Hi. James from engVid.
I would like to introduce to you three quick tips on learning English.
It's difficult to learn anything, let's say, especially when you're learning a new language.
So if I can give you something that will make it... Learning faster and easier, I think
that will make you happy.
So let's go to the board and take a look at what I have for you here. So "3 Quick Tips",
this is Mr. E, my buddy, we're together at all times. And the first tip I want to go
to is reducing your stress. Well, when we reduce something, it means to make less. Right?
And if you're wondering what stress is, stress is a funny word. It means you are afraid of something.
People use "stress" because they don't usually know how to say what they're
afraid of, so they say: "I feel stressed." If they don't have a job, for instance, they'll go:
"I'm stressed. I have no job and no money." What they're really saying is:
"I don't have a job. I'm afraid I cannot buy my food, my house, or my clothing, so I feel stressed."
So we use "stress" for fear, because it makes you feel uncomfortable, and it's hard for
you to express it, so you say: "stress".
So, we want to reduce your stress. I'm going to give you two hints, here, and one is going
to be the opposite of the first one. It will seem crazy...
[Aircraft noises]. See, now I'm stressed out, because that's a jet fighter.
I'm definitely stressed. Okay? I'm stressed, so I'm going to do this real quick,
because I don't have time for this now. Okay,
reduce stress, reduce stress. So, relax.
First one: listen to music, watch TVs, and... Sorry, watch TVs. Watch videos, TV, and play games. Huh?
Some of the best students I have ever had when I speak to them and go:
"You learn pronunciation quickly, you've got this vocabulary, where did you get it from?"
They're usually like: "I don't know, teacher. I, you... I play these games, they talk to me. I sometimes
watch these videos, I sing with the videos. You know, I have to sound like the video.
I love Michael Jackson. I, I just love it. It's so... So much fun for me.
" I go: -"How long do you do it?" -"I do it all the time, teacher. All the time, I do all day, all night."
So they practice, but because they're having so much fun, they don't think they're working.
And that's the key, you have to practice a lot. But nobody wants to practice something
that's difficult and makes them afraid. Right? So, they do things they love doing, and then
they come to learn English, and they say: "I know... Know English, but..."
[Aircraft noises]
Okay, I'm getting stressed again. I'm going faster. But they learn quickly,
and because they have a really good base or foundation knowledge, they can learn the rest
of the English quickly and easily as well. And without stress, because they remember
some of these words from the movies, the videogames, and the TV programs that they love.
That's a good way to learn. Okay, good. Ready?
The next one... [Aircraft noises]. Okay, they're doing it to me. They're increasing my stress.
Okay, so they were increasing my stress.
Notice when I stressed out, I spoke really, really, really, really quickly, like now?
And you're probably: "[Gasps]!" Well, here's the funny thing:
If you do that long enough, you get calm. I'm going to calm down now. I know the
planes are coming, they're coming again and again. We have an airshow going on right now.
So I'm just going to relax. There's nothing I can do. Now, in getting rid of that stress,
you might notice I'm speaking a lot slower, a lot more relaxed, and it's easier.
So, how do I increase my stress? One way to do it is take a sentence, read a book, and
read that as fast as you can. I know you'll be stressed out, because you'll trip over
the words... You'll trip over the words, that means you'll fall over the words because you're
not used to them, but then when you go at a slower speed, they will come out beautifully;
nice, flowing, eloquent. You know? Beautiful. So, what we want to do is go faster, so when
we go slower it seems nice.
Same with speed listening. Some of you guys have these devices, translators, or you know,
your laptop or tablet. You can actually increase the speed of what you're listening to. So
if you increase it just a little bit, it will stress you out. Like, right now I'm going
to speak really, really fast and you're going to have a difficult time listening. Oh.
But when you slow it back down, I will sound like this, and you'll have a lot of time to listen
and you can relax. So what I'm suggesting is increase the stress by increasing the speed,
that will force you to work harder.
When we increase stress, we increase the amount of work you have to do so you get stronger.
When we reduce the stress, we make you relax so you can learn. So if we put the two of
these things together, what you're going to find is you're going to learn faster. Sometimes
very relaxed, and sometimes stressful, but as the stress gets less and less because you
get used to it or you become comfortable with it, learning English will be a
[snaps]
snap.
Cool? That's number one.
[Aircraft noises] Notice, plane? And I'm not stressed because
I'm used to it. Stress reduction.
Okay, number two:
Reduce using those wonderful toys. I know, I just said in number one use
the toy, but the way I mean use it and don't use it... And here, I'm telling you use it
to make you stronger. I think if you used it... The machines, which a lot of people
do to make it easier, it actually makes you weaker. Why?
