If you need to improve your listening skills and you don't have much time, this is the
video for you.
Hey student.
I am teacher Prix and I am gonna help you talk to anyone anywhere anytime in English.
Well, let's cut to the chase.
You're trying to improve your listening skills and you are a very busy person.
Now, even if you are not busy, this is the best way to go if you're trying to improve
your listening skills.
The first you need to understand is how to listen.
Unfortunately, with many videos on the internet, a lot of websites on the internet, many teachers,
many different schools, we have a tendency to interpret that if you want to improve your
listening skills, you need to listen a lot, for many hours and that's not very realistic.
You know, I was thinking about this a few weeks ago.
I was watching my parents watch Netflix and I began to pay attention and I started talking
to my dad and I asked him, hey do you always watch the shows in English and he said yes.
How often?
And he was like, everyday.
Every day, I watch a little bit of Netflix and then it hit me!
It is not about the quantity of hours, the number of hours you spend watching because
if that were the case, my parents' listening would be amazing.
Oh, but teacher, they are old.
Well, in my academy, I have students who are 60, or 70, or 65, or 68, so age is just a
number.
But I understand, ok.
Of course, they are not studying English, they are watching TV series, the focus is
different.
But here, it's important that you understand that to have a productive practice, you don't
need to spend 1 hour listening to an audio.
You can if you want, but you will need to be careful with the practice you have.
That's why in this video, I wanna show you that you can improve your listening a lot
by using a 3-minute audio.
But teacher, where am I gonna find a 3-minute audio?
Youtube, ok?
In my academy, my online program, my students have access to specific listening exercises
but you can also use YouTube if you don't have a course, if you are not in my program,
so there are alternatives, there are things you can do but first you need to understand
the concept of listening.
It is important to understand the different between passive listening and active listening
and if you're trying to improve your listening skills you need to focus on active listening,
on really getting down to comprehension and to do that, the longer the audio is the more
difficult it gets to improve your comprehension.
What's passive listening?
That's probably what you do every day.
You watch a movie, you watch a TV show, you listen to a podcast while you are jogging
or exercising at the gym, these are passive moments.
What I am trying to make you understand is that if you're trying to get better results,
you need to be more active with your practice and focus on shorter activities, shorter audios
and that way it will be easier for you to improve your comprehension.
Another important point to why it is better to listen to a 3-minute audio instead of a
30, 40-minute audio.
When you're trying to improve your listening comprehension, you need to focus on the information.
That's the key, that's what you're trying to get.
And the longer the audio is, the harder it gets to understand so much information, especially
if you trying to improve your listening skills.
It gets very difficult for the brain to administer so much information, to manage so much information
from a 30-minute audio.
ok?
That's why, with a 3-minute audio, you have a more objective video or audio, a more objective
piece of information.
If the goal of the video is to teach you how to make a cake, it is very clear what is going
to happen in 3 minutes while in 30 minutes, it can be very difficult to get main ideas,
to get details because there are many details and if you're trying to improve your listening,
you will need to test your attention to details, ok?
A very important here, the third point, I've already told you two.
Basically guys, when I say you're going to listen to 3 minutes, I am not saying you're
gonna listen once and go away, ok?
Oh, I finished.
I listened 3 times.
Oh I finished.
I listened once, 3 minutes!
Done!
No.
Let's say you have 15 minutes.
You can listen to that audio at least 4 times.
Teacher 4x3 is 12.
Well, I will explain, there are other activities you need to do to make this 3-minute practice
count! ok?So, let's say you have an hour, you really have an hour, you can repeat this
audio many many times and focusing on different activities because believe it or not, a 3-minute
audio will give you a lot of information and a lot of opportunities of things you can practice
so really make sure to, if you have more time, if you have one hour, if you have 40 minutes
to listen to this audio many times, as many as possible.
I am not saying that you're gonna listen to this audio a hundred times, no!
