Don't Do These Ten Things in English Class Ever!

Hi, Bob the Canadian here.

Welcome to this English lesson

where I'm going to teach you 10 things

that you should not do when you are in an English classroom.

I know some of you take English classes at night.

Some of you are in a room just like this in the evening.

Some of you are what we called exchange students,

where you're studying English in a different country,

in an English-speaking country.

Well, in this video, I'm gonna let you in on some secrets.

I've been a teacher in a high school for over 20 years,

and I have taught students who come from other countries.

So in this video,

I will tell you 10 things that you should not do.

Don't do these 10 things if you are ever in

an English class.

(soft ambient music)

Well, welcome to my classroom.

This is my actual classroom

where I will be teaching once again in a few weeks.

It's actually back-to-school time

in a few weeks here in Canada.

But I wanted to come to school today

because I needed to get some things ready in my room,

and I thought it would be a great time to make a video

for all of you to explain some of the things

you shouldn't do if you are ever in an English class.

Before we get started, though, if you are new here,

don't forget to click that red Subscribe button below,

and give me a thumbs up if this video helps you learn

just a little bit more English.

Number one, don't sit at the back of the classroom.

Even if you are in a classroom

where the teacher tells you where to sit,

the back of the classroom is not a great place to be.

And I'll tell you why.

First of all, when you are at the back of the classroom,

you are more likely to be distracted,

either by the people around you, because you see them

as you are trying to listen and learn English,

or because you are far from the teacher and you think

you can do things that the teacher might not see.

You might be more likely to be on your phone

when you were at the back of the classroom.

You might be more likely to fall asleep,

and that does happen sometimes with students in classes.

So certainly, if you can choose,

sit at the front of the classroom,

you will be more attentive, you will be able to hear better,

you will be able to see the board better.

You will be in front of the teacher at all times,

so the only person you will see is the teacher.

So, number one, if you can,

don't sit at the back of the classroom.

If your teacher has a seating arrangement,

simply ask the teacher if you could have a seat

near the front of the classroom.

It will increase the amount of things you learn immensely

if you sit at the front.

Number two, don't use Google Translate.

Well, at least don't use Google Translate

to translate entire sentences

from your own language into English.

Google Translate is a great tool for translating one word

from your own language into English.

Or putting an English word in

and finding out what it means in your language.

But don't use Google Translate to write an entire paper

or to help you answer questions in class.

Sometimes Google Translate makes it very obvious

to your English teacher that you used Google Translate.

It does a great job translating one word at a time,

but sometimes it makes little mistakes

when it's translating entire sentences or paragraphs.

So, use it as a dictionary,

don't use it to write your paper

or to write the answers to the questions

that you're answering in your English class.

Oh, and one other thing,

do make sure that whatever word processor you are using,

that you have grammar checking and spell checking turned on.

This is very valuable when you are writing answers.

When I write in French,

I always have my grammar checker and spell checker on

so that I can see the small mistakes that I make,

and so I can fix them.

This is not the same as translating the entire thing

in Google Translate.

It is a good option and you should use that tool.

Number three, don't gravitate towards students

who speak your native language.

When we say gravitate towards, it means don't just hang out

with students that speak the same language as you.

Don't just socialize, before or after class,

with students who speak the same language as you.

Oftentimes, when you are taking a class to learn English,

there may be students who speak the same language as you,

and you might want to talk to them.

Maybe in the middle of the class there is a break,

and maybe there are some students

whose native language is French

and some students whose native language is Spanish,

and that might be your native language.

Try to hang out with the other students

and only speak English.

Try as much as you can to only speak English

during, before, and after any English class that you take.

So even if there's a social time,

make sure you don't hang out with people

who speak the same language as you, at least not too much.

Also in class, if you are given the option to choose

what people to work with, don't always choose people

who speak the same language as you.

This might make more sense if you are an exchange student.

I know if you're taking a night class,

almost everyone in your class

will speak the same language as you.

In that case, just make sure you always try to speak English

before class, during class,

if there's a break, and after class.

Number four, don't sit quietly.

Now, this might sound funny to you

because your teacher might want the class to be quiet

while they are giving the lesson.

But what I mean by this is, don't sit quietly

if you don't understand the lesson.

Make sure that you raise your hand

and politely ask questions while the lesson is happening.

It's important to be engaged when you are learning.

This is another reason to sit at the front of the class.

It's a lot easier to put your hand up and say,

"Excuse me, I have a question about that."

And then ask your question.

So, don't sit quietly.

I mean, be quiet, don't talk about other things

with the people beside you,

but certainly don't be a student

who is afraid to ask questions.

Make sure that you take the time to raise your hand

and to ask questions about the lesson.

Number five, don't read things only once.

