Hi there I'm drew badger the world's number one english
fluency guide and it is a
pleasure to welcome you to
another advance to listening
practice lesson in this video
what I'd like to talk about is
focus again focuses such an
important part of learning and
life in general but in the
previous well maybe the kind of
recent videos I've been
producing I've been talking
about focusing on maybe
describing a particular item
like a backpack or a knife and
just showing that that's a
really good use of training your
fruit training for your fluency
so you can speak about a
particular thing and because you
can only speak about that
particular thing it forces your
mind to get a bit more creative
and to use and learn lots more
interesting words and phrases
that are specific to that thing
because even describing
something like a backpack or a
knife you could actually feel an
entire book with just describing
that thing maybe the different
ranges of colors or sizes or
shapes or uses or histories lots
of different things like that
appear when you're talking about
something and again when you're
focusing on that particular
thing that's what can really
trained you to speak more
fluently so today I'd like to do
the same thing but with just an
actual phrase or a full sentence
i should say and showing that
this is how you should really be
practicing because this is the
same way I practice in the same
way I teach my personal students
and helping them improve just by
focusing on a particular phrase
this is what helps you master
grammar as well as improve your
pronunciation and blend the
sound of your speech so you
sound much more like a native
English speaker so let's just
take just a random phrases let's
see how about could you tell me
how to get to Sesame Street
ok so maybe you've heard that
song before could you tell me
how to get how to get to sesame
street or can you tell me how to
get to sesame street or can you
tell me how to get to the post
office or anyplace but we'll
just do Sesame Street just
because it's a thing from a song
you can listen to and you can
hear that right on youtube if
you search for Sesame Street
song you can probably find that
as well are other places but
anyway it's just an example of
something where you can listen
to both me speaking
and as well as other people
speaking or i guess in the case
of Sesame Street little kids
singing about how how to get to
Sesame Street but we'll just
take this particular phrase and
so could you tell me how to get
to Sesame Street could you tell
me how to get to Sesame Street
now the reason we focus on a
particular phrase like this is
because the grammar structure of
could you tell me how to do
something so could you do
something or could you make
something could you ask
something once we understand not
like the grammar point itself
but what the sentence is trying
to ask for and this is really a
big difference for kind of my
personal learners versus the
people that are normally
learning in a typical classroom
typical classroom learners will
think about a grammar . and try
to learn that first and they try
to learn okay could and then you
or could and then he and then
they try to learn the actual
rule for that thing where is my
personal students are more
learning what's the actual point
of the sentence what's the
grammatical structure that the
meaning that we're trying to say
so it's not thinking about a
rule and then how you express
that it's more thinking about
what's the actual thing i want
to express and then what are the
words that we use for that thing
and this is a different way of
thinking about it this is
actually the way the native
speakers think about it so I
native english-speaking child or
you as a native English speaker
of your personal language your
native language when you're
thinking about this you're
thinking not only what do I want
to say but then what are the
words i need to use for that so
young children are not thinking
okay what is the grammar rule
that I learned in school and
then what are the words i need
to do know they don't think
about that at all they're
thinking about what's the way i
want to express this in then in
what other situation have I
heard this before so what
they're really doing is taking a
pattern from one thing and then
just using it again in something
else so they eliminate the need
to think about the rules at all
because they're they're kind of
listening to their parents and
over the course of many many
years when their parents are
explaining things to them before
their children can even speak
and this is the same thing that
happens with my daughter as i'm
practicing with her every day
over and over again I'm
going over things like hey could
you get a book or could you do
something like this I'm training
her that I'm asking her to do
something she doesn't
grammatically understand all of
the words or is even able to
reproduce any of that she can
speak some words but she doesn't
really explain herself and
grammatically correct way or
even just dramatically at all
because number one she can't
really speak yet but number two
she just hasn't learned the
rules and she's not going to
school to learn that even though
that's something young children
do learn in school and it's
funny that they when children go
to school to learn grammar rules
this is when they kind of have
trouble expressing themselves
like it just about the age that
they start learning grammar in
school as opposed to just
speaking actually this is where
they start you know really
having trouble with writing and
other things that's kind of a
topic for a separate video but
in this video i just want you to
understand these two different
ways of thinking there is the
rule based approach where you
