Building English Proficiency for Success

From housing to communication, we want to make sure that we equipped you with the tools to feel confident and prepared. Today's topic is one that impacts every international nurse, and that is building English proficiency for success. I know the English tests are all very scary, but it is not a topic to be scared of. Strong communication isn't just going to be helpful. It's honestly essential for safe patient care, professional growth, and just building meaningful connections in your new community. So to guide us through this very important conversation, I'm excited to welcome Lauren.

She is our Language Proficiency Program Manager here at Health Carousel. So she works directly with our international nurses to help improve language skills beyond the classroom and beyond test prep. And today she's gonna be here to share practical strategies that you can start using right away. Lauren, how are you doing today?

I'm good. Courtney, good morning. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. This is my first live broadcast. I'm really excited to be talking about something so important to the immigration journey for a nurse coming to the United States. One thing about the English exam is that it's just such a huge milestone.

You know, when you pass it, just see all the months and all the preparation that you did, all the practice, all the talking to yourself about the speaking section, all of that. But that is just the first milestone of many more in your English journey, which is going to be concurrent to your immigration journey and your journey here, as an immigrant to the United States. And so today, what I'm gonna talk to you about is how true language proficiency is an ongoing effort after the exam.

All of that will just make you feel safer, more confident and just more connected to both your facility and your community, and, just overall just enhance your career and every aspect of your life in the United States.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Lauren, you said it, I think the best way possible, and we are so excited to have you on here. You know, it's my first broadcast in a couple months, so, I'm equally excited. But before we dive into this topic, I want our viewers to take a moment to answer the question that we are going to be putting on the screen. So as I mentioned earlier, you know, we have a new feature that we're trying out, so make sure that you submit your answers. But the big question is, which part of English communication do you find most challenging in real life situations?

So we're gonna give it a couple minutes just so that way we can see, some of the answers coming in.

And just know too that, you know, like Laura mentioned, you know, English can be like nerve racking, and so you might have a few most challenging in real life situations, but even native English speakers also find challenging in real life situations. You know for instance, it's common to stutter, when you get nervous talking, and then it can be hard to kind of put those thoughts into words. So you're not alone in your challenges.

Like I said, us native English speakers also find challenges in every day to day situations.

All right. So it looks like we've got some answers coming in.

We have a lot voting for speaking confidently during patient handoffs or team discussions.

It also looks like we have a lot voting for making small talk or joining social conversations.

Definitely gonna give you all some more time, so make sure to submit your vote.

Small talk is hard.

You know, it's, I think, even difficult just for me.

You know, small talk, you have to find, you know, common interest right away. Sometimes you might not know when to jump into a conversation if it's a group of people. So like I said, you're definitely not alone.

Alright. Just gonna give it one more minute here. So get your answers in while you can.

Alright.

Looks like a lot of us are voting for understanding fast conversations or medical slang.

Yeah. That's definitely one that comes up a lot, especially for nurses who are, really thinking about the adjustments that it's going to be. There's new accents, there's abbreviations, there's slang all coming at you in so many different ways in your facility and as well as in your life in the United States. And so I definitely can see why that would be up there.

Yeah, definitely.

All right.

So I think we're gonna wrap up the poll. If you didn't get your answer submitted, not to worry.

That's what Lauren is here for. We're gonna make sure that we cover all of these topics in today's segment.

But again, catching up in fast conversations or medical terms, that's definitely something we hear from a lot of our health care professionals that are in our program. So Lauren, I'm gonna kick it off to you, and let's get started so that way we can make sure that we cover all things English related.

Yeah. So, I'll go in order of the poll and that way we're definitely sort of addressing all of the different issues that you already are thinking of as healthcare professionals. And that's a big part of what I'm going to talk about today is essentially being able to build that self feedback or self reflection and feedback, and that starts with passing the test. While you're studying for your English exam, it's important to then think about not only what you've mastered so far, but also to where the skill gaps after passing the test lie. Skill gaps would be something like what we talked about previously in terms of maybe not knowing different idioms or different nuanced phrases in English. A skill gap might be that you know every word to so many different English songs but writing a paragraph can be very difficult or scary sometimes.

And so while you're studying for that exam in all four sections, start to kind of think about you know which are the ones that I'm going to have to work a little bit harder to essentially just build those skills more when you get to the United States.

And that will also then just help you communicate with confidence. Right? You no one's going to become fluent in English overnight. And as Courtney mentioned, native speakers, they, you know, we're always learning things. I look up what words mean all the time, but that is what gives me confidence, frankly. It makes me know that I know what the words mean because I was able to kind of have my own kind of conversation with English, no matter what the level is.

And so I always encourage nurses to find resources that match where they're at. So for example, let's say listening to a podcast about climate change or something is going to be a little bit too much. That's just the vocabulary is a little too advanced, but you love sports. You love football, what we call soccer here in the United States.

