How NOT to Learn English - Studying English at Home

"How not to learn English." Hey, James from EngVid. We said it, we did it. I actually

feel like a corporation. I remember the first day we did "How Not to Learn English," number

one. It wasn't called number one. It was just "How Not to Learn English." Made a joke, there

will be more lessons. I kept teaching, and as I kept teaching, I kept thinking. You know,

that dream sequence? And then the list got longer and longer, and I was like, "Wow."

So we have the first one is just generally "How Not to Learn English." The second one

was the school edition, right? "How Not to Learn While in Your Classroom." Now, this

one's specific. This one's for you at home. We know a lot of the EngVid viewers actually

study at home in a little hut somewhere in Africa with a zebra as an antelope. I'm just

joking. Can you imagine that? There's some people in a hut huddled around a computer.

Huddled means like surrounding, looking at the screen. But we figured out that when we

started this, this was for people who weren't fortunate enough to travel, to go to other

countries and learn English, but might be really struggling and learning on their own.

And why not have a video for them? So in this one, this is "How Not to Learn English," part

three, but the home edition. And by that, we mean those of you who are studying at home,

which is really tough, and I admire that, and I'm thankful for the privilege of getting

to teach you, right? Because you're choosing us.

So there are the five things you can do, but this is when you're on your home. When you're

on your home. You're on your home. You're on your own. Okay. "Do not study in an area

free of distractions." This is basic. A lot of this is basic studying principles when

any person is studying at home. Okay? A lot of students will come in. I've seen them in

my classroom. I'm not talking about classroom now. I'm giving you the example, not the classroom.

But they come in, and they've got a cell phone going, or they're just iPad-ing. They're distracted.

Now that's bad in a classroom, but at home, it's much easier. You're at home. So you know,

you've got a beer on one thing, some nachos or some chips on the other hand, radio playing

in the background, maybe the television. Sun's coming down, so the kids are playing in the

park, and you're looking outside. You're not really focused. The whole thing about distractions

is you cannot bring to bear, or you cannot take your mind and put 100% concentration

on the subject that you're doing. Concentration leads to memory, remembering the work. If

you're not concentrating, you're going to forget. So of course, later on, when people

are saying, "Did you learn blah, blah, blah from EngVid?" You're going to say, "No, I

don't remember." And then you're going to blame the material, when it's actually lack

of focus. So at home, try and find an area that is free of distractions. Maybe one little

corner. If you have a laptop or a computer, put it there, where there's not a lot of television

or other noise that can bother you, or not direct sunlight. Something comfortable you

can sit down. If you feel comfortable, and you're relaxed, and there's no distractions,

you'll focus. If you focus, you'll learn more. You'll learn faster. Boom, it's easier.

So one of the ways not to learn -- oh, look. Mr. E doesn't look happy, because his cousin

Silda Snake is here. Notice everything in red is Silda Snake. He's like, "Yeah, yeah,

man. Do this, because then you can pay more money, or spend more time. Ha, ha, ha, ha."

He's evil. Give him some horns. The rest of the snake. And some fangs. He's an evil snake.

Mr. E is not happy, because he's like, "This is not why we started EngVid. It's to help

people learn." See that noise? He's angry. He's not going to take that. Watch out for

Silda Snake, right? Sinister snake. Okay? So do not find an area. Find lots of distractions.

Watch soccer as you study English. Good luck.

The next one is, when listening, always watch with subtitles. I teach a listening class,

and in my class -- it's kind of famous, because there are no subtitles -- we watch some really

crazy movies. Sometimes they speak really fast English, like this, you know, I'm just

going to run aside, right? Or they'll be talking about very deep matters that pull upon the

heartstrings and deliver such utterances that have never been heard in an eon, in an epoch

such as this. And you're like, "Whoa!" So the students are blown away. They're like,

"Where are the subtitles?" Those are the words underneath that are translated so you can

read it. And I would say to them, "If you're trying to listen, then listen. Learn to focus.

And then find out where the breaks are to learn what the words are, and we can always

pull back." Well, once again, you're on your own. So how does somebody do this? Because

you're going to say, "I don't have a teacher. I got you. And you're not helping me when

I'm watching a movie." I'm like, "Well, maybe we will develop a product that will help you.

Yes, maybe we can. Give you a little bit of movie snippets. We'll see. A snippet is small

part." No. Mr. E's saying, "No, no, no movies. No, no copyright infringement. No jail time."

Okay. But maybe. We'll see what we can do. But besides that, until then, here's what

you can do at home. And that's why this lesson is on. Watch the movie. Watch two minutes

or three minutes without subtitles. Just watch it. And then I'm going to suggest you write

down what you hear. And then go back and play it again. And then listen with the subtitles.

Check to see what you caught. If you caught four words out of ten words, then you know

forty percent is what's going in. If you caught six out of ten, you got sixty percent and

so on and so forth. It's a great way to check. And also, because it's on the paper, you can't

lie. So you focus more. Because you know the number of correct words is what you actually

heard. So you're going to try harder. Boom. Instant increasing in learning, right? Yeah?

Okay? So. And it's not a mistake. It's good for you. You can do this at home.

