Simple Way to Improve Your English TOGETHER (with Other People) — Podcast

Community gives you the chance to apply what you  learned, so yes, input is important yeah studying  

consuming content, consuming information, but  you have to apply and Community offers you that  

safe space. It's beautiful, it's a beautiful  way of thinking of it when we feed ourselves  

with different perspectives, we're enriching our  own knowledge, we're broadening our perspective  

on the world, we're understanding other people  better, we're seeing the world differently, right.

Alright, so I'm joined today in the global  studio once again by the one, the only Casse. 

Hey, Thiago. Hey guys. Alright, guys. So today we are talking all about  

community and why being a part of a community can  help you become a better learner and also a better  

person. So guys, uh, let's get started here and  Casse, I guess it's bet(ter) it's good to define  

community first. What do we mean by community? Well, a community is generally a group of people  

who share the same space, so this could be  physically or virtually, and they sort of  

come together for a common goal or common purpose.  Either they live together or they come together,  

you know, to share ideas, experiences, or, you  know, resources of some kind. So a community  

would be a group of people coming together with  sort of a common interest or a common goal. 

Yeah. That's a great definition. Uh, do  you have any examples, by the way, to give? 

Sure. A community could be a group of friends  who, you know, enjoy the same things and they  

come together to, you know, enjoy activities  together, like sport or, you know, movies or  

just other things they have in common. It could be  that you're, you all love dancing or you all are  

English learners and you come together to, to talk  about that or to relate to one another on that  

topic or because of the interest that you share. By the way, I loved the way you said dancing. Can  

you say that again? Dancing. 

Dancing. Wow. Is that correct? How, I mean, my  pronunciation: dancing. Is that it? (Yes) Yeah, I  

like that. Yeah. (Dancing.) It's a, it's  a different way of saying dancing. Yeah? 

Sorry for laughing. Yes, it is. I didn't realize  it was different. Dancing. Dancing. Yeah. Dancing. 

Yeah. I don't know if it's more along  the lines of British English. Yeah? The  

way you're (Yeah.) saying it, right. Dancing, but  yeah, I mean I had to point that out because when  

you said thatit was like, oh wow, look at that.  That's cool. That's cool. So another example I can  

give here is a school network. So if you study  at a school or if you take any kind of course,  

the people you study with, the people that  go to the same school that you go to, uh,  

that could be considered a community as well.  That actually reminds me of my days back when  

I was teaching English in language schools here  in Brazil. And, um, there was this school that  

I worked at and, uh, we started doing these live  events with students. Basically, we would gather  

everybody, all the students from all levels, all  classrooms, you know, and we would do something  

cultural together, you know. And, there was this  one time I did a "Beatles night" there with the  

students and it was really fun. We, you know,  played and sang Beatles songs together and then  

I told them a little bit about the history of  the band, how they were formed, and, you know,  

what happened to them after that. So, yeah, I  mean, that was a, a great example. As a matter  

of fact, I do have a, a short footage of that  day. So Thiago, if you could briefly play for us,  

that'd be cool. Yeah. Just to show you, Casse, how  it went, yeah, it was really cool. Check it out.

That was cool. Yeah, that was a, a great night.  And I think that was the first time we did  

something like that. And, the school started doing  these events more and more. And, uh, nowadays  

I think they're still doing it with other  teachers, you know, it kind of caught on,  

but yeah, that was a great example of a school  network community that you can have there. Yeah. 

Yeah. And what I love most about it is that  like, yes, they're all English learners, but  

the purpose is greater than that. And that's the  point we're making today, right? Like, they're,  

they're not sitting there with their notebooks  and pens, like, you know, writing down the, your,  

the instructions you're giving them. They're  literally like enjoying, they're in the moment  

repeating and they're singing it along. I love  that. It's, it's creative and it's (Yeah,) fun. 

it's definitely a way of living your English.  Yeah. You just, uh, just live it. Yeah. Just enjoy  

it. Another example of community we can give here  is meet up events. So maybe a language exchange  

programs, you know, maybe you go to another  country to study there for a while and then  

you meet other students or other people there  that could be part of a community. That could  

be an example of community. Uh, even the events  that RealLife English used to do back in the day  

many years ago, uh, RealLife English used to host  or hold these personal, in-person events where,  

you know, teachers, learners, they would get  together at a bar for example, and just enjoy  

being together, practicing their English,  maybe having a few drinks. Yeah. So (Yeah,)  

that's another example that comes to mind.  Yeah. What else would you give here, Casse? 

