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  • Listen, man. I cannot comprehend what you're saying. Hi. James from engVid. He

  • wants me to listen. Comprehend. "Comprehension". What is that? Well, a

  • lot of lessons... and before I get started, I want to say something. This

  • listening... this lesson is about listening comprehension. I want to work

  • on it from a beginner standpoint, to intermediate and advanced. So, yes, I'm

  • speaking slowly right now; but if you're intermediate and advanced, don't click

  • away yet. Once I finish doing the lesson here; and in fact, part of this lesson

  • is for youthen we're going to speed up and we'll do the second part, which

  • will greatly benefit you in my... my belief. So, I put here: "Beginner". This

  • is a beginner lesson at the beginning for this first part of the lesson; but

  • note: If you're advanced or intermediate, this can help. So, if

  • you're struggling, or you're advanced and intermediate, and you still don't...

  • you're still not able to comprehend or take in informationthe inputwhen

  • people are speaking, pay attention. All right. So, E's telling me: "Listen,

  • man", because he knows that listening is only half of it. You can listen, but do

  • you hear? My job today is to help you with that. Why is it important?

  • Obviously, because you want to hear what people are saying. But the other thing

  • is: Our listeningour input skillshelp to... us to produce sound for

  • speaking. And the more input you can get in that's comprehensiblethat you

  • understandthe better you will be able to speak later on; output, express

  • yourself. So, a vital lesson. Okay? So, first, I'm going to say right off the

  • bat: You need at least 250 hours to 300 hours of study, four or five hours a day

  • for 15 weeks before you have enough input in your brain to really start to

  • push a lot of the things I'm going to suggest. So, just because you do this

  • for two days, I'm not saying you will all of a sudden understand all of the

  • English people. First of all, there are different dialects from different areas,

  • so that's not going to work. Scottish does not sound the same as Australian,

  • or as American English. Heck, not even the same as some Canadian English. Okay?

  • So, we know this is going to take time; about 15 weeks, but try and follow these

  • procedures. And you might find that you jump from beginner to intermediate and

  • advanced in a lot faster fashion.

  • So, the first thing I'm going to see, if you're a beginnerand that means you

  • don't understand; you're about ten to twenty, to maybe 30% of what you hear

  • you understand. For me, that's a beginner. You're the first 30%. Okay?

  • And that's why I'm speaking so slowly. Surprise, for most of my students. Okay?

  • You need to get materials that you can understand 90% of. You're like:

  • "That's... that's like, what?" I'm like: "Yeah, that makes it difficult." Sorry,

  • that's just the way it's gonna be. Children's programs, like "Sesame

  • Street" in Spanish, or... sorry. It would be in English, because they speak

  • slowly and they have really good examples, so the context is there. And

  • you're on the internet, so you can find materials, where there will be

  • something, like: "The boy eats the apple." And you know: "boy", you know:

  • "apple", you know: "eat" — so, okay, I just don't know article "the". Okay? So,

  • you want to look for stuff that you can get 90% that you can understandit's

  • out thereyou'll have to work; that's part of your job.

  • Next, slow it down. So, you're going to listen to this material. And I know on

  • YouTubeand I have a video, so you can check it outwhere I explain how you

  • can use YouTube to slow down videos to make even me sound, you know... go

  • slower; half speed to a quarter speed. Right? So, YouTube has that capability;

  • Netflix doesyou can slow down videos. There are even apps you can use to slow

  • it down. And then once you slow it down, imitate the speaker. So, I want you to

  • copy me. I want you to copy me. Just like that. Imitate what they say. This

  • is going to get your body involved. There are three types of learning,

  • basically. There are more than three types, but the basic three teachers are

  • usually taught are: kinesthetic, which is body, how the body moves; audio,

  • people are better at listening. I know, it sounds obvious. But if these people

  • who are audio people don't hear things properly, they don't understand. You can

  • put it on paper as... it's not completely like that, but they have a

  • difficult time learning. Kinesthetic people, if you let them do it, do

  • something, write out the vocabularythey'll understand faster than if you

  • explain or show a picture. Audio people need to hear it, so you can put it on

  • the paper, but they're like: "Say it to me" and visual people will look. Okay?