Number three. Look. You're studying at home. I know for a fact you've watched our videos

on S, T, and D pronunciation. I think John's got one. Yeah. See? Mentioned a teacher there.

So there are techniques you've been taught. Why don't you practice them? Right? You don't

have a teacher. You're not in a classroom. If you're taking the time to learn it, why

don't you practice things to help you, right? A lot of students do this. They go, "I know

this rule." I go, "Do you practice it?" "No." "Oh. So, okay. So when you learn to walk,

you just dropped out of your mother on the ground and then started walking. Just like

that?" "No. You tried. You fell down. You tried. You fell down. And one day, you walk.

Then you run." Same goes with the technique. If you learn a technique, practice it. I often

tell students who are learning vocabulary, "Use the word three times the same day and

then write a sentence." Look. I just gave you a technique. Why don't you do it? I've

just done vocabulary words before. Maybe we did one on arrogance and that. Write it down

three times. Write out the meaning. Write out a sentence. Then end the day. When you

see somebody who's arrogant, you go, "He's a rather arrogant man." Or, "That was a rather

arrogant statement. I can't believe you think that." Then pretty soon before you know it,

boom. Stuck in your head. Yours for life.

Number four. Actually, you know what? I'm going to change it. Number four will become

number five and vice versa. Vice versa means and switching. There's a reason why you'll

see the logic. See? I do things on the fly here, man. On the fly. You've got to stay

with me. Stay with me. All right. Number four. Now is number five. Don't make a specific

time for studying. Humans are creatures of habits. What I mean by that is we get into

routine and we stay in it. That routine is good and bad. In this case, for English, it

will be good because if you always at three o'clock do studying in English and you tell

people that, they will help support you by going, "Hey, Mr. E. At three o'clock, don't

you have to study English?" They'll remind you. People will support you.

Also, mentally, if at three o'clock you're supposed to be studying, your brain will remind

you, "You've got to go do something. You've got to go do something," and it becomes easier

to study English. Well, when something's part of your life, and it's really part of your

life, it grows inside you and you actually look kind of forward to it. I know when you

get home from work, some of you appreciate a good glass of wine. Some of you sitting

down taking off your shoes and relaxing. It's something you taught yourself and now it gives

you pleasure. Imagine if learning English could be pleasurable. You're like, "Okay,

I finished work and I cleaned the dishes. Now, I get to spend -- not I have to, but

I get to spend 20 minutes watching an English video where I'm going to learn something new.

Wow, that's so cool. So, I'm going to give myself a specific time. When it's my time,

I tell other people, "Don't bother me. I give time to myself to improve myself. It's at

three o'clock. After 3.30, call me, but until then, I'm busy." Imagine how powerful that

feels, right? It feels good now. You're like, "Yeah, I'm studying English and I do it every

day at three o'clock, like clockwork, and everybody respects that time and helps support

me do that." You're going to learn faster. It gives you more confidence.

Now, number five. All of this is great, but you're at home. At school, the teachers will

try to find a way that helps you study best, but for you, my friends, you have to be responsible

for what you do at home and you're going to have to find the best way to study for you.

Now, when we took this TESOL course I had to take, we learned there are like seven ways,

but I would say there's basically three. Some people are kinesthetic, some people are visual,

some people are auditory, and what that means is some people learn best by seeing things,

visual, see. Some people learn best by hearing things, auditory. They have to listen to it

to get it. Some people, kinesthetic means they have to do it physically some way to

do it or they don't understand, because understanding, my friends, is what this is about. Learning

a language, there's no such thing really as language. It's sounds, and these sounds have

meaning, but really what you need to do is understand what these sounds mean to people.

When I do this, you know what it means. It's not because of the movement. There's an understanding

that this is "goodbye" or this is "hello," depending on the context. Same with learning

a language, and for you to understand, you need to find the best way for you to understand.

The words don't matter. It's the understanding that does, right? So you need to find a way

to find out what's the best thing, early in the morning, late at night, with a friend,

by yourself. With a specific area, maybe no, moving around, being free. So even though

all of these rules I'm telling you are the great ways to help you, I mean they're classic

for studying at home, number one at the end is take the time to find out what is the best

way for you to study. Once you learn that and you incorporate, which means put these

other ones inside of your study plan, your studying is going to skyrocket or go up like

a rocket really quick and really well.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed our "How Not to Learn English," the home edition, coming soon.

The aquatic edition. The space edition. I've gone crazy and they're taking me off the air

edition. Anyway, so I hope this will help you in your studies at home, and you know

what? Since you're at home, I'm sure you're already there, but you know what? Here's the

cool thing. We're all over the place. I've seen us in places I didn't know we'd see each

other, like in soap bars. There's Mr. E and me. Hello, buy this soap and learn English

at where? Well, www.eng as in English. We should do this, eng as in English, right?

And then vid, V-I-D, as in video,.com, where you'll find myself, a host of other teachers,

Sylvester the snake, Mr. E the worm, and this guy, monkey shrimp, right? Ready to teach

you and happily doing so. Keep up with the home practice, because to me that's always

the most important part, right? Anyway, have a great day. See you soon.