And so maybe you just start by listening to a podcast about your favorite athlete. Well, you'll connect the words to the words in your native language a lot faster, and then you'll be able to communicate in confidence at least with one subject. And as Courtney mentioned earlier, sports is a very popular small talk subject in the United States. We do it all the time here in the office, and it's just a really great way to connect with people.

And not only that, but to connect with patients, right? There will be moments where you would need to make conversation with your patients in order to, if it's a part of bedside manner or a part of just the overall interaction. And you definitely want to have just the ability to be able to talk about things freely, and that just comes with developing those skills. And then simultaneously, you'll grow your skills as a professional.

Basically through those daily listening habits, through those daily speaking habits and daily writing habits, while you're studying, while you're waiting to deploy, and, once you're finally at bedside here in the United States, all will sort of work together for that confidence.

Absolutely. And I know Lauren had said that she is constantly looking up new words and we too are continuously learning. The English language is definitely a difficult language. And so I know sometimes studying can feel like a burden or maybe it's the last thing you wanna do.

But almost look at it as a big opportunity. You know, you have the opportunity to learn and grow your mind and grow your communication. And that's something that I try to do still, even though English is my first language, there, you know, is a ton more for me to learn. And so it is nice to know that you can continuously learn.

And then when you do apply it, whether it be at your test or maybe a simple conversation in small talk or maybe a new skill that you learn or a new word that you use when you're handing a patient over, it's definitely something to celebrate. And so make sure that you are celebrating those little accomplishments along the way when you're growing your English skills.

Yeah, when communication fails, care suffers, right? So one thing that's important about recognizing those language gaps is that they can affect patient outcomes, right? When it comes to maybe a missed detail in a handoff or a misunderstood abbreviation, or perhaps a phrase that one provider used is just different than another one and you weren't able to catch it.

All of those not only shape your relationships with your patients, but they also shape the consequences of the care that you're able to provide or the quality of the care. And so it's really important to kind of divide when you're studying for English or preparing for preparing for communication in English in bedside. It's important to think of your skill gaps in terms of the obvious ones and then the hidden ones. What are the points of communication that sort of make you freeze up?

And that, is where you're going to really want to build those skills after your English exam. So if you struggle with how fast, which we were talking about beforehand, how fast Americans typically speak, you definitely would want to watch movies and television shows that reflect that fast speech. Perhaps maybe you need to look at accents or the different regions and the different slang there. All of those will affect how your patients communicate with you and therefore are an important skill to build even though they weren't necessarily a part of the English examination process.

So definitely all of the language, all of the preparation that you do, all of the focus and dedication, all of it will pay off every single day, when you're at bedside.

Yeah, definitely. And we are getting just a couple questions in, and this, you know, is something that I think we get asked a lot.

Lauren, you'll probably be able to speak more on this too, but I know this is a big question. So Laura had asked, are we able to take the OET or the PTE?

And I think it's a great question because it's definitely a common one that we get since there are so many different English exams out there.

Absolutely, yes. So first thing I will say is definitely when it comes to your language exam and choosing which English exam is right for you, or also knowing which English exam you can take for your immigration journey, I definitely recommend consulting with your assignee.

They will be able to talk you through so many different aspects of your personal journey through Health Carousel, and they'll be able to then help you determine in terms of how long that you will need to study, in terms of which kind of test goes best with your testing style, and which one goes the best for your licensure. They will definitely be able to have those conversations with you, so I definitely encourage you to do that.

But I'm so glad that you're asking now and thinking about that because the tests are different, but they also too are all recognized, the ones that you mentioned, OET, PTE, IELTS, all of those, by, TrueMerit, and you'll be you can use them for your immigration purposes. So you can use them both, but I will say, for immigration purposes for your visa screen, but I would, definitely consult with your assignee in terms of, which one is the best for you. Using the two examples that you gave, in your question, OET is going to be more directly tied to the nursing profession. So it's the occupational English test, everything, every single subject on that test is all going to be about nursing.

Whereas the PTE is similar to the IELTS in that it serves the purpose of so many different professions, academics, etc. And so that is going to be a more comprehensive look at speaking English. And also the test format is a little bit different as that it's all on a computer with a microphone as opposed to with somebody in person.

Yes, so as far as being able to take both of them for your immigration purposes, you certainly can, but I definitely would check with your assignee to just make sure that that's the best choice for you.

Perfect, thank you so much for your expertise and really explaining the difference between the exams. I think that is extremely helpful for our audience, especially those who are just kind of getting started on learning what different types of English exams there are out there and maybe which is the best fit for them.