  • So, what I'm trying to do here is to increase your comprehension; that it's

  • not just an audio facility. It's not just audio. When I'm speaking, even, I'm

  • moving my hands and you're watching that; you're watching my movements,

  • you're listening to me. And you... sometimes you're moving your body with

  • me, or you're watching my body, seeing me and hearing meall of these senses

  • improve our comprehension. Okay? So, you want to imitate the speaker, because

  • even in different cultures, they move their hands differentlythis will help

  • you get more into the language, because language isn't just something that comes

  • out of our mouth. And even so, we have to move our mouth, which is physical.

  • You hear it, and we move our bodies with it. All right?

  • Next, listen and read at the same time. Whoa, we're getting complicated. I've

  • got you slowing it down, copying them, and reading. But I want you to read

  • first with your own language subtitles. So, if you're watching "Friends", for

  • example, if it's, you know... something you can doput it in Turkish, put it

  • in Spanish, put it in Russian, put it in German. Yeah, put it in your language

  • and watch it. This is what we call: "prepping your brain". It's like when

  • you're going to make food at home, and you cut the onions first and the

  • tomatoes, you cut the... you get the chicken ready. You get it ready before

  • you cook it because it's very hard to cook and move everything at the same

  • time. So, how do we prep your brain? Because you're looking at the subtitles,

  • the... the TV program, or movie In English, and you're reading in your

  • language, you basically know what's going on, so your brain has less of a

  • job about trying to understand what's going on. And then it can work on the

  • vocabulary and the grammar. And believe me, your brain is doing that, even

  • though you don't think it is. It's a marvelous machine; it keeps your heart

  • pumping, your lungs going, and you watching this video. It's going to help

  • to do the translation, even though you're not actively doing it. Okay?

  • Now, the second time you listen to this, now listen with English subtitles. Once

  • again, I want you to read it, imitate them. So, now you're putting the

  • visual... Remember we talked about visual? The visual of what the word

  • looks like with what it sounds like. Some of you read a lot. You'll go: "Oh,

  • those words I know already." And you do; you've just never heard them. Or vice

  • versa, you know the words; when you see it, you'll go: "That's what it looks

  • like?" And your brain is getting both auditory and visual. And remember: This

  • lesson... this lesson isn't just listening; it's about comprehension. So,

  • it's going deeper in your brain that that action, that word, that sound mean

  • this. And you'll notice the way I'm trying to teach it to you because you're

  • not doing it once, but twiceyour brain is going: "Okay. This is the

  • concept. This is what I'm getting." We're breaking it for you; breaking it

  • into pieces. Now, also, you can also read a summary. So, not only watch it

  • with the different subtitles. Before you even get there, to prep your brain even

  • moreNetflix does thisthere are summaries on the... on... in Wikipedia,

  • there are summaries on... in Google. You want to watch an "Avengers" movie? You

  • put in: "Avengers movie", they'll put the IMBd. And they'll say: "This is what

  • the movie is about. These are the characters. This is the plot." So,

  • you'll have an idea, even if you've never seen it: "This is what's supposed

  • to happen. These are the main characters." So, you'll have an idea;

  • one less job for your brain to do. Because it has less jobs to do, it can

  • actually focus on the movie or television program for you. All right?

  • So, now, we've done all that, what are you going to do? Go out and watch ten

  • hours of "Avengers Marvel Cinematic Universe" or, you know... a "Star Trek"?

