English Fluency Doesn't Come From Words…

we'll give YouTube a moment to notify people  and then we'll get started hopefully everyone  

is having a nice day it's going to be a hot one  here in Nagasaki Japan we'll see if YouTube gets  

started uh as usual I will be looking at the  chat to see if anyone has any questions and uh  

as I see those if there's something I'm speaking  about and I can answer it right then I will or I  

will try to save uh questions for the end but also  let me know where you're from uh and hopefully we  

can get started all right I think we're we're  going all right I am Drew Badger the founder  

of englishanyone.com and the English fluency  guide welcome to another live video here on  

YouTube today we're going to talk about fluency  and I want to cover a very specific point about  

fluency uh in the previous video I talked about  another one you should go back and watch that  

as well but this is answering another kind of  question about how people get fluent and why a  

lot of people struggle despite knowing many words  all right so nice to see everybody there I will  

keep my eye on the chat George soy Muhammad and  uh soy again look at that give me a hello and a  

high very good wellas nice to see you there  ohas let's get the party started all right  

so one of the uh big problems people have that I  talked about in the pre previous video was that  

I believe it was the previous video was that uh  people were asking me if just listening will get  

you fluent and I was trying to say that the or I  did say actually uh the goal is not just listening  

the point is to understand uh the language and  so understanding through uh through listening  

or seeing something or tasting it or whatever  you need to use all of your senses in order to  

get fluent uh and so in this video what I'd like  to talk about is vocabulary and why people spend  

a lot of time learning vocabulary but still  don't become fluent so let me just make this  

point very clear right at the beginning of  the video uh this this is going to sound a  

little bit funny or a little bit weird or odd I  usually do things a little bit differently here  

but this is a very important point to remember  if you want to speak fluently uh and that is

fluency does not

come so flu uy does not come from  words and if fluency does not come  

from words where does it come  from well very carefully here  

we have to pay attention it comes from your  relationship with words okay so it's your

relationship so fluency does come from your  relationship with words and I'll show you a  

lot more about how this works in this video uh  but this basic basically explains why a lot of  

people can know a lot of words and still struggle  to speak basically they have a lot of words it's  

like knowing a lot of people but not having a very  good relationship with them so even if I have a I  

don't know like I live in an area and have many  uh people who know who I am but they all hate  

me then I'm not going to have very many friends  and I'm going to have probably a difficult time  

if I need some help or something like that but  if I have a few friends and they're really close  

with me we have a very good relationship I can  call them if I need some help or they can call  

me then I'm probably going to have a very good  time where I'm living all right so the point  

about vocabulary is yes it's important it's the  foundation of speaking but that's not the end  

so if you have a bad relationship with the words  and this basically means you don't know them very  

well then of course you're not going to be able  to speak now I've covered this quite a bit in  

different ways hopefully this video will make the  point uh even clear especially for uh new people  

who join the channel we have new people visiting  us joining us all the time and so I don't mind  

repeating this it's always good review for my  uh the people who have been uh following me for  

a long time anyway all right uh so I'm going to  talk about uh this and given an example of this  

with this book over here people have enjoyed  the few videos I've done talking about books  

uh and I want to talk about this this is another  really good example with a children's book and  

the uh the the point here is just to give you one  example of of how this works with a single book  

but you can get many different examples that help  you understand words but I really want to help you  

understand like when you think about learning  with a book specifically you can think about a  

textbook maybe you have an idea in your mind of  what a textbook is a textbook is probably going  

to give you lots of information and maybe cover  each thing a little bit so especially a language  

textbook you will have maybe 50 grammar points or  something so each page will list something it will  

explain what it means and then maybe give you a  few examples and then move on to the next thing  

so you don't really get a lot of review and you  don't really understand that thing very well maybe  

you get a logical understanding of something but  you're not able to use it fluently when you speak  

and that's because you haven't developed a good  relationship with the words I know this sounds  

like an odd thing to say but you're relationship  with the words it's how well you understand the  

vocabulary can you use the vocabulary in different  ways do you know how it could be uh maybe I want  

to use a word in one situation or use it in  another I'll tell a quick story about this I  

think I shared this I think a few months ago but  it's worth telling again uh but I usually go to  

a uh like a what do you call it in English it's a  basically a hot spring kind of it's basically a a  

public bath uh so in Japan there are many public  baths and you can go to these and you know have a  

meal and sit in you know work or sleep or whatever  and you can go into the bath so Japanese uh have  

lots of hot springs because of the geothermal lots  of you know warm uh I I don't want to explain all  

the geography but Japan is on the ring of fire so  they get lots of like volcanoes and earthquakes  

and things like that and that produces a lot of  heat so we get lots of hot springs and so many  

places in Japan have hot springs anyway uh so this  one place I go to uh they used to for a long time  

or they still do they still often uh or they offer  some free drinks like you can get tea or water  

other things like that and they have one of those  little drink machines so here's the uh the drink  

machine over here you put your cup under that and  you get your free water or whatever uh but one day  

I notice that they changed the cups for the water  so they used to have a larger kind of mug cup like  

this that you could use for water but I came in  one day uh and they had a much smaller teacup  

style cup and these ones were gone all right so  I came in and I I I asked the staff about that I  

said oh why why are you using these new cups I I  mean I could imagine why that would be if you have  

you know you're giving free water or free tea tea  or whatever it is people are probably going to be  

more wasteful with a larger cup so you will put  more tea in there maybe you don't drink it all  

whatever people waste it more and so the the the  hot spring or the uh the public bath decided we're  

going to switch from these larger cups to these  smaller ones over here and uh I tried using one of  

those and it was it was difficult to carry and you  can't carry much water or tea or whatever inside  

that small cup so it was a pain uh and I was  thinking okay how can I solve this problem so I  

want to have the larger cup I actually asked them  if they still had the cups you know back there  

somewhere in the kitchen or whatever they probably  do but they said no and this kind of thing is  

tricky in Japan like if you just ask for something  most people just say no so it's better like in in  

Japan this is a separate cultural lesson for Japan  but we say it's better to ask for forgiveness than  

permissions so it's better to ask for forgiveness  than permission uh and so that that means like  

you should just do something and then if people  complain about it then you say I'm sorry but if  

they don't then you can continue continue to do  it anyway uh so this cup was gone this cup was  

there but across the like in that same area where  the drinks were there were some larger bowls for  

I don't know soup or whatever people wanted  to use those and I said oh I can just use one  

of these and have my water in that all right so  here I'm I'm being a little bit uh creative and  

not thinking like well this is the only thing  I can use because it's right here next to the  

drinks I can just take one of these and use that  instead and that's because I'm using uh I'm not  

thinking about the the like the Cup by itself I'm  thinking about what is the solution to the problem  

and in this case the solution is use this other  Bowl that's much larger it's basically a large  

teacup all right and so my relationship with this  the the reason I'm telling this story is because  

it's exactly the same thing with vocabulary a lot  of Learners they have like a teacup like this they  

have a single word or something they've learned  maybe through a definition or a translation but  

they don't really feel confident using it but for  me I'm just thinking about what I need to actually  

solve the problem and I could use this cup or I  could use this other one over here so when you  

develop a really good relationship with vocabulary  you can think about different vocabulary and how  

vocabulary uh can solve problems in conversations  so I might be wanting to say something but they're  

actually uh once or there there could be like  many different ways to express that thing so in  

in in normal conversations each conversation is  going to be unique and even in these videos when  

I'm talking about fluency each video is unique  even though there will be maybe some overlap I  

might talk about some of the same things but I  will try to express it in a different way and  

there's an important reason why uh I'm doing that  and that's what I'll talk about in this video all  

right uh so anyway before we get into the book let  me look at chat right quick to see if anybody had  

any questions and I think we should be ready to  go let's see so Silvana says hello thank you for  

your class it's my pleasure if you are enjoying  the video do click the like button and share the  

video with anyone else who might be interested in  learning English the native way cam nice to see  

you again from tyam m it is me uh s let's see and  small or smil hello Professor mom says thanks for  

having Time For Us in this nice and SUNY day it's  my pleasure uh sakita says greetings from Poland  