Well, yeah, we talked about this a little bit earlier, but with this one, when we dive into the hidden gaps here, I do also want to talk about the different resources that we have here at Health Carousel to help with those gaps. So this is very similar to our discussion earlier where we were talking about hidden gaps versus obvious gaps. The obvious gaps are the part of the iceberg in this visual that we can see, grammar and pronunciation. These are elements of English that your colleagues, your friends, people who work in the community will be able to then, clearly tell where that gap is.

They'll hear a word and think that you, you know, said it in a different, in a way that shows that the grammar is a little bit different than their grammar, the common structure of the grammar in the area that you live in the United States. There's no right or wrong, English is changing as we speak, but there definitely where you move to in the United States, there's definitely going to be, some structure to what is considered right grammar or incorrect grammar. And so, that would be obvious to a person that you have to maybe do a little bit more grammatical work.

Pronunciation is similar, maybe it's difficult for someone to hear a word. Again, it doesn't mean that you are doing anything correctly or incorrectly. One of my favorite quotes is by this law professor named Amy Chua who says, What is a foreign accent? It is an act of bravery.

So being able to just even showcase your efforts and your dedication to getting to that point in the iceberg. It's such a beautiful accomplishment. But the other aspects of language development will be ones that you sort of know personally about yourself, but perhaps they haven't been expressed, right? So in terms of maybe a struggle with writing, you know, different patient notes or maybe, you know, hesitating when a patient is asking about their symptoms or asking about what their healthcare providers are saying, then maybe perhaps you're pausing a lot or hesitating and it's making them kind of feel like you're not understanding what they're saying.

So those are definitely the the conversations to have with yourself now and or just start them anyway in terms of what are my hidden gaps. Do I get nervous when I'm speaking English, which is totally normal. I'm obviously a little nervous speaking English. It's so it's so normal.

And and and so or is it not nerves, or do you think you know, I'm not a nervous person, but when I don't know the word, I just kind of freeze, and I don't know what to do, and then I get nervous that I'm not I don't know my job, you know, all of those kind of things are definitely conversations just to have with yourself now so you can build that system of self reflection and personal feedback so that then you can access it once you're here in the United States, and have those conversations with a doctor or a fellow nurse or somebody in reception or anything like anybody who works there, anybody in the community you can then ask you know, did I say that right, or could you repeat that please?

And you can say that with the confidence because you know exactly where you need to fit that language in, or you fit that skill gap in, fixing, or, I'm trying to get the word, you know, basically working on those skills, developing them so that you're just more confident every day.

Yeah, and Lauren, you make a great point. And all of our healthcare professionals, I mean, you had to go to school and learn how to become a working nurse before you felt confident actually working with a real life patient. So it's gonna be the same thing with your English, you know? You're gonna have to go through, you're gonna have to study, and you're gonna have to work hard before you probably feel fully confident, you know, having a relevant conversation, doing a patient handoff in the English language. So, you know, be patient with yourself, know, give yourself a little bit of grace and just know that practice makes perfect. So don't give up on your practicing.

Yes. Okay. So, for your English toolkit, this, the first thing I wanna talk about is the conversation partner program that we have here.

It's a really effective way to connect and build your skills as a conversationalist in English.

So, the conversation partner program that we have here at Health Carousel, what it is, is, if you are interested in a conversation partner, definitely talk to your assignee. They will explain it, as I am today, and again kind of help you decide if this is the right program for you. It is a ten week program in which once a week for thirty minutes a week over a video call, you meet with a volunteer who is an internal employee here at Health Carousel and you simply converse. You talk about anything and everything in relation to where your skill gaps lie.

So for example, let's just say you, are somebody who, has been speaking English for many years, but you really don't have, a good grasp on a lot of the cultural language, the slang, the popular music, the, all the all the nuances, the idioms that, American English speakers use, their accents, everything, then perhaps you just want to discuss that, discuss what's going on in the United States in every aspect and learn that way. Other people for, you know, sometimes they have, they feel really, really strong about their English, but sometimes they just make little mistakes and they just want someone to hear them.

And they just want someone to point out, you know, where they're making those mistakes and get that immediate feedback. The program is ten weeks, so definitely talk to your, current assignee about when in your journey that it would be the best time to use that program if you're interested.

Definitely has had a big impact for nurses on their confidence with their English exams, their maintenance of their vocabulary, their maintenance of their fluency really. And then once they get here to the United States, people who use the program after healthcare professionals who use the program after they come to the United States, just they find it to be a really helpful sort of mirror to what they've been thinking about in terms of their skill gaps during the day when they're working in bedside care.

Yeah, and the conversation partner program is huge. I mean, Laura mentioned that our healthcare professionals really benefit from it. And, those who volunteer from Health Carousel to be a conversation partner with our HCPs, they benefit from it as well. It's a way for us to get to know you all better.

