Letters form ESL Pod Team Flashcards
Success! Now, Have Your Downloaded Your Special Report on Improving Your English Yet?
Welcome!
Thank you for signing up to receive my special report, “5 Things You MUST Know to Improve Your English.”
If you haven’t downloaded the special report, go here and get it right now:
http://magazine.eslpod.com/special-report-thank-you-page/
or, if you want to read the mobile version (for cellphones and smartphones), go here:
http://magazine.eslpod.com/5-things-you-must-know-to-improve-your-english-mobile-version/
This special report is unlike anything else you’ll find in schools or on the Internet. I’m going to share with you some of the “secrets” that many linguists and other experts in language learning have known for the past 40 years, but which have never been told to the “average” person.
What you’ll read about is based on that 40+ years of applied linguistics research.
All of what you will learn in this course can be applied instantly to help you improve your English.
Here’s what you’re going to learn in this special report, available only on our special download page:
**Why 99% of people trying to learn another language fail (and how YOU can succeed) . . .
**How to find the best apps, technology, and materials to take your English to the next level . . .
**What your Language Acquisition Device is, and how to get it to improve your speaking and listening . . .
**Why there are two - and only two - ways of really getting better in English, and how to use them . . .
**How speaking and writing are mostly a waste of time when you want to improve your speaking and writing . . .
**Why going on a “language diet” will NOT help you get beyond your “classroom” English . . .
**What kind of reading and listening materials you need to reach an advanced level in English . . .
**How compelling input can get make improving your English EXCITING today . . .
Download it right now and read it! You can get it here:
http://magazine.eslpod.com/special-report-thank-you-page/
I must warn you (tell you something important) before you read this special report, however: the information I’m going to give you is NOT for everybody.
It is not for people who cannot change the way they think about English language learning, who think they already know the “real” way to improve language skills.
If that describes you, then I can’t teach you anything.
It is not for people who want a “shortcut” (unusually fast way) that will make them fluent in an hour or two, or even a week or two. That’s not going to happen (and never does!).
This course is for people who are frustrated with their progress in English, and want to start speaking more and better through the use of scientific research and years of successful practice.
Talk to you again real soon,
Jeff McQuillan, Ph.D.
Center for Educational Development
Los Angeles, California U.S.A.
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5 Things You MUST Know to Improve Your English
by Dr. Jeff McQuillan, Center for Educational Development, Los Angeles, California
Biography
Dr. Jeff McQuillan received a Ph.D. in applied linguistics and education at the University of Southern California. He was a professor of applied linguistics at California State University, Fullerton, and Arizona State University, and has also taught courses at USC, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Loyola Marymount University.
He has given hundreds of presentations and talks to language educators in more than 30 cities across the United States. He is currently a Senior Researcher at the Center for Educational Development, the sponsor of English as a Second Language Podcast at
http://www.ESLPod.com.
Dr. McQuillan has published dozens of articles and books in the areas of first and second language acquisition. He has appeared on CNN as an expert in the area of language development, and has been quoted in several national newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, and the Daily News, among others. He won his grade school’s “spelling bee” competition back in 1974, and once lent his pen to the Hollywood actress Neve Campbell while waiting in line for his Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks in Culver City.
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved
For more information, go to http://www.ESLPod.com and listen to English as a Second Language Podcast, the most popular language learning podcast on the Internet!
Introduction
Almost no one who studies a second language gets very far.
Millions of high school and college students show up (attend; go to) to their English classes in the hopes of learning to communicate in a second language, but most of them will fail, and fail badly.
A few years out of school, and most have forgotten the little they learned in class.
Millions of adults who need to know English for their work, their school, or their travels pay good (a lot of) money for language CDs, books, and expensive software, but still don’t succeed.
None of this, sadly, is news. Language teachers have known about the failure rate in their language classes for many years now. Recent research confirms (shows us to be true) that very few people make it very far, especially on their own, in language courses.
Consider these facts:
In one study, 99% – yes, 99%! – of the people who started studying with one of two popular language-learning software programs (Rosetta Stone® and Tell Me More) did not finish even the beginning two levels of the course. And these were people who were getting the program for free! Yet, only 1% finished.
