Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hi. James from engVid.

  • I would like to introduce to you three quick tips on learning English.

  • It's difficult to learn anything, let's say, especially when you're learning a new language.

  • So if I can give you something that will make it... Learning faster and easier, I think

  • that will make you happy.

  • So let's go to the board and take a look at what I have for you here. So "3 Quick Tips",

  • this is Mr. E, my buddy, we're together at all times. And the first tip I want to go

  • to is reducing your stress. Well, when we reduce something, it means to make less. Right?

  • And if you're wondering what stress is, stress is a funny word. It means you are afraid of something.

  • People use "stress" because they don't usually know how to say what they're

  • afraid of, so they say: "I feel stressed." If they don't have a job, for instance, they'll go:

  • "I'm stressed. I have no job and no money." What they're really saying is:

  • "I don't have a job. I'm afraid I cannot buy my food, my house, or my clothing, so I feel stressed."

  • So we use "stress" for fear, because it makes you feel uncomfortable, and it's hard for

  • you to express it, so you say: "stress".

  • So, we want to reduce your stress. I'm going to give you two hints, here, and one is going

  • to be the opposite of the first one. It will seem crazy...

  • [Aircraft noises]. See, now I'm stressed out, because that's a jet fighter.

  • I'm definitely stressed. Okay? I'm stressed, so I'm going to do this real quick,

  • because I don't have time for this now. Okay,

  • reduce stress, reduce stress. So, relax.

  • First one: listen to music, watch TVs, and... Sorry, watch TVs. Watch videos, TV, and play games. Huh?

  • Some of the best students I have ever had when I speak to them and go:

  • "You learn pronunciation quickly, you've got this vocabulary, where did you get it from?"

  • They're usually like: "I don't know, teacher. I, you... I play these games, they talk to me. I sometimes

  • watch these videos, I sing with the videos. You know, I have to sound like the video.

  • I love Michael Jackson. I, I just love it. It's so... So much fun for me.

  • " I go: -"How long do you do it?" -"I do it all the time, teacher. All the time, I do all day, all night."

  • So they practice, but because they're having so much fun, they don't think they're working.

  • And that's the key, you have to practice a lot. But nobody wants to practice something

  • that's difficult and makes them afraid. Right? So, they do things they love doing, and then

  • they come to learn English, and they say: "I know... Know English, but..."

  • [Aircraft noises]

  • Okay, I'm getting stressed again. I'm going faster. But they learn quickly,

  • and because they have a really good base or foundation knowledge, they can learn the rest

  • of the English quickly and easily as well. And without stress, because they remember

  • some of these words from the movies, the videogames, and the TV programs that they love.

  • That's a good way to learn. Okay, good. Ready?

  • The next one... [Aircraft noises]. Okay, they're doing it to me. They're increasing my stress.

  • Okay, so they were increasing my stress.

  • Notice when I stressed out, I spoke really, really, really, really quickly, like now?

  • And you're probably: "[Gasps]!" Well, here's the funny thing:

  • If you do that long enough, you get calm. I'm going to calm down now. I know the

  • planes are coming, they're coming again and again. We have an airshow going on right now.

  • So I'm just going to relax. There's nothing I can do. Now, in getting rid of that stress,

  • you might notice I'm speaking a lot slower, a lot more relaxed, and it's easier.

  • So, how do I increase my stress? One way to do it is take a sentence, read a book, and

  • read that as fast as you can. I know you'll be stressed out, because you'll trip over

  • the words... You'll trip over the words, that means you'll fall over the words because you're

  • not used to them, but then when you go at a slower speed, they will come out beautifully;

  • nice, flowing, eloquent. You know? Beautiful. So, what we want to do is go faster, so when

  • we go slower it seems nice.

  • Same with speed listening. Some of you guys have these devices, translators, or you know,

  • your laptop or tablet. You can actually increase the speed of what you're listening to. So

  • if you increase it just a little bit, it will stress you out. Like, right now I'm going

  • to speak really, really fast and you're going to have a difficult time listening. Oh.

  • But when you slow it back down, I will sound like this, and you'll have a lot of time to listen

  • and you can relax. So what I'm suggesting is increase the stress by increasing the speed,

  • that will force you to work harder.

  • When we increase stress, we increase the amount of work you have to do so you get stronger.

  • When we reduce the stress, we make you relax so you can learn. So if we put the two of

  • these things together, what you're going to find is you're going to learn faster. Sometimes

  • very relaxed, and sometimes stressful, but as the stress gets less and less because you

  • get used to it or you become comfortable with it, learning English will be a

  • [snaps]

  • snap.

  • Cool? That's number one.

  • [Aircraft noises] Notice, plane? And I'm not stressed because

  • I'm used to it. Stress reduction.

  • Okay, number two:

  • Reduce using those wonderful toys. I know, I just said in number one use

  • the toy, but the way I mean use it and don't use it... And here, I'm telling you use it

  • to make you stronger. I think if you used it... The machines, which a lot of people

  • do to make it easier, it actually makes you weaker. Why?

