Learning English is about sharing ideas, connecting with others, and improving your life! And this is what so many schools get so wrong. I remember studying German in high school and Spanish at university and in both these cases it was all about memorizing the rules and words, so that I could pass some test.
The few speaking opportunities that I did have were just so unnatural. Have you ever had this opportunity of feeling more frustrated when you leave your class than you were when you got there? Now, time is our most valuable resource, so you need to spend your time and energy wisely while learning English.
The goal is to make the biggest impact possible, while also finding enjoyment in the process. That's why in today's lesson, I'll walk you through our unique approach to learning and teaching languages. It comes from my own experience learning four languages which are of course the ones I learned after university.
And we will also share ideas from some of the best English teachers, so that you know that it’s not just me that believes this! We’re gonna share a lot of information in this video, but if you stick around with me until the end I promise you'll have a new way of learning a foreign language that will make you feel empowered and in control of your learning experience. You can finally actually be successful in gaining natural, confident fluency in English (or in something else that you want to learn!
). Because this is the place to become a confident and natural English speaker. If you want to understand fast speech, be understood by anyone when you speak English, and use the language to connect to the world, then we are here to guide you on what you need to do.
All you have to do is click on that subscribe button and the bell down below so that you don't miss any lessons. Now, this is the thing that all successful, confident English speakers have very clear in their heads (or really anyone who is successful at anything! ).
They know WHY they are learning the language and what they are going to do with it once they're successful . Now, whether or not you know it, you have a why, a purpose for why you’re learning. Maybe it’s external (like your parents or your boss tell you you must learn it).
But trust me that deliberately reflecting on an internal purpose will be so much more powerful for you. And the more clear, specific, and unique to you, the better. So here is the exercise I used to do with all of my students: So first you need to ask yourself “Why am I learning English?
” Second, once you have your answer, ask yourself “Why” again. Now, I know that this seems a little bit silly, but it helps you get to the real deep reason. And then third, do this at least 3 more times until you’ve gotten to something that really inspires you.
Now, let me give you an example from one of my students. At first, she answered that she was learning because she needed to communicate in English. Now, that's not very inspiring is it?
This is what happened when she kept herself why. A further recommendation I gave to my students was to take that deep, personal WHY and put it somewhere where they would see it often. Now, it could be a sticky note on the fridge or maybe the screensaver on your phone.
And don’t just take my word for it. Let’s see what the incredible Emma from mmmEnglish says about the power of knowing your purpose. Because I think in order to be successful in anything, anything that takes time, energy, effort, persistence, commitment, like learning English, like building a business, like doing a whole bunch of hard things, there is always going to be time when you just want to throw your hands up in the air and walk away and just think, you know, what I'm not doing, this is too hard, I'm not cut out for this.
And all of the other excuses as to why not, you know, popping into your head. But I think that if you really understand your deep purpose, your deep reason for why you are doing something, how it is going to support you and your family or your dreams or your bigger purpose, it becomes your key to getting through those difficult times. Because there, there's always going to be the hard time, there's always going to be the challenge, you know, where you've got to overcome something that is in your way.
And if you can continually be coming back to steering the ship back to your why, and your reason for being there, and your reason for making this massive commitment, then it's you know, possible to, to keep moving forward. Alright before you continue, why not pause the video and reflect just a little bit upon the reasons that you are learning English. What are you going to do with it?
Share your story with us: What will you be doing once you are a confident, natural English speaker? You can share it in the comments below, you can even take a picture that's relevant and tag us on our Instagram. And don't forget to add an encouraging message to the other members of the community.
Aww yeah! Alright, so the next step to master anything that you want to learn is to actually practice it over and over again. You can accomplish a lot more than you think if you have a smart approach.
Now, there are lots of ways that you can make the practice fun, learning with your favorite TV series for example. This is so important to keep up your motivation. But it’s also important to recognize that there is also hard work to be done, and it may not always be fun.
We're basically under the assumption that learning is always going to be fun. It's not always going to be fun. When you're exercising, you gave the example of going to the gym, a person who wants to get a six-pack, it's going to be a lot of pain.
I mean, I don't want to go back to the old cliche, but it's true - no pain, no gain. If you don't go through those moments of boredom, of, of tedious repetition, the menial work, if you don't go through that, you're not going to be able to learn the language. People are visualizing the fluency.
They're not visualizing the process. So the focus is always on the outcome. The focus is on, I want to be fluent, I want to have a six-pack, but nobody is thinking about, okay, what is it going to take for me to get to that level.