In a study of beginning language textbooks at a public library, it was found that most people who checked out the book didn’t get more than 17% into the course before stopping.
More than 82% of high school students who start language classes in their first year of school (in the United States) stop studying it by the time they get to their fourth and final year.
For college students, it is even worse: 83% of those studying in beginning language classes never finish their study in a second language.
With all this bad news, is there hope for you?
Make Way for the Fool
My sister worked for many years for a high-tech company in Silicon Valley. They had an expression in her division, and it goes like this: “A fool with a tool is still a fool.”
A fool is a stupid person, someone who is not very smart. A tool is an instrument you use to do something (like a hammer or a screwdriver). A fool with the tool – an iPod, a computer, a television, a tablet – is still a fool.
In other words, just having the tool – the technology, the gadgets, the software – does not make you a language teacher (or learner). You’re not going to change things just because you have a piece of technology in your hand if you don’t understand the pedagogy – that is, how to teach what you want people to learn.
Sadly, that’s precisely the point where we are right now in _____ (fill in the year you’re reading this article!) in language teaching.
A Quick Course in How We Get Better at Languages: The Five Steps
We don’t have time for a complete course in second language acquisition (the science of how we pick up languages), so I’m just going to talk about five things that every good language teaching technology, activity, or classroom must have.
These are the five principles you should look for in buying any kind of course, app, or other technology (including the 500-year-old kind called “paper books”) for improving your English.
Any course, class, textbook, or Internet program that does NOT have all five of these elements is NOT worth your valuable time:
Principle #1: Input
If linguist Noam Chomsky is correct, part of our brain is hardwired (programmed) with a capacity to learn language. We’ll call this part of our brain the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). We all have an LAD, and it works without any sort of conscious effort or practice. Our only job in the process is to activate and “feed” that device, to get that device to work.
Although some people talk metaphorically about “exercising” the brain, Frank Smith reminds us that the brain is an organ, not a muscle. Like your kidney or your stomach, the brain doesn’t have to be “switched on.” You don’t have to “do” anything, per se, to get it to work.
You do need to give it something to work with, however.
The “something” that you need to feed your LAD in order to acquire languages is called input. Input is just another word for language exposure. In other words, you actually have to have some language coming into the LAD for it to do its magic – for it to acquire languages.
Now, there are a lot of disagreements about the details of second language acquisition theory, but I think this is one area in which almost everyone agrees: If there is no language input, there can be no language acquisition.
Two (and only two) kinds of input
There are two kinds of language input for most language acquirers: reading and listening. That’s it. Those are the two things you can use to get the input into your LAD. (We’ll leave aside the case of American Sign Language for now.) These two means of input – and only these two – must be present for language acquisition to occur.
Notice what is not included in this list: speaking and writing.
Speaking and writing are forms of output, and do not contribute directly to language acquisition. You can go home tonight, lock yourself in the bathroom for several hours, and speak to the mirror using all the high school French you can remember, and your French will not get any better.
The only way to improve your French is to read and listen to French.
Output does not help language acquisition directly, but it can contribute indirectly: If I speak or write to you, you are likely to reply. It’s the reply – what you say or write to me – that matters. That’s the input.
Any approach which attempts, especially at the lower levels, to “balance” input and output is bound to (will almost certainly) fail. Of course, we learn a language in part to speak and write it, but speaking and writing will not cause language acquisition. Only input can do that.
Obviously, then, most of what students do in a good language learning environment is read and listen – not play “games” about language, not manipulate the language through exercises for “practice,” not fill out worksheets or their high-tech equivalents. (Of course this doesn’t mean that they should have fun, as we’ll see in a minute.)
LAD2
Principle #2: Comprehensible Input
Not just any kind of input will work for language acquisition, however. The two kinds of input (listening and reading) have to be understandable – have to be what we refer to in the applied linguistics field as comprehensible.
In order for your Language Acquisition Device to process the input, your brain must understand the message being communicated to you.
If you get a lot of language input and you do not understand it, it’s just noise. It doesn’t help the LAD. It doesn’t further language acquisition.
