Being comfortable with being uncomfortable in OET Speaking

Hi and welcome to this podcast. The IELTS OET and UK MLA Plab2 made easy podcast for medical professionals. My name is Kalsu and I specialise in training doctors and nurses to get the score they need in IELTS and OET and also training doctors on how to improve their clinical communication skills for UK MLA Plab2. The aim of this podcast is to arm you with authentic advice from someone who has been teaching these tests, especially IELTS and OET for over 10 years. I share the core fundamentals of these tests, the essential information, strategies and advice on what you should be doing and what you need to avoid doing. Anything and everything to make sure you keep moving forward in your preparation and getting you closer to achieving your scores and getting your dream job abroad. I understand and appreciate that your time is busy as medical professionals. You have very limited time so I do try to keep the episodes short and one of the advantages of podcasts is that you can listen on the go. So before I get into the main topic of this episode, there are a few things that I'd like to bring to your attention that you can find in the show notes. So you'll find lots of links in the show notes and firstly you'll find the link to my free training for OET called OET Success Training which is a series of five videos that take you through all aspects of the test and I share how you should be preparing and how you can improve your skills and this training alone has helped so many doctors and nurses get the score they need. If you would like to train with me for OET then you'll find the link to my flagship OET Success membership group and also a little video which explains how the training works. You'll also find a link to my free Plab2 Core Clinical Communication Skills webinar. This is a webinar I delivered earlier last year where I go through the key clinical communication concepts that need to be present in any consultation. It's an invaluable resource to help you not just for your Plab2 but beyond the test and in your careers. If you would like to join my clinical communication mastery for UKMLA Plab2 then just drop me an email. This is a group training program of only eight doctors. So I only take eight doctors at a time, only eight doctors in one group. This is to make sure that everybody in the group gets enough practice and feedback. So if you're interested in joining that then just drop me an email which leads me to the last thing you can find my email address and how you can contact me and connect with me on LinkedIn. Hi and welcome to this episode. So this episode is all about something that catches so many candidates, OET candidates, off guard in the OET speaking test. And that's dealing with unfamiliar accents and unfamiliar scenarios in OET speaking. So what tends to happen is, you know, you've spent months preparing, you're fully prepared for the test, you've practiced for months with your teacher, with your colleagues, your friends, your cat and you walk into the test and the examiner has a strong accent or an accent you're not familiar with, maybe an Australian accent or a Scottish accent, or you're faced with an unfamiliar scenario, one that you've never seen before and panic kicks in, you freeze, your confidence crumbles and obviously your performance suffers. So in this episode, I'm going to help you fix that. We're going to break down why unfamiliar accents and scenarios feel scary. And we're going to look at what OET is really testing in these moments, and most importantly, how to train your ear, your brain and your mindset to stay calm, to adapt and respond like a professional. So why do unfamiliar accents or situations kind of throw you off? So let's start with the real issue here. It's not that you don't understand English. It's not that you, you know, you have weak English. It's not that you, that your speaking skills are weak. The issue is that your brain hasn't had enough exposure to a range of voices and real world situations. So you've trained yourself to respond in familiar patterns. So perhaps you've practiced with the same partner. You have practiced same types of patients and same types of roleplay, same types of scenarios. But what you need to understand is that language doesn't live in a textbook. It lives in real life. It's messy. It's unpredictable conversations. And OET knows that. And that's why sometimes they test you with a regional or a non standard accent. They test you with a patient with a rare condition or a mental health issue. They test you with a situation where empathy or adaptability is more important than the textbook vocabulary. So the key to mastering this quite simply is to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. So the number one thing you can do, what is the number one thing you can do? So obviously, you don't need to live in the UK or Australia to get used to accents. You just need to build your listening muscle. And I've talked about this in previous episodes as well. So one of the things you can do is the five minute accent immersion method. So every day for just five minutes, listen to a native speaker with an unfamiliar accent. And if you go onto YouTube, or if you find a podcast episode, you will definitely find different people with different accents. And one website that I always talk about that is so useful for so many different aspects of OET. And, you know, just improving your English generally is TED Talks. There you get people from all over the world talking about their specialist area. And you just listen for five minutes to that person. So try to pick somebody with a different accent, with an unfamiliar accent. And the key thing here is that you're not doing it for understanding. You're not doing it so that you can try to understand every single word. And especially in the beginning. But what you need to do is just train your ear. So, you know, you won't be able to understand every single word. And that's fine for now. So, like I mentioned, other places that you can listen to is BBC Regional News for UK Accent. So on the BBC website, you will find different regions of the UK. And, you know, there are different accents all over the UK. So when you go north, you'll find different accent changes. The more north you go down south, it's different. And to the west, it's different. So try to find the regional areas on the website and listen to those accents. Listen to Australian health podcasts like ABC Health Report. Try Irish or South African interviews on YouTube. TED Talks, like I've mentioned from different countries. Don't write anything down. Don't take any notes. Just listen. Listen attentively for that five minutes. Let your brain absorb the rhythm and the flow. And if you keep doing this, keep doing this every single day over time, you'll become more accent flexible, which is a key skill for any healthcare professional working globally. And like