Do THIS to Improve your Speaking and Listening Skills

- There is one thing you can do

that will significantly improve both your listening skills

and speaking skills in English.

In this video, I'm going to tell you

what it is and how to do it.

(upbeat music)

Hello, this is Keith from English Speaking Success.

And if you didn't know, I also run the website,

the Keith Speaking Academy.

Great, so listen, let's cut to the chase.

(chuckles)

I'm gonna tell you straight away the one thing you can do

to improve both your listening and speaking skills.

And this is it.

You need to be using a combination

of top-down strategies

and bottom-up strategies.

(chuckles)

It's as simple as that.

Great!

So, you can go now.

All right, thanks for watching!

Bye-bye.

What? Are you still here?

What's the matter?

Oh! Oh, you want to know

what top-down and bottom-up strategies are.

Okay, fair enough.

And how to use them.

Yeah, okay, let me tell you in this video.

In fact, let me go the extra mile.

Let me tell you, also, at the end, I'll give you a bonus.

I'm gonna tell you some of the best TV series

that you can be watching to improve

both your listening and speaking skills.

Oh, and a nice place where you can find

lots of listening materials,

nicely organized, easy to access.

It's one of my favorite mobile apps, Woodpecker Learning.

More about that shortly.

Let's dive in to those strategies.

Okay, let's begin with this top-down listening strategy.

So, top-down strategy is a bit like

when a bird is flying and they're looking down,

they can see everything.

That's why in English, we say, "a bird's eye view."

To have a bird's eye view is to look down

and see everything.

Basically, you're looking at the bigger picture.

Or maybe I should say, "listening to the bigger picture."

Okay, it's really important you are not trying to pick up

and understand every word.

Just get the gist.

The gist is the general idea.

It's important because so many students

try to understand every word,

and when they can't, they get frustrated.

And often they just can't see the wood for the trees.

That's a good expression.

"Can't see the wood for the trees"

means they're looking at so many details,

they don't see the bigger picture.

They don't understand what's happening.

So, the first top-down strategy is

to just listen for the main idea.

Okay, let me show you an example.

I'm gonna show you a very short clip from a new series

and see if you can get the main idea.

Let's have a listen.

- Well, as each new day pummels us

with a seemingly endless onslaught of fresh horrors,

we must not lose faith.

After all, this is America,

where opportunity awaits around every corner.

Can I get an amen?

- [Crowd] Amen!

(elderly woman groans)

- Yeah, just put her in the coffin too.

They're both pretty small.

- [Tall Man] All right, you get her feet.

- And we will take this from the top.

Hope!

- Right, so, you may have got the main idea

that here, well, there's a man speaking to other people

trying to motivate them and get them to follow him.

Somebody dies, and there's a bit of silence

and possibly humor.

Now, probably, you're using two things

to help you get the main idea.

You're using your existing knowledge.

Maybe you know this man is a priest because of the uniform.

And a priest, well, what do they do?

Is they talk and give ideas to the audience or the crowd.

The correct word is the congregation.

They talk about faith and they try

and get the crowd to follow him.

The second thing you may be noticing are some key words.

Words like, "lose faith", he's talking about faith.

"America."

This is America, maybe a hundred or 150 years ago.

"Amen."

You may have heard that word.

"Amen" is a word we use in the mass.

It just means, "I agree."

And, "coffin."

"Coffin" is the box for the dead people.

So, the woman falls over, she dies.

He says, "Put her in the coffin, she is small as well."

So, there's a bit of humor or comedy there.

It's very dry comedy,

but you may sense something funny is happening.

So, you're getting the main idea

using your existing knowledge, using some key words.

And, this, it's really important.

I think using this strategy is important

at the beginning of a listening

and whenever the scene changes.

So, when there's a new scene,

you just want to float up high, look down,

listen for the bigger picture.

The other thing you can do,

the second top-down strategy is

use the context to give you clues.

So, what do I mean by the context of the listening?

Well, it may be the title of the listening

or some images or scenes,

things within the picture, that can help you.

For example, if we're gonna watch a clip

and we see this scene, right?

Have a look at this.