I would say that definitely social media, like  anything online, like we are all doing it in one  

way or another. Like, we have our WhatsApp groups,  we have our Facebook, Telegram, different groups,  

you know, that we use to connect with people. And,  um, in my case, I've used quite a few language  

exchange apps to, um, help me with Portuguese, but  also other languages. And I think this is a great  

way of like, connecting with someone and, you  know, sharing a part of yourself. And then also,  

you know, receiving knowledge or different  perspective or different, there's, there's  

deeper layers to, you know, language exchange.  So I think with, uh, language exchange groups,  

that's also a nice example, but social media  in general, whether it's Instagram, TikTok,  

you know, you're commenting, you're watching  a video. I have recently started following,  

uh, a random account because this woman posts  like really fun videos. And I'm learning, like  

reading the comments, I feel like I'm learning  something about her culture. So the point is  

that when we join these, when we follow people on  social media, when we join groups or communities,  

uh, like that, we are also, you know, connecting  with people who share a similar interest or ideas  

or worldviews or things like that. So definitely  I'd say social media and online communities are,  

are also a great example of that. Cool. You did say something cool there. You  

said deeper layers, yeah, social media has deeper  layers, I guess you said. Uh, what does that mean,  

when something has deeper layers or deeper layers? So when we talk about something having deeper  

layers, I mean that there's more to it than meets  the eye. Like what you see might look like it's,  

you know, it's one thing, but there's a lot  more the deeper you go into it, like there's,  

there's more to it than then we think, then  we initially think, or then we initially  

can imagine, right? (That's cool. ) So yeah. Like  

a cake, you know, many layers. Uh, I can also think about gaming,  

right, Casse, I mean, uh, nowadays there are  so many gaming communities, yeah? People who  

love video games, they play online together.  That's a great example. That actually reminds  

me of Humbert, because Humbard, one of our team  members, he has recently sent us a really cool  

video message sharing his experience with how  being a part of a community helped him live his  

English. And just to be clear here, uh, what,  what do we mean by living your English? We mean  

making English part of her day-to-day routine.  Okay? You consume stuff in English daily, yeah,  

not because you have to learn it or study it, but  because you enjoy it and it's just something that  

is always there. It's part of your life. Okay. And  you do it every day. So, um, I thought it would  

be cool for us to actually watch, uh, the clip  where Humbert shares his experience, and Thiago,  

could you please roll it? And let's see. Okay. So for me, community was really  

important in several aspects of my life, but  certain, certainly the most important one,  

I think, is that, uh, you as a creative, me as  a creative, uh, if you're a creative person,  

you need to feed yourself with different  perspectives. Like the more perspectives you know,  

the more experiences that you can hear from people  that come from very different places in the world  

will benefit you and will nurture your way of  seeing things, the way you feel things, the way  

you create your own ideas, the way you create your  own, uh, position and point of view about things.  

So that definitely for me, was one of the  biggest things when it comes to community. 

I, I absolutely love what he's saying because I  love the point he's making about how community  

helps you develop, basically broaden your  perspective on the world. Because he uses,  

he says it really beautifully - he says, feed  yourself different perspectives. So what do  

we do when we feed, when we, we are feeding, we  literally have to take something. It's an action,  

taking something and putting it into  your body. Now think of that with, like,  

someone else's perspective. You're going, okay, I  hear what you're saying. Oh, I read this book. I  

like what he's saying. I'm watching a TED talk,  I like what this... so I'm taking that and I'm  

putting it into my, taking it into myself. And  it's beautiful. It's a beautiful way of thinking  

of it. When we feed ourself, ourselves different  perspectives, we enriching our own knowledge,  

we're broadening our perspective on the world.  We're understanding other people better. We're,  

um, seeing the world differently, right?  So I think that's really absolutely true. 

