hey there i'm drew badger the world's
world's number one english fluency
fluency guide and the co-founder of
of English anyone . com and
and it is a pleasure to welcome you
you to another advanced English listening
listening practice lesson I
I always want to give this little
little note at the beginning of these
these lessons just in case you're
you're new to the channel i
i highly recommend you first enjoy
enjoy a lot of the other videos on
on our channel so you can get used
used to the sound of my voice because
because i will be speaking much more
more quickly in these lessons so
so if you're all ready to get started
started let's jump right into the
the lesson actually
actually I want to talk about something
something quite different actually
actually maybe not so different but
but you don't really it's not just
just talking about something that's
that's near and dear to my heart something
something that I really wanted to
to make clear to you and this is about
about how to practice when you're
you're speaking now the way I used
used to think about studying Japanese
Japanese and I can go even further
further back when I was you know failing
failing at learning french in high
high school then failing at learning
learning spanish in college so I really
really had no I had no success with
with learning languages at all and
and even when i began learning japanese
japanese i was really awful doing
doing that so even when i came to
to japan i was in Japan and in classes
classes even though I was only doing
doing classes for a couple of hours
hours because I hated it but you know
know I was in there so I took classes
classes and even though i'm in the
the country i still couldn't speak
speak now maybe you can relate to
to this if you're a person that's
that's living in a native english-speaking
english-speaking country like you're
you're a foreigner living in America
America you've been there for many
many years and you still can't speak
speak and still can't understand people
people
people you're
you're probably studying the same
same way i was maybe you got flashcards
flashcards and grammar books and all
all those other things but I it was
was kind of one idea i wanted to share
share with you that it really started
started to change change the way i
i studied and change the way I thought
thought about learning and this is
is kind of the whole foundation of
of my teaching philosophy and you
you know even though in these lessons
lessons i like to talk about different
different things you know like interesting
interesting books or you know other
other kinds of stuff like that actually
actually thought I talk about language
language learning in this one so i
i guess that makes sense as an educator
educator of English but anyway let's
let's get right into it so
so I want you to think about one idea
idea and i'm just going to ask you
you a simple question if you could
could do something other than studying
studying English right now out
out or i guess i can put it as what
what would you do right now if you
you weren't studying English or if
if you didn't have to study English
English
English so
so what would you do if you didn't
didn't have to study English when
when people think about studying languages
languages especially when you have
have to do it in a school people think
think about well
well I've got to do this I have to
to get my grammar book or I have to
to you know do these reading exercises
exercises or whatever it is and it's
it's not fun it's you know just a
a regular school subject like everything
everything else now
now the way education happens in general
general is the same for language learning
learning as it is for other things
things you try to memorize rules and
and see if you can remember those
those at test time and then you're
you're not really learning to use
use things quickly and without thinking
thinking when you speak whether it's
it's you know grammar rules or math
math rules or whatever you're just
just kind of learning how to pass
pass tests so that you can you know
know get a good job or whatever it
it is you're trying to do but if you're
you're thinking about you know when
when you're imagining yourself at
at school maybe you're out of school
school it doesn't matter but you know
know if you're in school and you're
you're thinking about studying and
and you you have this idea of you
you in like oh I really don't want
want to study i hate studying or whatever
whatever maybe do like study what
what most people would rather be doing
doing something else so
so while you're studying or thinking
thinking about that you'd rather be
be doing something else and that's
that's the the rather be doing something
something you know assuming you're
you're part of that majority of people
people that really doesn't like studying
studying so much at
at least the traditional way of studying
studying just sitting in a textbook
textbook and looking like this and
and trying to read something and review
review it and try to memorize lists
lists and things like that so
so what would you rather do instead
instead of studying and most people
people have pretty good ideas about
about that well I'd rather be playing
playing basketball I'd rather be going
going fishing I'd rather be whatever
whatever that thing is now
now what I'd like you to do is take
take that thing that you'd rather
rather be doing and do that in english
english now this is a really simple
simple idea but most people don't
don't they don't really get to the
the point where they'd rather be doing
doing something because they they
they always think about well that
that the study of the language is
is awful so I don't want to do anything
anything having to do with the language
language at all but if you reverse
reverse this idea and you think what
what would I rather be doing instead
instead of studying and you've probably
probably got a lot of great ideas
ideas it's cooking basketball sports
sports or needing or you
you know whatever the thing is then
then if you do that thing in English
English
English that's
that's what's going to help you get
get fluid and that's what's going
going to motivate you to learn so
so when I started doing that i actually
actually came to Japan to learn japanese
japanese gardening and if you're new
new to the channel maybe you don't
don't know my story i won't go into
into the details of it here but when
when I was coming to Japan like one
one of the things i was able to do
do is find a Japanese gardening teacher
teacher who was able to teach me and
and he didn't speak any English I
I didn't speak any Japanese but here
here we are trying to communicate
communicate with each other and using
using the language because we're both
both passionate about that same thing
thing so I wanted to learn he
he wanted to teach and he was able
able to show me things using physical
physical examples and it wasn't really
really a language lesson like you're
you're getting when you're sitting
sitting in a classroom it was in context
context in the situation and that's
that's what got me excited to learn
