AEE 2472: Done With IELTS or TOEFL? Back From a Trip? What to Do Next!

Summary

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All Ears English Podcast – Episode 2472: Done With IELTS or TOEFL? Back From a Trip? What to Do Next!

Hosts: Aubrey Carter & Lindsay McMahon
Date: September 3, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Aubrey and Lindsay address a common challenge for intermediate and advanced English learners: what to do after reaching a major milestone—like completing IELTS or TOEFL, or returning from an English-immersion trip. The episode covers how to sustain and grow your English fluency when external motivation (like an exam or trip) is gone. The hosts offer actionable strategies to make English learning a lasting, sustainable, and enjoyable journey, focusing on connection rather than perfection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Question: “How Do I Get to the Next Level?”

[03:30]

• A listener thanks the hosts for the podcast’s contagious energy and credits them for a 9 in IELTS listening.
• The listener’s dilemma: With a 7.5 overall IELTS score, they still struggle to fully understand native-level conversations and written content—how can they keep improving?

2. Learning for Life, Not Just the Event

[02:35] Aubrey:

“If you’re learning [English] for a trip or an exam, it can be challenging to continue building fluency … your learning process will be different.”

• Recognizing the difference between event-based preparation (exam/trip) and sustainable, lifelong learning.
• Importance of adjusting your mindset and methods for ongoing improvement.

3. Core Strategies for Lifelong English Growth

A. Speak and Listen Consistently
[06:18]

• Consistency is key! Regular speaking and listening are vital to prevent language ‘atrophy’, similar to muscle loss after stopping workouts.
• Choose content you enjoy, such as engaging podcasts or audiobooks, to make practice enjoyable.
• [07:04] Lindsay:

“We don’t want to say, ‘I have to learn English now, so I’m going to consume something.’ We want to say, ‘I want to know what happens next, or I want to hang out with these characters.’”

• Find a conversation partner or friend who shares your interests to spark stimulating discussions.

B. Think in English, Not Just Translate
[07:52]

• Narrate your daily routines or feelings in English to train your brain for fluency.
• Discover vocabulary gaps organically and actively seek them out.
• [08:11] Aubrey:

“The best thing to do is to start narrating your daily routines or your feelings out loud. This trains your brain to think in English.”

C. Grow Your Vocabulary—Smartly
[09:18]

• Read books, articles, or magazines you enjoy; use vocab apps judiciously.
• The All Ears English app selects key vocabulary from each episode for focused learning.
• Don’t overwhelm yourself: pick 4–5 new words per 30 minutes of input so learning stays fun and usable.
• [10:10] Lindsay:

“Don’t try to learn every word that you hear… you end up with just long lists of vocabulary, none of which you’re actually using.”

D. Embrace Idiomatic Language
[10:43]

• Seek out and use idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs, and colloquialisms.
• Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification:
  [11:02] Lindsay:

  “There’s nothing wrong with asking a native speaker what something meant.”

E. Prioritize Pronunciation and Intonation
[11:19]

• Regular shadowing/mimicking native speakers in 10–20 second chunks.
• Use the podcast’s role plays or short segments as authentic practice material.
• Seek feedback from teachers, peers, or AI tools for targeted improvement.
• [12:41] Aubrey:

“AI is getting better and better. It’s a great way to get feedback on your pronunciation.”

F. Use Every Resource—There’s a World of Content
[14:55]

• Tap into online courses, ESL blogs, YouTube, podcasts, and TV shows that match your interests.
• [15:21] Lindsay:

  “Take it in, make a choice, and use it.”

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4. Mindset: Set Goals and Be Kind to Yourself

[15:40]

• Define why you’re learning English—make it meaningful, realistic, and achievable.
• Accept that setbacks are normal (e.g., missing a week’s lessons); what matters is returning to your routine, not perfection.
• [16:52] Aubrey:

“Give yourself some grace… be flexible, don’t beat yourself up. We can’t expect things to always go according to plan.”

• [17:37] Aubrey:

“We can forgive ourselves for any little hiccups, get right back on the wagon, and do everything we can to stay consistent.”

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5. Sustaining Momentum After a Milestone

[18:30]

• When you’ve completed IELTS, TOEFL, or a trip, set new, manageable goals to maintain progress.
• If you need a future goal (like another trip), visualize or plan it—even using AI: [19:15] Lindsay:

  “I asked ChatGPT to plan a trip where I’d be traveling in India, but working remotely and visiting meditation sites… They came up with an amazing plan. I almost booked the trip.”

