“Don’t be afraid of failure” is one of the best principles during mentorship courses with creative and innovative English learning methods. So, I often provide various opportunities for mentees to give a try a lot of “for-the-first-time” activities in which recording a video for an English presentation is one of those.

These activities might create more shyness to mentees if they have never done it before because simply, they are afraid of being failed with things they do not have many or any experiences.

Take for an example, when they speak English and record themselves, they feel awkward to see themselves in the video. Besides, they might think that people can judge their pronunciation, their appearance, their clumsy style with that presentation for the first time.

Especially, for some people who are so self-conscious about their weaknesses and people’s judgements, they more likely dare not to challenge themselves to do something new as a video recording’s assignment.

However, I always try to simplify the process for them to make a video, ask them try to understand the context and let them be themselves to present in front of camera without much preparation for a perfect script. After completing the recording, I guided them to watch their own video again and notice what is right and what is wrong with it.

In order that, they need to assess themselves critically first, then I will ask them how much they feel satisfied about their product, what they did well and even better if they do something differently. By this way, they freely share their thoughts and naturally present their ideas about a given topic.

Afterwards, I point out what words they pronounce incorrectly, how they can be more confident to be themselves with the certain topic, what makes their story flow and presentation better in front of a camera and then in public.

Besides, if there are tough judgements from viewers, they should thanks to them with comments on their drawbacks in order for them to recognize and improve the presentation. So, recording a video and watching it again will allow them to keep looking back their works and assess themselves how they could be better in term of English presentation.

That being said, this method takes a certain amount of time to follow but as long as we are passionate enough to improve mentees’ confidence with what they possess, it is absolutely okey to spend time for this. So, how do you think? Is there any learning methods which create experiences for mentees with dissimilar level of emotions to show up their abilities in this way?!