Alan hello Drew Paris says hi and again let's  see Sunland good evening from Morocco and let's  

see I'm so happy it's my first time joining your  live from the beginning yes it's okay remember if  

you don't join the live you can still get the same  benefit from the lesson you're just just watching  

it later which is fine as well and it's actually  good to review these things more than once uh  

miles says uh familiar yes that's the key word  here what we're talking about in this video nice  

to see you so Elmo says good morning from Borneo  oh that's cool I've never been to Borneo before  

it looks like an interesting place and Ben her  wow Ben her is over here that's pretty cool from  

Brazil Andre says amazing please do more videos  well we've got plenty we've probably got more  

than enough for people to enjoy and learn and get  fluent with uh but I continue to refine my ideas  

and try to explain things uh maybe in simpler  ways or as short as possible I really do try I  

think about that a lot uh Yak says you should you  work as a catalyst uh in my English speaking love  

from Pakistan well it's my pleasure I'm happy to  help I am from Guatemala English saved my life wow  

fantastic all right let's see uh is there a is  there any solution of slow reading Oh you mean  

like reading slowly yeah I have the same problem  in Japanese and the only way to really overcome  

that is just to get the lots of practice with it  so there's uh it's it's similar to how you develop  

fluency with uh with speaking so my my spoken  Japanese is much better much faster much smoother  

than my reading so my like my older daughter can  read better than me she can read uh very well uh  

and my and she just gets way more practice and  exposure to the Lang language so we have to make  

choices uh but in in general if you want to get  better at reading you just have to do more of it  

uh let's see Suns says morning guy Andress explain  why English save your life you told us once to be  

like water flow yes so we're talking about that's  a a a similar kind of idea but that the ability to  

flow like water in conversations and that just  means you're able to say things you don't get  

stuck if maybe you want to say a particular word  or something but you don't remember it or maybe  

that's not the right thing for the situation  you can easily switch to something else that  

means being able to move like water and so what  I'm going to talk about in this video is how to  

make that happen so how to actually get familiar  with words such that you know them extremely well  

and you can easily flow like water let's see tuck  says hi hello and oh from Malaysia Glenna says  

good morning from Vietnam and hray from Osaka and  let's see Felix says hello from Paraguay Marcus  

says oh from New Jersey and B says teacher I'm  from Sudan I'm currently working what does that  

say on overcoming thinking in my native language  during conversation yes this will help you do that  

uh Edison says hello teacher you are the best I'm  from Costa Rica and you have been studying English  

with your course I love it glad to hear it if you  know other people who would enjoy what we do do  

share it do uh tell other people people hate join  the program uh I think you are good at drawing uh  

let's see please give us more about understanding  the Aussie accent well there are plenty of people  

even on YouTube that can help you understand  specifically sounding like an Australian you  

know that kind of typical Australian accent if  you want to sound like that I don't focus on  

that because I'm not from Australia uh but we do  have Australians in fluent for life because I know  

people even in the United States will still hear  Australians all right all right uh so let's talk  

about this uh and I brought along so I brought  today would you rather be a bullfrog and this  

is a native textbook even though English children  so like little kids in the United States would not  

call this a textbook that's exactly what it is  but this is the actual kind of textbook I would  

recommend for people who want to get fluent and  the reason I recommend this is because it gives  

you lots of naturally varied review now what do I  mean by that for people who are new to the channel  

naturally varied review is when we actually take  something and we play with the language we get a  

maybe particular grammar point or some phrase or  or whatever the vocabulary is and we look at it we  

get lots of varied examples rather than hearing  exactly the same thing again and again which is  

really boring so one of the reasons that people do  not want to review even though they need to review  

to develop a better relationship with their  vocabulary they need to know that vocabulary  

better I'm kind of like a I'm like a vocabulary  counselor like a marriage counselor helping people  

have a better relationship with their with their  words uh but let me show you exactly how this  

works so this book is called would you rather be  a bullfrog and this would you rather it's just  

you know a pretty simple idea even again this is  for young children let's see if there's a age a  

recommended age for this book I don't know if it  mentions that or not but I mean I started reading  

things like this to my girl when they were I don't  know 3 years old or something like that and even  

if they don't understand everything it's okay  I I continue to give them more exposure uh to  

the language and that's what helps them build  fluency so remember the fluency is not in the  

words themselves it's in your relationship with  the words the words don't really do anything it's  

you being able to control the words use the  words how well you know the words so let's go  

through the book uh and I'll show you why this is  a really good example of like the perfect kind of  

textbook what I would actually recommend people  learn with um and I also want to make the point  

clear I'm showing this with a book because it's  easy to stop and read it and look at different  

pages but you would do the same thing with video  or audio or anything else so you'll notice this  

is a short thing it's focusing on a particular  topic and it's giving us many varied examples  

so this will kind of uh just lead you through the  vocabulary and even if maybe one example is a a  

little bit hard to understand as you continue to  get more you will you will really feel oh I'm I'm  

really starting to know the vocabulary and really  understand how this works so would you rather be  

a bullfrog so the the grammar Point here we just  or the particular pattern the language pattern for  

this book is would you rather all right so you're  asking a question of someone like would you rather  

have pasta or pizza or would you rather like would  you rather be a sports star or an astronaut or  

would you rather whatever so you can think about  these different things and we're asking kids it's  

just a way of talking about this thing or that  thing all right would you rather be a bullfrog  

so a bullfrog is like a large frog like this so  I'm just going to actually read you the book and  

we'll talk about it as I'm reading it just to make  sure you're getting these examples and make sure  

everybody understands so tell me would you rather  be a bullfrog or a butterfly would you rather be  

a bullfrog or a butterfly would you rather be a  bullfrog or a butterfly all right so very simple  

question straightforward and then we have another  related question it is which one would you rather  

be so we're taking this this is another example  again of naturally varied review where we're  

going to take something like would you rather  be or which one would you rather be so we can we  

can take the order of this and you see oh I can  switch the order in a sentence so tell me would  

you rather be a bullfrog or a butterfly but I can  also say which one would you rather be or just  

which would you rather be okay so you might have  heard also the expression like which would you  

like to be this is just asking like if you could  be this or you could be that which one all right  

so very simple but notice how they're they're  taking the same thing and they're just repeating  

it but in varied ways so it's not actual just like  we wouldn't have a book where it just repeats the  

same question over and over again nobody wants to  read that but people do want to get the the kind  

of idea and then hear this in lots of different  ways with many different examples so come on now  

tell me why so which would you rather be and why  tell me would you rather be a minnow so a minnow  

is a tiny fish a minnow so minnow here or a whale  would you rather be a minnow or a whale a whale  

and tell me would you rather be a hammer or a nail  so part of this here is also the rhyming this is  

a Dr Seuss book so very common I've talked about  some other Dr Seuss books uh on uh on our on our  

videos uh but the basic idea for Dr Seuss is that  he will have some some odd words in there but he  

uses lots of very simple language and plays with  the language in interesting ways uh and also has  

many rhymes so you can hear something again so  and tell me would you rather be a hammer or a  

nail would you rather be a hammer or a nail so he  Rhymes we've got whale and nail over here so this  

one uh this Actual spelling if you're interested  in pronunciation so you're getting to hear things  

and you understand how we should say the word even  though the spelling rule is different for these  

two so whale here wh h a l e this is a magic e or  silent e word so we've got w a and then silent e  

at the end and this one is a long a sound so it's  the same a sound but this one is n and the AI  

becomes a n a nail so would you rather be hammer  or a nail a hammer or a nail would you rather  

have a feather or a bushy tail behind so a bushy  tail so now we can see the difference like maybe  

we have a bushy tail it looks like a bush or we  could have a thin tail something like that so you  

can look at the picture and actually see what's  you know it's not just like a little thin stringy  

tail we've got a bushy tail and often in these  children's books we would have examples like this  

where children can see the difference and they  learn the difference by just seeing it remember  

