners.


Go practise thinking in English 



For periodic updates on my services join my free Newsletter.

I aim to be as non-intrusive as possible and my newsletters are sent out from time to time. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Join up now and let me help guide you towards success with English.



Sign up to the newletter and confirm your email address and instantly get my free eBook 

This little book contains 25 top tips and tricks to help you advance in English.



Click the link here to subscribe .


Newsletter Subscription + free eBook
ebook & Newsletter   image