Now, this context, you can see, it looks like a hospital,

possibly a place of surgery.

There seem to be two people in white coats,

probably doctors.

So, this context is giving us some clues

about what is probably happening.

What could they be talking about?

Maybe a new medicine, maybe a patient,

maybe an operation that's going to happen, right?

So, this context is kind of the top-down.

We're looking to see how this can help us

understand the main idea.

Let's watch the clip and see if you can get the main idea.

What I want you to do is use the context,

your knowledge of hospitals,

and any key words that pop up.

All three top-down strategies.

Let's try it.

- You get that consent on 104?

- Well, I made him a deal.

He's got a meeting with Dr. Max from psychiatry at six,

we'll get the consent by eight,

we can operate first thing in the morning.

- You did pass anatomy, right, Dr. Browne?

His problem's in his heart, not his head.

- He's not psychologically ready for surgery.

He will be. Soon.

- Okay, great, so the main idea,

it seems to be two doctors talking about surgery

for a patient, basically.

So some of our guesses were correct.

Some of the key words I heard were "psychiatry,"

"consent," which is an agreement to have an operation,

"operate," "morning," so maybe operate tomorrow,

"ready for surgery," "surgery."

So I can get the main idea that they're getting somebody

ready for the surgery.

I also sense there's a bit of maybe disagreement

between the two doctors and my knowledge of hospitals

tells me that often doctors may have different opinions.

Right. Great.

So these are top-down strategies you can be using

at the beginning or at the change of scene

when you're watching something.

Let's move on.

Next.

Right. Next, bottom-up strategies.

(chuckles)

This is almost the opposite of top-down.

This is more about listening for detail,

not necessarily every word,

but getting the details you need.

So this is really important

if you're watching a series or a film.

When do you use this?

If, for example, there's a new character in the story,

you may need details.

If there's a change in plot

or there's a new idea being introduced,

you made need the details.

Or if there's a name or numbers have come up,

these are typically when you need to get the details.

And for me, I want to share with you

three of the most important things you can do here

for these bottom-up strategies.

Excuse the laughter.

It always makes me laugh, "bottom-up."

So, first, noticing stressed words.

Second, noticing intonation patterns.

Third, noticing chunks.

Let's take these one by one.

First of all, noticing stressed words.

Now you may know that in English,

we don't pronounce every word equally the same, right?

Take this sentence.

We don't say, "Caffeine was an amazing aid

to the rise of capitalism."

That's not how we speak.

What we say is, "Caffeine was an amazing aid

to the rise of capitalism."

We stress the nouns, the adjectives, the verbs, the adverbs.

Most of the other words get reduced or swallowed.

They almost disappear, right?

But you only need the stressed words.

You only need to get "caffeine," "amazing aid," "rise,"

"capitalism" to get the detail that you need.

So getting into the habit of noticing the stressed words

will help you pick out the details.

You may be thinking, "That's a strange sentence, Keith.

Why did you choose that?"

I chose that because I was watching this video

the other day, and it's about food.

Michael Pollan, great guy, talking about coffee.

Have a look at this.

- Contributed to the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason

and the Industrial Revolution, all of which required us

to think in much more focused, linear terms.

Caffeine was an amazing aid to the rise of capitalism.

- You can go and check out that video later.

Let's move on.

Number two, noticing intonation patterns.

Now, intonation in English is challenging, difficult.

No, no, no, no, no.

Intonation is fun, it's exciting, it's changeable.

It's really interesting to use intonation.

I know that there are no fixed rules about it,

but there are some intonation patterns that we often use

that it's worth knowing.

Let me share three of those intonation patterns

you can be looking out for.

Open questions.

That's a question that is a yes/no question, right?

Do you like it?

Do you live here?

Do you often go jogging?

(speaks syllables with intonation)

It's a rising intonation when you have open questions.

Another one, two-clause sentences.

For example, "If I did this, I would do that."

If I ate less, I wouldn't be so fat.

If I had a lot of money, I would buy a house.

That rising and falling intonation.

Before I go to work, I have breakfast.

That's another common pattern.

Let me show you another clip.

It's going back to the caffeine and the coffee video,

which I really liked.