And he also used a nice word there. He said,  nur, he said nurture. Yeah. What does it  

mean to nurture? You nurture something. Yeah. So to nurture means to care for or  

develop, encourage the growth or development  of something or someone. So we can nurture our  

children by, you know, making sure that they go to  school, that they're fed and cared for. Um, we can  

nurture our minds as well, our, our, our thoughts  by, you know, feeding ourselves the right, uh,  

things or exposing our ourselves to, to people  and things that are good for us, that make us feel  

good, and that help us develop in life. Yeah. Thank you so much Humbert, for sending your  

message and sharing your experience with us. That  was amazing. Uh, just a quick reminder here, uh,  

for you, in case you are watching us here on  YouTube or listening to us on Apple Podcast,  

Spotify, or any other place, we highly recommend  you download the RealLife English app. Okay?  

Why? Because you can listen to our podcast, to  this podcast right now, uh, with an interactive  

transcript. You know, so it's really cool. Yeah.  If you wanna follow along what we are saying,  

yeah, make sure you're downloaded. It's free.  I'm gonna leave the link in the description  

here. If you're watching us on YouTube or just go  to your favorite app store, alright, Google Play  

Store or Apple App Store and search for RealLife  English. Alright. Now moving on, Casse, we also  

got a couple of nice messages from some of our  students, uh, Marco and Elena, they sent us some,  

um, yeah, they sent us an audio message,  also sharing their experience with community  

and why it is important to them. So we're  starting with Marco's message here. Let's  

listen to what he has to say about that topic. Hi guys. I think that there are many ways in  

which, um, community has helped me on improving  English. I think first of all, it's because,  

I mean, at the end of the day, like English,  it's just language, so I mean, the usefulness  

of a language is like to communicate. So I think  that it would be like useful, useless, or, uh, in  

vain if you learn a language without choosing to  communicate with other people. So that's a really  

useful, having a community on which you can  practice and improve your usage of the language.  

Biggest help from, uh, at community level was,  like, from the RealLife Fluency Circle. I've been  

here since, uh, July, 2018. And it's really great  because I can practice English on a day-to-day  

life. I mean, nowadays I'm living in Australia,  but even when I was, for instance, in Italy,  

I wouldn't have had the opportunity to practice  English on a daily basis with, without this  

community. Aside from that, I also participate on  other kind of meetings when whenever I travel, I  

use an app called Meetup, which is really useful.  It's really widespread. You can find in almost  

every country, and you can meet people from  different kind of events. I go to stuff like,  

Language Exchange and, or sport activities  like playing football, go for a hike or,  

um, go running. So it also helps me on practice my  English and connect with, uh, like-minded people. 

So Casse, one thing that stood out to me  about Marco's message was the part when he  

says that community gives you the chance  to practice your English every day. And  

that's true. Yeah. If you are part of a group,  you can always, you know, send the messages,  

maybe, uh, jump on a call with the people there  and practice your English every day about whatever  

topic you're interested in. What about you? What  caught your attention the most about his message? 

I think what I like most  about his message is when he  

talks about, you know, having the opportunity  to connect with like-minded people,  

I think it's really, I guess it makes us very  anxious or nervous when we think about, like,  

going into a community space, especially online or  

being part of a group where you're sort of  an outsider or, you know, people think one,  

think about things in one way, and maybe  you have a different view, so you feel  

like an outsider, but usually if you, you know,  connect with the right people, if you're in the  

right groups, you're gonna feel like Marco. You're  gonna be able to connect with like-minded people,  

which means connecting with people who share  the same views, who share the same ideas,  

and maybe not even exactly identical  views or ideas. I think maybe who just  

think about things in a similar way. So it's not  that you, you have the same thoughts or your ideas  

are identical or the same, but they're similar. Uh, something else that community helps you with  

is activating your English. By activating your,  your English we mean studying English in a more  

deliberate way. Yes. So yes, it's good to live  your English, to consume content in English, but  

also it's important for you to be more intentional  or deliberate sometimes with your practice. So  

let's say for example, that you have been studying  a specific set of vocabulary, maybe some phrasal  

verbs with Take, you know, uh, you can go to  your community, to your group, and deliberately  

you say to yourself, okay, I'm gonna try to use  a couple of these phrasal verbs that I'm learning  

when I talk to people there today, yeah, when  I exchange messages with them today. So this  

is a more deliberate way of using community  to activate your English, to study in a more,  

um, intentional way. And about that we have  the second audio message from another student,  

Elena, and she also shares something  really cool here. Let's listen to it. 