So, if you go home tonight and you watch ten hours of Chinese television and you don’t already know some Chinese, it is likely that you will acquire very, very little Chinese. That’s because listening to or reading incomprehensible input doesn’t help you acquire language. It’s a waste of time.
We’ll have a lot more to say in a minute on how exactly we make input comprehensible, but the important point here is that language that is too hard, too fast, or too complicated to understand does not help you acquire that language. It can only make you confused, bored, or both.
Principle #3: Sufficient Quantity of Comprehensible Input
If you are a young athlete hoping to gain weight, you have to eat, and eat a lot. It won’t help if you limit your diet to three raisins and a glass of water each day. You need a lot of “food input” to increase your weight.
The same principle applies to language acquisition. Learners need to get a lot of input in order to reach high levels of proficiency.
This seems especially to be true in vocabulary acquisition. Years of research have shown that larger vocabularies are almost always a consequence of voluminous reading (in other words, lots and lots of reading, which is to say lots and lots of input).
Unhappily, in language textbooks of the past 40 years or so, and more recently in most of the new computer programs, Internet sites, and smartphone/tablet apps, students have been given not steak and eggs, but the equivalent of three raisins a day.
It was not always this way. In the early twentieth century, many publishing companies followed the “Direct Method,” which included a massive amount of input for students, far more than almost any current language textbook.
The amount of input students now receive in a typical textbook or language learning program is a fraction of (a small percentage of) what earlier generations of students were given. (The Direct Method also got a lot of things wrong, too, so I’m not saying it is a model for language teaching today. But we can learn something from its use of large amounts of input.)
The story is more complicated than that, but basically our language learning ancestors of 100 years ago feasted (ate a lot) on an input banquet (large meal) while we eat the crumbs (very small amounts of food). Paltry (very little; inadequate) input produces paltry language acquisition.
Principle #4: Sufficient Comprehensible Input that Contains New Linguistic Elements
If you read at a second-grade reading level and you read nothing but second-grade level books for the rest of your life, you will always be a second-grade reader. You won’t get any better.
The only way to become a third-grade reader (when you read at the second-grade level) is to read something slightly above what you are reading now in terms of vocabulary and grammar.
In other words, the language input that you’re being exposed to has to contain new elements that you haven’t acquired yet, that are slightly above your current level of acquisition. These elements can be new grammatical structures or most anything that forms part of the language you are trying to pick up.
In applied linguistics, we call this concept of new linguistic elements in the input “i + 1,” where “i” is your current level of input and “+1” is just slightly above that level (but not so far above you that you can’t understand it).
But it is easy to take this principle too far, too fast, and that’s exactly what most language courses and apps do.
Yes, there needs to be something new in the input for you to “pick up,” or acquire, but that amount of “new” language needs to be relatively small compared to the things you already understand.
Many textbooks (and language courses) start off nice and slow, and students make good progress. Then, somewhere around Level 2 or 3, things get really hard, really fast. Student go from the equivalent of kindergarten readers to trying to understand Shakespeare.
You need to move slowly, so that you can actually understand most of what you are hearing and reading.
Principle #5: Sufficient, Compelling Comprehensible Input that Contains New Linguistic Elements.
Who wants to listen to boring lectures and read dull books? No one!
For you to be successful, you must find input (reading and listening materials) that are interesting. In fact, they should be more than just interesting – they should be compelling (really, really, really interesting!).
The reason why compelling input is important is that if it you’re not interested in the input, you’re not going to “tune into” it (pay close attention to it) and try to understand it.
Let me tell you a little story. Yesterday, I was walking down the street. After a few minutes, I saw a man behind me. He had small black object in his hand. I thought, “Is that a gun?!” So I turned around and . . .
Do you want to know what happened to the man and the gun? Are you interested in my little story? That’s what I mean about compelling input. It has to be something you really want to know about and are interested in.
(So, seriously, what about the man with the gun? I learned it was actually just an old book, but in his pocket he had a . . . okay, enough of that!)
When the input is boring, your mind will start wandering (thinking about other things), you won’t focus on what you’re listening to or reading, and then you won’t actually be comprehending any language.