that vocabulary we're trying to connect the sound  or the word with the meaning so whatever that is  

so we're looking at a big bushy tail a tail like  a bush or would you rather have a feather so would  

uh which would feel the best on you so now we have  a slightly different version of the question which  

would feel the best so which would be best which  would go best which would uh be the best so which  

would feel the best on you so if you had a feather  or a big bushy tail which would feel better which  

would feel the best come on make up your mind and  make up your your mind is to choose something so  

this is another way that again even a young child  a young English-speaking child is learning hey  

make a choice and another way of saying this a  very common way of saying this is make up your  

mind all right so if you often are watching maybe  movies or TV shows uh you will hear people say  

like h i I can't choose I can't make up my mind I  can't maybe decide what I want to do like should I  

go to this college or that college or I don't know  what I want to do for dinner make up your mind all  

right so you can tell someone to make up their  mind or she needs to make up her mind I'm talking  

about my kids they need to choose something but  you can also just think about that for yourself  

like I need to make up my mind you need to make  up your mind and would you rather be a cactus or  

a toad stool and a toad stool is another just  another word for mushroom so you've probably  

heard the word mushroom before but you can think  about wow a toad stool that's an interesting way  

to describe it but if you think about what a toad  stool is a regular stool like I can just draw this  

again my drawing isn't the best but if we think  about a regular stool just you know something  

like this a little chair that you sit on usually  a stool does not have a back sometimes they do but  

in general it's just a little chair like this uh  but you can imagine a little like a little frog oh  

man I'm not going to draw this very well at all  see if I can draw a frog on here here's a frog  

let's see draw like a Kermit the Frog here so this  is supposed to be a a frog sitting on a little  

stool and so we can hear about you know a toad  stool in the same way here's a mushroom it's the  

same idea uh and a little frog uh sitting on that  so a toad stool toad stool all right pretty easy  

to understand so as you're learning this you're  hearing different ways of saying things so only  

the the variation of the question itself but we're  getting different variations on ways of expressing  

things so if I tell my child hey you need to pick  something you need to choose something you need to  

make up your mind make up your mind all right or I  could say a mushroom or a toad stool or a rose and  

which would look best on you now this is another  similar kind of question like which would you  

rather have or which would feel the best on you  but this is saying which one would look the best  

on you and this is a common question maybe if you  go shopping and I'm I'm looking at two different  

shirts you say oh which one looks better on me or  which would be the best for me like a uh a blue  

shirt or a black shirt or yellow shirt something  like that which would be best or which would fit  

me best all right and the long or the shortest  no or a shortish excuse me a shortish like so we  

have a longer nose or a shorter nose which would  you like which would be better for you think now  

would you rather be a rooster or a hen so we have  two chickens here the rooster is the male chicken  

and the hen is the female and then we have how  would you like to lay an egg every now and then  

every now and then so sometimes would you like to  lay an egg sometimes or other times so if you are  

a hen would you like to do that all right so we  hear would you like and then how would you like  

uh would you rather have Big Moose horns or  small horns like a cow would you rather have  

Big Moose horns these are uh typically called  antlers so Seuss is using the word horns here  

uh but these are actually called antlers antlers  so it's similar kind of thing where instead of  

having one one little pointy thing that comes out  like a horn we have many that come out like here  

so usually deer or a moose would have antlers not  horns uh this is so so so important and I want to  

know right now I want to know right now would you  rather be a blal bird so a blal bird this is just  

a nonsense Dr Seuss kind of uh it's not the name  of an actual bird and this is one of the things  

as you're as you're learning this as a child  you know that like there is no such thing as  

a blal bird it's just a funny name that Dr Seuss  uses uh but this is harder to know when you were  

learning by yourself and you're thinking well is  a blal bird an actual thing it is not it's just  

the kind of funny name that Dr Seuss uses and he  creates lots of funny words like this so would  

you rather be a blal bird and fly around and sing  so we have sing over here or would you rather be  

a bumblebee a bumblebee is a real thing uh and  fly around and sting sting so we have sing and  

sting over here also it's interesting with the  be the Stinger is over here on the butt really  

but and tell me would you rather be a table or  a chair and now tell me would you rather have  

green or purple hair all right everybody getting  it pretty simple would you rather be a clarinet  

so this kind of uh it's like a little little  woodwind instrument a clarinet or a trombone  

or a drum how would you like to have someone  going boom boom on your tum so this is like  

your tummy another child word that that kids or  mothers often use like your tummy do you have a  

tummy ache so is there something wrong with your  stomach remember again as you're learning things  

in English there are different kinds of English  for different people or different situations so  

adults speak one way and children speak another  so same thing for me as I'm learning Japanese I  

learn like oh like children have a different word  for feet than an adult would all right so that it  

becomes an interesting thing you know in that  really helps you learn more so you speak better  

in conversations now tell me would you rather  be a window or a door and would you rather have  

more fun or and uh and would you or would you  have more fun if you had six feet or 164 so  

which would you rather have would you rather  have six legs or six feet or 164 feet these  

are real important questions or really important  questions come on tell me tell me please would you  

rather be a soda so do you want to become a soda  would you rather be a soda or a piece of smelly  

cheese which would you rather be would you rather  live in Igloo so this little ice house here this  

is called an igloo or would you rather live in  tents do you want to live in a tent so you can  

see for both of these questions like would you  rather live in an igloo if we're talking about  

like one particular thing or a tent you can  say that or just in general would you rather  

live in Igloo like maybe not a specific kind of  igloo but just some Igloo or a tent would you  

rather live in that would you rather be a dollar  bill or 97 would you rather be a dollar bill or

97 and would you rather be a mermaid with a tail  instead of feet so here we are we're making the  

sentence a little bit longer a little bit more  interesting so I could say would you rather be a  

mermaid or something else but I'm going to add a  little bit more this is one of the things I talk  

about when I'm getting people fluent influent for  life is we want to add a little bit more we want  

to change the sentences a little bit to make sure  we're uh maybe expressing ourselves just a little  

bit more so I could say would you rather be a  mermaid or a cat would you rather be a mermaid  

with a long tail or a cat okay so I'm adding  just a little bit more make it a little bit  

more interesting in challenge myself stretching  myself or would you rather be a spook so a spook  

is another word for a ghost so would you rather be  a spook and run around dressed in a sheet so you  

want to scare people do you want to be dressed  in a sheep but notice both of these like so we  

could say and would you rather be a mermaid or a  spook but notice we're we're trying to make this  

a little bit more interesting for kids give them  more information and show them examples of how  

people would use these in real life so and would  you rather be a mermaid with a tail instead of  

feet okay so I could say uh and would you rather  be a mermaid and would you rather be a mermaid  

with a tail and would you rather be a mermaid with  a tail instead of feet I could even go on I could  

continue saying more or uh would you rather be  a spook and I could stop there would you rather  

be a spook and run around dress in a sheet all  right so yes people are already adding their own  

uh interesting examples into the chat very good  you get the idea all right would you rather be a  

jellyfish a saw fish so this is an actual kind of  fish or a sardine so sardine that's these little  

kind of fish you often see in cans like this all  right so now we're changing the example again  

would you rather be instead of two things we're  looking at three or more so would you rather be  

a jellyfish or a sawfish or a sardine all right  and would you rather be this thing or that thing  

or that thing or like the thing that's in between  all right so let me read this again and would you  

rather be this thing or that so this or that or  the thing that's in between so in between these  

other two over here all right pretty easy and  that's the end of the book all right so notice  

as we're going through this we're trying to look  at basic sentences we begin with a a simple idea  

we start to add try to add some variation it's  it's really the same way you would introduce a  

player to a new video game like the first level  in the original Super Mario Brothers so when  

we're starting that we have to think how do we  introduce players to New Concepts in the game  

uh so we have to teach the player how to jump or  what to do with an enemy uh and so when you're  

learning about things like this like in in Super  Mario Brothers as an example you can actually  

watch YouTube videos talking about this but one of  the one of the first things you learn when you're  

playing that game uh is you is you jump like you  can jump from one thing uh to another so Mario is  

running and he jumps up here and the the point is  to jump to this other side over here but sometimes  