Have a listen to this.

- Before caffeine, basically people started work

when the sun came up and stopped when it went down.

- Can you see that?

(speaks syllables with intonation)

Can you see that pattern?

Excuse me, can you hear that pattern?

Another common one is lists,

where you have a list of something, and it often goes,

(speaks syllables with intonation)

I like coffee, tea, and butter.

Butter?

No, I like coffee, tea, and beer.

It goes up, and up, and on the last one, it comes down.

Very common.

Again, let's have a look at an example.

- [Narrator] Spreading slowly from Africa,

through the Middle East, and into the West.

- Interesting, right?

So those are some intonation patterns you can be noticing.

Number three was to notice chunks.

And I talk a lot about chunks.

Chunks are basically a few words together

that sound almost like one word.

So, for example, instead of saying, "Did you like it?"

We would say, "Didjelaikit?"

"Didjelaikit?" It's a chunk.

"Didjefindit?"

"Didjew enjoyit?"

Right? You're pronouncing it almost like one sound.

Now, my tip here is that this is something you can do

when you're watching videos

is listen to just one sentence

and try and repeat it

and try and listen to where there are chunks,

these sounds, right?

Then go and look at the subtitles

and see if you can see the words

that are making up the chunk,

and then practice repeating again.

Let's take an example.

Here's another video.

This is a comedy video.

It's a comedy Zoom call with some famous people.

Let's just have a listen, and I'm gonna repeat

or get the video to repeat this sentence

and try and identify the sound, okay?

- How did you end up opening up food spots? I mean-

Start with the food.

How did you end up opening up food spots? I mean, you're-

- So I can hear "how," "end up," "food spots,"

or "how," "end up," "opening," "food spots."

And then when I look at the subtitles, I can see,

"How did you end up opening up food spots?"

And if I listen some more...

- Start with the food.

How did you end up opening up food spots?

I mean you're- - "How did you end up?"

How didjewendup? Didjewendup.

Did jew wen dup.

How didjewendup? How didjewendup?

That's the chunk: How didjewendup?

It's, "How did you end up?"

It may help you to actually write out the letters like this:

"How didjewendup?"

"How didjewendup opening up food spots?"

And picking out just that one chunk and practicing it

is really useful for your speaking skills,

as well as your listening skills.

Now you may be thinking, "Where are you watching this?

That's not YouTube.

And how do you get it to repeat all that,

that sentence again and again?"

Well, this is one of my favorite apps, right?

This is the Woodpecker app.

And I love it because it brings together

all of these videos from YouTube,

but they've curated them into different playlists

around entertainment, education, food, talk shows,

documentaries, science, space, lots of stuff,

even teachers of English, which is ideal.

And you can go in there,

and this is the beauty, as you've seen,

is as you're watching, right?

If you want to repeat a phrase or a chunk,

you can put it on automatic repeat,

and it just goes round repeating it.

You've got the transcript for every video

if you want to watch it.

You don't have to.

And what's more, it gets better.

If you don't understand a word,

you just press the word and it tells you.

For example, if we're not sure about "end up,"

I can press that phrase and look, it comes up,

"end up: to conclude, turn out, sometimes unexpectedly."

You can even add it to your history, save the word,

and then export them to have a word list

from the shows that you've been watching.

It's an amazing app, and I think it makes learning English,

well, fun and exciting.

You can learn whilst watching your favorite shows.

You can learn new words.

You can practice your listening skills

and your speaking skills as well.

They have, at the last count, I think over 300,000 videos,

all of them with the transcripts.

It's absolutely brilliant.

What a great way to be learning English.

So go and check them out.

There is a link down below.

You can download the app for free,

start using it straight away.

If you're on an iPad, you can access your Netflix account,

and you can be using the transcript feature

for Netflix series as well.

It doesn't get any better.

Great. Woodpecker Learning.

Guys, fantastic app. Well done.

Thoroughly recommend it to all of my students.

Now, let's move on.

Now, next, as promised, this bonus is me

suggesting some of the best TV series

that you can be watching

to improve your speaking and listening skills.

Now I've chosen these partly

because I think they're good for learners,

and partly because I actually loved watching them.

