How to Become Fluent in English Easily

- Learning English can be really simple

if you follow this English fluency formula.

Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy

and the YouTube channel, English Speaking Success,

where you become a confident speaker of English.

Now, learning English is very simple.

Now you may agree or disagree.

There are lots of videos out there,

right, in social media giving us secret methods,

new ways to learn, a revolutionary way to learn English.

Even I have the speaking success system.

But really all of these, the idea behind them is not new.

It's old, it's as old as the hills.

The principles are very, very old.

There's nothing new.

But maybe as students, you get a bit confused which one,

which is the best, but maybe nobody has just explained it

to you in a very simple way.

So let me try, let me call this

the English fluency formula.

But don't fixate on the name.

Just look at the formula, right?

It's very simple.

[S + P] x T = F.

Voila, that's it.

Can you guess what the letters stand for?

S, Study, plus P, practice in brackets,

multiplied by T, time,

equals fluency.

And that is it.

It's so simple, right?

You don't need a revolutionary,

a revolutionary method.

Ignore the tips and the tricks

to become fluent in one month.

No, just, in this video,

let me explain this formula

so you really understand how it works.

And so you can implement it.

To implement it, to take action.

Listen, also, remember, if you want the PDF

to review this lesson and practice at home,

then you can download it in the link below.

Let's get into it.

Okay, first of all, how to study.

So the study part of the formula, let's look at this.

Now, there are two secrets here (laughs)

A secret.

Wow, there's nothing new, right?

An important area.

And the first secret is study in context.

Avoid the word lists, right?

If you're using a grammar book, yes,

but use it as a reference.

Don't study the whole book.

No.

So studying context is the umbrella idea.

Oh no, I can't open an umbrella indoors.

That's bad luck in England.

But the umbrella idea is the overall idea.

And then you've got the smaller ideas

below the next steps.

So the steps of studying, really simple.

Four things.

Number one, know your level.

You can go online, find an online test, get a teacher.

Know your level.

Number two, choose the text.

It can be a written text, an audio text,

or a video text, right?

Choose a text at your level

or slightly above your level,

but not way above or way below, right?

at your level.

That's why you need to know your level, Okay?

When you're choosing texts,

there are different ways.

A lot of students find them on their own.

They're very independent, they go online and they look.

If you do that, here is a very quick searching tip.

When you're searching,

put in the specific level, like B1,

put in a topic, like shopping,

and put in the type of text.

Do you want story, conversation,

a piece of news, okay?

And you do that and you get something

probably like this, right?

And then you can start to choose one

that's appropriate for you

that you are interested in.

As I said, you can find your own resources.

Or even better, you can choose a coursebook.

When my daughter began studying Spanish,

she a coursebook, right?

And a coursebook is great because it's all there.

The texts, the vocabulary, the pronunciation.

Normally there's an audio and maybe a video with it,

and it's all in one place.

Perfect.

Or you can get an online course.

Because again, it's all there in one place.

And most likely multimedia.

Text, written, audio, and video, okay?

So know your level, choose the text at your level.

Number three.

Read, listen, or watch the text,

the whole thing for enjoyment.

Don't analyze it.

Just read, look, listen, and enjoy.

Ah, if it's boring, change it.

Because if you are bored with your study,

you will not be motivated to carry on.

So make sure you enjoy it.

It must be interesting.

And then step four is analyze the text.

Second time, go in, look, read,

listen, and analyze the text.

And at that point, and this is the key, okay?

When you are analyzing the text,

look at the vocabulary, the grammar,

the pronunciation all together.

That's the other secret.

The four skills are integrated.

Don't separate them.

Most teachers will integrate them

and most courses will have it all together, right?

Some students, when they study on their own,

they think, "Right, 20 minutes,

I'll just cram the vocabulary."

"20 minutes, oh, I'll study all the grammar."

"20 minutes, I'll just repeat and repeat

and do the pronunciation."

It's not the best way.

It's better to do 60 minutes all together

in context.

Vocabulary, what does it mean,

how do you pronounce it, how do you use it?

What's the context?

And the grammar, all together.

Much, much better, okay?

And so to analyze the text,

you know, the great way is to choose a teacher.

I mean, get a teacher to do it with you.

I don't mean me, don't choose me, necessarily.

Choose any teacher, but a guide who can help you, right?

I think it's useful.

Just choose somebody you trust, okay?

And that in a nutshell is how to study.

Let's move on to the next piece of the puzzle.

So we've looked at study.

Let's look now at practice.

[Study + Practice] x Time = Fluency

How do you practice?

Now, although I've got study

and practice separate, in reality,

the truth is, they do overlap, right?

When you are studying and you are repeating some words,

you are also practicing.

Or if you're writing some phrases with a word,

you are also practicing, right?

They are not totally separate.

But when we are studying,

there are two ways to study.

The first way is on your own.

The second way is with other people.

So first, on your own, when you study alone,

there are different things you can do.

I mean, with my online courses

and with students, I encourage them

to use the speaking success system.

And it's very simple.

I mean, but you can do it on your own.

If you're watching a video, you pause,

you repeat the sounds that you hear.

Sometimes you change words,

sometimes you change tense,

you make up sentences.

You can also with short audio or video,

shadow, kind of repeat almost at the same time.

Great for your intonation.

Different things you can do.

If you want to learn more about the speaking success system,

it's for free on YouTube.

You can watch this video up here.

The system that works.

When you are doing practice, there are,

as all you English teachers know,

kind of three good ways to practice.