think about what is the grammar
rule that you're focusing on and
then what are the words and the
the word order and then how do
you produce that sentence or
you're looking at what's the way
that other people have expressed
this general or even the same
idea in different situations and
then how can i apply that to the
situation so really it's just
two different ways of thinking
and the second one is the much
more appropriate way for the
human mind because we're just
not good at being able to
remember rules in that way maybe
you can if you practice over and
over again but typically if
you're the kind of person that
has to translate in your head
before you speak you learn the
rule based approach and now
you're trying to translate in
your head and you
it's just really frustrating for
you so the reason you don't want
to do this again is because you
can't communicate effectively
and communicate spontaneously so
if you want to stop doing that
and that's the subject of this
video really what you have to be
doing is focusing on how other
people are expressing something
in a certain way and then how
you can do that but maybe using
a different word because could
you tell me how to get to Sesame
Street is the same structure as
could you tell me how to get to
the bank or the post office or
the drugstore or any of these
other things so fluency begins
by mastering an understanding of
where
where
where but like the actual rule is
without actually knowing what
the rule is that makes sense
it's understanding the rule
without being able to write the
rule down so maybe a like a
native speaker wouldn't be able
to tell you what a phrasal verb
was but you know phrasal verb is
but they can use the phrasal
verb you know without any
problem so if i say pick up
something as opposed to elevate
something or to lift something
this is a way a native speaker
would learn it from a very early
age and this is why phrasal
verbs are so important why we
teach phrasal verbs and our
visual guide to phrasal verbs
anyway so let's focus on this
particular phrase so when we're
looking at just one phrase like
could you tell me how to get to
Sesame Street
Sesame Street we begin by just saying it over
and over again and understanding
what the actual sentence means
so not the individual words but
even if you don't understand
everything if someone was
looking at you and maybe they
were speaking a language that
you didn't understand like
they're an alien and they're
kind of maybe pointing on a map
to a particular case a location
that is Sesame Street and so
they're looking at this map and
they say oh like i want i want
to go here and maybe you don't
quite understand what they're
saying but they're saying could
you tell me how to get here and
maybe you hear from somebody
else or some other alien could
you tell me how to get to this
other location and you slowly
understand that there's a
pattern developing here so
they're saying could you like
they're speaking to me tell me
and they're referring to
themselves so could you tell me
how to get to this particular
location or how do you get to a
particular location how do you
go to that location so again
this is a native way of learning
something and you can do the
exact same thing and typically
what learners who have been
trained in the classroom do is
there listening for individual
words and then trying to
remember them and this is why
people have a lot of problems
with idioms so idioms are things
like kick the bucket which means
to die but if you're looking at
just the words individually to
kick a bucket that has nothing
to do with death and this is the
definition of an idiom so a word
or a phrase that is
communicating one idea but the
words of that thing do have
really nothing to do with the
idea that you that you're
expressing but native speakers
are learning the opposite way
they're taking the idea itself
and then working backwards and
just assuming I ok he said kick
the bucket I don't really
understand why he said that but
I understand what he meant by
that so I my friend kick the
bucket
bucket
bucket yeah like he died ok so kick the
bucket means to die and maybe if
I hear that phrase from one or
two other people i know okay
this is a common phrase and
typically young children are
much more accepting of a
language like that so when you
were young and people used
something you didn't say hey why
do you call it kick the bucket
most people just accept the
language so this becomes more
difficult to do as you get older
and you start questioning things
and it's just another reason why
it's more difficult for people
to learn as they get older
even though you you really can
do things much better than a
child especially learning a
language if you just learn in
the right way but getting back
to our phrase could you tell me
how to get to Sesame Street
we're listening for what is the
pattern here so somebody is
asking us that and then we can
begin using it could you tell me
how to get to sesame street and
then we begin using that could
you tell him how to get to
Sesame Street could you tell her
how to get to Sesame Street and
by changing just one word we're
still keeping the general
grammar structure intact but
we're able to talk about
somebody else and then this
expands our fluency and by
fluency again I mean the ability
to use a language . or even just
the language in general without
having to think about it
so right now I'm just speaking
and I don't have to sit and
translate in my head about what
i want to say I just start
speaking and this is the exact
same thing you can do is well if
you focus on particular faint
and they're kind of general
phrases like this that have
particular grammar structures
that we hear over and over again
