Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Aww yeah! Today we have a very special lesson for you guys with the incredible

  • dancer singer and English learner just like you, Shakira!

  • Now this lesson is broken into two parts: first we will learn with three of

  • Shakira's and most famous songs and then we will look at the five reasons why she

  • speaks such fluent confident English and how you can do it too.

  • And if you want to

  • get fluent confident English then this is the perfect place to do it because every

  • week we help you to understand fast speaking natives without getting lost,

  • without missing the jokes and without subtitles just like Shreesha who says

  • that thanks to our channel she can speak English fluently and you can too, just hit that

  • the subscribe button and the bell down below so you don't miss any of our new lessons.

  • Hey would you like to understand natives no matter how fast we speak? And wouldn't

  • you like to be able to watch your favorite movies and series without the subtitles?

  • Well our Fluent with Friends course can

  • help you a ton in reaching your goal and having a lot of fun along the way.

  • You will learn alongside the first two seasons of the TV series Friends which

  • various academic studies show is the best series out there for learning

  • English and you get PDF power lessons, vocabulary memorization software, access

  • to our Fluency Circle Global Community and so much more and you can try it for

  • free right now with our three-part masterclass!

  • What are you waiting for?

  • Just click up here or down in the description below to learn more and sign up!

  • We look forward to meeting you inside.

  • Hey if you like singing and dancing with Shakira then we have a ton

  • more lessons teaching you English with different songs and you can check that

  • out by cleaning up here or down in the description below after you finish this lesson.

  • So, as you may know, Shakira is from Colombia, which obviously means that

  • is not a native English speaker even though if she kind of sounds like one so

  • in this part of the lesson we're actually going to take a look at some

  • different interviews with her to try to understand together the five keys to her

  • English learning process because she really is living proof that with grit

  • and effort it is possible to achieve your goals learning English and speak

  • fluently and confidently.

  • So let's go!

  • So as you will see in the following

  • interview the first piece of advice consists of making English a part of

  • your everyday life.

  • Let's take a look at how Shakira did this.

  • So Shakira had to learn English in order to reach her goals as a singer

  • Before she could barely speak English at all but you can

  • see that tying it to her passions of singing and songwriting she was able to

  • make it a fun part of her everyday life.

  • It truly is amazing that she's able to

  • write her own songs as an English learner with such creative lyrics so how

  • much time do you spend per day in English? You can maximize this time by

  • doing the things that you already loved but in English this could be writing a

  • poem singing in the shower, listening to a podcast or even just watching a great TV show.

  • Now second it's important to acknowledge that Shakira actually didn't

  • do it all on her own when she decided that she was going to start producing

  • music in English her manager got her a tutor.

  • Now while you can learn a lot on your own for most of us it will be impossible to actually

  • get really fluent confident English without the assistance of a great teacher.

  • Now the reason that this is so important is because at some point in

  • our learning journey we hit a wall and we get to a point where it's really

  • difficult to advance any further on our own and it gets really slow and really

  • tedious, so a teacher is really great because they can actually provide you

  • with feedback and they can actually point out your errors and give you

  • guidance so that you can over then and furthermore a really great

  • teacher will actually help you in achieving your goals.

  • Now if you're interested in learning more on this topic then I highly recommend a podcast

  • that we recently made which I'll link down in the description below and keep

  • in mind that you don't necessarily have to get a native teacher, in fact in some

  • cases it's actually better to have someone who speaks your own language

  • because that person has probably had to overcome a lot of the same difficulties

  • that you're going to face on your English learning journey and furthermore

  • Shakira wasn't afraid to ask for help: her friend Gloria Stefon helped to give

  • her the confidence that she could be as successful in English as she was in

  • Spanish so it's really crucial that you surround yourself by people who support your dream.

  • Now, who do you have around you that actually

  • supports your dream of learning English what I suggest is that you find a friend

  • who is also learning English and that you hold each other accountable in other

  • words you kind of tell each other your goals and you check in every week or

  • every two weeks and you kind of make sure that you're on the right path to

  • reach them another thing you could actually try is actually speaking

  • completely in English with this friend now I know it's going to be really weird

  • and awkward in the beginning but actually when you start to do this you

  • will notice just huge changes in your English fluency.

