An EASY Way to Improve your English (for busy students)

- If you are very busy

but you want to improve your English level

and you have an IELTS test to prepare for,

but you have no time to study,

then this video just might help you.

(upbeat music)

Hello, this is Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy

and the YouTube channel English Speaking Success.

Now, I know a lot of you are very busy students.

You want to improve your English,

but you don't have time to study, to practice, to read,

to listen, to do all of that.

And if you're preparing for IELTS,

it's incredibly stressful.

What if I could give you one simple technique

that will help you build your vocabulary,

help you remember it, improve your reading skills,

give you lots of listening, practice and have fun

and relax at the same time?

Ha, would you be interested?

It's very, very simple, right?

And it's this, it's Does This Really Work?

It's about storytelling.

I did a video a while back explaining how stories work.

They are such a powerful way to build vocabulary,

practice reading, practice listening.

In today's video,

I'm gonna give you a story all about the topic of work,

a common IELTS speaking topic,

and you will find it a relaxing way to read, listen,

study, learn vocabulary,

and I promise you, you will learn so much.

So just take these 50 minutes to totally relax

and enjoy this story.

So this is called "Ellie's Lesson".

Can you guess who or which one is Ellie

and what's happening here?

Let's find out all in the story, "Ellie's Lesson".

Chapter one, The Morning Spark.

A spark is like when you have a match or a lighter

and there's a spark, a flame

that sparks something, sparks something.

It's a kind of shining light that gives you motivation.

"Ellie stepped into her school feeling the familiar rush

of anticipation for the day.

As a teacher,

her passion for helping people learn English was the driving

force behind her every morning.

So Ellie stepped into the school.

The rush of anticipation is this feeling, this flow

of excitement that she feels.

Her passion is English.

English was the driving force, like driving a car,

it's the motivation basically

behind her mourning.

"The classroom was her stage,

her students the eager audience ready

to dive into the world of language learning."

Dive into, jump into.

"Although she often had a lot on her plate,

was frequently snowed under with marking and homework,

and of course didn't have the luxury of flexitime,

she was happy.

It was a challenging but rewarding job."

To have a lot on your plate doesn't mean a lot of food,

although that would be nice.

It means that you are busy, right?

And if you are snowed under,

imagine the snow coming down.

You have all the work and the activities and the tasks.

It means you are busy as well.

Too many things to do, that you are snowed under.

She has to mark the homework, right,

flexitime in many jobs,

you can choose the time you start

and choose the time you finish,

so long as you complete the number of hours every day.

Teachers unfortunately can't usually have flexitime

because the working day is fixed.

Her job was challenging, difficult,

but rewarding, satisfying.

"'There's something magical

about watching a student's confidence grow,' she thought,

arranging her notes for the day's lesson."

And there she is, Ellie, the teacher getting ready

for today's English lesson.

Chapter two, A Tall Order.

I'll explain that in a moment.

"Midway through the term, Ellie encountered a challenge

that really tested her."

Midway just means halfway through the term.

In America they say semester.

In England, we say a term, a school term.

Typically three months for a term.

"A new student, Mia struggled significantly

with speaking in front of the class.

She was very shy

and getting her to speak out in front

of others was a tall order."

So a tall order means something very difficult to do,

a big ask, a tall order, something difficult.

"Ellie tried every technique that she knew,

but progress was slow

and her usual methods felt inadequate."

Not enough, right?

"She knew it was up to her to help Mia succeed.

But it was a situation

that required more than just enthusiasm.

It needed a deeper understanding and a new approach.

The expression, "It was up to her,"

means it was her responsibility.

It's up to me to teach you English.

It's my responsibility.

It's up to me to do the cooking at home, maybe, sometimes.

I wonder what your responsibilities are.

"Feeling somewhat disheartened,"

kind of demotivated, without heart.

"Ellie sought advice from Mr. Thompson,

a seasoned teacher known for his innovative teaching methods

and deep empathy for students."

So a seasoned teacher means an experienced teacher.