Mario no the player can't control Mario very well  and he falls down into this pit but this pit is  

very forgiving so it's nice you don't actually  die if you fall in here you just you know jump  

back out or you jump that way and you try again  but later in the level this pit is actually open  

so if you fall down in it you actually die so  you have to learn how can I jump from here over  

to here okay so in the same way we're we're trying  to take a basic concept or something which is just  

a language pattern and show it in different  ways that's the that's the whole Magic of how  

this works so we've spent let's see what time  is it so about 30 minutes a little bit around  

30 minutes or so uh talking about one children's  book that's it all right so pretty easy so would  

you rather speak well or know a lot of words but  not be able to use them very well all right so  

the point of this video is to show you it's your  relationship with the vocabulary lar now you could  

read this you could listen to me read it you could  find other people I'm sure if you search YouTube  

you will find other people there are probably even  this exact same book other people just reading it  

normally so I would recommend after you watch  this video you would go find someone else who  

is doing the same thing maybe just a parent or  a teacher who is reading would you rather be a  

bullfrog I'm sure it's on YouTube actually let  me check right now see if that I didn't bother  

to check that before the video but I wouldn't be  surprised let's see would you rather would you  

rather be a bullfrog and yes there are of course  it looks like there are a few different versions  

of this on YouTube and I'm just looking like uh  very simply but yes other people are just reading  

the book and so I would recommend after you listen  to me you go back and watch other people who are  

doing the same thing so notice how what we're  doing here we're trying to give you that the  

the fluency trigger to help you understand what  the vocabulary means then we combine that with  

the naturally varied review to give you even more  examples and even if you don't speak You're Still  

developing fluency automatically because it's the  relationship you have with the vocabulary that  

gets you fluent it's not the words themselves if  you understand something logically but you don't  

really feel confident using it that vocabulary is  basically worthless all right you might understand  

it when other people are saying it but if it's  your turn to speak and you don't feel confident  

you're wasting your time if you're just trying  to learn more words so I highly recommend really  

this is the exact same thing I do I do this  at home obviously it's with Japanese material  

instead of English but it's the exact same thing  so I'm looking for particular patterns trying to  

understand them very well by reviewing them in  different ways so it's not boring and this is  

also preparing me for real conversations so just  like you're hearing me say this you could read  

these words yourself and then you could listen to  other people saying the exact same thing so just  

like I'm looking at these examples over here uh  there are a few people uh you can also look for  

uh [Music] read aloud or you will hear like out  loud and if you search for a book like the name  

of a children's book and read alloud you will  find that and just usually if you just search  

for the book by itself you should probably find  it especially if it's a popular book U but yes  

you can also have a physical copy of the book  I like having the physical copies of the book  

uh but the point is that's how we review so if I  want to understand something if I feel a little  

bit shy in conversations about this particular  topic so maybe I can say something else I can  

say like do you like this or do you like that but  this is a slightly more advanced version of that  

same thing would you rather all right right so  would you rather listen or speak would you rather  

play or do something else or would you rather  be like become something would you rather be a  

penguin or a I don't know uh a flamingo would you  rather okay so this helps you understand this is  

a lot of questions but you can also get this with  answering those questions so I would rather so I  

would rather let's see which one would I like to  do just looking at these examples here so would I  

rather be a bullfrog or a butterfly I would rather  be a bullfrog I would rather be a bullfrog or I  

can make the sentence about someone else would she  or he or they would they rather do something else  

all right so if I'm asking you all a question here  everybody watching like would you rather uh speak  

better or write better so if you have to improve  one skill which would you rather do all right  

and then we also learn so if you're seeing like  particular examples of just write this up here  

for you so when you see I would rather you can  also see this shortened and here this shortened  

as I so I rather so I'd rather do something so  I would rather or i' I'd rather I'd rather and  

you'll notice how this Blends together it's it's  if we're going to replace the wood this becomes  

I and then we leave a kind of space in here and  then it's it's like I rather i' rather I'd rather  

so this is the one rule for pronunciation  I often talk about uh and we're learning to  

blend The Sounds by hearing how natives combine  them so this is one way and as you're listening  

to these different examples pay attention to  that so maybe the first time I listen to a like  

a read aloud story so a book like this just like  you're listen listening to me read this if you're  

listening to someone else you can pick a specific  thing to focus on for each time you listen so  

maybe you're listening for just the words just the  pattern itself but maybe the next time you listen  

you're listening for how the words blend together  so do I say would I rather or I would rather or  

is it I rather i' rather I'd rather I'd rather  all right so as you pick those specific things  

this is the whole purpose of focus and being  specific and being systematic with how we learn  

so we're not just learning random vocabulary by  watching uh completely different YouTube videos  

about completely different topics we're getting  a couple of things putting them together to help  

give us a really good relationship with our  vocabulary because it's the relationship with  

the vocabulary that lets you speak all right uh  let me go back and look at chat see if I had any  

questions questions would you rather would you  rather would you rather all right did I let's see  

I think all right let's see Lewis says no intend  uh in uh inoo Ino yeah my Spanish is pretty bad no

intendo uh so like I'm guessing that says  like I don't understand but I'm here it's  

okay if you're if you're just listening that's  that's fine although I recommend you you listen  

to things that are a bit easier like we have  on our channel for the like beginning English  

grammar or if you're looking for something  for beginners I would watch that but or also  

download Frederick that's uh for for beginners  I should have like the app to show you how it  

works uh but if you click on the link in the  description below this video that will teach  

you English all in English Richard says I'm with  you utterly there are so many ways to express one  

self in English and it's a bit tough for Learners  to comprehend some expressions and yes a lot of  

people get they they get stuck at that point so  there's something you want to say and hear all  

these different ways of doing it so people do  nothing and they get stuck all right so what a  

native does is they're just they're thinking  like okay maybe this isn't perfect but I'll  

just say that and nobody will really care I'm  probably going to say something uh correct even  

though maybe it's not the best thing I could say  but people will continue to uh continue to speak  

that way so I do the same thing right now as  I'm speaking so I if I if I had time to think  

and plan exactly what I want to say maybe I would  write it down and it's different like me making a  

guide or the kind of videos where I'm not just  talking like this I'm just taking my time and  

trying to think of how I would Express something  and think oh that's a good way to say it or that's  

not good and I go back and edit things real speech  is not like that you need to actually just have a  

good um you can think about all these different  ways of expressing it like you've got different  

you know arrows or something in your quiver so the  quiver is the little little bag or box that holds  

the arrows so I have lots of different ways of  expressing myself and even if uh something might  

not be perfect or I think about a better way to  express it later it's fine let's see and say says  

I recently asked chat gbt to give me a list of  what native speakers will say when they are angry  

and it and I am asking if uh if that is okay yes  so again like getting getting examples from chat  

GPT like asking for a range of different things  is a good idea so I do the same thing when I'm  

with chat GPT uh the only the tricky thing  about chat GPT is making sure it's correct  

and so you can also get examples from just seeing  people angry or surprised or whatever on YouTube  

like actually seeing what natives are doing or  watching movies that kind of thing so the more uh  

variety the greater variety you get the faster  you will get fluent let's see beer Singh I have  

very much uh preposition confusion yeah we search  our channel for that we've covered prepositions  

a lot uh fluent for life also goes deep into many  prepositions Tatiana says hello talk again I think  

my English is okay the only thing is that uh only  thing is to get familiar with the UK and US slang  

while communicating with others yes the in general  you the the communication you need is whatever the  

other people are using in your life so if you if  you don't need to speak but you watch a lot of  

movies for teenagers or something then then maybe  learning more slang is a good idea but if you're  

just using English for business and you need to  speak with people then it's better to learn that  