What’s more, you are unlikely to continue listening or reading if you get too much of that kind of input.
Remember all the people who didn’t finish their language courses? It wasn’t because the classes were TOO interesting!
Language input must be compelling, then, to keep you paying attention to the meaning of the message, and to keep you on your path to more and more input. In fact, we could say that compelling input is often more important than comprehensibility.
Think about it this way: If you are really, really interested in something, you’ll put up with a lot of “noise” (incomprehensible input) to get to the end of the story or movie or whatever it happens to be.
True story: When I was in my early twenties, I studied Spanish. One day I met a very beautiful woman from Spain by the name of Carmen. More than anything, I wanted to get Carmen’s telephone number so I could ask her out on a date.
Well, unfortunately, my Spanish was not very good, and she spoke really fast. But none of that mattered. I had a compelling interest in understanding her, especially if she decided to give me her phone number. (Unhappily for me, she left the next week back for Spain and I never got her number. But that’s not the point of the story!)
So, to review: You need five things to improve your English (or any second language). You need (1) input that is (2) comprehensible and of (3) sufficient quantity that (4) contains new linguistic elements and is (5) compelling.
The next question to answer, then, is simple:
How do we do this?
What To Do Next
Here are three things you should do to improve your English, based on what we just discussed:
(1) Read, read, read - and then read some more.
Read English that you can mostly understand. The key is “mostly” – it doesn’t have to be 100 percent. If it is too confusing, find something easier to read. Most students aim (go for something) too high, too difficult. Think about comic books, easy teen novels, and popular fiction, not Shakespeare and Twain.
(2) Listen to English as a Second Language Podcast at ESLPod.com.
If you’re not already listening to ESLPod.com, start today! It is perfect for intermediate and advanced learners, and follows all of these guidelines exactly. I should know – I helped create it!
ESL Podcast episodes and special courses ALL use the principle of comprehensible input. In each lesson, we explain words and their meanings. In addition, you get a written transcript of everything spoken on the audio, plus vocabulary definitions, sample sentences, and cultural notes.
There are more than 1,500 lessons available on the ESLPod.com website - that’s more than 400 hours of comprehensible input!
Why not join more than 1.39 million listeners in 189 countries who have listened to ESL Podcast’s lessons and purchased its courses?
(3) Go to Warren Ediger’s website and read everything on it.
Warren’s website, SuccessfulEnglish.com, is truly an amazing place to get information to help you improve your English speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In fact, I think you should read everything he’s written! Read the entire website – every page, every suggestion. Then DO what he tells you. Your English will improve faster than you ever thought possible.
How to Get Started on Improving Your English
Hello!
I’m hoping by now you have read my short, special report on the five things you MUST know to improve your English. If you have not, download it here and read it right now:
http://magazine.eslpod.com/special-report-thank-you-page/
Really, it is very important information, and the more you understand it, the faster you can start speaking and being comfortable in English.
In fact, it’s so important, I want to give you something of an “executive summary.”
An executive summary is a term from business English that refers to a short review of the main points of a book or presentation for a busy person (an executive is an important business person).
I’m going sum up my special report in just two sentences. Here goes:
You don’t get better at speaking by speaking.
You get better at speaking by listening.
Yes, you read that correctly: Better speaking does not usually come from doing more speaking.
There is no need to “practice” speaking in the way most people think. The best “practice” for improving your speaking is not speaking; it’s listening.
The reason is very simple. Your mind (brain) is like a bank. You can’t take money out of a bank until you put some money into the bank.
If you don’t put anything in, you can’t take anything out.
That seems pretty obvious, right?
The same is true for speaking. First you have to listen – a lot! – before you can say anything.
To repeat: Language has to go into your brain before you can take any language out of your brain.
The formula can also be compared to a computer. Your brain is the computer. Like any computer, you need to put something in (called “input”) before you can get anything out (“output”).
Listening and reading are input.
Speaking and writing are output.
First input, then output.
There is no other way! And 40 years of research has demonstrated (shown) that the more input you get, the more output you can have.