But if you have 15 minutes, if you have 20 minutes, there are different things you are
going to do with this listening practice that will help you improve different English skills,
not only your listening because if you are trying to improve your listening just by listening
and not doing other supporting activities, your listening will not improve no matter
how many times you listen to that audio, ok?
Now, I am going to give you an idea of the things you need to do with the 3-minute practice
but before I do that, hit the LIKE button and subscribe to my channel.
ok?
That really helps.
By using the short audio, you're going to focus on 3 to 4, honestly, 5 different activities,
really, Priscila?With a 3-minute audio?
Yes!
Firstly, you're going to focus on writing.
You're going to take notes as you're listening to that audio.
Secondly, you're going to focus on vocabulary because it is a shorter audio, it is possible
for you to stop and check the new words you don't know because here you are practicing,
ok?
Thirdly, it is possible for you to practice shadowing which is basically a pronunciation
practice, of course you're not learning the phonetics, you're not learning pronunciation
in more details, but it does help you improve your intonation and pronunciation, you don't
have the theory but you have a more practical way to practice repeating the information
you listen to while you are doing the activity.
It also helps you work on grammar because as you are watching that video, reading the
subtitles of a 3-minute video or a 3-minute audio, checking the transcript, you are able
to see grammar in context and studying grammar passively because this is a passive way to
study grammar, you will be improving as well.
Of course, we need to have an active moment for grammar but here the focus is listening,
but by doing this practice you are, by following this recommendation, you are working on different
things.
Now, the next and final and perhaps the most important exercise of the night is the comprehension.When
you listen to a short audio, my recommendation is, you listen once.
Then, you take notes, you check vocabulary, maybe you can write down some words as you
can see on the screen when you are watching the video and you see the subtitles, take
notes.
Check the meaning of the word.
ok?
And then test your comprehension.
Try to write down some pieces of information, some phrases that help you better understand
what you learned from that video.
That's the idea of the activity.
Second time, again, practice more comprehension.
What other information can you understand now, a second time?
Third time, ok, now I am gonna focus on pronunciation, I am really gonna focus on repeating the audio
again and again and again until I see if I understand more easily the information so
now you're focusing on shadowing, pronunciation, repeating aloud as you listen to the audio.
Practice writing, you can write down what you understand.
Here I am combining comprehension and writing, ok, in this audio, the guy is talking about
this and then that, then he explains this, then he disagrees with that and this will
make your 3-minute practice more productive.
That's why I say, you will need to repeat because you will be focusing on different
activities so a 3-minute practice will be a 15-minute practice if you listen twice and
then focus on writing the information, checking the pronunciation of the words.
It can be 5 times, maybe you have 35 minutes, so you listen 4 times, you listen to the audio
4 times, then you focus on doing the other activities, like writing down, checking vocabulary,
practicing shadowing, so you see, it is about managing your time well and choosing the right
kind of practice to follow.
You don't need to focus so much of your time on 1 single activity, listening to an audio
that will be exhausting for you to remember because when I am watching a video that is
one hour, because I do that, I watch videos that are one hour long.
It is hard, I need to repeat again, so maybe I watch it again and then later, I try to
watch a small part again because I know it's a longer exercise and will require more from
me but I am at a different level from you, ok, so I use different strategies on myself.
I am at a different moment in my journey.
ok?
This is what I do with my #BSA in my academy because I know that's the best way.
The secret to making your listening practice work is to analyze the materials you use.
Working on identifying key points, taking notes, analyzing new words, describing the
information you listened to, writing down about what you listened, even recording yourself
describing what you have just listened.
That's much easier and more productive than simply watching a long video or listening
to a very long audio.
Now, #BSA!
My students in my online program.
If you are watching this video, I have just posted in our group, our Facebook group, an
activity, a listening activity for you guys to do, something extra that I have created
based on today's lesson.
You already have many listening exercises in the academy but I decided to bring you
something extra, it is in the community, you know, on Facebook, our facebook group, so
check it out and let me know what you think.
Other than that, thank you so much and I will see you next time.
Bye!