Most students have the same model in mind when it comes to speaking.
“I want to become more fluent, so I need to practice more speaking. While I practice, I’ll make mistakes. If someone corrects me, I’ll get better and better.”
It sounds logical.
It’s the traditional behavioral model of skill building:
practice → correction → improvement.
But if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll notice something else.
You keep making the same mistakes again and again.
- Even after corrections.
- Even though you “know the rules.”
- Even when you try your best to avoid them.
Why?
Because in the heat of the moment your brain is overloaded.
You’re trying to find words, you’re nervous, you’re focused on performance.
So the correction rarely sticks.
Neuroscience points to another way.
Our brains contain mirror neurons, cells that fire not only when we act, but also when we observe someone else act.
Mirror neurons create “virtual realities” in the brain, simulating others’ actions internally, providing a neural basis for imitation and observational learning.
One striking example comes from neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran’s work with patients who had lost a limb.
James for example, suffered unbearable “phantom pain” in his missing hand, as if it were clenched in a tight fist.
Medication, even pain killers, didn’t help.
But then Ramachandran placed a mirror box in front of him (see mirror therapy).
By looking at the reflection of his healthy hand, James’ brain was tricked into “seeing” his missing hand opening and relaxing.
The pain disappeared instantly (watch here).
Even though James knew it was an illusion, his brain responded as if it were real.
Just by observing, his brain rewired itself.
You see, although observation might look passive on the surface, underneath your mirror neurons are highly active.
The very same principle applies when learning a language.
For many students, “listening” feels like a passive activity.
But underneath, a lot of brain activity is going on: your neurons are rehearsing, practicing, and learning, even if you’re not aware of it.
So imagine this:
You’re NOT the one talking and getting corrected.
You’re just listening to another student speak and get corrected.
Three important effects take place:
- You’re more relaxed. When you’re speaking you feel more pressure, your brain shifts into a high-tension state dominated by beta waves: fast, alert, but often anxious. When you observe instead, your brain can move toward alpha and theta waves: calmer, more focused rhythms linked to the flow state, where learning and memory are strongest.
- Your brain rehearses the action. fMRI studies show that when people observe an action, the same motor regions light up as if they were performing it. So when you hear another student attempt a sentence, your brain practicesspeaking, without the stress of performance.
- Your brain fires error signals. EEG research shows we generate error-monitoring responses even when we only watch someone else make a mistake. That means corrections can “stick” from observation alone, without you being in the hot seat.
In our Double Your Confidence in Speaking program, we take full advantage of the mirror neuron effect.
First, we fire them by observation: listening to real students in real conversations, spotting mistakes, and seeing corrections.
Then, we fire them by action: practicing speaking in guided exercises based on that very same context.
It’s a 3-step system designed to give you more speaking confidence and accuracy:
Step 1 – Listen to real students in real conversations
You observe other learners trying to express themselves. You notice what sounds off, you hear the corrections, and your mirror neurons fire as if you were speaking yourself, but without the pressure.
Step 2 – Review those sentences in context
Then we take the exact sentences from those conversations, rebuild them into natural German, and explore the different ways Germans would actually say them. Because they come from real attempts, they’re more memorable than textbook lines.
Step 3 – Guided speaking practice
Now it’s your turn, but not in isolation. You practice speaking with prompts drawn directly from the real conversations you just observed and reviewed. It’s like our Verb-Juggling lessons, but this time it’s not just verbs, it’s full sentences from authentic conversations. This way you build fluency step by step, in context, with the support of everything you’ve just learned.
Notice that what makes this method unique is that the sentences don’t come from me or a textbook, they come from real students.
That means two things:
- The phrases are authentic, because they’re what students really want to say.
- The mistakes are authentic too, the same mistakes almost every learner makes.
And that’s why the corrections sink in so deeply: they’re grounded in real relatable conversations, not scripted drills.
I’ve prepared a free sample lesson so you can try this effect yourself.
Click here to check it out.
Gruß
Manuel
P.S. The full program Double Your Confidence in Speaking opens a few times a year.
Click here to join the waiting list and be ready when doors open.