  • Or you're gonna watch... I don't know. Anime. No. 20 to 30 minutes. They have

  • found that if you study for 20 to 30 minutes and stop, you have a greater

  • ability to keep the information you've just learned. If you go beyond that,

  • you're really kind of making your brain tired, and you're getting less and less

  • for the longer you spend. I know some of you have deadlines, and you have to do

  • something in a short period of time, but comprehension isn't something you get

  • just today; you study for one week and get it. I already told you fifteen

  • weeks. Fifteen weeks of study. Breaking it down, that's five hours a day, four

  • or five hours a day, over five days a week. You'll get there. You'll get there

  • and it will happen. When it does, it'll be like magic. But I'm going to say: You

  • put in fifteen weeks and 300 hoursthere was no magic; it was just work.

  • So, in saying that, break your sessions into 20 or 30 minutes, then take a

  • break. Okay? Take a break. Breaks... Go for a walk; get out in nature. You need

  • to move your body, let your brain actually relax. So, you know, a

  • five-minute walk you; come back, you'll find that you're like: "Oh, I'm ready.

  • I'll do another session" and it'll, you know... it's better to do that than one

  • hour straight. You're going to get less out of it than if you do an hour and ten

  • minutes — 30 minutes listening, ten-minute walk, 30 minutes listening

  • againyou'll be fresh; you'll get more. Promise you, Okay?

  • And do the material at least twice a day. So, do the same thingthat video

  • you're watching. Maybe watch the clip for fifteen minutes with subtitles in

  • your language, then watch it fifteen... the same fifteen minutes again with

  • subtitles in English. Okay? And then that's half an hour. Maybe you wait

  • later on in the day; you watch that same thing again. Do that. If you get 80%

  • comprehension the first time you do ithey, you're free; go. But if you don't,

  • do it at least twice a day, and try and get 80% by doing it twice. Because the

  • first time you might just, what we call "skim" — you'll get the surface; maybe

  • get 60% of it. And then after the second time, you're like: "Oh, I understand

  • it", because not only do I understand the context because I've watched it

  • enough; but now I picked up the words I didn't getthose grammar words, and

  • that vocabulary, and I'm putting it together in my brain and I can actually

  • now take out individual words. But more important, I understand the message of

  • what's being told, even if I don't understand everything. So, I can learn

  • English, and maybe not understand everything you're saying to me, but I

  • can understand what you're saying to me. And that's cool, and that's power. So,

  • here's the cool thing about this: You should understand 90%. So, what I'm

  • saying: As a beginner, we're only looking at adding an additional ten

  • percent. But that ten percent will add up quickly. And in a fifteen-week

  • period, you'll be surprised how far you can go. And if you want to see how far

  • you can go, which I know you doand my other advanced students are like:

  • "Finally, he's going to speak normally" — you're going to come back to the

  • second part of this lesson. We're going to do the advanced/intermediate level,

  • and explain... and give you strategies on how to improve your comprehension.

  • And do so in... well, a hard way... or an easy way, and a hard way but it's

  • really fun. Okay? Looking forward to seeing you on the other side. (snaps

  • fingers)

  • And we're back. Now, I'm going to speak a little faster. So, you beginners, if

  • you're still here, hang with me; this will be part of a comprehension exercise

  • for you. And advanced and intermediate, some of this is going to seem very

  • familiar. And, in fact, some of you are going to say: "You just taught that."

  • I'm going to go: "Yes, I did, but I'm going to be dropping stuff that they

  • should do that you don't have to do, and I'm going to go faster, so we won't stay

  • here as long." Got it? Good. Let's go to the board. So, starting off advanced and

  • intermediate. For me, basically, you're going to be almost the same. You're

  • clearly not, but these methods or methodologies will work for you both.

  • Now, I call this the "baby-steps method" and I call it "three 'i'". You're gonna

  • say: "What's three 'i'?" Well, it's: "immerse in input". And, again, that's

  • "immerse" — put yourself, like, your hand in water — "in input"; "input" is

  • information coming in. So, we're going to flood our brains with a lot of

  • information. As I said, in the fifteen-week period, 250 to 300 hours.

