Tips to improve vocab and conversation in one lesson

let's be honest who doesn't want to learn  better faster and more English well in this  

lesson I'm going to share how you can improve  your vocabulary and conversation overall English  

fluency in just this one 10 minute lesson so if  that sounds good then let's get fluents hi I'm  

Gabby Wallace from gonaturalenglish.com in case  it's your first time here welcome so there are a  

few things that you can do that you might not  have learned in your traditional English class  

like traditionally you learn to memorize  individual vocabulary words and that's not  

wrong it's not bad but it's not as helpful as  memorizing or learning pairs of words phrases  

of words or short sentences so that you can  be ready to use them in conversation because  

because what happens is the problem is  when you learn individual vocabulary words  

you may be able to produce them for a test filling  in the blank or a multiple choice question you  

know the meaning but you don't know how to use  them when you're speaking in conversation you  

don't know how to use them in a sentence or  maybe you know but you're not able to use them  

quickly as you need them for a conversation so  instead of learning for example the word pepper  

learn the collocation a collocation is  two words that we tend to use together  

salt and pepper that's a step up that is going  to be more helpful than just memorizing the  

individual words so now maybe you're thinking  okay great but that's not really so Advanced  

okay now I'm memorizing two words instead of  just one but my next suggestion for you is  

to learn to memorize phrases so not just pepper  not just salt and pepper but memorize the phrase  

could you pass the salt and pepper or please pass  the salt and pepper choose one and learn it this  

way because then when you go out to eat you can  try this phrase you can actually use it easily  

and automatically because you've practiced it  in a full phrase and not just an individual word  

again pay attention to groups of words and not  just individual words on Long lists of vocabulary  

you can do this with so many different groups  of words for example verbs like make the bed  

pass the salt and pepper which we just talked  about do your homework give advice or take advice  

take a risk there's so many examples that for the  sake of time I'm not going to list more but the  

general idea is stop memorizing individual  words and start learning groups of words  

next learn some commonly used idioms and  expressions for example instead of just  

saying it's raining a lot you can learn idioms  like it's raining cats and dogs which by the way  

you don't want to translate literally or directly  because it probably won't make sense in your  

native language but these are fun ways to make  your English more colorful and more native like  

So speaking of the weather we have a lot of idioms  related to whether words but they actually don't  

mean anything about the weather at all for example  Cloud Nine I am on cloud nine I am so happy  

so you could use this when you're talking about  something really exciting what makes you feel like  

you're on cloud nine on the other hand we have  Rain on My Parade if someone tries to tell you  

not to do something that makes you happy you might  say hey Don't Rain on My Parade don't try to tell  

me that I can't do the things that make me happy  if someone Reigns on your parade they try to ruin  

your plans let's throw caution to the wind that  means let's forget about our responsibilities and  

just go have some wild spontaneous fun when's  the last time you threw caution to the wind  

steal my thunder so if someone for example steals  your idea or steals attention or takes attention  

away from you you can say they stole your thunder  there are so many idioms that you can learn I  

would highly recommend to just learn one a day and  try to put it to use the most beneficial way that  

you can learn new phrases is to use them actively  even if it's by yourself even if you're talking  

to yourself out loud even if you're writing in  your Journal you know ideally you are speaking  

with someone else maybe a classmate a teacher  or in the real world but if you don't have that  

opportunity like if you're not my student in my  fluid communication course you can still benefit  

from this idea by using phrases on your own but  it's important not just to read them or listen to  

them but use them on that topic of how to use  phrases in order to make them a part of your  

English repertoire or your English toolbox or your  active vocabulary here's an idea for you many many  

English Learners are afraid of having conversation  because they don't feel prepared do you ever feel  

afraid or unprepared if you're saying yes then  this suggestion is going to help you so much I  

want you to think of a situation where you want to  use your English you want to speak better English  

in the situation it can be a very small situation  it doesn't have to be something high pressure or  

high stakes like a TED Talk presentation it can be  as simple as I want to have a small conversation  

with my co-workers when I go back to work on  Monday okay great so you have this situation in  

your mind good then we can continue if you don't  have it ready then think of something really quick  

where you would like to use English and then  I want you to Envision how you would like that  

conversation to go so you walk into your office  on Monday morning and you say hi John how was your  

weekend so you actually take control start the  conversation ask a question what is a question  

that you could ask to start a conversation  in your situation that you're thinking of  

so maybe you ask how was your weekend and then  they say something about their weekend and you  

say oh nice I had a great weekend too but actually  and maybe you say something about what you did for  

me personally I didn't do anything too exciting  I caught up on chores laundry grocery shopping  

things like that so I'm excited to be back here at  work because I don't have to do any more laundry  

you can make your response fun kind of cheeky  um joking like that or you know keep it really  

simple whatever feels good for you you can say  what you did if you watch TV if you went out  

and did something if you stayed at home you know  you choose what you want to share with people you  

can tell them about your family if you want to  share you know your home life but the idea here  

is to just visualize imagine that conversation  because because that will prepare you for it and  

you'll be so much more excited and bold when  you speak you'll be ready with confidence to  

have that next English conversation using some of  the idioms phrases and collocations that you will  

have studied so so if you enjoy learning English  like this the smart way with go natural English  

make sure to come visit gonaturalenglish.com  you can learn more about my complete English  

course called fluent communication again  I'm Gabby Wallace and I'm so glad that  

you're here learning together with me thanks for  watching and I'll see you again soon bye for now