What I mean by this is that

if there is a book that you need to read for class,

you should be reading it for class,

but you should also read it a second time later that day.

Learning a language is all about repetition.

If the teacher says, "Read chapter two for tomorrow,"

go home and read chapter two, two times.

You can also read ahead.

In English when you read ahead, it means that

before the teacher requires you to read something,

you read it ahead of time.

So let's say you are reading a book and it has 10 chapters.

And you know that for the class coming up,

you have to have chapter three read.

Why not read chapter three and four?

Read chapter three twice, read chapter four once.

And then the following week

when the teacher assigns chapter four,

you will have already read it once.

So don't just read things one time,

read them more than once.

Either read them twice the day it is assigned,

or start to read ahead if you can.

Number six, don't ignore the teacher.

The teacher is a person too,

walking into a classroom and ignoring the teacher

is not a nice thing to do.

Simply saying hello to the teacher when you walk into class,

saying goodbye when you leave class,

and occasionally saying, "Thank you for the lesson,"

when you leave class is a good thing to do.

The teacher, again, is a person too, and they enjoy it

when students interact with them a little bit.

So number six, don't ignore the teacher.

Number seven, don't just listen.

So earlier I said you need to make sure you ask questions,

but at the same time, don't just sit and listen.

Make sure that as the teacher is giving the lesson,

as the teacher is teaching you, that you make notes.

Now, there are two ways to make notes.

I usually don't make notes when I'm in class,

I usually make notes after class.

Some students though, are really good at making notes

or taking notes, you can say it both ways,

while the teacher is teaching the lesson.

But you should certainly be taking notes

whenever you are learning something.

Either while the lesson is happening

or later on after the lesson.

I like taking notes after the lesson because it forces me

to remember what I had learned earlier that day.

So number seven, don't just sit,

make sure you are actively taking notes

or actively listening so you can make some notes

later in the day.

Oh, and one other thing, if you are allowed to,

record the audio of the class on your phone,

so you can listen to it later.

Some teachers don't like this, and some teachers don't mind.

But if you can record what the teacher is saying

so you can listen to it later,

that is an awesome thing to do as well.

Number eight, don't just study the night before a test,

study several nights before a test.

It is very important that you don't try to learn

everything you need to know for a test the night before.

It's just a bad idea.

There is something that in English we call an all-nighter.

Sometimes students pull an all-nighter.

This is when they stay up all night

studying for a test or finishing an assignment for a class.

And it's just not a good idea.

I highly recommend you start studying for a test

three or four evenings before the test.

If it's a larger test, like an examination or an exam,

I recommend starting a week or two before the exam.

It's just a good idea to organize your notes,

to organize how you're going to study,

and to spend several evenings studying for an exam.

In addition, don't always study alone.

If you can find someone else from the class to study with,

that can be very helpful as well.

So number eight, don't just study the night before a test.

Almost every student in the world does this,

but it's way better if you study for several nights in a row

before the test.

Number nine, don't finish things

the night before they're due.

So this is about assignments or papers or essays

that you need to hand in.

Don't finish them the night before,

try to finish them a day or two before the due date.

The due date is the day when you need to give it

to the teacher, the day when you need to hand it in.

If you finish it earlier,

there's a couple of things you can do.

You can have a friend from the class read it over

so they can just check what you've done

to make sure everything is correct.

Or if you have a teacher who's really nice,

the teacher might even be willing to read over

what you have done, and give you some feedback on it.

So, don't finish work the night before

and hand it in the next day, always try to have

big assignments done earlier than the due date

so you can have someone else check things over for you.

Number 10, don't be late, don't skip class,

don't miss a class without a good reason.

If you have a good reason, make sure

you let the teacher know why you are missing class.

This is very, very important.

Having a student absent from class

and not knowing why they're absent,

isn't a good thing for a teacher.

But if you know that the student has a medical appointment,

or the student has a legitimate reason for being gone,

that's a lot easier for you to understand

when the student is missing that day.

I'm never a big fan, I don't like it when a desk is empty

and I don't know where the student is.

It's just not a good thing.

So don't be late for class, don't skip class,

that's when you choose not to go

because you'd rather just do something fun.

And if you are going to miss class for a legitimate reason,

make sure the teacher is aware

of why you are going to be missing.

It's just a good plan,

I wish every student in the world did this.

Well, hey, thank you so much for watching this lesson

on 10 things that you should not do

if you are taking an English class.

I'm Bob the Canadian, I hope you were able

to learn just a little bit more English.

And if you did, please give me a thumbs up on this video.

There's a little thumb down there somewhere.

And if you are new here,

don't forget to click that red Subscribe button below.

And if you have a little bit more time,

why don't you stick around, and watch another video.

(bright upbeat music)