  • You will start, if you put yourself in that much... in concentrated and more of

  • a passive way of taking in information, you'll start to find the natural

  • comprehension happens as the brain has enough information that it can start to

  • do things by itself. Okay? So, it's like trying to swim. You can learn from a

  • book how to swim, which is just listening; you're not gonna learn how to

  • swim. You got to get in the water. It's gonna get a bit messy; it's gonna be a

  • bit hard, but your body will figure it out. And that's what your brain is doing

  • when you aren't really paying attention. But we're gonna kill itnot kill it,

  • but we're gonna immerse itright? — in input. And we have two methods of doing

  • it. Okay?

  • So, the "baby-steps method", I say: "baby steps" because this one is

  • repeated from the front board, which is for the babies. Not babies. I say:

  • "baby-steps method" for this reason — I was joking earlierbabies have zero

  • comprehension. A baby does not know what a square is, what a bottle is, what time

  • is. So, everything a baby learns is by paying attention to the input it

  • receives. And babies, if you think about it, learn rather rapidly; within two to

  • three years, they're not just speakingthey're walking, talking, they're doing

  • a whole host of things, but they're becoming aware of their world. I've

  • mentioned this in other videos, like, you're not in that position; you have

  • concepts in your head, so you don't have to start from the beginning. But we can

  • take how babies learn and incorporate it to make a system that will help you

  • improve your comprehension at a faster rate. At the beginning, it may seem slow

  • and I'm sorry, there's not much I can do about it. But as that threshold or

  • that line of 250 hours to 300 gets closer and closer, you should start see

  • your ability to comprehend get quicker, or faster and faster. It will almost

  • seem like magic, and you won't realize how much work you've put in once you get

  • to the other side.

  • So, let's go to the board and I'm gonna show you the first one, the first step;

  • or the first of my three "i" process is 90% comprehension. You're like: "What?

  • You just said the beginners had to..." Yes. There's a reason for it, because

  • what you're aiming for when you're doing this is different than when we do the

  • other side of the board. Okay? So, we're going to look at understanding 90% of

  • the materials. So, there's not much you don't understand. You're going to prep

  • yourself by reading it. So, you're gonna read a summary; quickly get a blurb. And

  • this is on any television program. We'll say, you know, if it's about "Three's

  • Company" — Jack Roper is looking for a job because he has no money, and you'll

  • understand that's what it is. By now, if you've done the beginner material for,

  • let's say, four or five weeks, what have youyou're going to have a large

  • amount of comprehension. So, unlike them, who has to find something, like a

  • child's program, you can watch a much more complicated program. Okay? So, you

  • did the first steps and you've created a very nice base so that you can now jump

  • faster, and do more interesting work. So, you're going to be looking at

  • materials that you understand 90%. Those are usually sitcoms, like "Friends", and

  • that. They use basic language, you know... a few words you won't know

  • that's okay. But that's why we're using it, so you can get those few words.

  • You're going to prep by summary. You can... as I said, you can go to IMDb

  • it's like an international movie database, or you can go to Wikipedia on

  • movies or programs. You can look on certain things, like, Courtney Cox. You

  • can look and they'll say: "She's in this episode of this program." And you can

  • pressand that's in Wikipediaand it'll take you to give you a summary.

  • Lots of talking in saying: You can get this; it's not that difficult. If you

  • can watch this... watch this video, you can find the information on the program.

  • Next, what you're really working on, because you're doing this 90%, is you're

  • working on the grammar and the vocabulary. Okay? So, that's what the

  • big difference between the beginners are and youyou're... you've got a task.

  • You're looking at: "Okay, I want to get the individual words. The message is

  • good, yesbut I want to get the structure of the language, the grammar,

  • and whatnot." Okay? Now, here's the benefit about this: Fast progression.