everything that I teach, consistency is the key. Doing a little every day will amount to a lot over time. So in the beginning, you may not think it's having any impact. It's not working, you're not understanding anything, but you have to keep on doing it. And I always give the example of going to the gym. You know, you go to the gym, you want to lose weight, you know, you pick up the weights, you run on the treadmill. And, you know, it doesn't seem like anything is happening. You go for maybe a week, you know, on time every single day, but you haven't, you can't see any effect. You know, your weight hasn't moved or anything like that. You know, the results don't come that quickly. You have to keep doing it over time consistently. And that's when you'll get the results. Another way you can help with these issues is building scenario flexibility. So in OET speaking, you might get a scenario that's totally unfamiliar, a parent refusing a vaccine, for example, or a patient struggling with depression, a conversation about drug misuse or chronic pain, for example. And that can be quite intimidating, especially if your real clinical experience is limited or is very different to these kinds of things. You have to remember one thing. You're being tested on clinical, sorry, you're not being tested on clinical decision making. You're being tested on how well you communicate, how clearly, how calmly and compassionately you handle the conversation, something that a lot of doctors and nurses forget. So here's something that you can do. Every time you do a speaking role play, ask yourself, what's the emotion behind this patient situation? And try to address that emotion in the role play. So you could say something like, Mrs. X, you seem quite nervous about this injection. You know, acknowledge the emotion that you can see. Think to yourself, how would I respond if I didn't know the perfect phrase? What would you say? Practice paraphrasing, redirecting and showing empathy, even in unfamiliar territory. And deliberately try to choose difficult scenarios from OET sample role plays, the ones that scare you, the ones where you kind of try to avoid and you think, oh, I'm not too sure about that. Actually do those ones, deliberately try to choose the difficult ones. And really just try to put yourself out of your comfort zone because that's where the real growth happens. Another strategy that you can use is you need go-to phrases that work across any accent or situation. So no matter what you're faced with, you have your go-to phrases that you can rely upon. You know, these are what I call universal language tools. And I've talked about this in previous episodes where you build up your own kind of language bank that you lean on when you get a bit stuck. So let's go through a few examples. So say, for example, you didn't quite catch the accent clearly and you couldn't understand a few words. You can buy yourself a little bit of time and say something like, I'm sorry, could you say that again, please? Or just to make sure I understood you correctly and you repeat what you think you heard. Or if you're unfamiliar with the topic, you could say something like, that's a great question. Let me explain what we normally do in this situation. Or I can understand why that might be concerning. Let me walk you through it. When you feel unsure about something, so you say, okay, Mrs. X, let's work together to figure out what's best for you. Or Mrs. X, what matters most here is your comfort and understanding. So these aren't scripts, you know, by now, that I don't teach memorizing dialogues and things like that. But these are stock phrases that can be used in any OET speaking test that still sound natural and that can strategically buy you a little bit of time and get the role player to repeat what they said, giving you a little another opportunity to understand what they've said. So these are almost like safety nets. Phrases that keep you in control even when the situation feels unfamiliar. Another thing you need to do is rehearse with variety. If you're always practiced with the same person, the same teacher, you're building predictable fluency. But the exam day will be unpredictable. So you're not doing yourself any favors there. So here's a challenge. Practice with three to five different people before your exam. You could join an online speaking group, record yourself responding to random role play cards. Practice with a timer and even background noise to simulate real life pressure. And obviously, if you're a part of my OET speaking success program, you know, I design mock tests and we use mock tests with a range of scenarios and speech styles to prepare you exactly for this thing, for this issue to make sure that this isn't an issue for you. And I get you to practice with different people. So when we're doing in our lessons, in our group work lessons, when we're doing the speaking, you're not always practicing with me, you're practicing with other doctors, other nurses, and so you're getting a good variety of accents and different styles. So to sum up what we've been talking about, be adaptable and don't worry about perfection. So be adaptable, not perfect. So OET is not testing for perfection. It's testing professionalism under pressure. Can you adapt to a difficult patient? Can you respond to someone with a strong accent? Can you stay calm, kind and clear even when you're, you know, thrown a curveball and you know, you're in unfamiliar territory. That's what matters. So instead of aiming for perfection, you know, perfect pronunciation, perfect phrases, aim for flexible thinking, aim for calm responses, aim for empathetic communication. You've already got the skills. Now you're already medical professionals, doctors, nurses, you just need to train your resilience. I hope you found this episode helpful. Please do let me know. There is a feedback or a comment section in the, the show notes. So please let me know what you think. And also, you know how to contact me in the show notes as well. So until the next episode, take care and keep working hard. I really hope you found this episode helpful. I always enjoy getting your feedback. So do drop me an email and let me know your thoughts. Also, if there is any aspect of OET, IELTS or Plab2 that you find challenging, then let me know. And I'll do an episode on it. In the meantime, thank you for listening and make sure you share this podcast with your colleagues and on social media so more people can benefit and some parting advice, especially to those who have failed, failed to get the scores that they've needed in the past and are retaking any of these tests. It's not enough to just listen to what you need to do to improve your skills and scores. You must implement the advice and practice. You have to push yourself outside of your comfort zone because that's where real progress is made. Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes. Take care and keep working hard.