They were really good.

What I do suggest is try not to watch

the same kind of thing all the time.

Now, even though you love action movies,

don't just watch action movies.

You need to be watching different kinds

of clips, videos, films, series.

You want to be listening to different accents,

looking at different contexts, different genres,

because all of that will give you a much wider

range of language, which you're gonna need

to become a better speaker of English.

So let's kick off first with action series, right?

I mean, action series are great,

because it's often simple language

and there's lots of visual support to help you learn.

So apart from the Marvel series, like Iron Fist,

which is good, but very, very American,

others that I like are "Killing Eve,"

a British spy thriller with suspense, drama,

and unexpected twists in the plot.

Also "His Dark Materials," which is a fantasy drama

based on the books by Philip Pullman

recommended to me by my daughter.

Next, we've got two sitcoms, and sitcoms,

or situational comedies, are great,

because you've got very natural everyday English,

cultural references, and you get to learn

the sense of humor of English.

I recommend "Ted Lasso."

It's the story of an American coach who comes to the UK

to train at Premier League English football club

and the hilarious adventures that come about

from the culture clash

between American culture and British culture.

Then there's "Mythic Quest."

It tells the hilarious adventures of the staff

of a company that creates the biggest

multi-player video game in the world.

Next up we've got the news,

and two news programs which I think are good,

because, well, the news gives you lots of rich vocabulary

as well as idiomatic expressions.

I would recommend "Good Morning Britain,"

which is a lighthearted look at the daily news,

or "Panorama," and if you like investigative journalism,

but not too sensationalist, that's for you.

Next, a couple of drama series,

and drama is good again for the natural conversation,

but also the kind of colorful language you may get.

Lots of slang as well,

although do not use slang in IELTS speaking,

but it's always useful to note.

First of all, "Little Fires Everywhere."

Absolutely brilliant.

This is Reese Witherspoon, who is the head

of a picture perfect family

whose lives get turned upside down by the arrival

of an enigmatic mother and her daughter.

Then we've got "The Handmaid's Tale," which is,

I guess, the more horrific end of the drama spectrum.

This is about really a futuristic dystopia

where the role of women is turned upside down.

If you can bear it, go and watch it. It's great.

Next, I would strongly recommend documentaries,

because they cover a wide range of topics

and a huge range of vocabulary

as well as great ideas for your IElTS speaking.

I would recommend "The Social Dilemma."

It tells you how social media really works.

And also "Cowspiracy," which tells you

about the real culprit of climate change,

the elephant in the room that nobody's talking about.

Really worth watching.

I do also recommend you go and check out Curiosity Stream.

It's a paid-for service.

I think it's $20 a year,

but some amazing high quality documentaries,

well worth checking out.

Finally, chat shows are brilliant,

because you get, again, natural conversation.

It's everyday life, popular topics.

I would recommend "The Ellen Show."

What more can I say? Pure genius.

And "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

And I think the Late Show is nice.

You can see interviews, very candid conversations

with celebrities, and also, of course,

Stephen Colbert's rather elegant wit and humor.

That's it, lots of TV series you can use to go

and practice your listening and speaking skills

and your top-down and bottom-up strategies.

So remember, I think in order to really develop

your listening and speaking skills,

you need actually a combination

of these top-down and bottom-up strategies.

At different times, you may be using different ones,

but use them both.

I hope all of this helps and also have fun

with the suggestions around the TV series.

Go and explore something new.

Look at lots of different types of programs

to help improve your listening and speaking skills.

And finally, remember Woodpecker Learning.

What a great app,

a place where you can find easy-to-access videos,

some well-organized playlists that you can go

and study with, and it's fun and exciting.

And with all of those built-in tools to help you

follow the transcript, practice repeating chunks,

check words you don't know, access Netflix, come on.

It's well worth checking out.

The links are down below in the description.

You can go and download the app for free.

And let me know in the comments what you think of the app.

What are you watching to learn English

and practice your listing and speaking skills?

Great. It's been a pleasure, as always.

I can't wait to see you very soon in the next video.

Take care, my friend.

See you later.

(upbeat music)