  • Beginners won't experience this right away, because they don't have enough;

  • they only have 20 to 30% understanding. Sorry. Ten to 30%. Okay? Here, you have

  • a higher level of understanding, and you're getting materials that are easy

  • for you, so the progression is going to go very, very quickly. You're going to

  • like this. You're going to be going: "Whoa. It's like I understand a lot of

  • things." Because, usually, it's small things that we have problems with; and

  • when we fix themthey're like ladders; they help us go to the next level. The

  • drawback, here, is the limited resources because, let's face it, everybody's

  • different. Mr. E is different than me, so what I have problems with will be

  • different than his, so we may not be able to watch the same materials for...

  • to get the same result. So, you're gonna have to work a little harder to find

  • things to work with. That's part of what you get, but the benefit is: You're

  • going to progress quickly.

  • The other thing is: It can be boring. You already know 90%. You're like:

  • "Well, I know all of this. I'm looking for, like, ten, fifteen words I don't

  • know." Of course, you're not gonna watch every program to look for those words;

  • you're gonna put a program appropriate to your level. I'm going to give you a

  • list, not of movies, but of concepts you can look for. Look for slapstick comedy,

  • you know... some... you bump into walls. Right? If you're in the lower... lower

  • tier, mid to intermediatelook for action movies. They use simpler language

  • and they make... they gesticulate, which means move their bodies in ways to give

  • you an understanding of what they're doing. So, your brain has less to

  • work... less to work on, and more to work with. Ba-doop-bum. Okay? So, in

  • doing that, that will help you get more information out of it. Because, really,

  • what we're doing is we're going for the grammar structure and the vocabulary,

  • and we can strengthen our weaker vocabulary and our understanding of how

  • grammar translates meaning. That's this part here. Okay? Cool? It's a... as I

  • said, you'll get fast progress. The difficulty you'll find is in finding

  • resources for it, and that you might find that a lot of the programs are at a

  • level that you're more sophisticated than. Like, "Friends" is a nice program,

  • but it's not the most sophisticated program. That's okay. We're here to

  • learn.

  • Now, if we want to say: "Okay. You know what? I don't mind working hard",

  • because this is an easier method. Right? It's easy. You know most of it. You're

  • going: "I don't mind working hard. Just make it interesting." I'm thinking:

  • "This is for you." And for most people, I'd say it's the best way to go because

  • if you're not interested in what you're learning, you don't really learn very

  • well. I went to, you know... a school in Ontario. We have been given at least

  • nine years of French, and all I can say is: "le chat noire". I hated it. It was

  • boring. I learned more Spanish in, like, three months by studying on my own than

  • I did in nine years of formal education. So, I did it later on in life. So, does

  • that make me stupid? No. Does it make my teachers bad? No. Was the material bad?

  • No. Did I like anything I was doing? No. Had they put comic books or did

  • something with "Star Trek" or something, I would have been... I would be speaking

  • the French language like no problem. Yeah. But I wasn't given material that

  • interested me, so I didn't pay attention to it. I had a reason to learn Spanish

  • — I wanted to go there, I like the food, I met some wonderful people. I was

  • interested in learning, so I could communicate with them. And I was taking

  • the school; it was just a course I was told to take. No choice. So, that's

  • similar to this. That's why I said it could be boring, but there'll be lots of

  • progress, because you've already started and you're interested in the language.

  • If you want to challenge yourself, find materials that it's only 20 or 30% that

  • you may know. This might be podcasts, because they're not scripted and they

  • don't really care that everybody loves them. Something like: "Everyone Loves

  • Raymond", or "Friends", or "Frasier", or... I don't know what else is on

  • television these days. "Blue Bloods". What's his name? "Sherlock Holmes".