Hello. To be honest, I've never thought that  community might be very helpful in that case,  

but as turned out I was wrong, and it has been  proved in practice. I've tried to start learn  

English many times, and I wouldn't say that it  wasn't successful, um, but I didn't notice a  

huge achievement and huge difference. But  when I joined to RealLife Fluency Circle,  

um, I noticed that my English, uh, skills  improved by leaps and bounds. And it's true.  

I think the main reason that, uh, we are as  English learners, we always try to learn,  

um, different grammar, we try to listen to, um,  for example, podcasts, we try to read something,  

we take classes with English teachers and  everything it's like input. Everything we  

try to put in our head is great, but also we  had apply every knowledge which we learned,  

and, uh, participation in any kind of  community, it's a wonderful chance to do it. 

Okay. So one thing she says that I really  liked was, input is important, right? But  

community gives you the chance to apply what you  learn. She said that, right, community gives you  

the chance to apply what you learn. So yes, input  is important. Yeah, studying, consuming content,  

consuming information, but you have to apply. And  a community offers you that safe space, right,  

where you can go in there and practice, apply  everything you've been studying and learning. Um,  

she also used a really cool expression, Casse, she  said, by leaps and bounds. What does that mean? 

So if we use this phrase leaps and bounds, we  use it to emphasize that something or someone  

is improving or increasing quickly. So in  this case, with her English, she was able  

to improve her English quite quickly once she  joined the community. So that's what it means. 

Yeah, great expression. Great idiom  there. Great job, Elena. Anything  

else you would like to add here, Casse? Yeah. The part that I was really drawn to  

in Elena's message was when she mentions that  community is not only beneficial when you're  

learning a language, but also in other areas  of life. She mentions, you know, starting a  

family and raising children, and I can relate to  that myself. So I know that when I was pregnant,  

I felt lost and, I felt like, oh, you know, no  one around me is pregnant, no one's there to give  

me advice. My mom had kids 30 years ago, so like,  she can't really help me. And, um, I think online  

communities really helped me during that time. And  I think for a lot of people, I mean, it could be a  

health issue, it could be, you know, like raising  kids. Some of us are living far away from our  

parents. We don't know what to do. Um, it could  be other things in your life that you want to,  

um, you know, hear from other people, hear  what other people have to say. So when we,  

when we think about this and we think about like,  feedback, right, so you might be, you know, asking  

a question in a group or, um, asking for advice,  and there are people there that will generally  

help you out. So when we think about language  learning and we think about being in a group of,  

I don't know, gamers, um, you could ask your  question in, in English, and usually most  

likely people will help you out whether that is  like, you know, giving you a little tip on, uh,  

maybe your, your what you're asking your question,  or they'll give you some advice, um, if you're  

making mistakes. So you could ask them, because  you're usually all in the same boat, right?  

You're usually all there for the same purpose. Alright. So now we have actually a really cool  

clip that I got from a TED talk from Seth  Godin. And the talk is called The Tribes  

We Lead. And he's known for talking about the  importance of creating your tribe or building  

your tribe. And it's really cool. Uh, one of  the things he talks about in this talk is how,  

um, one of the best ways for you to sell your  products nowadays, or services or your ideas  

is by creating a community, by, you know, uh,  leading a tribe. Yeah. And he actually, um, gives  

some nice examples of questions for us to  reflect when doing that. So, Thiago, could  

you please play the clip for us and let's watch  it now, this one minute clip from the TED Talk. 

Michelle Kaufman has pioneered new ways of  thinking about environmental architecture. She  

doesn't do it by quietly building one house at a  time. She does it by telling a story to people who  

want to hear it, by connecting a tribe of people  who are desperate to be connected to each other  

by leading a movement and making change.  And around and around and around it goes.  

So three questions I'd offer you. The first  one is, who exactly are you upsetting?  

Because if you're not upsetting anyone, you're not  changing the status quo. The second question is,  

who are you connecting? Because for a lot  of people, that's what they're in it for,  

the connections that are being made, one to the  other. And the third one is, who are you leading?  