If you don’t think this is true, consider the case of Richard Boydell.
Why You Don’t Need Output to Improve
Richard Boydell was born with cerebral palsy, a disease that made him unable to move his arms and hands properly. He was unable to write (that is, to produce any output).
He could read, and did in fact read a lot, BUT he could not write anything.
Then, when he was 30 years old, someone gave him a machine (an electric typewriter) that allowed him write using only his feet.
Within a few days of getting this machine, Boydell wrote the company a very well-written letter suggesting some improvements for the machine.
Richard is a case of someone who got input (reading) for 30 years, but ZERO output (writing). Yet even though he could not actually write anything for those 30 years, his reading (input) gave him all the language he needed to then write (output) when he could actually write something.
To repeat: It’s all about the input, not the output.
So if you want to speak better, you need to listen and listen and listen . . . then listen some more.
I’ll talk more about how you should listen to English in a future email. But for now, you need to find time EVERYDAY to listen to some comprehensible English – the more, the better!
Action Step:
Try increasing your daily English listening to at least 20 to 30 minutes.
Listen on your way to work.
Listen while you exercise.
Listen while you cook.
But listen!
Your English won’t get better by planning on listening more. You actually have to do it!
Till we meet again,
Jeff McQuillan, Ph.D.
Center for Educational Development
Los Angeles, California U.S.A.
P.S. To make things easy for you, I’ll give you a place to start your listening, if you don’t know about it already. Try one of our special courses at Learn English Magazine. Just open up the app and look for the information on our business English courses.
Note: You’re receiving these amazingly cool emails because you joined my list on 10/13/2017. If you no longer wish to get my emails, just click on the Unsubscribe button below.
How to Speed Up Your English Speaking Ability
One of my heroes when I was in graduate school getting my Ph.D. in applied linguistics was a researcher and a writer by the name of Frank Smith.
Smith wrote a lot of books about language education and reading. When asked how someone could become a better writer, he didn’t recommend doing a lot of writing. Instead, he would say “Read like a writer.”
“Read like a writer.” What does that actually mean?
It took me a few years to understand what Smith was saying.
Here’s what happened: As a poor graduate student, I had the idea to write a little mystery crime “novel” for English learners that I could sell. I thought it would be a nice way to earn a little extra money while studying for my degree.
But I had a problem: I had never written a novel before. In fact, I had never written any fiction (an imaginary or not real story) before!
So I went to the library and picked up (got) some mystery books written for children and young teens. They were called the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories.
I read one book (they’re short).
Then I read another.
And another.
After about the fourth book, I started thinking to myself, “How can I copy the style, the method, and the approach of this book for my own book? What are some of the things the writer does to communicate her story?”
Suddenly, I was reading like a writer. I was reading “with an eye on” or a focus on what I could use from this writer in my own book. (I did actually write the book, but I didn’t “publish” it until many years later - as an audio podcast called Missing Person.)
The same is as true for speaking as it is for writing. If you want to be an English speaker, you need to listen like an English speaker.
What I’m talking about here is an awareness while you listen. You can listen for several different things (in addition to what the person is saying, of course!).
Most of us learning another language are just trying to understand the “basic idea” of the person we’re listening to, and that’s a good start.
Now you need to take it to the next level, to really make use of your time listening.
How do you do this?
The answer is simple: Listen to English as a way of solving problems, of getting the answers to questions you have about how exactly you express or communicate a certain idea in English.
What sort of “problems” are we talking about here? The problems are the things you don’t know how to say right now in English.
In other words, you should start listening to the way or manner in which people express ideas, not just to understand them, but to speak like them.
I get lots of emails from people asking me how you express this idea or that idea in English. I try to help when I can, but the best way to figure that out is to listen for the way native speakers “solve” these problems of expression and communication.
Every language has a different way of communicating. The differences, however, are so complex and complicated that you can’t possible “study” them or memorize them.
But you can acquire (pick up) what they are by listening to language.
As you’re listening, you may sometimes say to yourself, “Oh, that’s how you say that!” But most of the time, you will just pick up the expression without even focussing on it.
