This exploratory qualitative case study reports the impact of using a public-speaking structure (Powerful Oral Language Lab [POLL]) in teaching preservice Chilean English pedagogy students. It describes how this task-based method of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher training is related to language strategic competence. Twenty students from Year 4 of an EFL teacher training program in Chile participated in structured oral language training. Facilitated by the instructor, they engaged in weekly POLL meetings to use their English in an intense, but fun-filled, socially situated, learning environment. Six months after their POLL experiences, 15 completed their practicum, and 14 completed their practicum and were interviewed about how POLL might relate to their strategic competence as an English teacher and learner. Findings suggested positive effects of POLL and, more important, self-perceived positive changes in their strategic competence during their teaching. Univocally, participants maintained that POLL built their self-confidence and self-esteem as learners and pre-teachers of English in a Spanish-speaking country.