English rather than a bunch of slang so think  about the way you're using English and what's  

important for your life uh let's see and so how  can I improve prepositions yeah just look search  

our channel for that Danny says amazing class  I love learning through kids books yes it's all  

like learning through kids books is a great thing  and so you could look at this and say well I don't  

care about kids books I'm an adult but that's  basically stupid thinking and that's stopping  

you from from improving a lot so even if something  looks like it's for kids just like we made our app  

like we made Frederick to look like it's basically  for kids cuz it's a you know it could be a kids  

game and many kids use it uh but that shouldn't  stop you from using it even though it looks like  

it's for kids because we have like college level  uh vocabulary and pronunciation training in the  

app all right uh pyus says would you rather be an  electric kettle or a refrigerator good question  

would you rather live in a rural or urban area so  here we would say like would you rather live in  

an or live in a rural or urban area Tom I really  like when you talk about these books good morning  

one wow cool book says akam uh let's see K  says I am from oh so your last name is maybe  

K I guess I'm from or I'm Toshi from Japan I have  a question how can I be confident and eliminate  

the doubt about my English before starting  speaking I'd like to know your recommended  

specific way to build confidence uh so what  we talk about on this channel is that doubt  

as you're you're talking about it you understand  the problem very clearly so doubt is what stops  

you from speaking and so the way to eliminate that  doubt is we need to do like we're doing in this  

video which is getting lots of uh lots of varied  examples that help us understand the vocabulary  

so probably you learned English through Japanese  in school I don't know how old you are uh but most  

Japanese people are learning English that way so  they're um like based on based on your writing I  

would guess that's how you learned um but the  first thing is starting to number one uh learn  

in English second thing is making sure you're uh  understanding the real vocabulary that natives  

are using so not just learning the the kind of  formal language of textbooks but the real way  

natives communicate so often what happens in I  I'll just use Japan since you're Japanese as an

example so the the kind of and this isn't  only for Japan but for really anybody  

learning uh typically in you can imagine uh  a very narrow very narrow range of the like  

the information you're learning in school  so typically this like all this stuff in  

this narrow range this is going to be like  a slow teacher uh we're going to have clear

speech uh we're going to have probably

translations and we're going to  maybe study some grammar rules

and then probably this isn't the  biggest problem but all of these  

things uh they make it more difficult for you  to communicate but this is what I call the

problem the problem of one so the problem of  one just means you will get a single example  

or you will have a single teacher or a single  Voice or a single meaning for a vocabulary word  

and again it's giving you if you imagine this  very small range of the things you learn in a  

classroom so even if you spend a lot of time  learning or you spend even many years taking  

different classes often it's a slow teacher or  if you have different teachers but just like I'm  

speaking now I'm speaking more clearly than  most natives normally speak uh we've got uh  

clear speech translations grammar rules uh the  problem of one again like I just explained so  

you're hearing one example of something so in this  uh example with would you rather be a bullfrog in  

a regular textbook example you might get two or  three basic questions like would you rather be a  

doctor or a nurse so pretty simple we want to help  you understand what something means but we're not  

giving you like lots of fun and interesting and  silly examples you would never see in a regular  

textbook would you rather be a table or a chair  you just wouldn't see that but natives do because  

natives are thinking what's an actual interesting  question you would ask a child and a child is like  

well huh maybe if I'm a chair I can I don't know  other people are sitting on me I don't know if I  

like that you know and so you can it it brings up  an interesting question now so if we compare this  

with like if we look at we continue this line over  here uh but the actual range of real communication  

is is like from here to here so you are missing  all of this as you're learning all right so this  

is like Fast speech slang idioms phrasal verbs  uh and we're getting lots of different ways of  

using vocabulary so people are really good  speakers they can take a word and and use it  

in different ways that you did not expect so  what's happening here is you are prepared for  

this narrow range of communication all right  so you've got a slow teacher and if you hear  

a slow speaker in real life you will understand  that person if you have a clear speaker in in the  

classroom uh and then you're listening to someone  who's clear in real life you will understand that  

person but all the other speech that is not clear  you will not understand that yes so you can call  

this like a narrow whoops n a r r o w narrow or  we can say limited limited range so typically a  

limited range r a n g of example all right so  it's a a small area just a small percentage of  

what the real communication is like all right so  we have like you're you're learning this stuff in  

here and you are learning part of the language but  you can see how it's only a small part of what the  

the real full actual range of communication is so  if you only listen to slow speakers you will have  

trouble understanding fast speakers if you only  understand how uh people communicate in formal  

ways you will have trouble understanding casual  ways or how like a parent might talk to a child  

so the Japanese example I I thought to mention  this earlier but I did not so like a Japanese word  

for like a baby's uh foot that looks like a hand  but let me draw like a a foot here all right so  

that's a I can't even draw a baby's foot very well  but so a like the Japanese word for this is Ash  

like my like my foot but a child's word we might  say ano ano so it's the same thing but you're  

speaking to a child or speaking about a child or  I gave the example yes it's supposed to be a foot  

so in uh in English let's see like the the formal  word so here is a person over here uh here we go  

it's it looks oh my goodness what did I do what  did I do here all right here we we have okay so  

this is a person you can imagine that yes Ashi  uh and this this area around around here this  

is the stomach the stomach but we would call this  like a young child might say tummy my tummy or in  

the book you heard this as tum or even you might  hear something like tum tum tum tum all right so  

these are vocabulary words we're talking about a  specific thing but the Nuance the situ situation  

changes uh it's t mm y be careful with that not  to me but tummy tummy all right so and you're  

in in the classroom the reason you have all of  this doubt in an actual conversation is because  

you learn with a very limited range so a limited  or narrow range of the actual language all right  

it's a very specific uh small amount and and the  way you're learning it is actually causing cusing  

you lots of Doubt so what you have to do instead  is actually prepare for the wider range of real  

communication and so we do this like I'm showing  you in these videos number one we get a real wide  

range of examples number two we hear this from  many different speakers so not just me that's  

why I'm recommending after you finish this video  you look for this same book would you rather be a  

bullfrog search for that right here on YouTube  and I just looked for it you will find lots of  

other people I don't know how many examples there  are but it's a pretty common book it looks like  

yeah it looks like at least like I don't know six  10 examples of this same book different people  

reading it and as you listen to those different  people you would think oh my pronunciation is  

actually improving because I'm learning how to  say things with my own English voice rather than  

just sounding like Drew or sounding like any other  particular person so in real life you're not just  

hearing one speaker it's not just a classroom  with one speaker and a especially in Japan it's  

probably a Japanese person not really using the  language exactly maybe they have a pronunciation  

problems and so this creates lots of Errors uh in  the way people learn and that causes all the doubt  

so if you feel doubt that's what's taking your  confidence away it's because you're only learning  

this very n this very narrow range of how the  language actually works but if you're learning all  

of this and it's not difficult to learn this you  can do it in a very uh strategic way this is what  

we do in fluent for life so that's the whole point  of the program is to make sure you understand all  

of this and not just a very limited range that  doesn't really give you the confidence to speak  

so the fastest way you become fluent is to get rid  of any of the doubts that stop you from speaking  

that's how you do it so we we're trying to  eliminate uh doubts and and we pick something like  

today we're just talking about would you rather be  and we're focusing on that and this is what fluent  

for life does so we're trying to take something  like a particular topic it could be talking about  

going to the hospital or talking about family or  some kind of business topic and going into detail  

and hearing how different natives talk about that  and as you get all these examples you don't become  

fluent simply by speaking more you get fluent by  really understanding how natives would say those  

things so just like you got fluent in Japanese  it's the exact same thing in English hopefully  

that makes sense all right so I again like we  we get new people coming to the Channel all the  

time time and I need to continue reiterating this  repeating this thing saying this thing again and  

again and just like I did just now I'm trying to  give you different ways of saying things by not  

repeating myself but by giving you naturally  varied review so it's all the same kind of  

thing really helping uh to make sure we understand  things very clearly but then also getting lots of  

varied examples so hearing how a child would say  something can often be different from how an adult  

would say it or if an adult is speaking uh in uh  in a casual way versus a professional way like I  

was at the bank Japanese Bank uh a couple days ago  and the like the bank staff is very formal uh very  

specific with their with their Japanese and it's a  much different thing than if I go you know talking  

to a friend of mine like at his barber shop or  whatever all right so you understand like if  