They rely-okay?-on the machine
to help them do all the translating or all the work. So they actually don't learn it,
or we say "internalize". They don't take it inside and have it in their brain; they keep
it in the machine. So what I mean by this is reducing those wonderful toys. Your smartphone
and translator, try not to rely on them. When someone tells you a word, a new word, get
the old-fashioned or the old technology. Old technology? Yeah. Paper and pen. Write it
down. "But teacher, some word I don't know." Then write a very long sentence, explaining
that word. "Huh?" Yeah. It forces you, once again, like increase your stress, to think
more because you'll have to think of the English you know, and how you can use that English
to explain something else. So you start to learn how to understand English, as well as
use it. Yeah? Cool. So, in this case, we want to use these less in order to use this more.
And by the way, this is the best machine on the planet, and there's 7 billion of them.
So why don't you use yours? Okay?
Next. We've done this one. We want to go to number three, and number three is this...
And I forgot to put my box, which is always important so you know which one is. Number three:
Reduce your fear. Remember I talked about stress up here? Fear is a little bit
different. I wanted to say: "Reduce, reduce, reduce",
what I meant was: "Be brave!" Be brave, be strong, be unafraid.
How are you going to do that? Well, it means putting yourself
out there. "Putting yourself out there" means going into situations that you're not comfortable
with. In these cases, you're in your house, you know, you're playing with yourself to
learn. Right? And this one, we're going to go outside...
[Aircraft noises] Like I should go outside now to that guy and go: "Stop it, or I'm taking you out."
But I'm not that brave. But you're braver than I am. Okay?
Here's something simple: Order from places, if you're
in a foreign country that you know English people are there,
go to... If they order, they sell pizza or they sell, you know... They sell hamburgers
- order. I don't say go there, but order it. The reason why I say: "Order" is simply because
you'll have to speak to them and say: "I would like a hamburger and french fry."
They will go: "Would you like two or three?" You'll have to listen to them. Okay?
And then respond. I think the telephone's even better because you won't be able to see
them say: "Do you want two or three?" You'll have to listen to the sound.
Oosch. This also is going to help you with
the third step I give you. Okay? So ordering over the phone is a good thing, it's a good
practice because the benefit is: If you get the right order or food, you're going to enjoy
your meal. And if you get the wrong one, you go: "I need to practice more.
I don't want milkshake with banana, and apple, and pork."
[Laughs]. Okay?
So, here's another one that's also good: Write a pen pal. What's a "pen pal"? Once again,
it's this old-fashioned technology where you're going to take pen and paper, go on the internet...
There's many people all over the world who want to learn English, like you, and they say:
"Write me. Write letters to me. Send me letters." You'll get to practice writing.
When they send back things, saying: "What did you write? You are crazy.
I will not wear dress with a monkey."
You'll say: "No, I meant to say: 'It would be funky to see you with a...'
Oh, wow. I have to write properly. I have to use proper grammar, the right vocabulary."
It's going to cause you to go sit down, go to a computer, use a dictionary, and work
on your English. Result is you get a good friend and maybe a place to visit when you
want to go to a foreign country. Cool? All right.
Here's the third one: Make a business... Make up a business and call companies.
Okay, now, please, when I say this, be careful, because I don't want Xerox or Apple calling me up.
It's a fake company, but don't completely order, which means you don't tell them:
"Okay, send all this stuff to my house."
Don't. You're going to ask questions.
When you make up a business, I'm forcing you or asking you to force yourself to come up with a plan.
So you'll write up your business. Maybe you'll want to make apple pies. You're going to have
to write down: What do you need? See? We're practicing our English, apple pies: I need
flour, I need apples, I need milk, I need this, this, this."
And then you're going to call companies and say: "Look, I need to make 5,000 apple pies for my company.
How many apples can I get from you? At what time can I get the apples?"
They're going to... The beautiful thing about this is as your companies change, because
you can change different companies, when you call people, they're going to change their
responses, which means you have to be real. Real time. You cannot just make things up,
because you can ask something, and they might say:
"Hey, do you want it delivered this way or do you want it done this way? Do you want to get it charged? Do you want to...?"
And you're going to have to think about it. It's stressful. You have to be brave,
relax, and answer their questions.
And in doing that, you're going to find when you step out into
the real world and talk to people that it's a lot easier.
Just like that, my stress is gone and so are the planes.
One quick tip before I go as an extra one, bonus, because I like you so much.
See? Extra tip. I need you to go here
to www.eng as in English, vid as in video.com (www.engvid.com),
where if you learn the lessons well enough, will reduce your stress and help increase
your knowledge of English. All right?
Have a good one. Do the quiz while you're at it.
Chow.