One is controlled, where you are just repeating a phrase.

Second is semi-controlled,

where you are changing something.

So you are repeating but maybe you are changing a word,

or you are adding something,

or you are changing the tense.

And the third is free practice where it's much wider.

Maybe you've watched a video about five phrasal verbs

and you then make up a story trying

to use those phrasal verbs, for example.

It's much freer.

And so in that way you are kind of,

you are trying to use new language,

but in a free and open way.

It's always a good idea to record yourself

when you are practicing alone

so you can listen back, okay?

Because you don't get feedback from anybody else.

Okay, then the other way

is practicing with somebody else.

You can practice with a speaking partner

or with a teacher.

If you practice with a teacher,

it's easy 'cause they'll tell you what to do.

With a speaking partner,

bear in mind three things.

You can, one, focus on communication and fluency,

so don't correct each other's mistakes.

Don't think about mistakes,

just focus on communicating.

Number two, you can try and use some new vocabulary.

So maybe you write down

two or three new words you want to practice

in that conversation and do that.

Three, you can slow down,

focus on accuracy, especially grammatical accuracy,

so you're speaking much more slowly

so you get the right grammar

and you not focused on communicating,

but just being accurate.

And you can help each other correcting each other.

So that's three ways you can work

with a speaking partner.

So that's it.

That is how you practice.

It's as old as the hills, it really is.

But still very, very good.

Of course, like a lot of old things.

Let's move on to the next part, time.

(electronic tone swooshing)

Part three, time.

You've got your study,

you've got your practice,

you need to do it again and again and again.

Time.

Was it Malcolm Gladwell who talked about 10,000 hours?

You need 10,000 hours to master a skill.

Well, this is the same.

And the way to do that is to create a habit

of study and practice, right?

I can recommend James Clear.

If you haven't read James Clear's work

and books about habits, go and check them out.

I'll put the links below.

But creating a habit.

Because we are our habits.

Who said that?

Aristotle?

No, we are our habits.

I can't remember, tell me in the comments below

who said that.

But it is so, so true.

And it's really important to have to create the habit.

Let me give you five tips, right, to create a habit.

This could be a video on its own but here we go.

Tip number one, practice and study on a regular basis.

It's better to do 10 minutes a day in a week

rather than one hour once a week.

That regular basis is much better

and it's important.

Number two, study and practice

on the same day, same time, same place.

You don't have to think about the time or where.

If you've got that same day, same time, same place,

there's nothing to think about.

It's easier to get the habit.

Number three, plan the content

of what you are going to do before you study.

The big mistake a lot of people make is, right,

Tuesday, three o'clock,

I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna study English.

And you sit down and go,

"Right, what am I gonna study?

Let's look for a text on YouTube."

20 minutes later, after scrolling and searching,

you find something and it's time for lunch.

Don't do that.

Before you study, when you are making your plan,

decide exactly what you are going to study

so that when you turn up to study,

bam, you begin.

No time wasted, okay?

I can recommend you can either plan a week in advance

or just five minutes the night before.

Decide what you're going to do.

That is actually how I plan my work day.

Five minutes each evening,

this is exactly what's gonna happen.

Then I don't need to think (laughs)

Much better, right?

Okay, tip number four.

Prioritize English and be persistent.

This is actually probably more important than number one,

two, and three because if you don't prioritize English,

other things will be more important

and you won't do it.

So if you are not gonna prioritize your study

in English, stop now.

Just don't try because you'll get fed up,

depressed, and demotivated, okay?

You must prioritize it and then be persistent.

You carry on, okay?

Make at least a one year commitment,

you must commit.

Say, "Right, for one year, I'm gonna do it," right?

If you have one or two weeks off

and you go on holiday, that's fine.

But if you have like three months on,

three months off, two months on,

two months off, it's not gonna work.

Have a commitment for a year and do it, okay?

These are my tips.

Tip number five.

If you miss a day or a week,

don't worry, just carry on next time.

Don't beat yourself up about it, okay?

Just take one step.

Sometimes when you lose touch with your study,

you think, "Oh, I can't carry on.

It's been two weeks already."

Don't think about it.

Just take one step.

Tomorrow, five minutes, boom.

And very quickly, you'll get back into the rhythm

and the swing of it.

So just take that one step, okay?

Good, generally speaking,

I would say, also, it's important

to enjoy your study.

'Cause if you are enjoying what you're doing,

you'll be motivated to carry on, right?

Another little formula for you.

Enjoyment + Results = Motivation.

So bear that in mind as well.

So there you have it.

The English fluency formula.

[Study + Practice] x Time = Fluency

It's so simple, right?

I think the trouble is students often

look for the new things,

but really there's nothing that new out there.

Do you know the magpie?

The bird that flies around

and it looks for the next shiny object.

Ooh, shiny object and it steals it.

Shiny object.

Ooh, new revolutionary method.

Ooh, new method to learn English.

And it ends up in its nest

with lots of shiny objects but no progress.

Don't over complicate things.

Just keep it simple.

If you keep things simple,

you are going to succeed.

If you are watching this video

and right to the end till now,

then I know you've made a commitment

to learning your English

and I'm sure you're going to succeed.

Just remember the formula.

[Study + Practice] x Time = Fluency

That's it for today.

I hope you liked it.

If you did, give me a like, subscribe.

And of course, you can download the free PDF.

Just to remind yourself of this simple formula.

Do enjoy your study.

And I look forward to seeing you in the next video.

Take care, my friend.

Bye-Bye.

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