I only get the uh like the very specific formal  examples of something I'm probably not going to  

be good at understanding casual speech all right  all right let's uh keep rolling here good question  

though but th this uh let's see what was your name  again if I can what was that ah Toshi so yes so uh  

Toshi your your question your issue is the same  thing that pretty much everybody else has and  

the reason is because of this so how you learn  is how you speak all right right if you learn  

the way you speak then you will obviously become  a more a much more confident speaker because you  

will understand the language better yeah so Tom  says I want that book so get it I'm sure you can  

find copies of it online or in Amazon or wherever  you buy your books all right uh let's see uh Nils  

is back oh Sergio is here Hi teacher I'm Sergio  from Argentina vocabulary through Reading helps  

a lot yes uh but I'm trying to make it clear  like people will ask me if it's a good idea  

to read a novel and a novel for example is you  know you can you can read that for pleasure and  

enjoy that if you can read it very well but I'm  talking about reading for fluency and reading for  

fluency means we really take something specific  we Hammer this we want to like get lots and lots  

of examples with something till we make sure we  really understand it very well and then we move  

on to something else that's why we don't want to  uh like if we read a novel it's going to probably  

take a lot of time and we will likely not reveal  you very much so we might understand what's being  

uh like the story The what's being spoken in the  in the novel but it will be more difficult for us  

to actually have conversations about things until  we really understand them well all right uh let's

see hopefully I think I answered that getting  more questions now and the chat jumped down on  

me all right aned says hi drew a little late but  motivated glad to hear it uh let's see aan says  

if I have to choose between a bullfrog and a toad  I would prefer a toad because I will have a stool  

to sit on that's true I guess a frog can sit on a  a stool as well like a little mushroom uh so just  

a random Channel again can reading books help you  improve your vocabulary yes and I just showed you  

an example of that let's see I'd rather use  physical books yes I prefer physical books as  

well so if you can find physical ones or even if  you you can take something like this or not even  

this book specifically but if you can find some  books and uh download those and print them out if  

that's the only thing uh that you that you have uh  and dendo is understand yeah I figured that's what  

it meant everyone you really should try Frederick  right after today's class it's really worth it yes  

so that is uh the app you can get click on the  link down in the description Tom can you please  

go to the App Store you got it from and write us  a review leave us a review that will always help  

us uh and show more people hey we should check  out the app uh Ino kenty says hi I am first time  

get your online video I live in Canada right now  but I am uh youan ah from uh Mexico I guess uh  

let's say I'm started learning English two 10  years ago or two years ago and so happy to find  

this channel welcome I'd rather do something  over something or I'd rather do something than  

something uh which is correct yeah you can use  both of those like I can and again it's not like  

one is correct there are always different ways of  saying thing so I could say like like I like this  

over that or I like this rather than that or I  prefer this thing other than that thing whatever  

there are different ways you can express that  let's see Hello I can't read the let's see I don't  

know if that's supposed to be Chinese or Japanese  let's see I can't read that I can read some of  

that but I don't know if that's Japanese or not  uh T says uh is it really surprising how much one  

can learn oh it is really surprising how much one  can learn from your videos the idea you mentioned  

about focusing on the type of English lessons be  a conversational English business academic life  

needs yeah so like anything else the the thing  that you focus on is what's going to get you uh  

like a lot more success so the success comes from  the focus and knowing a lot about that particular  

thing because then you can take what you learn and  then apply that to other things as well so if you  

focus on a particular word like would you rather  I can use that expression would you rather to talk  

about anything like would you rather eat at this  restaurant or that restaurant would you rather  

sell this company or that company would you rather  do you know whatever there are lots of different  

ways I can I can use that and because I know the  vocabulary well I'm fluent in the vocabulary again  

it's my relationship with the vocabulary that  allows me to speak it's not how many words I know  

it's how well I know the vocabulary and that's  why young children uh as they're learning they  

might get a book like this and like each book is  another fluent thing that they develop so they  

become fluent in this vocabulary and then they  become fluent in the next thing that they learn  

so they're getting all these different examples  and that's what gets them uh the confidence that  

they need because they understand the vocabulary  so well Serio says the more examples students are  

exposed to the better they acquire the vocabulary  yes uh let's see Alan says I would rather be your  

number one then your number two all right and  uh Tom over there let's see rul says Hey sir it  

took long but finally I'm improving myself from  YouTube and of course uh from your channel too  

it's all just speak smoothly slowly and loudly  this helped me to improve my pronunciation and  

let's see again I would rather not eat sushi with  chopsticks I just eat it with my bare hands yes  

and a lot of people actually do I remember when  I worked at a sushi restaurant the sushi chef  

there was talking about that and you can just as  easily eat the sushi with your hand rather than  

using Chopsticks and that's another good example  of like rather not do something uh as well so you  

can also talk about like this this book is giving  examples of one thing or something else uh but I  

can also just say say like if a friend says hey do  you want to work as a banker or do you want to do  

some other thing I would say ah I would rather  not do that so in that case it's it's kind of  

thinking about maybe there are other options uh  but yes I would just I can even talk about one  

thing and say I would rather not do something we  don't always have to contrast it with something  

else uh K says good morning teacher Drew nice to  see you there uh repetitions work great for me um  

so yes there repetition is valuable uh but usually  your ability to improve with repetition will uh it  

will it will taper off so you will have a like  at at first it's good to get some repetition of  

something but the naturally varied review will  carry you much more to fluency then Tom says uh  

gko right there the bank uh love from Pakistan  great podcast glad to hear it and K says hi Tom  

oh goas and let's see what is a stool so a stool  is just like uh like a little three or four-legged  

chair something like that I don't have one but  it's it's basically a chair without a back uh  

let's see drop by and let my review yes please  give us a great review and if you know other  

people we need to make a better thing in the app  uh for people to share it but do you think tongue  

twister phrases can help us to improve our  pronunciation too yeah there there's a little  

bit of that but uh the the bigger problem that  most people have is just not feeling confident  

in basic basic communication so it like trying to  study tongue twisters or things like that it's not  

it's not likely to help you very much all right  but focusing on something just like we did at  

the beginning of this video that's actually going  to feel make you feel more confident because you  

will know the vocabulary better all right so try  to think about what your specific problem is if it  

is just vocabulary pronunciation rather than like  vocabulary understanding then maybe some tongue  

twisters will will be useful for you all right  Ser says I get your point fluency is a matter  

of drilling and repeating from multiple sentences  to complex ideas yes it's the the idea of fluency  

is the elimination of doubt that's really what  fluency is so fluency is the skill of knowing the  

language better all right I'm trying to express  this in different ways but the the point is that  

the vocabulary itself does not give you fluency  it's how well you know the vocabulary so if you're  

trying to say something uh and you feel uh nervous  about saying that for whatever reason like you  

just don't know the vocabulary very well or you're  uh you're unconfident for whatever reason that's  

going to stop you from speaking but if you know  the vocabulary very well then you will feel much  

more confident that's how it works all right let's  see you guys are speaking with each other and  

sunson says I annoyed by the football match China  versus Japan 0 to7 this day so really I didn't  

know China is Blain Japan right now uh and it  says I give up I'm having total problems with the  

internet today I'll watch your video later thank  you for everything it's okay remember these are  

available for people to watch anytime Juan says Hi  teacher I start to learn English with your YouTube  

channel welcome uh sakita says do you have a list  of similar books I would just focus on particular  

excuse me um like you can find lots of examples  of kids books like this and most of them will have  

something where it's it's a it's a variation on a  theme all right so the uh like this one the theme  

of the book is would you rather and it's it's  pretty it's pretty obvious from from this kind  

of book but you might hear another book where it  might not be about a particular vocabulary point  

but you will hear something like the the same  kind of phrase is used again and again uh in the  

book or it's talking about a different topic in  slightly different ways like this character likes  