We can say a seasoned worker, a seasoned engineer,

a seasoned doctor, a seasoned chef

with lots of experience.

Empathy is when you understand other people, you understand

what they're thinking and what they're feeling.

Let's listen to Mr. Thompson.

"'Ellie', he said, 'Sometimes it's not about pushing harder,

but about finding a new path.

Have you tried using storytelling as a way to engage Mia?'"

Interesting, "He suggested incorporating more

personal stories and encouraging Mia to share her own

in a smaller, more supportive setting."

There's Ellie, there's Mia, looking a little bit shy.

So Ellie has the idea, well, Mr. Thompson's idea,

that she might use storytelling

to help the student learn.

Let's find out how Mia reacts, what do you think?

How would you react?

Hmm, let's see.

Chapter three, The Turnaround.

A turnaround is a change in a new direction,

usually positive.

"Inspired by Mr. Thompson's advice,

Ellie introduced storytelling into her lessons,

creating a safe space for Mia

to express herself without the fear of judgment.

Slowly, Mia began to open up, her stories becoming a bridge

to more complex language use

and ultimately greater confidence."

So Mia began to open up,

is to express her feelings more openly.

To begin speaking in front of others

and greater confidence.

"Ellie's classroom was transformed.

Not only did Mia start to flourish,

but the entire class also became more engaged,

learning the power of empathy and personal expression."

Ellie's classroom then was transformed,

was changed, radically, changed in a big way.

Mia started to flourish.

So to flourish is to grow

and develop like almost like a flower will blossom.

And it was great for everybody in the class.

"Ellie realized that teaching was about more than

just conveying information,

it was about connecting with students on a human level."

to convey information is just to give information,

to transmit and to broadcast.

And it's not about that, right?

It's about connecting.

"As the term came to a close,"

remember the term three months at school,

Ellie felt a renewed sense of purpose.

She had been thinking," she had been thinking in the past,

before today, "She had been thinking about taking some time

off work, even taking a sabbatical in fact,

she had even thought about changing career."

So obviously before today she wasn't happy.

She wanted time off work is when you don't work,

it's free time holidays.

To take a sabbatical is normally to take six months

or a year off work where you don't work,

but you do another activity, maybe a project,

maybe volunteering, maybe traveling, maybe working

for another company sometimes.

So Ellie had not been very happy

in her job.

Well she was, but maybe the pressure was getting to her.

"However, now she knew this job suited her down

to the ground.

Teaching was where she felt most at home

and where she decided to stay."

If a job suits you down to the ground,

then you are strong in that position.

It's the perfect job for you.

It suits me down to the ground, it's perfect for me.

It matches me and my personality, let's say.

So that was it, Ellie finally finds, well,

her sense of purpose.

She overcomes the challenge and helps Mia

and all her children

and herself to be happy in her teaching.

Lucky old Ellie.

So there you have it.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Did a bit of reading, a bit of listening,

hope you learned some new vocabulary.

If you have learned something new, tell me in the comments

below what you've learned.

You know, with stories, it is a great way to relax

and to learn English and practice many skills.

What you can also do is when you are practicing a topic

in English, take the vocabulary and make your own stories.

You can write them out, you can speak them out,

writing practice, practice speaking, it's listening,

it's reading, it's everything.

It doesn't get any better.

Listen, that's great.

I hope you've enjoyed this and learned something new.

If you want to go even deeper with your learning

and step up even higher, why don't you come

and join the gold course.

My IELTS speaking gold course is available.

Now there is a discount in the link below

if you're interested.

You can find out more details.

Basically there are stories as well,

but also you'll be working on part one, part two,

part three, model answers for IELTS speaking.

There are breakout rooms where you can speak in small groups

to other students around the world

and practice speaking your English.

Find out more details in the link down there, down below.

And that's it for today's lesson or today's video,

you can check out my website, Keith Speaking Academy

if you want to find out more information.

Please do remember to subscribe and turn on notifications.

Thank you so much for watching today.

It was as always a great pleasure.

Take care, my friend and I will see you maybe

in the next video.

Bye-Bye.

(upbeat music)