Using videos to learn English is a great idea.
And obviously you already know this,
because you're watching this video here on YouTube.
And I often tell my students watching a video once
is a good idea to learn some English.
Watching the same video a second time
is a great idea as well,
but actually taking the time to listen to the video.
Yes. Listen to the video.
To close your eyes and listen,
or to simply look away and play the video,
and just listen to it, is also a really, really good idea.
And in this English lesson I will explain why
I think it's such a good idea.
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One of the reasons why I think it's a good idea
to listen to a video after having watched it
once or twice, is because people in videos tend to talk more
with their hands.
I don't know if you've watched any of my videos,
but you probably have noticed
that I talk with my hands a lot.
It's hard for me to keep my hands down here,
because I just want to use them when I'm talking.
When people talk with their hands,
it gives little hints about what they're talking about.
It helps you to subconsciously understand
what they are saying.
So when you watch the video,
and if I say something like you,
or I say something like me,
it's very easy for you to hear the word,
and to see my actions, and to connect the meaning together
in your mind.
But if you take some time after having watched a video
to listen to it, you don't get to see
all of the hand motions.
So you have to work a little harder to understand
what's being said.
And I think that's just a really good thing to do
to reinforce what you've learned when you watch the video,
by taking some time to listen to it.
Another thing you probably do
when you watch an English lesson,
is you probably watch the speaker's lips and mouth.
You probably do this without even thinking.
What you're doing is trying to connect the shape
of their mouth, and how they're moving their lips,
with the sounds that you are hearing.
And all this helps you understand what they're saying
just a little bit better.
It's probably a great idea to do this the first or second
time you watch an English lesson.
Do watch the person's mouth to see how they're shaping
their mouth when they make certain sounds,
and do watch their lips.
But it's probably very worthwhile to just for a third time,
listen, close your eyes, and listen to an English lesson,
without having those visual cues.
This will certainly be a good thing to do.
It will help you just understand purely what you're hearing
instead of using all of the little hints
that the mouth and lips are giving you.
So give that a try as well.
The other thing you might have noticed
when watching an English lesson,
is that the person will also communicate
with facial expressions and body language.
Facial expressions are things like this,
if I was talking about something happy I would smile, a lot,
while I was talking about it.
If I was talking about something sad,
I would probably have a sad face,
while I was talking about it.
Facial expressions help communicate
what the person is talking about.
They might also do different types of poses,
or they might shrug, or they'll do things with their body
that also help to communicate what they're saying
with their words.
So facial expressions and body language are two things
that you also see the first or second time
you watch an English lesson.
So I do think it's a good idea to listen to that lesson
after you've watched it once or twice,
to remove again those visual cues.
To kind of test your brain in a pure way
to see if you've actually heard and understood
the words the person was using.
A lot of times when kids are learning to ride a bike
they'll use training wheels.
Training wheels are small wheels that you attach
to a bike so that the kid doesn't fall over
when they're learning to ride it.
I think English subtitles on English lessons
are kind of like training wheels.
And just like training wheels,
they are useful in the beginning,
but eventually you should turn them off.
And as you know, most kids eventually
take their training wheels off,
because you don't see a lot of adults riding bikes
with training wheels on them.
But there always remains a temptation with subtitles.
Sometimes it's just really easy to turn them on,
so that you don't have to work too hard to understand
what the person's saying.
So here's what I recommend,
watch the video once with the subtitles on.
Watch the video a second time with the subtitles off.
And then, because this is about listening,
take some time to listen to the lesson
when you're not close to your computer,
when you can't see the subtitles, even if they are on,
because this will just force you to, once again,
hear the words and try to understand them
without any kind of assistance.
You'll notice when you watch my English lessons
that there's often things that appear on the screen
to help you understand what I'm talking about.
It might be a picture.
It might be a word with a definition.
But I always try to make sure that there are visual cues,
that there are things you can reference,
to help you understand what I'm talking about.
And these are great things to have, the first or second time
that you watch the video.
They just help to reinforce what I'm talking about
and they help to connect what you're hearing
with something that you can see visually.
But once again, probably a good idea to take some time
to just listen to the lesson after you've watched it
once or twice, so that you can try to figure out
what I'm saying, without all of the nice visual cues.
It's just a good thing to do because after all, in life,
when you go to have an English conversation with someone,
there aren't words, and phrases, and meanings,
popping up over their shoulder as you talk to them.
Now you might be wondering why would I want to watch a video
twice and then listen to it?
What's the point?
That sounds boring.
And I agree with you,
it actually does sound a little bit boring,
but what I do know, as a teacher,
is that it is a very effective way
to reinforce what you've learned,
and to remember what you've learned.
When you watch an English lesson once,
and then watch it again,
and then take some time to listen to it,
that repetition, the fact that you've watched it twice,
and listened to it once, will really help you remember
what was taught in the lesson.
So give it a try, as promised,
it's not going to be exciting.
It is a little bit boring, but it's extremely effective.
Well the thank you so much for watching this English lesson.
If this is your first time here,
don't forget to click that red subscribe button over there,
so that you get notified when I put out
a new English lesson, or when I do a live stream.
Which, by the way, I do every Friday.
And if you're wondering what to do next,
and you have some time, why don't you stick around
and watch another English lesson.
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