• Use vision boarding and planning as motivational tools.

6. Resource Reminder

• Check out the “IELTS Energy” podcast for useful English learning content, not just exam prep.
  • [18:12] Aubrey:

    “So many of the episodes over there—whether you’re studying for IELTS or not—you’re going to learn so much interesting vocabulary.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [03:09] Lindsay:

  “How do we say, ‘This is something I’m interested in pursuing over many years’? That’s a really exciting commitment. How do we make it sustainable?”

• [04:37] Lindsay:

  “And how fast can we lose what we’ve gained? It’s just like working out… you can get out of shape in a week.”

• [07:52] Lindsay:

  “Eventually working towards thinking in English and avoiding translating in your native language…”

• [17:12] Lindsay (quoting a project manager):

  “No project plan ever holds up to reality. It never happens. Reality gets in the way… Give yourself some grace.”

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–02:35: Setting the scene—Language learning beyond exams and trips.
• 03:30–04:44: Listener question and the challenge of maintaining progress.
• 06:18–08:59: Core strategies—Consistency, enjoyment, and speaking out loud.
• 09:18–10:43: Vocabulary and idiomatic language tips.
• 11:19–12:57: Pronunciation, intonation, and leveraging feedback (including AI tools).
• 14:55–15:40: Utilizing all available English resources.
• 15:40–17:58: Setting goals, maintaining motivation, and being kind to yourself after setbacks.
• 18:12–19:44: Leveraging other podcasts and vision planning for motivation.

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Summary Takeaway

When the exam is done or your trip is over, don’t stop! English learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Make engagement, intention, and sustainability your priorities. Practice consistently, set clear goals, and be gentle with yourself when life happens. Use technology, community, and creativity to bring English into your daily life in ways that bring you joy. Progress doesn’t stop at a certificate—the real journey is lifelong connection through language.

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Transcript

[A]

This is an Allers English podcast. Episode 2472 done with IELTS or TOEFL back from a trip. What to do next?

[B]

Welcome to the All Ears English podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz and Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, usa. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com subscribe your English needs a purpose. If you've just spent tons of time preparing for an exam or even for a vacation abroad in English, do you regain the momentum? And make sure you keep learning? Listen in for our top tips today. Think about the last time someone leaned in and said, sorry, can you say that again? It's frustrating, right? You know the word, you said it, but the sound wasn't clear. That's not a grammar or a vocabulary problem. It's a pronunciation problem. And it doesn't mean changing who you are or erasing your accent. It's it means making your English easy to follow and clear every time. Want to see what's getting in your way? Take our two minute quiz to get your English level at allearsenglish.com fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com FL E N C Y S C O R E hey Aubry, how's it going today?

[A]

I'm great, Lindsay. How are you?

[B]

Good, good. What are we getting into on the show today?

[A]

I have a question, Lindsay. What are you doing to build your fluency in Arabic?

[B]

That's a good question. I have not spoken Arabic in a couple of years. I had my, I had my trip to Cairo and had some, had some wins actually, which were so satisfying negotiating with a taxi driver. And then unfortunately I didn't continue Arabic. So my ongoing through line language is Spanish. So coming back to Spanish. But Arabic, I haven't come back to it, Aubrey. I should get back to it.

[A]

I think you are in the same position a lot of people are, whether with English or any language though, where if you're learning it for a trip or for an exam, it can be challenging to continue building fluency and to know how to do it because your learning process will be different if it's sort of a crash course to travel or for an exam as opposed to learning fluency for life.

[B]

Yeah, I mean the key becomes how do we create something that's sustainable over kind of our lifetime how do we say, this is something I'm interested in pursuing over many years? That's a really exciting commitment. How do we make it sustainable? Right.

[A]

Exactly right. We got a really good question about this that we're going to answer today. We know a lot of you listeners out there are in this boat, so we want to help you, to give you advice and strategies for how you can make, you know, English learning a lifelong journey that's enjoyable, where you're building fluency in the way that will best help you connect with others.

[B]

I love it. So I'll go ahead and read the listener question. Here we go. The student says, hi there. I like your podcast so much. Your energy is contagious. Well, thank you to this listener. That's amazing. I got a nine for listening by religiously listening to your podcast every day. Also, I have a question for you. How to improve my English further to a native level. I already got an overall 7.5, but I feel like there's still a long way to become native. Like, I still can't understand some conversations, even the stuff they write online. And there aren't many courses or strategies that teach how to improve after seven. Nice question.