I think you need to have that stubborn consistency, right? in pursuing that vision. Because if you are consistent, you do the 1% every day, you will get there.
if you don't enjoy the process, like a craftsman - a craftsman enjoys the process - so if you don't enjoy that, you're not going to enjoy learning. Learning is forever. You have to enjoy that, you have to embrace that.
Every day, I have to do the same thing until it clicks. A lot of times when I meet students, they'll say that they're going to study four hours a day, you know, or some crazy, I would recommend being very practical. Um, if you're introducing something new in your life, it's going to be hard to kind of make a habit of.
So anyway, just, just take it slow, um, and expect that it's, um, not going to go as planned and that's totally okay. So you want to try to be practical and try to plan about an hour a day of studying. So, so that would be my big advice, just to be practical.
Don't expect to study four hours a day. Hey, if you are enjoying this video then make sure to give me a thumbs up and if you feel like it was useful then share it with a friend so they can learn too, it all helps. And to get our newest lessons as soon as they arrive then make sure that you hit that subscribe button and the bell down below.
Now it's good to know the concepts, the terminology, the grammar of the language so that you can better understand it. But it's extremely important not to get lost in all of that. Nobody enjoys memorizing lists of rules, random words, prepositions, and whatnot.
It can feel very overwhelming to learn an entire language. So, instead of having that as your goal, you can aim at starting to communicate with people as quickly as possible. I'm sure there are some students out there like that, who think I will study the language to the point where I've learned it, then I'll start using it.
Don't do that. You know, there's nothing wrong with, you have to use English, you have to use English as early as possible in communication, in, in talking to people. You have to do that, and learn that way.
Even if you feel stupid and stuff, you've got to, because you're not just learning a thing, you're learning how to do something. As long as you can communicate your message, English belongs to you, and you belong in English. And it doesn't matter if you know, your parents spoke to you in that language or not.
It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you only have a limited number of words, the moment you're able to communicate and express your feelings, your thoughts, your emotions, then this is your language too. So, I’m sure that now you are scratching your head, or maybe you're thinking, “That’s very nice advice Ethan, but I don’t have anyone to communicate with in English. ” So many learners feel the exact same way you do.
You have plenty of ways to listen to English, to read it. But in your day-to-day life, you have few if any real opportunities to actually use what your learning by speaking! So we decided to solve this problem by creating our RealLife App.
This is the only place where anytime, anywhere you can just press a button and start practicing your English instantly with other English speakers from all around the world. You can have fascinating conversations about your life, your passions, different cultures, or even just about the weather if that's what you want! And that’s not all.
You can listen to the full interviews of all the experts that you are hearing from today, and more, with a full interactive transcript, and vocabulary definitions. Now, having a great teacher can be life changing, but I know that many of you just cannot afford that and so you have to learn on your own. And we have made the RealLife App a FREE resource that you can use to improve your speaking.
So download it now for free by clicking up here or down in the description down below. Or you can just look up RealLife English in your favorite app store. The final point of our RealLife Way method that we will cover in today’s lesson is using your English to connect to something bigger than yourself.
I absolutely love how our recent guest Natasha Broodie put this. The world is globalizing and, you know, thanks to social media. I think we have, I think the windows are pretty much down.
They're pretty open. So we get to see a lot of what, what someone else's life might look like in X, Y, or Z country or region of the world, et cetera. And because of that access that we now have into the homes of others, into the lifestyles of others, the globalization is happening at an exponential rate.
It's just, it's just happening very quickly. And you will either have to choose to enter into that world without any kind of preparation. Or you can recognize that the world is changing outside and therefore slowly adapt to the way that the world is changing.
It doesn't mean that you have to change who you are as a person, or you have to throw away your culture or your traditions. It means adapting. It means understanding that this person lives one lifestyle while person B lives another lifestyle and you person C can live a completely different lifestyle, how you live in toleration of each other.
And what I usually say is beyond toleration, how do you live amicably with three completely different lifestyles? So I think if, if one chooses to accept globalization in terms of the world is changing and you know, I am a part of this world, how do I put my fingerprint on it? Or my footprint in it?
If you choose to do that, then you are also saying, you know, in a way, like, how do I become, you know, part of this kind of globalized citizenship? How do I, how do I exercise my right as a global citizen? How do I participate in this wider discussion?
Don't be left behind you have power as a person. So you might as well participate. Most definitely.
And I think English has just such a big part of that. I mean, love it or hate it. English is the global language.
If you don't know that, then so many doors are close to you, but when you know it, so many doors are open to be that access to a lot of information that might not be available in other languages and be that, uh, access to opportunities that require you to speak English really well. So, uh, I'm sure that's no news to people who are listening to this, but I think that's always a really good motivators that if you want to participate in this globalizing world, then English is going to be a really important part of it among other skills and competencies.