Because focusing on that part of it, not  the mechanics of what you're building,  

but the who and the leading  part is where change comes. 

Yeah, that was cool. Any thoughts, Casse? Yeah. I think that when we think about like,  

the power of community, when we think  about how much further ideas or, I mean,  

of course in business, that's an obvious thought  that one would have. The more people you have,  

um, talking about your brand or about what you're  doing, obviously the further and the bigger your  

business is going to expand. But I think about  like concepts. I mean, we, we live in a world  

where like everything moves fast. And I think  it's, it's the same when we think about like,  

um, tribes and communities. If you're, if you're  together, you're so much stronger when you're,  

when you're united, you know? And he used some nice vocab here,  

like pioneer for example, when someone is a  pioneer or to pioneer something. What's that? 

So if you're a pioneer, you are among the first to  do something. So if you're a pioneer in the food  

industry, maybe you created or developed something  unique that hasn't been invented yet, uh, in that  

particular industry. So yeah, a pioneer would  be among the first to invent or do something. 

The first question he asks is really  cool. Who are you upsetting? Yeah.  

You should ask yourself that. Who are you  upsetting? Uh, what does that mean to upset? 

So if you upset someone, you're causing them  to worry or be unhappy. Um, and if I connect  

that with your previous question about  pioneering, I think when you're pioneering  

you're breaking those boundaries, right?  Because you're, no one has done this before,  

so you are bound to upset someone, you're bound  to disrupt the current way that things are done  

or the way that people think about things. And we can connect that with something else he  

says, which is changing the status quo. Yeah.  So the status quo is, uh, the way things are,  

you know, the way people think that things work  and you know, oh, it's always been like that,  

so let's keep doing it like that. Like you  don't question the things that you do every  

day. Yeah. So what he's proposing here is for you  to change or to challenge the status quo. Like,  

okay, we do it like we do it this way, but  why isn't there a better way to do it? This  

is changing or challenging the status quo. And  when you do that, you upset people, some people,  

it's inevitable, (True.) right? Some (Absolutely.)  people will not be open to this change, let's say.  

Speaking of challenging the status quo. Yeah. You  know, I think we could bust some myths here about  

English learning also, because some beliefs that  people have or some, uh, things that people say  

sometimes, yeah. You gotta live abroad to learn  English. Well, that's not true because, you know,  

I am living proof of that guys, you know, I've  never been abroad and I speak English, you know,  

so that's not true. Second point that I hear  all the time: you gotta spend a lot of money  

to learn English. That's not true either. I mean,  there's so many cool resources nowadays for free,  

like you can actually use to learn the language. I  mean, you don't have to. And you gotta know people  

who speak English in order for you to, you know,  become a, an English speaker. Not necessarily.  

Yeah, because you know, again, going back to  the resources that we are talking about because  

of technology, let's take the app for example,  the RealLife English app, which is really cool  

because first of all, the app is free. It's free  to download, you can download, you can try it out  

already. Try some of the features there. And  with our app, you can also speak English with  

people from all over the world. At the touch  of a button you can connect with someone there  

and have a 4 to 8-minute conversation with that  person. So, you know, these beliefs they don't  

really apply anymore nowadays, because we  have so many cool resources like the app.

Alright, Casse, so now onto the last  segment, talking about connecting  

your English. Now what comes to your mind  when you think of connecting your English? 

So when I think about connecting my English,  I think about my why. You know, the principle  

reason that I started studying or that, you know,  sort of drives me to perform all the different  

actions. Why, you know, it's the thing that makes  me want to join that group on, on Telegram or on,  

you know, a language exchange app. I, I want  to be part of something, but there's a why,  

there's a reason. And I think that's what I, I  think is, is quite essential, right? You know,  

understanding that motivation, understanding what  it is that fuels you to keep learning and to keep  

pushing and to keep going. If you think about  it, and if you keep, you know that in mind. If  

you keep that at sort of the core of like your,  your day and your actions and your plans, then I  

think it makes it easier. It makes it easier to  feel courageous in those moments, you know, when  

you are, you're wondering, should I, you know,  speak to the stranger? Should I join that group? 