  • Those programs are geared for mass appeal; they want a mass audience. But a

  • podcast by Joe Rogan, or something like thathe doesn't really care if

  • everybody loves him. He's saying: "These are my guests. This is what we're going

  • to talk about." And that's what you're there for. So, you may find they talk

  • about subjects in a specialized way you just don't have the words for. You might

  • only have 20 to 30% comprehension in the listening materials; but your

  • superpower, your advantage is you're interested, so your brain is going to

  • pay attention and pick up that information. Cool? All right. So, you

  • care about the intro... the material, you're more interested in it, so you're

  • gonna learn more about it. Now, what we are looking for here is different than

  • here. We don't really care about the grammar structures of vocabulary;

  • although it will come up. You're seeing if you can get the inputthe basic

  • information. You're going: "Okay, I want to understand what they're saying. I

  • want to get" — what we call in English — "the gist", the idea of it. And that's

  • really kind of cool to think that 70 to 80% of it, you don't understand the

  • words; but you walk away, going: "Okay, this podcast or this program was about

  • this." Say: -"But you don't really speak that much English." -"Yeah, but I

  • understand it." Once you've got this, you'll be able to work your way

  • backwards. And I'm going to give you a couple of techniques to help you with

  • that, but also show you how you can combine these techniques to really

  • master comprehension. Okay?

  • Now, you're gonna do active listening. So, here, we're going to get specific

  • and that's why I said: "We're going to work on our comprehension skills, even

  • though we're not working on vocabulary." Take notes. So, you're gonna sit down,

  • listen, write out what you think they're talking about. And then you can go back

  • and, you know... use the other method to check the vocabulary by putting

  • subtitles on, and check to see what you got. Get active. Test yourself. Right?

  • See how long it takes you to get... So, maybe you give yourself ten minutes,

  • write out the... everything they say, then replay it back and check it; or

  • give yourself two minutes to write down as much as you can. I did that with

  • students, and it was amazing how the less time they had, the more they were

  • forced because they were interested in the game and winningthe better they

  • did. Something that... for you to think on. Okay? So, take notes. Do activities

  • while you listen to the material. So, I don't mean drive your car. I mean get

  • something, like, take a shower. So, you're taking a shower, you're listening

  • to an English podcast, and you're trying to, you know... you're not 100%

  • listening, because I hope you clean yourself. That's more important when

  • you're in the shower. But you got it going in the background; so you're

  • listening, going: "Oh, yeah, that's really funny. That joke that guy just

  • did. Okay, that's cool. I didn't know that was happening on in the world

  • economy." Because your attention is divided, but the brain is becoming more

  • accustomed to, in a more casual way, taking in English so it's not so

  • stressful. Stress is a killer. When you're stressed out, the brain doesn't

  • work as well. But if your brain's like taking a shower, it's relaxing, and

  • you're just listening casually to Englishit'll open itself up more to

  • absorbing it and being more comfortable in the presence of English, which is

  • extremely powerful.

  • And, finally, play it in the background. I often tell students: Play music in the

  • background in English, play TV in the background while you're doing anything.

  • And when I say: "Play it in the background" — do something where you

  • have to concentrate on it, like a puzzle, or reading in your own language,

  • so it becomes something that is a natural thing for you. Think about it:

  • In your own country or language, your language is always around you. It causes

  • no stress. And there are things you kind of pick up subconsciously because you're

  • surrounded by it. A lot of you know: "How's it going?" or "What's up?" and

  • some... some very bad English words, simply because while you're playing

  • video games, you heard the words again and again. You didn't really know what

  • they meant. But after a while you go: "Oh, he say that word, this man get

  • angry. Oh, this word is a bad word. I like this word; I use this." And then

  • maybe someone explains it, but you know it elicits or gets a response. You don't

  • always have to go to school to learn them. Right? So, by having it in the

  • background, by doing some distracted listening and doing some focus

  • listening, you're going to get your brain to really focus in on the

  • comprehension aspect. So, although we're not working on vocabulary, and we're not

  • working on grammar as per se, you will pick up grammar parts. Language is

  • pattern recognition. How are you? How are you? How are you? How are you? How

  • are you? How are you? How are you? After a while, "are you" is the pattern

  • recognition. "are you" is "How are you?" And as long as you hear: "are you",

  • you're going to understand it, no matter who says it to you. It's that pattern

  • recognition. By doing this method over hereokay, the second partyou're

  • getting pattern recognition. So, you're going to start to see how grammar goes

  • together. "How are you?" you're going to get the "are" is the verb "to be". Maybe

  • you don't know that, but "are she", "are", and you'll go: "These words seem

  • to have something to do with being and the verb 'do' has to do with action. I

  • just don't notice the pattern." You won't notice it; your subconscious will

  • notice it. You still should do some study on that. I'll get back to that in

  • a second.