[A]

Yes. Right. And I can totally understand where this student is if you've been really focused on, like, for this student, ielts preparation. Or maybe it was TOEFL or maybe it was studying to go on a specific trip. You really do have to adjust how you're learning, figure out how to build fluency. Or you might just give it up entirely. It's been two years since you spoke Arabic. Two years ago.

[B]

Three years. It's been three years.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

And how fast can we lose what we've gained? It's just like working out. You know how they say it takes like three weeks to get in shape, but you can get out of shape in like a week?

[A]

Absolutely. I've been there.

[B]

Yep. It's the worst. So don't lose the muscle mass of the language learning. Right.

[A]

Love that.

[B]

This is exactly what we're going to address today. But first, Aubrey, I want to call out those who took the time to leave us a rating and a review in our Android app. Are you ready for this?

[A]

Yes, absolutely.

[B]

All right. Huge. Huge. Thank you to our listener. This some. I can't read the Korean, but it is in Korean. And it's someone on July 18th who reviewed us. Five stars. Thank you. Nur Harris Effendi. That person reviewed us on July 9th. Huge. Thank you. Anna Paa, Claudia Platao, Late day. Thank you so much. And Parastu Berami on June 9. Aubry, these reviews are amazing. I love reading them.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the podcast. We read them, we love them, we are grateful. It helps others find the show and sort of like a thank you note to us.

[B]

It's a little thank you note, Right. If you want to send us a little note, it's the equivalent of a little love letter.

[A]

Right?

[B]

We love those. Go ahead and leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Spotify, Apple iOS app, Android app, and we'll do our best to read your name aloud on the show. All right.

[A]

Awesome. All right, so let's dive in here, right? If you are in this boat or maybe you even feel like what you've been doing isn't really helping you progress, maybe you've plateaued. Today's advice is really going to help motivate you to boost your fluency. I'm sure there will be some ideas here that can help with your language learning journey.

[B]

Yeah. So the first big tip right, from us to you all is try to speak and listen consistently, consistently and regularly to English. Right, Aubry?

[A]

Absolutely right. And the consistency is really key here. And also you want to be choosing things that you love, that are engaging, that you look forward to. Right. You want to choose podcasts and audiobooks to listen to regularly that you look forward to listening to or reading. And then you want to summarize aloud anything you're listening to because you are looking for opportunities to continue speaking out loud. A lot of people slip into just. Just reading or listening in a second language and they're not speaking aloud enough. And then that opportunity comes to have a conversation and you really struggle.

[B]

Right. This is why it would be great to get kind of a partner in that's listening that's hooked on some kind of a series or a podcast series, crime series. What we want to do when we go into our podcast deck or when we turn on Netflix, we don't want to say, I have to learn English now, so I'm going to consume something. We want to say, I want to know what happens next or I want to hang out with these characters. Right? That's what we're looking for in the show, those that we choose.

[A]

Exactly right. And that leads right into this next point to seek out conversation, opportunities for conversation. So if you have a speaking partner, a friend that you can speak to in English, and you're both listening to the same podcast or maybe listening to the same audiobook, what a great way to have something to spark that conversation. This can be fellow learners or native speakers. Anyone that you can chat with in English.

[B]

I love it. I love it. And then working eventually towards thinking in English and avoiding translating in your native language. So this is a big one. We've gotten this question in open conversation club numerous times, and every time we kind of have the same answer. The thing to do here, Aubrey, is what? It's something totally in our control.

[A]

Absolutely right. The best thing to do is to start narrating your daily routines or your feelings out loud. This trains your brain to think in English. You can do it silently throughout your day or out loud when you're alone. Just narrate whatever you're doing in English.

[B]

I know, and I love it because I feel like I narrate stuff anyways in. In my native language.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so it's not a hard flip, in my opinion, to flip it into English. Right. Your second language. And it doesn't mean you have to know how to say everything. You will discover what you need to learn. Like the word for can opener. Maybe you don't know it, but it comes up in what you're saying. And so you then need to learn that, right?

[A]

Yes, exactly. And the more you're training your brain to think in that language, it is going to push you to be consistent with listening.

[B]

Read.

[A]

Stay excited about continuing in English.