Now, don’t worry if you don’t remember the next time you want to say something that you heard another person say. Just keep listening and it will come.
If it’s a common expression, someone will say it again!
I do not mean to say that you must “notice” things to acquire them. You don’t, and most of the language you use you will acquire without “noticing” anything at all.
Instead, I’m talking about a few small phrases or words that solve specific problems for you. It’s a fairly limited number, but it can often be enough to move your fluency to a higher level.
Just be aware of the way things are said, and you will find yourself listening more efficiently to English, and improving your speaking ability much faster than before.
Action step:
Listen for 20 minutes to someone speaking English. Listen to how they say things. Think about your English “problems” and try to solve them by listening.
Try doing this “listen to solve a problem” whenever you listen to English this week. See if it helps you.
Until next time,
Jeff
P.S. All of our English lessons on ESLPod.com and in our Learn English Magazine contain dialogues recorded at a “learning” speed and a “normal” speed, so you can really understand them. Even if you’ve listened to some of these lessons before, try this technique out using these lessons. Learn more about it here:
http://www.ESLPod.com
You are receiving this email because you requested my special report on improving your English on 10/13/2017.
English for Busy People (That’s YOU!)
Hey, I know you are busy, so I’m going to try to keep this brief (short).
Most “how-to” advice on improving your English comes from professors and teachers who tell you the things you have to do to get better.
And I do that, too. If you’ve read my special report, you already know what I think is important for you to do.
I tell you you need to find some comprehensible input that is interesting, and to listen to and/or read that as much as you can.
Well, okay. That seems easy.
But is it really?
Perhaps you’ve tried listening to audiobooks. Perhaps you’ve tried watching a movie in English (without the subtitles!). Perhaps you’ve even picked up a book to read.
My guess is that many of these things are too hard for you. Right?
Okay, so now you try some “learner English.” Yes, it’s comprehensible, but often it’s rather boring, uninteresting, and dull.
Here’s one solution to this problem (but not the only one, of course):
Listen to some audio files that are about cool and useful stuff AND are comprehensible.
Where can you get audio that is easy to listen to and interesting? I’ll give you three suggestions to try. You may not like any of them, but give them a try first:
- Voice of America’s Special English:
http: //learningenglish.voanews.com/
Voice of America’s Special English programs are spoken more slowly and clearly than their regular news programs, and often have transcripts. They produce several new articles every week about all kinds of news, and the best thing is it’s free!
- Learn English Magazine’s Business Courses.
Our business courses contain complete lessons, with a dialogue or story, followed by a detailed explanation of all the important phrases and expressions used in the story.
The story is recorded at a “learning speed” (a little slower) and a “normal speed” (the way a normal English speaker would say it), so you can really understand what is being said . . . plus, you get a cultural note to help you know what Americans know, and a complete glossary.
These courses are available right now only on Learn English Magazine. You listen to and read a free sample of the course by tapping the link below:
> > English for Business Meetings«
- ESLPod.com’s Select English Membership here:
http: //www.eslpod.com
ESLPod.com is a collection of audio lessons and written materials that are both comprehensible and interesting. Some of these lessons are currently free, so be sure to check it out the podcast feed here.
In other words, you don’t have to spend your time looking for good English to read and to listen to. They’ve done the work for you!
My suggestion is to do this:
(1) Listen to some audio files (if you haven’t already).
(2) Buy a one-month membership at ESLPod.com. When you do this, you get not only the audio but a complete Learning Guide to the audio, an 8 to 10 page PDF file.
This Learning Guide is really useful because it contains all of the vocabulary definitions, extra sentences using those words, culture notes, and a complete transcript of everything that is said on the audio.
This is very useful when you hear something but aren’t quite sure what it means. Having the transcript allows you to (a) review after you have listened to the audio, and (b) check to make sure you really understood it.
For more information on how to use ESLPod.com’s great audio and PDF lessons, go here:
http://www.eslpod.com
After a month, you’ll know whether ESL Podcast is a good “fit” or match for you. When you sign up, your membership will automatically renew each month. But you can cancel it at anytime, so there’s no risk involved.