a white shirt but this character likes a black  shirt and this character likes a yellow shirt  

and often there will be this varied review this  naturally varied review uh and and people don't  

call it naturally varied review that's what I call  it but that's basically what's happening so it's  

not repetition you're getting slightly different  variations of things and that's what helps you  

understand the vocabulary B better so and this  is not just reading the words it's also hearing  

other people pronounce things so if I only listen  to One clear teacher my pronunciation is not going  

to be very good because there will probably be  a a difference between the way I'm speaking and  

the way they're speaking and even more there will  be a difference between how they are speaking and  

how the real like everyday people actually speak  so if I only listen to very clear easy English  

like if I'm learning japanes I'm listening  to clear Japanese for example then I will I  

will not develop my hearing to listen to actual  Japanese people speaking so if I go on YouTube  

and look up Japanese lessons uh most of them are  going to be very clear speakers but if I if I just  

listen to some high school kids talking outside  waiting for the bus it's a completely different  

way of speaking so I need to get exposure to both  of those things the teacher is going to be helpful  

for explaining things making sure I understand the  basic vocabulary but I need to hear how natives  

are usually are actually using these things in  real life all right so it's not just getting only  

this this very narrow uh very narrow range of the  language you need to get this whole range of the  

real language all right so the thing I found uh  when I was learning Japanese and other languages  

is that everything I was doing about learning was  very limited so the the kinds of learning like the  

the kinds of teachers I was learning with was very  limited the vocabulary was very limited and the  

practice was very limited as well so even if I had  people to practice speaking with I I had no real  

way to speak with them because I wasn't learning  the real language but once I started learning all  

of this and I got examples of native speakers  actually speaking then my understanding became  

much uh much faster or I I came to understand  things much faster and that's how I became a  

fluent speaker in Japanese but failed to become  fluent in French and Spanish and Latin so when  

I was learning those languages and even when I  began learning Japanese it was learning Japanese  

like this and I was wondering why why is why is  my experience so frustrating why am I learning  

things but not being able to communicate and it's  because I'm getting a limited version a different  

version of the language than how people actually  speak so if I actually get examples of the way  

people really speak I should be better prepared  that was my thinking and that's what happened so  

I I I started uh I could still hear some examples  from teachers or you know some easier speech but  

I started getting many more examples uh just like  like I'm recommending right now after this video  

go watch a few videos of other people reading this  book I promise it will improve your listening and  

pronunciation absolutely it will all right I think  we got a few last uh comments here uh let's see  

and yeah so again I don't have like a specific  list of these books but if you just look up kids  

books or something uh and you can usually find  books on particular topics uh and Gabrielle says  

what is the best way to learn phrasal verbs uh  you should be learning them visually the same way  

natives do and then we do this systematically in  fluent for Life the visual guide to phrasal verbs  

is also included influent for Life uh but this  is where we actually show you how the vocabulary  

works it's like something is falling down like  this if it goes straight down to fall down rather  

than fall over fall over fall over so you can see  the the differences between something by actually  

seeing the difference rather than just getting  someone to explain it or getting a I don't know a  

uh like a translation or something like that so if  you can see phrasal verbs that's like seeing the  

physical understanding of something uh and then  we can take that and start applying it in more  

figurative ways but just search my channel uh for  phrasal verbs and you'll see these differences uh  

let's see uh Ser said fluency is the elimination  of doubt I like that yeah that's the basic idea  

so the reason you can't speak fluently about  whatever like maybe you can speak fluently  

about some things but not other things but the the  reason you can speak fluently is because you have  

no doubt about that thing and if you have doubt  about something you can't speak fluently so if  

you eliminate the doubt you will become much more  confident I've been thinking uh I'd like to hear  

another book recommendation I've been thinking  I'd like to hear another book recommendation so  

if you go like if you go to Amazon Japan or Amazon  whatever and just look for a book and then scroll  

down and see what did other people also get  you will probably find some like other doctor  

uh books like this uh but yeah I mean basically  people are learning uh teaching their kids these  

different language patterns but they don't realize  they're doing that they just think about it as  

a story all right so it like this is the kind  of textbook and in my house I have basically a  

bunch of textbooks like this for kids uh so my my  children don't realize that's what I'm doing but  

I'm teaching them the language without you know  without telling them hey this is like a boring  

textbook it doesn't look like a textbook you know  it it looks it looks like a lot of fun doesn't  

it you know and so kids are reading this like oh  like what do you think about this and I'm asking  

my kids uh like you know particular questions  about things as I'm reading it I'm trying to  

give them lots of naturally varied review to make  sure they understand the vocabulary very well uh  

let's see Insight says do you recommend watching  a specific topic or situation for a week before  

watching something different sure uh I mean  the the point is not how long you learn it's  

how quickly you can eliminate the doubt so you  don't have to watch something for a week if you  

really feel confident about that thing then in  that case go on to something else uh but if you  

if you're learning something and you don't get it  then try to come at that thing from a different  

angle so if I watch one video about something and  I don't really understand maybe I should try a  

different video so repeating the same video will  probably not help me understand it better but if  

I can get a different video about that thing then  that's the I don't know that's the thing I should  

do so it just depends on uh how quickly you can  eliminate the doubt I think I've talked about this  

uh in other videos but this idea of destroying the  doubt like that is the key to becoming fluent much  

faster so if you have a typical if we imagine like  an hourong lesson and you don't really understand  

much of it uh like you understand like I know  one thing here and number two thing over here  

and you took an hour to do that you've spent  an hour to try to understand two things and now  

you feel a little bit more confident about them  but a really good lesson should be like one two  

3 four five you spend time actually feeling very  confident about many things very quickly so which  

person is going to get fluent first would you  rather would you rather be this person or this  

person would you rather all right so just like  in our book you see I'm bringing it back I bring  

the particular grammar point or uh like that the  language pattern back so would you rather be this  

person spending a lot of time learning but not  really understanding things or spending a lot of  

time or even not even spending a lot of time but  look at this like we've spent half the time and  

and learned a lot more so this person is going  to be uh much more confident in their convers  

ations so which person would you rather be  would you rather be this one or this one all  

right looks like we're almost done over here and  Tom says yes fluent for life that's the name of  

the program aklan says I paused at times when  talking because sometimes words are not there  

at the exact time when you need them yes uh and  if you learn the way I'm telling you to learn  

you will not have that problem so today's video I  did not plan this video I'm not planning the words  

I'm like I I didn't think I don't have a script  or anything I make these videos live so you can  

actually see examples of me speaking fluently  okay so you can see all right if I'm talking  

about something maybe I need to change the topic  or give a different example or something but I I  

want to actually do these videos live to give you  examples of how people really speak all right so  

it's it's more like a conversation rather than  just me making a like a typical video where I  

take my time to write things down uh let's see CeX  says I knew almost 3,000 words but I cannot speak  

well yeah so that's the that's the the common  problem people have where they know vocabulary  

but they don't know it well enough they still have  some kind of doubt that stops them from speaking  

and Gabriel says thank you drew it's my pleasure  K let us know if you get a different book and  

tell us your experience yeah just you can look  online or even just start right here uh in in  

YouTube just look up other examples if you start  looking up children's books like children's book  

read aloud on uh YouTube you will find lots of  examples and YouTube will recommend you more it  

will get you fluent automatically uh let's see aan  says Dr su's books are very popular in the United  

States I guess the world yes uh I don't I don't  know about the world but I guess certainly in the  

United States yeah very very popular and i' I've  talked about a couple of those on this channel  

all right you guys are speaking to each other  let's see H Dre and everybody says kadi Ash  

says is it true that if you think in English  it may help you well thinking in English is the  

result of understanding in English so it's like  think about it backwards where if you understand  

something well then you don't need to think in  your native language so the the reason people  

translate over here like their typical language  lessons are hard to understand and that's why  

they the teachers use translations so it's  just a faster way okay here's here's a word in  