  • Now, the benefits of this is there's lots of material. At 20-30%

  • comprehension, the world is your oyster. Watch what you want to watch. Right?

  • Watch sports, watch business, watch news, because well, if you like it, you

  • don't have to know that much to actually study it. Second benefit: It's fun, it's

  • interesting. Maybe you want to learn another thing and you're like: "Hey, I

  • just want to learn about cameras." Go ahead. You don't have to learn as much.

  • Your interest will help you draw out the meaning, which will help you in casual

  • conversation. All right? Later on. What's harder about it? It is going to

  • be harder and slower. Look at what the activities are: Taking notes, doing it

  • in the background. This is what I said: the three "i" — you're immersing

  • yourself, so you'll spend hours at a time in a day on your language learning

  • English. Right? But it'll be worth it and it'll be more fun. Now, the best...

  • honestly, because you're... I know you were going: "Well, you haven't told me

  • how to do grammar and vocabulary." Dunh-de-dunh-dunh. Use both. What?

  • That's right: Use both. This is for fun. Once you've got this down and you're

  • watching a program, you're like: "Hey. I got this program, got the meaning", then

  • use this one. "What?" Yeah, go backwards. Then take your time. You've

  • already prepped it by watching it. Work on the grammar and the vocabulary. And

  • that's when you're gonna get your fast progression. So, between the two of

  • them, you're going to notice steady steps up in the evolution of your

  • English language. Cool? We do try. Okay.

  • So, I'm going to give you a couple of hints that will be... that will help

  • facilitate or help you learn a little faster. Things that you will notice in

  • the English languagewe have a lot of theseand they're called "reductions"

  • or "linking words". I've done a video where I did one with, like: "How's it

  • going?" and showing how words get linked together. And I've done ones with

  • reductions. So, an example for "reduction" is: "I don't know 'im", "I

  • don't know 'er". Now, most of you are going: "What is 'im' and 'er'? I've

  • never seen these words." Well, in English, a lot of times we drop the "h"

  • before for pronouns. We drop those pronouns, and we just say... Instead of:

  • "I don't know him", we go: "I don't know 'im. I don't know 'im". "I don't know

  • 'er. I don't know 'er." So, this: "I don't know 'er" —you might get this, and

  • then this all of a sudden just drops off. So, you want to look for

  • "reductions". So, that's one example of the pronouns: "him" and "her" — the "h"

  • often gets dropped off. Okay? Another thing you can look for are "linked

  • words". So: "How is it going?" become: "How'sitgoing? How'sitgoing?" So, we put

  • the "is" and the "it" together; link them together. So, it's not so much a

  • "reduction", as it's putting words to be, you know... making three words into

  • one. In a "reduction", we're just taking a word and dropping a sound because

  • it's... makes it easier to say. In the linking portion, we're actually taking

  • two or three words and putting them together. And sometimes you actually

  • have both happening in the same sentence. So: "How'sitgoing?" is: "How

  • is it going?"

  • "What did you do?": "What didja do?" Right? So, we linked it. "What did you?"