Try it. I think you really will like it.
Okay, my NEXT EMAIL will contain some really interesting information on speaking English. Be sure to read it!
Until next time,
Jeff
You are receiving this email because you requested my special report on improving your English on 10/13/2017.
Who Wants to Speak English Like an American?
Over the past week or so, I’ve given you some important information and tips on how to improve your English.
You’ve learned about comprehensible input.
You’ve learned the importance of listening and reading in order to improve your speaking.
Up to this point, everything I’ve told you about improving your speaking was based on (taken from) many scientific studies that have been done over the past several years - a few of them by me personally, but most by other researchers around the world (especially my Ph.D. advisor himself, Dr. Stephen Krashen).
Now I want to recommend some things that are based in part on the research, but also in part on my personal experiences as a language acquirer and teacher for the past 25 years.
I think that what I’m about to tell you is true, of course, but I want you to know that these next few emails are a little more speculative (good guesses, but not completely proven to be true) that still need more research.
Okay, so you’ve been warned!
Today’s topic is about how your ear interferes with, or gets in the way of, your mouth when you speak.
What do I mean by this exactly?
First, you have to understand that each of us has his or her own language “ego.” What is a language ego? Well, first you need to understand what I mean by “ego.”
Basically, your ego is your ideas about who you are, your “identity,” how you see yourself, how you want other people to see you.
That all sounds pretty serious, I know, but give me a minute to explain why it is important.
(But to make sure you really understand this word, please go to Google and translate it into your language, if possible:
http://translate.google.com
It’s very important you understand what I mean by “ego” for this section. I’ll wait for you…)
[music plays while I wait…]
Okay. Got it? Good!
Now, you have an ego or sense of identity for every language you speak, including your native or first language.
Your language ego is part of who you are, and so it is not something you can change easily.
Here’s why this is important: When you say something in your own language, your ear (listening to your mouth speaking) recognizes you.
Your ear says, “Hey, that’s Jeff!” or “Hey, that’s Lucy!” (well, if your name is either “Jeff” or “Lucy”).
Your ear expects to hear a certain kind of voice, your voice in your language, and as long as you’re speaking normally, it does.
But let’s say one day you decide to imitate another accent in your own language. Nearly every language has different accents or ways of speaking that are (usually) related to a specific place.
For example, the people who speak Spanish in Spain have a different accent or pronunciation than people who speak Spanish in Cuba or Argentina or Mexico.
Each place has its own accent.
Most of us can imitate, or make ourselves sound like, one of these different accents, at least for a short time, in our own language.
Try this: Say something right now in another accent in your own language. Notice that you can probably do it “okay,” but you sound funny, you sound a little weird.
You sound strange. Your ear is saying, “Hey, that’s not you!”
That’s why, in my opinion, most people can’t speak in a different accent for a very long time. After a few minutes of imitating an accent, we feel too silly to continue.
Your ear doesn’t like what your mouth is doing. It isn’t you!
Whenever your own voice sounds “strange” or “funny” or “weird,” your language ego usually stops you from going much further.
When you speak in English, your ears hear your voice and most likely say, “Who’s that?! What strange person is speaking?”
One theory about why this happens is because your language ego forms a kind of psychological “block” that prevents you from speaking with different accents and different pronunciations.
This “block” is probably part of what Dr. Stephen Krashen, the world’s best-known expert on language acquisition, calls the Output Filter.
Your Output Filter is basically a wall that your brain puts on your mouth that prevents you from speaking with a good accent, or even fluently (easily).
This “wall” stops you from getting the language (including your accent) that’s in your brain out of your mouth.
In fact, according to some speculations by Dr. Krashen, we actually acquire (get into our brain subconsciously) accents in another language very quickly.
We have the accent in our brains. It’s actually using it that’s the hard part!
Can this Output Filter, this wall between our brain and our mouths, be removed?
In other words, can we get our ear out of the way of our mouths, so that we can speak better?
The research doesn’t tell us. Some researchers think it may be impossible to change your “language ego” and therefore to lower or reduce the Output Filter.
But we also know that some people actually do have good accents, so it is obviously not impossible for an adult to have a good accent in another language.
