Improve English Fluency WITHOUT Speaking Practice? - EnglishAnyone's Greatest Hits 2

93,624 views ・ 2021-04-03

EnglishAnyone


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Welcome to lesson two in my “Greatest Hits” video series. This lesson is for learners
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who know a lot of English, but can’t express themselves confidently and fluently. It’s
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also for teachers, since I’ve been asked to make more training for language educators.
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I began this series by saying that you must learn ANY new language like it’s your first.
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And if you watched video one – There’s No Such Thing As A Second Language – you’ll
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know why I’m not shy about promoting language learning ideas and methods that work, even
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if they’re controversial. In this video, which might seem even crazier, I’ll prove
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that English learners really can become more fluent with LITTLE OR NO SPEAKING PRACTICE.
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“Impossible!” you say? Keep watching…
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The most basic thing to understand about language learning is that fluency develops WORD BY
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WORD. This means that fluency is something you develop in EACH word, phrase and grammar
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point you learn, rather than fluency being some communication “level” you reach in
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the language as a whole after “enough” study and practice. This explains why many
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adult English students can use only SOME of their vocabulary without thinking or translating,
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and why many native English-speaking children can express themselves better than adult learners
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who have LARGER vocabularies and MORE knowledge of English.
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But let’s compare the traditional way with my approach so you see how fluency really
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works.
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Have a look at the characters on the screen, and imagine you’re learning a new written
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vocabulary in some alien language. These characters represent the numbers one through nine.
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In a traditional language lesson, I’d probably “teach” you the new characters by giving
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you translations, rules to study, and flashcards to memorize. But, though these methods CAN
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help you LEARN the target vocabulary, these methods work AGAINST your ability to USE the
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vocabulary confidently and automatically.
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This happens because traditional methods like translations and grammar explanations are
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“filters” that STOP you from understanding the language like a native. If you LEARN through
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these filters, you must also use these filters when you SPEAK. So instead of expressing yourself
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naturally, you hesitate to think about rules… You forget vocabulary… You translate…
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And you must first organize sentences in your head. Ultimately, SPEAKING PRACTICE becomes
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much more necessary and important as the way to OVERCOME the difficulties caused by the
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“filters” of traditional learning methods. It’s like traditional methods move you AWAY
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from fluency, so you must then spend a lot of time practicing just to get moving back
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in the right direction! Sounds like a confusing, frustrating and painful way to learn a language,
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doesn’t it?
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After our traditional “lesson,” even with some practice, you’d still likely have trouble
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remembering all of these characters for a test… And if you had to recall them quickly
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IN A CONVERSATION, you’d probably become nervous, forget everything and freeze up.
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So, what’s the alternative? How can you learn the characters so you RECALL THEM WITHOUT
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THINKING?
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With my approach, the goal is really to develop fluency INSTANTLY, meaning you UNDERSTAND
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WITHOUT ANY FILTERS so you can correctly and automatically USE what you learn, EVEN WITH
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LITTLE OR NO SPEAKING PRACTICE.
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Let’s look at the characters again, but in a much more understandable way…
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Pretty cool, right? Did you FEEL the “switch” in your brain when you understood the characters
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“like a native”? Without using any translations or explanations, I’ve made the new characters
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UNDERSTANDABLE by integrating them with what you already know, almost instantly. And the
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BEST PART is that I could give you a test with a THOUSAND characters or more and you’d
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probably get them all right, EVEN WITH LITTLE OR NO PRACTICE!
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But for the people watching who STILL aren’t convinced that this is the way you should
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be learning – and teaching – ANY language, here’s one more example with English…
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This lesson helps students understand some basic prepositions like a native English speaker:
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on the table at the table
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on the table at the table
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on the table at the table
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on the table at the table
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That’s it! Easy, right?
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So what did I do to make this understandable?
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First, the lesson is ALL IN ENGLISH. Remember that we want to make English understandable
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WITHOUT going through “filters” like translations, rules and explanations. Next, I CONTRASTED
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some related situations and words to make both phrases easier to understand. It’s
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a lot easier to understand the word “fast” when you see it contrasted with the word “slow.”
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Notice how I also kept the examples very simple, while offering a bit of diversity, to make
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everything clear. With these basic elements, we can produce a lesson that we KNOW FOR SURE
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will develop fluency, WITH LITTLE OR NO PRACTICE!!! Isn’t that incredible?!
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Of course, more advanced vocabulary should be learned in the same way, going FROM THE
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SITUATION TO THE VOCABULARY (rather than through translations), and using simple words the
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student knows to understand more complex ones. I must also say that speaking practice IS
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great, especially for building confidence. But the truth is it’s far less necessary
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for building fluency if you LEARN THE RIGHT WAY.
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What I call “FLUENT UNDERSTANDING” is the REAL foundation of your ability to speak,
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NOT the size of your vocabulary, or the number of grammar rules you know. So my job as the
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English Fluency Guide – unlike a traditional English teacher – is to make English understandable
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automatically so you develop fluency as soon as possible. I don’t want to TELL you what
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words mean by giving you translations, teaching rules or confusing you with explanations.
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I want you to DISCOVER and UNDERSTAND the language with simple lessons, visual examples
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and stories… Because this is the ONLY way you become a confident, fluent communicator!
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If you are a teacher, your lessons should be understandable ALL IN ENGLISH, and with
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as little explanation as possible. When you do this correctly, your students will FEEL
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instant improvement, and you’ll GUARANTEE they become successful speakers!
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If you are a student, I hope you now see that fluency should happen INSTANTLY… And that
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you really can become a successful English speaker even if you think you’re too old,
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don’t live in an English-speaking country, and don’t have anyone to practice with.
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To understand THOUSANDS more words and phrases so you speak English like it’s your FIRST
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LANGUAGE, click on the link in this video, or on the link in the description below this
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video. See you next time! Bye-bye!
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About this website

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