hello again it's drew badger here
here the co-founder of English anyone
anyone . com I'm
I'm really excited to see you again
again to be back here on YouTube making
making videos to show my lovely face
face and be sitting at the park and
and enjoy the weather as i get to
to have a lovely conversation with
with you
with you it's
it's been a while since I've released
released a lesson and I'm really excited
excited to begin kind of changing
changing the way you think here this
this is a really important lesson
lesson for me and when I'm coming
coming back now having
having not been here for a while I
I really want to give you something
something very powerful and something
something important that you can take
take away that you can start seeing
seeing a lot more improvement in your
your English fluency with so today
today I want to talk about the number
number one reason why most students
students and probably yourself are
are not getting fluent so
so let's get into it the thing that
that I hear the most from students
students
students it's
it's not how to improve my grammar
grammar or how to improve my pronunciation
pronunciation even
even though those are things i do
do receive the number one complaint
complaint I hear is this why do I
I understand what you are saying and
and videos and this is people talking
talking to meet so why do they understand
understand me but they can't understand
understand what people are saying
saying in actual conversations now
now this is what I call the fluency
fluency gap the fluency gap you've
you've got basically most students
students over here and they can read
read and they can write pretty well
well and they understand the slow
slow
slow simple
simple easy english that i'm using
using right now there
there might even be a few complex
complex grammar points when I'm speaking
speaking right now in this very lesson
lesson but most of them are pretty
pretty easy to understand because
because students have heard them before
before
before the
the difference is that i'm not using
using all of the crazy idioms slang
slang phrases expression quotes from
from movies and all of these other
other things that really come with
with native fluent English so
so this is the number one reason why
why students are not getting fluid
fluid
fluid it's
it's not that students can't find
find more information about English
English because it's all over the
the place
the place native
native English is all over the Internet
Internet you can even watch right
right here on youtube you can click
click and watch any number of a million
million other channels and listen
listen to native English and it's
it's not that you can't find grammar
grammar points or idioms or lists
lists of other vocabulary words to
to practice because there are millions
millions and millions of websites
websites on the internet that help
help you do all these things so
so what's the real problem here what's
what's the real issue because it's
it's not finding information there
there is even too much information
information on the internet and most
most students really don't know how
how to navigate so
so the real issue here is how do you
you get from here to over here it's
it's such a simple thing but most
most students don't really think about
about it because it's not how they
they learned English they've
they've learned a few kind of phrases
phrases that get them from the zero
zero level to the kind of text book
book english level which is what i
i like to call it so
so you begin with no ability at all
all and you start learning some grammar
grammar points you remember some words
words and phrases and these are all
all of the slow easy to understand
understand simple words and expressions
expressions that you would find in
in a textbook it's
it's also the same kind of English
English that you might hear from an
an announcement on a bus or train
train or an airplane where it's kind
kind of the same thing that most people
people are used to and
and the same thing that most people
people listen to and its really easy
easy english for most people to understand
understand even if they're not native
native speakers but this English over
over here is something completely
completely different so
so it's got all of the groovy the
the kind of grammar is the same for
for the most part but we've got slang
slang and idioms and all kinds of
of other expressions that we use in
in the language so the real problem
problem here the number one thing
thing that kind of the number one
one reason why students are not getting
getting fluid is because they don't
don't know how to move move
move from here over to here that's
that's it
that's it and
and I've been thinking about this
this for so many years and its really
really kind of becoming crystal-clear
crystal-clear for me now as i talked
talked with more and more students
students and try to figure out what
what exactly the problem is because
because it's almost like i get the
the same email every single day for
for the same comment every single
single day from tons and tons of students
students
students so
so how do you get from here to there
there and the question they're asking
asking isn't really how do you do
do it it's more why
why don't I understand why don't I
I understand English I've been studying
studying English for so many years
years why don't I understand and its
its really really frustrating now
now this is exactly the same thing
thing that I encountered when i began
began learning japanese i went through
through the exact same process so
so i started down here without knowing
knowing anything and I try to use
use my text book and study with that
that and remember some flash cards
cards and you know all of those kinds
kinds of things that people usually
usually do for learning English or
or four Japanese or any other language
language but i did these things and
and i basically got to a point here
here
here I
I call it kind of like the the textbook
textbook English plateau plateau a
a plateau is like a mountain but the
the top of it is shaved off flat like
like this so it would be kind of going
going up and straight across and down
down like this a mountain continues
continues to go up but a plateau looks
looks more like this so
so what I see in my own fluency for