  • So third Shakira sees the language as a tool to connect with other people

  • in fact after she learned English she decided that she also wanted to learn

  • other languages so she also speaks fluent Portuguese, Catalan, Italian and French.

  • So it's really important that like Shakira you see the language as a tool

  • for connecting with different people from all around the world not as a

  • boring subject that you have to study and then on the other hand it's really

  • useful when you learn a third language to better understand the second

  • language as well as the learning process in general.

  • So I personally have learned

  • six different languages and I find with each new and I learned I understand all

  • sorts of new things about the other ones and I get much more efficient in the

  • language learning process.

  • So for example, for you as an English Learner if you

  • were to learn French you would immensely increase your vocabulary in English

  • because so much of this vocabulary is derived from French this is terms like

  • rendezvous, maladroit, c'est la vie that we also use in everyday English

  • you just have to pronounce them like an American not like in French.

  • So, the fourth thing is that Shakira has a really big WHY for learning English that

  • is a really huge purpose for why she's doing it now on the one hand she uses it

  • to connect to other cultures and we can really see this in her music she is

  • truly a global citizen and beyond this she's using it to make a difference in

  • the world and this is for example how she's helping children.

  • Now for you also as an English Learner it is

  • really important that you have a really big WHY for learning English and this

  • is not just reaching English fluency this should be something much more

  • deeply rooted that motivates you through the difficult times that you're going to

  • encounter on your journey to English fluency now having this big WHY will make

  • you much more likely to be successful.

  • Now if your WHY connects to something that

  • you're passionate about that's even better as we saw for Shakira in the

  • beginning it was just being able to write and sing her own music so I want

  • to know what is your WHY for learning English? Are you using it to make your

  • own personal contribution to the world? In a recent podcast we talked all about

  • different ways that you can find your WHY and use it as motivation to propel you

  • towards English fluency, you will find that also down in the description below.

  • Finally Shakira definitely has a growth mindset now if you have a growth mindset

  • this means that you believe that your abilities can be developed and is not

  • just something that you're born with now on the other hand if you have a fixed

  • mindset you believe that basic qualities like intelligence and talent cannot be

  • changed or developed.

  • And as I showed you today this is exactly the case of

  • Shakira she had a really big WHY, she worked extremely hard, she never gave up

  • she surrounded herself by the people who supported her and she always believed

  • that she could be better, and this is exactly why she succeeded so when it

  • comes to learning English, do you have a growth or a fixed mindset?

  • How can you know?

  • Well, first of all when you hit a difficult period or you feel like you

  • can't do something what do you tell yourself what do you hear that voice in

  • your head saying? Do you tell yourself that you can't because of where you live,

  • because you can't travel to an english-speaking country, that you don't

  • have enough money or maybe it's actually something about you genetically that you

  • just can't learn a language? Or do you tell yourself that you just have to work

  • harder or maybe find a more creative way or maybe

  • ask someone for help!

  • So Shakira is obviously very hardworking and everything she sets

  • her mind to and I hope that these five lessons from her will help you to up

  • your game learning English.

  • Now this is actually

  • the first lesson like this where we actually broke down what an English

  • learner is doing to be successful, so if you would like more lessons like this

  • where we actually take a celebrity and show you how they learned English then

  • please give us a like down below and if you have an idea of someone you'd like

  • to learn with then just comment it and maybe we'll make a lesson with them!

  • So finally other than all the tips that we've given you today if you want to

  • speak English more like Shakira a really great place to start is with our Fluent with Friends course.

  • because it will give you some confidence in your English you

  • will learn the vocabulary that natives really use and you will learn all about

  • American culture, you can check that out and now it's time to go beyond the

  • classroom and live your English, aww yeah!

  • Zootopia is a fantastic Disney animated movie and it

  • actually features the voice and singing of Shakira!

  • Zootopia is a unique place

  • it's a crazy beautiful diverse city where we celebrate our differences.

Aww yeah! Today we have a very special lesson for you guys with the incredible

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it