English here's a word in your native language now  remember that for the test that's typically the  

way uh language classrooms work uh and and what  I learned is that like in in this I Was preparing  

for very specific communication situations so  I was I was preparing for specific rules or  

specific speaking patterns but if you look at the  actual range the way people really speak people  

don't always speak like that so I might I might  hear one way of speaking in a lesson but people  

don't actually speak like that or they speak in a  different uh you know whatever they speak about a  

a particular um I don't know whatever whatever  the the thing is but there there are typically  

many many ways of talking about something and  that's why people will speak differently so  

if you only get this narrow range of learning  then it will be more difficult ult for you in

conversations uh let's see I would rather be  the second person there you go all right Iris  

says hello your classes are pretty good however  I think would be better you can explain more  

grammar for different topics fluency is okay but  very repetitive that issue uh what what specific  

grammar would you like to know about often I will  I will work like like today we did have a grammar  

point which is would you rather so the fluency for  for the people I help uh their main issue is they  

lack fluency not that they don't know a grammar  point is that that they they don't actually feel  

confident that they can use that grammar point in  a real conversation so today's video like I didn't  

title the video grammar point would you rather be  all right so people might not be looking for that  

or whatever it doesn't matter uh but they are  looking for fluency so people actually want to  

speak and uh if I can show people an example  of this so today is a grammar lesson I could  

change the title of the video and it would be  the exact same video but the focus would be  

oh would you rather be so today class we're  going to talk about would you rather be but  

I'm actually just showing you the same thing  applies to anything so lots of my videos even  

though they are talking about fluency they do  cover various things like different vocabulary  

or different grammar points or whatever all right  so don't don't worry about the uh like the topic  

of the video so much as the the actual way I'm  speaking and if you pay attention to that you  

will improve naturally uh let's see yes it helps  improve all kinds of English skills doesn't it  

teacher reading is important yes so reading is  very good and the point is to help you understand  

things better uh and it should be a combination of  things that you do like seeing real people speak  

uh let's see Annie says what can I do to stop  procrastination about studying uh probably the the  

reason people procrastinate typically is because  they don't like the actual learning but if you  

think about procrastinating what are you doing  instead of procrastinating most people are not  

just sitting in their room doing nothing they're  they're probably doing something else they enjoy  

so what I recommend is that you do that thing that  you enjoy in English whatever that is so if I like  

learning about about cooking I should watch some  cooking shows in English that there's nothing to  

procrastinate for because I already enjoy the  content and again most language lessons are  

not very good because they they don't clear up all  the doubt that people have they're boring to learn  

with and it's difficult for people to understand  so that's why people don't want to do them so we  

call it procrastination but it really just means  that the lessons are actually not very good and  

the lessons themselves should be motivating  you to to go back and watch the video now I I  

don't have like you know lots of people watch my  videos but it's interesting to see people often  

come back to watch more videos because they're  like enjoying what their you know whatever the  

video is maybe they like the the way I'm speaking  or they feel like they're learning more there's  

usually a reason why they come back so I'm not  I'm not forcing anybody to watch my videos they're  

welcome to watch them or not watch them but if I  can make the language understandable more people  

will probably want to watch my videos because they  actually improve and they enjoy the feeling they  

get when they understand something better and that  allows them to speak so my my like these specific  

YouTube videos you know there're like people might  watch those and learn whatever you know if it's a  

particular grammar point or something but the  point is uh people don't really procrastinate  

with the things they enjoy so try to try to tie  the the language learning part with whatever it  

is you're actually interested in you don't really  care about people really want lessons they just  

want to understand the language so so they can  use it and that's what I do in these videos uh  

good question though uh let where did I where did  I go uh okay here we go so act oh you guys are  

speaking to each other okay look up or look for  so look up if you're talking about searching for  

something like looking things up in a dictionary  or looking up like physically looking up uh and  

looking for like looking at looking at phrasal  verbs like this it's it's much more helpful to  

get actual examples just search for our uh our  phrasal verb training just look for that and  

you'll see examples of things like this because if  I just tell you like it's not like look up or look  

for it depends on the situation just like most  vocabulary so you have to see things in action  

and if I'm talking about looking something up in  a dictionary that's one way I might use that but  

I might also look for something in a dictionary  as well so it's better to just get many examples  

and I don't want to cover a bunch of that just  for this uh specific thing right now because  

i' I've covered these things already all right  Tom says learning grammar is easier than getting  

confidence to speak fluently well it's really  the same thing it's just when people talk about  

learning grammar They Don't Really they don't have  a sense that they understand something very well  

usually because they don't have enough examples of  it so if you I could explain something logically  

or give you a like a pattern like a specific this  word and then that word or something um and that  

like that thing will make it a little bit I don't  know like logically you'll understand the thing  

but will you be able to say it fluently probably  not and so just like I'm giving you like a I could  

make this a grammar lesson and just say would you  rather be all right class we begin with the word  

word would and then we're talking about a person  and then we use this word rather here and I try to  

explain it and maybe the even faster thing is just  tell you what it means in your native language  

whatever give you a definition of it and some  examples and then we move on to something else and  

you might understand it when you hear other people  using it you might recognize it but you probably  

would still not feel very confident about saying  it and that's why I'm trying to give you a lot of  

examples so you develop a sense for what's correct  and and that's because you've had so many examples  

you really feel confident that you understand  something well so the idea of this video is  

it's like understanding would you rather but the  the bigger more important point is that you should  

take this idea and apply it to other things that  you learn so this is what we do in fluent for life  

and whether you learn with me or not this is  the way you're going to get fluent all right  

so not just understanding something logically or  through a translation but really making sure you  

understand that thing well ilar nice see you  there how's it going it's going well all right  

uh and says thanks and Meg says hi Drew good  morning from Brazil uh reading Diary of a Wimpy  

Kid yeah so that's a bit like that's a thicker  book more like a shorter novel kind of thing and  

if you're interested in that uh again you can read  something like that for pleasure and it will help  

you understand more but if you're really trying  to read for fluency then the focus is uh it's  

what I would recommend more so picking something  short and easier and Alin says Drew do you still  

Garden just wondering because that's the reason  you said you wanted to uh or you went to Japan to  

learn Garden if I remember yes uh I actually don't  have a garden currently but I'm always learning  

more about it and when I do have one again then I  will do more with it I think probably pretty soon  

I will maybe have some uh Plants and Things in my  house I want to do some maybe gardening with what  

with what I can on my little verenda but I think I  will start doing that now all right it looks look  

like we've gone for about 80 minutes and what  time is it now it's already 11: oh my goodness  

11:00 hopefully youve understood the video the  basic uh the basic Point here if I can recap  

this is that we're not trying to just learn a lot  of words because knowing a lot of words doesn't  

help you speak the thing that helps you speak is  knowing those words really well all right it's  

your relationship with the vocabulary how well  do you know the vocabulary do you think oh I can  

here's a situation and I could actually say many  different things in that situation not just the  

one translation or one thing that I learned from  a definition so as you get more exposure and you  

get that exposure systematically not just like  a bunch of random English that you hear and like  

okay here's this one thing and maybe I'll remember  that and here's this other thing and maybe I'll  

remember that be systematic with how you learn  and if you have specific problems with grammar  

points or whatever then focus on that pick the  thing you're actually struggling with and focus  

on that and that's what's going to get you fluent  all right let's see uh say s says thanks a lot my  

dear teacher and we will leave it there if you  have enjoyed this video do click the like button  

share the video with anyone else and you can click  on the links in the description below this video  

to learn more about Frederick and fluent for  life so what we do here on YouTube is really  

trying to help you understand the principles and  obviously we teach you a lot about you know even a  

particular grammar point or vocabulary and there's  been a lot in this video if you go back and watch  

it again um if you already knew everything I  taught in this video you probably don't need  

any lessons but if you learned something today  especially vocabulary different ways of speaking  

then you're probably in the right place but  what we do with fluent for life is continue  

to teach you more and actually get you fluent  automatically by systematically destroying all  

the doubts you have about fluency have a fantastic  day and I'll see you in the next video bye-bye