for learning japanese and for most
most people that are learning English
English it's the same situation they
they get to a certain point and then
then they can't they can't quite get
get to this level up here they
they don't really know how to do that
that they don't really know how to
to make this jump now
now a lot of students what they'll
they'll do is they'll try to actually
actually jump from over here -
- over here they're trying to use
use their textbook English skills
skills to jump all the way in one
one step over to here and this is
is a huge problem in this is what
what creates the most frustration
frustration of all because students
students are so they're so annoyed
annoyed and they're so angry because
because they spent all this time studying
studying but they don't remember anything
anything they don't understand what
what people are saying they
they try to watch an English TV show
show and maybe they understand some
some of the grammar and some of the
the words but a joke they
they just really don't understand
understand that i was actually speaking
speaking with my wife about this very
very problem yesterday now
now her english is actually really
really really good and her English
English is even way better than my
my Japanese which isn't saying much
much but her English actually is way
way better and she understands even
even from learning for me and from
from watching a lot of TV shows that
that she likes to do especially English
English programs she learns a lot
lot of phrases but there are so many
many that she can't understand in
in a lot of the programs that she
she likes to watch so
so as an example i asked her about
about the phrase kick the bucket kick
kick the bucket now this is an idiomatic
idiomatic expression and that just
just means a phrase that literally
literally means like you could kick
kick the bucket but that has nothing
nothing to do with the actual meaning
meaning of what you're trying to say
say
say so
so is asking her do you know what
what the phrase kick the bucket means
means and she thought about it and
and she was thinking well she was
was thinking literally ooo
ooo you kick the bucket but that doesn't
doesn't really mean anything so
so if you're watching an English TV
TV show and you read the subtitles
subtitles of something even if you
you have the subtitles of a programming
programming you read something like
like kick the bucket you
you don't know what it means incidentally
incidentally if you don't know what
what it means it means to die last
last week my grandfather kicked the
the bucket kicked the bucket so
so this is a native English expression
expression that you will not find
find in a textbook for the most part
part I haven't seen it in a text book
book
book maybe
maybe you have and you will see some
some things like that you'll see videos
videos maybe that all produce that
that other people will produce and
and there are plenty of expression
expression places that you can go
go online to find lots of idiomatic
idiomatic expressions and other weird
weird phrases and slang that you can
can study but for the most part if
if you don't learn those things you're
you're not going to be able to make
make this jump so
so getting back to this this serious
serious frustration here trying
trying to go from this level over
over here the current kind of plateau
plateau textbook english trying to
to jump all the way over here it's
it's basically impossible to do and
and that's why it's so frustrating
frustrating for students to learn
learn and so frustrating for teachers
teachers like me because I really
really want people to know what it
it feels like to get over here now
now I live in this world I live in
in this world of kind of native Japanese
Japanese and my Japanese isn't perfect
perfect and I may not ever understand
understand everything but I can watch
watch movies and understand you know
know quite a bit of what i'm watching
watching and I can have actual conversations
conversations without fear I
I can meet new people I can practice
practice speaking i can go into places
places that I wouldn't have normally
normally been able to go into when
when I was just learning the language
language and that's because I've crossed
crossed the fluency gap and there's
there's a specific way I've done that
that and I'll talk a little bit more
more about that in this video but
but first i want to give you an analogy
analogy
analogy so
so back when i was learning how to
to drive my first education was in
in school and I had to take drivers
drivers at class which is just a regular
regular high school class and then
then I would have a test and then
then if i pass that test i would go
go to range and range is where you
you would practice at a kind of like
like a parking lot really it's basically
basically a parking lot with a few
few cars and you would have students
students sitting in all the cars and
and just driving really really slowly
slowly around in circles and maybe
maybe they would do a turn or practice
practice parking or something like
like that but after you would kind
kind of learn to do that and you would
would pass range then they would let
let you on to the real streets and
and into the real traffic and this
this is where people freaked out so
so a lot of people that haven't had
had the practice even if they're going
going around in circles it's
it's a much different situation than
than actually pulling into real traffic
traffic and especially getting on
on a highway and going 60 or 70 miles
miles an hour now
now this is the exact same thing that
that you get from people that are
are trying to learn English again
again this is the fluency gap you've
you've got someone that's just learning
learning how to drive a car over here
here and then you've got seasoned
seasoned veterans these are the people
people that have been driving cars
cars for a long time and when you
you try to jump over here there's
there's gonna be problems so
so what I did how I kind of learned
learned driving differently is when
when I was kind of learning range
range around that same time my mom
mom would take me to an empty parking
parking lot and so we would drive
drive around and she would also let
let me drive on the streets at night
night so i would actually be able