  • They rely-okay?-on the machine

  • to help them do all the translating or all the work. So they actually don't learn it,

  • or we say "internalize". They don't take it inside and have it in their brain; they keep

  • it in the machine. So what I mean by this is reducing those wonderful toys. Your smartphone

  • and translator, try not to rely on them. When someone tells you a word, a new word, get

  • the old-fashioned or the old technology. Old technology? Yeah. Paper and pen. Write it

  • down. "But teacher, some word I don't know." Then write a very long sentence, explaining

  • that word. "Huh?" Yeah. It forces you, once again, like increase your stress, to think

  • more because you'll have to think of the English you know, and how you can use that English

  • to explain something else. So you start to learn how to understand English, as well as

  • use it. Yeah? Cool. So, in this case, we want to use these less in order to use this more.

  • And by the way, this is the best machine on the planet, and there's 7 billion of them.

  • So why don't you use yours? Okay?

  • Next. We've done this one. We want to go to number three, and number three is this...

  • And I forgot to put my box, which is always important so you know which one is. Number three:

  • Reduce your fear. Remember I talked about stress up here? Fear is a little bit

  • different. I wanted to say: "Reduce, reduce, reduce",

  • what I meant was: "Be brave!" Be brave, be strong, be unafraid.

  • How are you going to do that? Well, it means putting yourself

  • out there. "Putting yourself out there" means going into situations that you're not comfortable

  • with. In these cases, you're in your house, you know, you're playing with yourself to

  • learn. Right? And this one, we're going to go outside...

  • [Aircraft noises] Like I should go outside now to that guy and go: "Stop it, or I'm taking you out."

  • But I'm not that brave. But you're braver than I am. Okay?

  • Here's something simple: Order from places, if you're

  • in a foreign country that you know English people are there,

  • go to... If they order, they sell pizza or they sell, you know... They sell hamburgers

  • - order. I don't say go there, but order it. The reason why I say: "Order" is simply because

  • you'll have to speak to them and say: "I would like a hamburger and french fry."

  • They will go: "Would you like two or three?" You'll have to listen to them. Okay?

  • And then respond. I think the telephone's even better because you won't be able to see

  • them say: "Do you want two or three?" You'll have to listen to the sound.

  • Oosch. This also is going to help you with

  • the third step I give you. Okay? So ordering over the phone is a good thing, it's a good

  • practice because the benefit is: If you get the right order or food, you're going to enjoy

  • your meal. And if you get the wrong one, you go: "I need to practice more.

  • I don't want milkshake with banana, and apple, and pork."

  • [Laughs]. Okay?

  • So, here's another one that's also good: Write a pen pal. What's a "pen pal"? Once again,

  • it's this old-fashioned technology where you're going to take pen and paper, go on the internet...

  • There's many people all over the world who want to learn English, like you, and they say:

  • "Write me. Write letters to me. Send me letters." You'll get to practice writing.

  • When they send back things, saying: "What did you write? You are crazy.

  • I will not wear dress with a monkey."

  • You'll say: "No, I meant to say: 'It would be funky to see you with a...'

  • Oh, wow. I have to write properly. I have to use proper grammar, the right vocabulary."

  • It's going to cause you to go sit down, go to a computer, use a dictionary, and work

  • on your English. Result is you get a good friend and maybe a place to visit when you

  • want to go to a foreign country. Cool? All right.

  • Here's the third one: Make a business... Make up a business and call companies.

  • Okay, now, please, when I say this, be careful, because I don't want Xerox or Apple calling me up.

  • It's a fake company, but don't completely order, which means you don't tell them:

  • "Okay, send all this stuff to my house."

  • Don't. You're going to ask questions.

  • When you make up a business, I'm forcing you or asking you to force yourself to come up with a plan.

  • So you'll write up your business. Maybe you'll want to make apple pies. You're going to have

  • to write down: What do you need? See? We're practicing our English, apple pies: I need

  • flour, I need apples, I need milk, I need this, this, this."

  • And then you're going to call companies and say: "Look, I need to make 5,000 apple pies for my company.

  • How many apples can I get from you? At what time can I get the apples?"

  • They're going to... The beautiful thing about this is as your companies change, because

  • you can change different companies, when you call people, they're going to change their

  • responses, which means you have to be real. Real time. You cannot just make things up,

  • because you can ask something, and they might say:

  • "Hey, do you want it delivered this way or do you want it done this way? Do you want to get it charged? Do you want to...?"

  • And you're going to have to think about it. It's stressful. You have to be brave,

  • relax, and answer their questions.

  • And in doing that, you're going to find when you step out into

  • the real world and talk to people that it's a lot easier.

  • Just like that, my stress is gone and so are the planes.

  • One quick tip before I go as an extra one, bonus, because I like you so much.

  • See? Extra tip. I need you to go here

  • to www.eng as in English, vid as in video.com (www.engvid.com),

  • where if you learn the lessons well enough, will reduce your stress and help increase

  • your knowledge of English. All right?

  • Have a good one. Do the quiz while you're at it.

  • Chow.

Hi. James from engVid.

Subtitles and vocabulary

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