Learn English With Your Eyes Closed!

Using videos to learn English is a great idea.

And obviously you already know this,

because you're watching this video here on YouTube.

And I often tell my students watching a video once

is a good idea to learn some English.

Watching the same video a second time

is a great idea as well,

but actually taking the time to listen to the video.

Yes. Listen to the video.

To close your eyes and listen,

or to simply look away and play the video,

and just listen to it, is also a really, really good idea.

And in this English lesson I will explain why

I think it's such a good idea.

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One of the reasons why I think it's a good idea

to listen to a video after having watched it

once or twice, is because people in videos tend to talk more

with their hands.

I don't know if you've watched any of my videos,

but you probably have noticed

that I talk with my hands a lot.

It's hard for me to keep my hands down here,

because I just want to use them when I'm talking.

When people talk with their hands,

it gives little hints about what they're talking about.

It helps you to subconsciously understand

what they are saying.

So when you watch the video,

and if I say something like you,

or I say something like me,

it's very easy for you to hear the word,

and to see my actions, and to connect the meaning together

in your mind.

But if you take some time after having watched a video

to listen to it, you don't get to see

all of the hand motions.

So you have to work a little harder to understand

what's being said.

And I think that's just a really good thing to do

to reinforce what you've learned when you watch the video,

by taking some time to listen to it.

Another thing you probably do

when you watch an English lesson,

is you probably watch the speaker's lips and mouth.

You probably do this without even thinking.

What you're doing is trying to connect the shape

of their mouth, and how they're moving their lips,

with the sounds that you are hearing.

And all this helps you understand what they're saying

just a little bit better.

It's probably a great idea to do this the first or second

time you watch an English lesson.

Do watch the person's mouth to see how they're shaping

their mouth when they make certain sounds,

and do watch their lips.

But it's probably very worthwhile to just for a third time,

listen, close your eyes, and listen to an English lesson,

without having those visual cues.

This will certainly be a good thing to do.

It will help you just understand purely what you're hearing

instead of using all of the little hints

that the mouth and lips are giving you.

So give that a try as well.

The other thing you might have noticed

when watching an English lesson,

is that the person will also communicate

with facial expressions and body language.

Facial expressions are things like this,

if I was talking about something happy I would smile, a lot,

while I was talking about it.

If I was talking about something sad,

I would probably have a sad face,

while I was talking about it.

Facial expressions help communicate

what the person is talking about.

They might also do different types of poses,

or they might shrug, or they'll do things with their body

that also help to communicate what they're saying

with their words.

So facial expressions and body language are two things

that you also see the first or second time

you watch an English lesson.

So I do think it's a good idea to listen to that lesson

after you've watched it once or twice,

to remove again those visual cues.

To kind of test your brain in a pure way

to see if you've actually heard and understood

the words the person was using.

A lot of times when kids are learning to ride a bike

they'll use training wheels.

Training wheels are small wheels that you attach

to a bike so that the kid doesn't fall over

when they're learning to ride it.

I think English subtitles on English lessons

are kind of like training wheels.

And just like training wheels,

they are useful in the beginning,

but eventually you should turn them off.

And as you know, most kids eventually

take their training wheels off,

because you don't see a lot of adults riding bikes

with training wheels on them.

But there always remains a temptation with subtitles.

Sometimes it's just really easy to turn them on,

so that you don't have to work too hard to understand

what the person's saying.

So here's what I recommend,

watch the video once with the subtitles on.

Watch the video a second time with the subtitles off.

And then, because this is about listening,

take some time to listen to the lesson

when you're not close to your computer,

when you can't see the subtitles, even if they are on,

because this will just force you to, once again,

hear the words and try to understand them

without any kind of assistance.

You'll notice when you watch my English lessons

that there's often things that appear on the screen

to help you understand what I'm talking about.

It might be a picture.

It might be a word with a definition.

But I always try to make sure that there are visual cues,

that there are things you can reference,

to help you understand what I'm talking about.

And these are great things to have, the first or second time

that you watch the video.

They just help to reinforce what I'm talking about

and they help to connect what you're hearing

with something that you can see visually.

But once again, probably a good idea to take some time

to just listen to the lesson after you've watched it

once or twice, so that you can try to figure out

what I'm saying, without all of the nice visual cues.

It's just a good thing to do because after all, in life,

when you go to have an English conversation with someone,

there aren't words, and phrases, and meanings,

popping up over their shoulder as you talk to them.

Now you might be wondering why would I want to watch a video

twice and then listen to it?

What's the point?

That sounds boring.

And I agree with you,

it actually does sound a little bit boring,

but what I do know, as a teacher,

is that it is a very effective way

to reinforce what you've learned,

and to remember what you've learned.

When you watch an English lesson once,

and then watch it again,

and then take some time to listen to it,

that repetition, the fact that you've watched it twice,

and listened to it once, will really help you remember

what was taught in the lesson.

So give it a try, as promised,

it's not going to be exciting.

It is a little bit boring, but it's extremely effective.

Well the thank you so much for watching this English lesson.

If this is your first time here,

don't forget to click that red subscribe button over there,

so that you get notified when I put out

a new English lesson, or when I do a live stream.

Which, by the way, I do every Friday.

And if you're wondering what to do next,

and you have some time, why don't you stick around

and watch another English lesson.

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