able to go out and drive around and
and get the feel for what it's like
like to drive just on the streets
streets
streets stopping
stopping at traffic lights and turning
turning and we would even try driving
driving on highways but we would drive
drive at night so if you notice what
what I'm doing here we're learning
learning and slightly a different
different way and using more steps
steps more practice to get from here
here where you are at the basic level
level two up here at the fluid level
level
level so
so when I had my chance to go from
from range and to drive out of the
the parking lot into real traffic
traffic
traffic I
I was already prepared for that now
now the same thing happens for english
english fluency if
if you learn the right way and this
this is exactly what I do with English
English anyone . com so
so some teachers are really focused
focused on pronunciation others are
are focused on helping you learn grammar
grammar or learn particular phrases
phrases but I've learned and kind
kind of understand a lot more about
about what I do what drew badger does
does an English teacher in it and
and a speaking confidence expert and
and what I do is really help students
students make that that jump to get
get from here to over here to cross
cross the fluency gap and really the
the best way to do this is to move
move from individual steps instead
instead of trying to jump from here
here to over here and jumping from
from here to here means trying to
to sit down and watch a movie but
but it's frustrating because you have
have to look at your dictionary and
and even if you can read or understand
understand a word you won't understand
understand the idioms and phrases
phrases that people are using so it
it just makes you more frustrated
frustrated it
it decreases your motivation and then
then you stopped wanting to get fluid
fluid because you just don't know
know
know and
and how to do it so what I do is help
help you take individual steps like
like mastering grammar learning phrases
phrases the pronunciation of words
words and also how to understand the
the the kind of cultural ideas and
and jokes and things that you would
would see from movies so that when
when you see them all in native English
English it becomes amazing it really
really changes the way you think so
so this is what I do and this is the
the solution to the number one problem
problem that most students have when
when they're trying to cross the fluency
fluency gap so
so what I've done is create a fluency
fluency bridge it's
it's just a whole different way of
of learning where you're not trying
trying to focus on a particular kind
kind of word or phrase but you understand
understand the real words and phrases
phrases over here but
but you learn all of them first before
before seeing them in native English
English so the analogy would be imagine
imagine watching your favorite TV
TV show
TV show but
but before you watch it you know all
all of the grammar and all of the
the phrases all of the the kind of
of cultural ideas and references and
and jokes and things like that so
so that when you finally watch it
it all of it becomes crystal clear
clear and really easy to understand
understand you've also learned how
how people blend sound so that you
you make sure you understand I that
that person is saying this so before
before when you're just using your
your text book english understanding
understanding you
you can't really figure out how to
to make that connection but now that
that you have understood all of these
these things because you've gone from
from here in little bitty steps all
all the way up to fluency you can
can become fluent much much faster
faster now I have a program called
called master English conversation
conversation that does exactly this
this and when I'm thinking about really
really what exactly master English
English conversation does because
because even people that create something
something they really have to go back
back and think about really the best
best way to explain what it does and
and something as complicated or complex
complex as becoming a fluent speaker
speaker because there are so many
many different pieces of it really
really the complete
complete idea of master English conversation
conversation is this bridge it's
it's not a program for students that
that are trying to pass a test because
because they don't really want to
to learn how to speak anything but
but if you're stuck here if
if you are at this plateau level if
if you are trying to drive a car but
but you are really scared about trying
trying to drive over here because
because you just have no idea how
how to do it you
you need a bridge and that's where
where mastering this conversation
conversation comes in if
if you are the kind of student that
that is struggling with learning and
and you've been trying to learn for
for a long time you
you understand all of the slow easy
easy english that I'm explaining right
right now but you have no idea what
what I'm saying what I'm speaking
speaking quickly named speed if you
you want to be able to learn how to
to do that you need to take steps
steps to get there you have to stop
stop trying to jump all the way here
here
here we
we call this taking one step back
back to take two steps forward so
so you have to take your time and
and approach fluency and steps learn
learn all of the real English idioms
idioms the real English phrases all
all of these other things and then
then you're well prepared for conversations
conversations and how to speak if
if you're interested in learning more
more about the program it's
it's the absolute best thing you can
can have as a student of English if
if you really want to become a great
great speaker click
click on the link right here you'll
you'll see a lovely little button
button below me and you can click
click on that to learn more about
about the program it will tell you
you absolutely everything about it
it
it it
it will also tell you about my journey
journey to Japanese fluency the five
five poisons of traditional English
English learning methods it's
it's a fantastic program designed
designed specifically for students
students that want to cross the fluency
fluency gap so
so come down and learn more and i
i will see you at English anyone .
. com
. com bye-bye