Lena is a student at a language school. She is in the corridor between classes. She has a bag on her shoulder and a book in her hand. Her friend Marco walks up to her. Marco looks very sad. His face is red and his eyes are wet. Lena sees him and stops. She smiles at him. "Marco, are you okay?" she asks. Marco shakes his head. "No," he says. "I am not okay." Lena moves closer to him. She puts her book in her bag. "Tell me what is wrong," she says. Marco takes a deep breath. "I failed my speaking test," he says quietly. Lena listens carefully to Marco.

She does not interrupt him. Marco says he did not sleep well the night before the test. He also says he forgot many words during the test. He felt very nervous. His hands were shaking. "I studied a lot," he says, "but it was not enough." Lena nods slowly. She understands how he feels. She failed a test before too. "I know it is hard," she says. "But one bad test is not the end." Marco looks at her. "Really?" he asks. "Yes, really," says Lena. She puts her hand on his arm. "You can try again," she tells him. Marco wipes his eyes. He feels a little better. Lena starts to give Marco some advice.

"First, you should sleep well before the test," she says. "Sleep is very important." Marco nods. "Second, you should practice speaking every day," Lena continues. "Talk to your classmates. Talk to your teacher. Talk to anyone!" Marco laughs a little. "Even to myself?" he asks. Lena laughs too. "Yes! Talking to yourself is good practice," she says. "Third, try not to worry so much. Worry makes things harder." Marco takes another deep breath. "Thank you, Lena," he says. "You are a good friend." Lena smiles warmly. "You are going to be fine, Marco," she says. "I believe in you." They walk to their next class together. Marco feels much better now.

Lena was leaning against the wall of the language school corridor when she noticed her friend Marco walking slowly towards her, his shoulders hunched and his expression heavy with worry. She straightened up immediately and called out to him. "Marco, what's the matter? You look really down today." He stopped in front of her and let out a long, unsteady breath. "I just got my speaking test result back," he said, "and it wasn't good." Lena could see the disappointment written all over his face. She had been through a similar experience herself during her first month at the school, so she knew exactly how crushing that feeling could be. "Come on," she said gently, "let's talk about it."

Marco explained that he had studied hard for weeks, but the moment the test began, his mind had gone completely blank. He told Lena that he had struggled to recall even basic vocabulary under pressure, and that the more he panicked, the worse it got. Lena listened without interrupting, nodding occasionally to show she understood. "The problem isn't your level," she said carefully, "it's your confidence, and that's actually something you can work on." She suggested that he start having short conversations with classmates every day, even outside of lessons, so that speaking started to feel natural rather than stressful. "You have to make mistakes regularly," she added, "because that's the only way you truly learn to stop being afraid of them." Marco looked thoughtful, as if he was genuinely considering her words for the first time. Lena went on to offer a few more practical tips, recommending that Marco record himself speaking at home and listen back to identify his own weak areas. She also encouraged him to speak to their teacher after class and ask for specific feedback rather than waiting for the next test to find out where he was going wrong.

"Most importantly," she said, looking him in the eye, "try to stop treating every test like it's a final judgment on your ability. It isn't." Marco managed a small but grateful smile. "You know, I came out of that classroom feeling like giving up," he admitted, "but talking to you has actually changed my perspective." Lena gave him a reassuring nod. "That's all I wanted," she said warmly. They walked off together towards their next lesson, and for the first time that morning, Marco's steps felt a little lighter.