  • "you" becomes: "ja". "What didja do?" And there's actually, here, a reduction

  • and a linking to make two words into one, which makes it very difficult and I

  • understand why people get upset to learn English. When we are looking for these

  • things, I would like you to make sure you pause. If you get to a video or

  • movie, you're watching it and you see it, pause it and imitate it. So, replay

  • it again. "What did you do?" And he says it, and you go: "What did you do? What

  • did you do? What did you do? What did you do?" By vocalizing it and using your

  • mouth, and forcing thatyou're actually teaching your brain to

  • understand what you're hearing. And I know it's strange, but it's sort of like

  • when you see a friend talking and there's a glass there, but you can read

  • their lips. He goes: "Come on in. We're waiting for you." You can't hear the

  • words, so what are you looking at? You're watching his mouth, because

  • you've seen that movement a million times, so you can basically figure it

  • out. You're gonna do the same in English, but you're gonna do it

  • physically by moving your mouth, like: "What did you do? What did you do?" Once

  • you've got that down, you're gonna notice you hear it all the time. Okay?

  • So, these are two things you can work onright? — when you're looking for...

  • when we're looking for vocabulary and whatnot. And grammar, we can look here

  • and see how the rules are broken. I've given you two methods. What I want you

  • really to do is combine them. But they're two different methods, so it

  • depends how you feel. So, I'm giving you an option. If you're like: "Oh, man, I

  • don't want to study English today", do this one. It's gonna be easier; you find

  • something easy to do. You work on basic vocabulary and grammar that you can look

  • at, and break it down, like it's math. Okay? It might be a bit boring, but it's

  • gonna be easy. You feel like you want to get challenged; dunk, dunk, dunk, dunk,

  • you want to get in theredo this one. You can pick something, like: I really

  • want to learn about MMA this week. I'm going to watch a podcast, or going to...

  • Sorry. Watch a fight. Listening to them describe it. Your comprehension may be

  • only 20, you know... 20-30%, but getting the message of what's going on; how,

  • who's winning, who's losing, how are things turning around? Being able to

  • walk away, going: "I maybe didn't know every word, but I knew what was

  • happening" is really cool. We're gonna watch out for reductions, we're gonna

  • watch out for linked wordsthat will get you to go deeper into the English

  • and get into comprehension of it, because you're going to go deep, and

  • your brain will do the work behind the scenes. Okay.

  • Now, here's what I want you to do: I want you to write in the comments your

  • favourite movie or TV program that you love to watch to study English with. And

  • why? Because everybody has a reason, and it's that reason that may help somebody

  • else. So, everybody who gives... so, for every one you write, TV program and why

  • you're going to get 1,000 points. Cool? So, if you write two programs, you

  • get 2,000 points; three programs, 3,000 points. Listening-wise to help, not...

  • it's good for us to get to know you, but it's actually better for helping others.

  • Okay? So, I'm gonna say thank you once again for taking the time, because I

  • know it's a long video, but I hope this is very instructive and helps you. And

  • if you do find it helped you, please give it a thumbs up. It helps. It helps

  • me be able to produce more videos. And what I mean by that is that YouTube

  • pushes a bitdon't usually explain thisbut they push it a bit so that

  • more people get to see it, so I get to help more people. And if you've noticed

  • that you've watched more than two or three, my Dad would say this: If you

  • have to borrow a tool three times, go buy your own tool. So, if you've watched

  • at least three of my videos, you should be subscribed already. I'm not saying

  • you have to, but think about it; you keep coming back to the resource. Why

  • not subscribe? Hit the notification bell, and you'll get all of my videos.

  • That's not so bad. And also, I said thank you. I would like you to go to...

  • Oh, but before I make you go there, I would like you to hear my quote of the

  • day. It goes with the video. "The world is giving you answers every day or each

  • day. Learn to listen." That's what the lesson was about, and now you have the

  • skills to do so. So, before I take off, I would like you to go to www.engas

  • in Englishvid as in video.com: www.engvid.com, and you can go do... Or

  • there won't be a quiz for this. But you can go see other videos I've done where

  • there are quizzes, and more information on listening comprehension. Okay? So,

  • check if there's anything linked up there, and it's been a pleasure. See you

  • soon.

Listen, man. I cannot comprehend what you're saying. Hi. James from engVid. He

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