And, you know, that's just another part of our full circle of support is providing this conversation partner program to help you feel supported in your English journey and help you improve those skills. We want to best equip you when you're working in a US hospital. So if we can get you enrolled in that ten week program, just so that way it gives you, you know, time each week to practice English and have a conversation in English with a native speaker, we definitely wanna make sure that you're benefiting from it. So like Lauren said, talk to your current assignee if you're already part of our program, and we'll see if that is a good program to get you set up in.

And then, Lauren, we had a really good question come in, and I think this is important to maybe just cover a little, you know, quickly.

Because again, it could be dependent on each nurse's individual case and where they lived and where they went to school. But Debbie had asked, I work and live in the UK, do I still need an English test requirement? And sometimes healthcare professionals might be exempt from English.

So do you mind just kind of covering in a scenario where a nurse might be exempt from English, and then in a scenario where it might be best to check with their current assignee?

Yeah, So definitely I recommend having that conversation with your assignee first, but also having done the research on true merit or previously CGFNS. So that is really where the sort of conversation of exemptions for the UK, which by the way, great question, thank you.

That is really where it will sort of matter in your journey in the sense of the stipulations. So for example, on the website, it will detail exactly what would be the exemption. For some people it's where they were licensed, other people it's where they were born and where they're from, as well as, I believe there's other parts of the certified statement. So that's definitely the words to Google there are true merit certified statement, and that will have everything that then can equip you to discuss with your assignee, exactly if that exemption would apply to you.

If it doesn't apply to you, then you will have to take a language exam, but I also too, I would say don't fret, don't worry because you have a lot of access to fluent English speakers, and most likely you yourself are one as well, and so if you are worried about your performance on the test, of course your assignee can connect you with me and we'll work through anything, but I wouldn't fret too much and you'll do great. And I'd just definitely check with your assignee just to make sure, because they'll be able to help you read through that website. Perfect. Thank you, Lauren.

Alright. So I know we covered the conversation partner program, and it looks like there are a couple other tools that might be helpful, in preparing for your English test.

Yeah. So communication is your competitive edge. Strong English skills open up new opportunities throughout your career. And so with what I wanted to speak about with that is essentially thinking about English really as a sort of full developed communicator. So not just with speaking or not just with writing, not just with patients, not just with doctors, but also in the break room. And also when you're thinking about the kind of different research you'd be interested in or the type of bedside care that you would want to do all throughout the course of your career, All of those elements, all of those parts of your career are going to have different kinds of English connected to them.

And so kind of keeping that mindset of always wanting to branch out your communicative skills as well as your professional skills, is really going to strengthen each other.

Yeah. I definitely agree. It's a it's a huge essential in growing your career, especially once you're actually over here in the US hospitals. So definitely appreciate all of your expertise and everything that you've shared with us today, Lauren.

I think it's good to maybe recap it because I know we covered so much information.

We did, definitely. So, here are the key takeaways of what we discussed today. Real world use builds true proficiency, So after you pass your English exam, which is such an incredible accomplishment, you should be so proud of yourself, you take that as your foundation to then build on your actual communication here in bedside care. It's almost like a transfer of the hospital is now your English classroom, your patients and your colleagues are kind of like your conversation partners.

You just keep learning and you just keep building, but the real world speaking English is really going to be where that really gets built. And consistent practice grows confidence. I always tell nurses I work with, don't be afraid to talk to yourself. It builds, don't be afraid to role play, don't be afraid to ask someone, hey, can you just practice this with me?

Maybe it's like a dialogue that you saw in a movie that people say in a hospital and you just wanna have that kind of vocabulary or that natural tone or rhythm that you heard, you want to test it out for yourself and see how it works with your own voice and your own speech. Those little things add up, and then similar to when somebody goes on a health journey, they don't see it every day, but then one day there is this big change in their health.

It's exactly the same thing in your fluency and in your confidence with English.

And leading into that, it just empowers your career for life. You can walk into a room and speak to a nurse or pardon me, speak to a patient and just feel confident that you can deliver the best care possible. And part of that is communicating with the best language skills that you possibly can.

So thank you so much for having me and I'm so proud of all of our healthcare professionals and how hard that they work just to really build the solid foundation for their bedside care here in the United States.

Definitely, and thank you so much, Lauren. You are such a big part in our nurses passing their English exam and helping them prep for it. So, we're grateful to have you and I know our healthcare professionals are equally as grateful. That was such a powerful reminder that English proficiency isn't just about passing the test.

Lauren mentioned it is a lifelong skill that can open doors, improve patient outcomes and help you feel truly at home here in the United States. So to all of you watching, like I said too, remember that progress comes with practice. So whether it's journaling, whether it's role playing, or simply just listening to everyday English conversations, every small little effort adds up. And our full circle of support is here to help you along the way and celebrate those little accomplishments during your English