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🎙️From English Learner to English Teacher: How Diego Used Real English Conversations to Become Fluent, Confident & Professional in English | Real English Conversations Podcast for Global Professionals

· 49 min

Episode 🎙️From English Learner to English Teacher: How Diego Used Real English Conversations to Become Fluent, Confident & Professional in English | Real English Conversations Podcast for Global Professionals

0:00 48:42

What if the English you've been listening to could actually become the English you speak?

What if you stopped treating podcasts as something you simply listen to…

…and started using them as a complete English-learning system?

That is exactly what Diego Nieto did.

Diego grew up in Cabimas, Zulia, Venezuela, and became fascinated by English as a child. Years later, when he was searching for a way to improve his listening, he discovered the Real English Conversations Podcast.

At first, he couldn't understand everything he heard.

So he created his own system.

He would listen to an episode without looking at the transcription, write down everything he could understand, leave blanks where he couldn't understand the words, and then compare his version with the actual Real English Conversations transcription.

He highlighted what he understood, identified what he missed, learned the vocabulary, listened again, and then used shadowing to imitate the way Curtis and the guests actually spoke.

He wasn't just studying English.

He was training his brain to hear real English, understand real English, reproduce real English, and eventually communicate naturally in English.

Diego says that by doing this consistently—sometimes spending two to three hours a day with the podcast—he built the foundation that eventually allowed him to communicate with international people, work in English, and develop the confidence to use the language in the real world.

And today?

Diego is an English teacher himself.

🌎 From a Young English Learner in Venezuela to an English Teacher

Diego's story began long before he discovered the podcast.

As a child, he became fascinated by English through movies, music, and video games. Without having easy access to formal English courses or even reliable internet at home, he used whatever resources were available—including an English-Spanish dictionary—to figure out words and build his vocabulary.

Eventually, that curiosity became something much bigger.

When Diego finally gained regular internet access, he started searching for ways to improve his listening.

That's when he discovered Real English Conversations.

And something clicked.

He realized that understanding English on paper wasn't enough.

He wanted to understand people when they actually spoke.

🎧 The Real English Conversations Method Diego Used

This is the part of Diego's story every English learner should pay attention to.

He didn't simply press play.

He turned each episode into a learning lesson.

His process looked like this:

1. Listen BEFORE reading the transcription

Diego wanted to train himself to understand English the first time he heard it.

So he deliberately avoided reading the transcript beforehand.

He listened and wrote down what he could actually understand.

Anything he couldn't understand became a blank.

2. Compare his understanding with the real transcript

After listening, Diego opened the transcription and compared it with what he had written.

He could immediately see:

âś… What he understood

❌ What he missed

🧠 Which vocabulary he didn't know

đź‘‚ Which sounds he couldn't recognize

That gave him immediate feedback about his listening ability.

3. Learn the missing vocabulary

Instead of simply moving on when he didn't understand something, Diego investigated it.

He looked up words and expressions and began understanding how they were actually being used in natural conversation.

One example was the word "guys."

He learned that although it can have a literal meaning associated with "chicos" or "men," native speakers frequently use it naturally when addressing a group of people.

He wasn't just memorizing vocabulary.

He was learning how English actually works in real communication.

4. Shadow the speakers

Diego then took pieces of the conversations and repeated them.

He tried to reproduce the way Curtis and the other speakers communicated—including pronunciation, rhythm and intonation.

He even developed the idea that:…

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