learn and excited practice so it's
it's not so much about having like
like motivation to do you know particular
particular language learning thing
thing its particular motivation for
for whatever the real thing is you
you want to study but if you tie the
the language learning if you connect
connect the language learning to that
that thing that's what's really going
going to help you get fluent so
so right now what I'd like you to
to do is think about what you'd rather
rather do then study and now think
think about how you can do that thing
thing in English so let's say you
you enjoy sailing hate studying English
English I rather you know instead
instead of like watching english videos
videos I'd rather be sailing outside
outside find some people that are
are English speakers and go sailing
sailing with them you
you mean it shouldn't be that difficult
difficult most of the time you can
can find people right here on YouTube
YouTube that have you know other videos
videos that this kind of thing now
now I know like I have a youtube channel
channel and I'm grateful that people
people do watch and enjoy the videos
videos they benefit from them but
but I also want you to not watch so
so many of my videos and this is weird
weird as a youtuber telling you to
to do that but please don't watch
watch so many of my videos or other
other people producing english lessons
lessons as you start getting to understand
understand you start getting the neck
neck of something kan
kan ack to get the knack of something
something this is a common conversational
conversational way of saying that
that you're starting to understand
understand it and you're starting
starting to get more comfortable to
to get the neck of
of that thing or get a handle on that
that thing these are two great ways
ways of saying that so I'm starting
starting to get a handle on japanese
japanese when i first started to practice
practice it and get comfortable with
with it
with it so
so in either of these situations I
I want you to think about how you
you can find that thing and then practice
practice that by you know using the
the language in that situation so
so instead of watching my videos or
or you know another english channel
channel where you're just watching
watching people explaining grammar
grammar points or something like that
that what I'd like you to do is think
think about the interest that you
you have and then look for other channels
channels on youtube better for English
English learners so if you speak Russian
Russian don't look don't type in you
you know like Russian and then look
look for people that are talking about
about sailing look for like I want
want to learn about sailing or how
how to do this and then watch people
people like that and
and so you begin by just getting the
the the listening from that and then
then in the comments you're asking
asking other people who are presumably
presumably probably interested in
in that same thing and you can say
say hey how did you get interested
interested in sailing or you know
know how did you get interested in
in this other thing and then those
those comments become friendships
friendships and then you begin communicating
communicating with each other and
and you make friends and that's how
how you improve in the language now
now this is exactly what i did when
when i was starting to learn well
well actually not when i was starting
starting to learn when i started to
to learn i did you know the stupid
stupid way of learning which is trying
trying to learn a textbook and that
that took me actually like many months
months of struggling to do that but
but it was when I actually connected
connected with that teacher and I
I didn't find my japanese garden teacher
teacher right when i came to japan
japan it was like how do i guess a
a few months afterwards but up until
until that point I was trying to study
study the language the wrong way so
so I didn't enjoy myself and I wasn't
wasn't having fun learning the language
language I was really frustrated but
but when i started to do that and
and think about well how can I actually
actually do the Japanese gardening
gardening
gardening while
while learning the language and while
while i was thinking about that it
it just seemed you know it seemed
seemed like a quite easy thing to
to do and when people care about something
something they find a way to figure
figure out how to do it so even if
if you're not great at it it
it doesn't matter what you're interested
interested in doing but think about
about something you enjoy doing and
and then just do that in english so
so whatever you rather be doing right
right now if maybe you think this
this video is boring right now like
like I hate this video I wish I like
like right now I would rather be playing
playing soccer then
then go play soccer with some English
English speakers i'm sure you could
could find some I'm
I'm sure like their English speakers
speakers are all over the world and
and when people say well there's like
like nothing in my area or whatever
whatever like I mean hey english
english is the most you know it's
it's like of all the different languages
languages that are spoken your most
most likely to find an English speaker
speaker speaker somewhere in the world
world now for my case you know maybe
maybe it was more difficult for me
me to find a Japanese speaker in America
America they might be in some places
places but maybe some like rural country
country area of Texas or Oklahoma
Oklahoma or something like that there's
there's going to be more people that
that make it maybe find it difficult
difficult to find a Japanese people
people are Japanese speaker to practice
practice with so
so if you can think about how do I
I practice how do I meet people to
to practice with by thinking about
about your interest and you can easily
easily do that online first then it
it doesn't matter if you're actually
actually in the same area these as
as these people are not because you
you can find them online no matter
matter where you live anyway that's
that's what I'd like you to think
think about that's the message i will
will leave you with today whatever
whatever you'd rather be doing than
than studying do that in English and
and that's how you get something so
so just practice that thing and start
start finding people that way stop
stop looking for english practice
practice partners look for like sailing
sailing practice partners look for
for soccer practice partners look
look for all these other people and
and that's the same way i found my
my gardening practice partner and
and I stopped worrying about the language
language and started using it little
little by little because we care more
more about the thing we were using
using the language for keep these
these ideas in mind and hopefully
hopefully you enjoyed this video hopefully
hopefully wasn't too boring and you
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more well
well release the next one have a fantastic
fantastic date and i'll see you next
next time bye bye to
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