[B]

Yeah, I love it. So pick, like, as Aubrey said, pick a 5 minute chunk of your day. I would suggest maybe in the morning when you know your routine is kind of similar, or choose different times because then you do encounter different things. You're going to be saying to yourself.

[A]

Absolutely love it.

[B]

All right, what's the second tip?

[A]

All right, number two is to continue expanding your vocabulary. This is going to be a more proactive exercise which is going to keep you from falling into that or. Or hitting that plateau of not feeling like you're improving. So you do want to be reading regularly and consistently. Finding books that you love reading, maybe the newspaper, magazine articles, to continue learning new words in context.

[B]

Yep. And we definitely endorse, you know, vocabulary apps, things like Duolingo, Babel. These can reinforce our grammar, our pronunciation, our vocabulary skills. So we're kind of moving into a bit of an active, you know, actively learning here.

[A]

Yes. Or the Ahlers English app if you're not using it yet. We pull keywords from each podcast episode, so it's really easy way to track interesting new vocabulary on this podcast. So that's a great way to be adding new vocabulary every time you Listen to one of our episodes.

[B]

And I think the caveat here is just don't try to think. You need to learn every word that you hear that you don't know. This is a trap a lot of students fall into, Aubrey. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So then they spend the whole time looking it up in the dictionary. That becomes not fun anymore.

[A]

Exactly. And you end up with just long lists of vocabulary, none of which you're actually using. Right. So, yes, we say maybe four to five words for every 30 minutes that you're reading or listening to keep it manageable. And then those words you want to actually be using when you are writing and speaking in English.

[B]

You got it. And then the next piece is try to proactively learn idiomatic language. So that means phrasal verbs, idioms, be in situations. Try to be physically in situations where idioms will come up and then ask someone what they just said, what it meant. There's nothing wrong with asking a native speaker or a non native speaker what something meant.

[A]

Absolutely. And this is really what keeps language learning fun. The idiomatic language is what makes a language fun and dynamic. So you want to be proactively using that and adding it to your conversations to sound more native and natural and just to have fun with the language.

[B]

Exactly. What's the third thing we can do? Aubry.

[A]

All right. Third is to continue working on pronunciation and intonation. If you're studying for ielts or toefl, you're doing this very proactively. You want to keep doing it as you focus on general fluency so you can listen to and shadow or mimic native speakers. You want to pay attention to how they pronounce words, the word stress, syllable stress, and their intonation. And you can mimic just 10 seconds at a time to practice.

[B]

Oh, little, little chunks of practice. 10 seconds, 20 seconds are perfect. You can go back in this episode. I don't think we'll have a role play today, but almost every episode we do. And you could use our role plays and go ahead and mimic what we're saying and how we're saying it.

[A]

That's a great idea to use the role play at the end of most episodes to mimic and practice that intonation. And you can also get feedback either from your speaking partner, from a teacher, because often the pronunciation errors you're making, you're not hearing them, you're not noticing them, so you might not know what to focus on. This is one thing I work a lot with our students on. When I'm giving feedback, they're asking about specific pronunciation so that they know where to focus.

[B]

I love that Another option is to add AI feedback as a supplement. It doesn't replace help from a teacher, but it's a supplement. And lately this summer we've added AI pronunciation feedback to a lot of our courses and it will be in more in the fall. Aubry, are you excited about that?

[A]

Yes. This is amazing. AI is getting better and better. It's a great way to get feedback on your pronunciation. So I love that we're adding this to courses. It's really building out how much you can practice and and giving you a chance to know what about your pronunciation to focus on.

[B]

Totally. Because you can use the tool when you're in our course as many times as you want on the same phrase. Right. You get a score, a score on each phoneme, each sound. Do it again, do it again, do it again as many times as you want. I love that.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

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[A]

Luckily for those of you who are learning English, you have such a wealth of resources. You want to make use of everything available to you, right? So there are websites and platforms that have, you know, grammar tutorials, there are ESL blogs, YouTube accounts. There's so much. You can find any YouTube channel that interests you so that you can really find something that's engaging and interesting for you, whatever it is that you're interested in.

[B]

Yeah. And this. We already kind of said this, but, you know, watching TV shows, podcasts, whatever's out there, take it in, make a choice, and use it. Right, Aubry?

[A]

Exactly right. This is a little harder for me in French, you in Arabic. They're at least what we're able to access. It's not such a wealth of resources, but yeah, Take advantage of everything that's.