And something else that comes to mind when we talk  about connecting your English is connecting it to  

your identity to who you are today and also to  who you envision yourself in the future. Uh,  

part of that is connecting your English to  your interests. So whatever your interests are,  

the topics, the media that you like to consume,  you do those things in English. And uh,  

when I think about that, that actually  reminded me of Ksenia because, you know,  

Ksenia is another team member here at RealLife  English. And um, we have the Fluency Circle Group,  

which is our group of students where, you know,  they have a lot of cool activities there, you  

know, and quizzes and they share stuff together.  And now Ksenia actually has sent us a short video  

message talking a little bit about how the Fluency  Circle community helps people, the members there  

connect their English to something bigger than  themselves. I think, Casse, you touched on that  

earlier in the episode, yeah, about connecting  your English to something bigger. Uh, it's not  

just about the English language itself. So  let's see what Ksenia has to say about that. 

Are you familiar with the idea of an  imaginary friend? The one who's always  

there for you when you need them, or the  idle one to hang out with all the time?  

Now imagine that this friend is not an imaginary,  but a real one. And it's not only one friend, but  

hundreds of English-speaking friends from around  the world in one place. This is our RealLife  

English Fluency Circle group, where people  gather together not only for learning English,  

they're there for something bigger,  but English becomes the integral part  

of their daily lives that connects them  all together in one global community.  

People there learn and have fun  together, encourage and support  

each other. They grow together and they  also build the world beyond borders. 

Nice. You've had some nice experiences  with the Fluency Circle, right, Casse? 

Yeah. But before I talk about that, I wanna say  that Ksenia did such a beautiful job. Like with  

the storytelling there, you know, she painted  a beautiful picture where we were like, oh,  

(Imagine,) intriguing, (right?) where's  this going? This imaginary friend.  

Um. " It's a good copywriting. 

It is excellent. Um, yeah, I, I, I have had the  privilege of, um, having live lessons with the  

Fluency Circle, and I think it's, there's  something really magical and special about  

this diverse group of people from around the  world: Japan, Korea, Germany, like India, like  

it's, Brazil. It's, it's amazing, Peru. I was,  I'm always amazed and even like, uh, you know,  

some African countries as well. Like, it's always  literally, as she said, building their, building  

this world beyond borders. But what I would say  is that what makes it special is that, you know,  

we're not having a, a regular class where there's  a teacher and I'm, I'm there to, uh, tell, teach  

them something that they didn't know before. It's  more like this group of people literally coming  

together to, I feel like they're building each  other up. They're saying like, there's not only,  

it's not only about English, as Ksenia said,  it's like a support group. Like saying, I,  

I, I'm, I get you, I'm with you. Um, I've been  through what you've, what you are going through,  

and I'm gonna help you. I'm going to motivate you.  So you have students motivating students, learners  

motivating learners, and some of them, a lot of  them are teachers in this group, which is amazing  

actually. So they're, they're literally inspiring  each other and motivating each other. And through  

this sort of storytelling and, and sharing of  experiences, I think there's this, um, unity,  

like solidarity. Like, uh, I, I understand you and  I've been there and this is what I did. And, and  

this might help you as well, so you don't feel  alone. Because I think that's the one thing that,  

uh, can feel quite scary, you know, when you're  learning a language and you give up so easily  

because, uh, I, I don't know, you know, I don't  have anyone who, who's going through this with  

me. So there's that, and I think it's, it's, it's  just wonderful. It's really, really inspiring. 

Yeah. Well said. I can't top that now. Now I have  to wrap up the episode. Yeah. That was really  

cool. Uh, but dear listeners, today, we gave you  some examples about different kinds of community,  

you know, uh, and how community can help  you, again, be a better English learner,  

but not just that, but also better person. But  now we wanna ask you, what is your experience  

about being part of a community? I mean, uh, are  you part of a community? And how does it help you  

be a better learner or a better person? We are  curious to hear your story and your experience.  

So write to us sharing your experience about  being part of a community. You can send us  

an email at [email protected]. Or  if you're watching us here on YouTube,  

you can just simply live us a comment down below.  Alright? So that's it for today, guys. Stay tuned  

for next week's episode and thank you so much for  listening, for watching, and I'll see you soon.  

All right. So 1, 2, 3. Aww (Aww) yeah. (yeah.)