and again you should be
listening for not what the rule
is what kind of understanding
the rule by understanding this
group of words represents a
particular idea so could you
tell me how to do something this
is a common string of words
that's used together and it's
often heard so people will say I
could you tell me how to do this
could you
could you
could you show me how to do that and then
once you master being able to
just understand and use that
grammatical structure then you
can start blending the words
together to make it sound much
more like a native speaker so
let's say I'm a learner and I'm
hearing that phrase for the
first time could you tell me how
to get to Sesame Street
ok so i hear the phrase and I
say it a few times and then I
practice could you tell him how
to get to Sesame Street ok so
dramatically I can direct the
different person or could you
tell me how to get to the bank
so i could talk about a
different location i want to get
to and really from one grammar
structure you've got lots of
different sentences you can make
and this is how you multiply the
ability to speak fluently
because you're practicing
different things and this is
exactly the way I do it when I
or the way I'd started doing it
when i change the way I learned
when I was learning Japanese so
i began learning japanese the
typical way where I have
listening practice exercises and
I have to try to study grammar
rules and i would read grammar
books I actually read just read
grammar books and did grammar
drills and then of course I
can't use the actual grammar in
a conversation because writing
rules in a book does not
translate to actually being able
to use that grammar and it
actually hurts you from doing
that because it teaches you to
translate so once you get to the
point where you can say
something
something
something Oh could you tell me how to get
to Sesame Street then you can
begin blending the sounds of
things as you listen more for
what native speakers are saying
because typically a phrase like
could you tell me something
could you tell me where the
school is could you tell me
something like this because it
said so many times and people
understand that grammar
structure or that the particular
string of words or phrases that
people are saying that's when
things start getting shorter you
notice when people are speaking
in a like a scientific community
or they are trying to introduce
a new word or phrase so
something that's new maybe
they've created a new idea they
speak that slowly because they
want people to understand what's
happening but something that
happens over and over again
these are things that ever
everybody assumes everyone else
understands so this is why we
speak quickly and so a phrase
like could you tell me how to
get to sesame street becomes
could jus could you could you
tell me how to get to sesame
street so it's could you tell me
how does get how to get how to
get so we don't see how to get
to Sesame Street we see how to
get to Sesame Street how to get
to Sesame Street how to get to
Sesame Street
Sesame Street so if you go on YouTube right
now you can probably find it
just look for Sesame Street song
and you can hear little kids
excuse me little kids saying
could you tell me how to get so
how to get how to get to Sesame
Street how to get to Sesame
Street
Street
Street so if you want to improve a
particular grammar . and
evenness develop fluency in
general this is one simple way
to do it and it's something that
you can do whether you have a
person practicing with you or
not really you're just listening
to what the phrase is
understanding with the general
phrase or that grammar . means
and then you practice that using
maybe a different word or phrase
inside that so you can
understand like could you tell
me how to get to I don't know
how to get to fluency or could
you tell me how to get to the
moon it doesn't really matter
what that is but the grammar
structure stays the same so if
you're thinking about it in that
way that you can practice it by
yourself and you know it's
correct because the grammar
structure wouldn't be changing
depending on what the location
was it doesn't matter
and then you can listen really
carefully for how the blending
occurs in the sentence because
again something that's used over
and over and over again it
naturally shortens overtime
because people understand what
that is and again they're not
they're trying to communicate an
idea but really people i mean if
if we didn't have to open our
mouths it still takes a long
time to express what we want to
say maybe in the future we can
just think something and the
other person will understand
intuitively hopefully we'll get
to that point but until we get
there we can see where we're
moving in that direction where
people are trying to communicate
things as quickly as possible
and this is why we blend the
sounds of our words when I speak
or
or
or and we speak i should say well i
hope you enjoyed this video
today pick one particular
grammar . or phrase whatever it
is you want to practice it
doesn't matter you can even pick
something a bit more difficult
for you but just try to take
that and then manipulate that
change one word here or one word
there in the sentence and then
you'll get much better at being
able to explain that thing and
then you can take that grammar
structure and use it in other
situations as well and then
after that practice the sound
blending of it especially if
it's something that's used very
often and then you will develop
a really good sense for being
able to understand native
English speakers as well as
being able to improve your
pronunciation that's it for this
video I hope you have enjoyed it
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