[B]

Out there and then make sure to set goals. You know, that's important to. At the beginning of setting up a learning plan for yourself, you need to say why? Why is so important. What is your why for learning? And go beyond just, I want to be fluent. What does that mean to you? To be fluent? Is that connection? Is that achievement? Is that a salary raise?

[A]

Right, exactly. And you want these to be realistic goals that are achievable so that you feel like, you know, it's within your reach, this next benchmark that you've set for yourself. Because it is easy to lose motivation and stop trying if you feel like something isn't achievable. So make sure those goals feel reachable.

[B]

Yes, exactly. But inevitably. Let's see. I had a great quote this week when I interviewed someone for our professional English level two course. He's a project manager, and I was talking to him about project management, and he said, no project plan ever holds up to reality. It never happens. Right. So reality gets in the way. The kids have to go to soccer. Like, you know, you have to stay and work late. There's a traffic jam, so give yourself some grace. I love this expression. Aubry, we've done an episode on this, Michelle and I did. What does it mean?

[A]

Yes, right. It means to be flexible, to not beat yourself up. We can't expect things to always go according according to plan. Right. I love that quote. We know that things won't always move as quickly as we want. We might not reach a goal as fast as we want. So we need to recognize that progress might be slower than we'd like and be patient with our.

[B]

So just so what that looks like and what we always encourage when we come to Open Conversation Club, when we check in with our students in the hot seat often, you know, we fall off. We. We fall off the wagon a little bit. Right. We're not able to do our course one given week. The next week it's about do you come back to it the next week or do you say, oh, no, you know, I wasn't able to do it last week, so I don't have to. I won't do it this week. That's where we lose, right?

[A]

We come back exactly right. So we can forgive ourselves for any little hiccups, get right back on the wagon, and then do everything we can to stay consistent with our progress, with everything we're working on. Recognize it won't always be perfect if we can just spend a few minutes each day that consistent practice will really make a difference in the long run.

[B]

Yeah. And we want to remind our listeners, guys, follow the IELTS Energy podcast. This is where this quote from this student came from. And there's a great episode to check out right away because we can learn more than just about IELTS over on that podcast, right?

[A]

Yes, exactly, Ray. Episode 1514 was band nine idioms for I speaking part two. So many of the episodes over there, whether you're studying for I or not, you're going to learn so much interesting vocabulary. So definitely check it out. Especially if you're preparing for the IELTS exam. It's a very fun podcast.

[B]

Yeah. And as a takeaway, you know you've completed your trip, right? You have maybe you went to New York, you prepared your English for New York, and now you're home, you've passed I, you passed toefl or there was some big exam. Your over the hump. It's over. What do you do now? This is the time to set up the plan. Right. This is where the, the momentum is still there.

[A]

Exactly right. Continue to build fluency, set, you know, achievable goals that you can reach. And if you really need like a trip, imagine that trip sometime in the future, if it's not set now, to give yourself that, that motivation, that goal to keep building fluency.

[B]

Me. Yeah. And you could take it even one step further and have some fun. You could ask Chat GPT to plan the trip for you. I actually did that.

[A]

I had.

[B]

Oh, my God. I asked Chachi BT to plan a trip where I would be traveling in India, but working remotely and visiting meditation sites around India. They came up with an amazing place. I almost booked the trip.

[A]

Seriously, that is a great idea. I might need to have AI book a trip for me, then just go. No matter what.

[B]

I know. Then just book. Right. So anyways, just if whatever you need to do to envision, it's kind of like vision boarding and you put it right in front of you there's a reason. That is the why. Okay?

[A]

Absolutely right. You don't want all of your hard work to go to waste if you passed ielts or TOEFL or did a ton of studying. Right? There's so many reasons to keep building fluency.

[B]

I love it. Good stuff, Aubrey. We'll see you very soon. And don't forget, guys, leave us a rating and review wherever you listen. All right?

[A]

Awesome. Thanks, Lindsay.

[B]

Talk soon. Bye bye. Thanks for listening. To all ears. English Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com fluencyscore and if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time. Making films Then you've got footage in Dropbox, scripts and docs notes in Slack and no time to hunt. Dropbox Dash New from Dropbox pulls it all together so you can focus on the final edit. Learn more at Dropbox.com/trip planner by Expedia. You were made to outdo your holiday, your hammocking and your pooh. We were made to help organize the competition. Expedia made to travel.