Now, let me say that there’s nothing wrong with having an accent in English, as long as people can understand what you’re saying. It’s not necessary to be perfect.
But some people really do have a hard time being understood, and others just want to be able to sound more like a native speaker.
So, perhaps if we studied the people who have good accents, we’d get an idea of what we can and cannot do.
Who has a pretty good accent in a English (as a second language)?
Well, one group is, believe it or not, people who have a beer, wine, or other alcohol before speaking English!
Sound crazy?
I know, it does, but tomorrow I’ll tell you why it really is true, and why it’s important to you, even if you don’t drink!
Until next time,
Jeff
P.S. Want a great way to get comprehensible input? Try listening to the episodes of ESLPod.com here:
http://www.eslpod.com
OR, even easier, download courses on Learn English Magazine.
You are receiving this email because you requested my special report on improving your English on 10/13/2017.
Here’s a Quick Way to Improve Your Speaking
Hi Kise,
In our last email, I talked about the Output Filter, and how it prevents us from using the English we’ve already acquired when we want to speak and write.
I also said that there are people who are able to lower their Output Filter by, well, drinking alcohol!
So, here’s what happened . .
.
The Jack Daniels Method
Let me tell you about a famous experiment in applied linguistics from the 1970s. We usually call it the “Jack Daniels Experiment” (Jack Daniels is a type of whiskey.)
In this experiment, a college professor took a group of students who were taking a Spanish class, and he gave them some alcohol to drink (which was not actually Jack Daniels whiskey, but another kind of alcohol).
He tested their pronunciation and fluency before and after they drank the alcohol.
Guess what happened? Of course, their accent and fluency were better after the drink than before it!
(Well, actually, after one drink. After three drinks, they were worse, since they actually started to become drunk.)
Why did this happen?
Because the alcohol relaxed the students, it “lowered” the Output Filter, that wall, so that they were able to get the language out of their mouth without “sounding funny.” (We all sound funny after a few drinks, I guess.)
Now, this doesn’t mean that you should have a drink every time you want to speak English!
But it does mean that a certain part of your problems with fluency and accent are psychological - related not to the part of the brain that controls your language, but the part that controls your emotions, your feelings, and yes, your “language ego.”
How do we (without drinking) solve this problem?
I think this is one of the great unsolved problems in language teaching.
But I have a few ideas I’d like to share with you that have worked for me in the past.
Perhaps they’ll work for you, too, but I can’t promise that. I can only suggest you try them and see what happens.
First, you have to recognize what is going on with your ears and your mouth.
As I told you in a previous email message, you have to understand that if your ear thinks your voice sounds “funny,” you won’t be very successful.
Will just recognizing that you have to get over this “funny” sound be enough to improve your accent?
For some people, I think it might.
What I think happens with many successful English speakers is this: They develop two separate language egos, one in their native language, and one in English.
Like having two passports from different countries, people with good accents in English have two “identities,” so that speaking in one language can (and does) sound very different than speaking in their native language.
How do they do that?
Well, we can learn a thing or two from another group that can often speak in different accents very fluently.
Those people are called actors.
The Hollywood Accent Method
Think about what actors do when they have to speak in a different accent (or even language) for a movie or TV show.
Actors adopt or take on a new “character” or “role” - basically, they act as if they were different people. Their minds create another “persona” or identity or ego.
This new identity allows them to “switch” into another voice, another sound.
But they are not speaking as themselves in a different accent. They are speaking as a character who happens to have a certain accent.
Notice the difference?
Actors are playing an entire “character,” sort of like another person, a person separate from themselves in some way.
Can we “normal” people do the same thing? Can we act as if we were native speakers of English (or whatever your second language), as another character?
I think the answer might be “yes.”
In fact, I think it might be the only way you can really be fluent in another language with a good accent.
Come back in a few days and I’ll tell you how YOU might be able to get into your “English speaking character” . . .
All for now,
Jeff
Beauuuutiful Los Angeles, California
P.S. Want a great way to get comprehensible input? Try listening our courses at Learn English Magazine. Just look for information in one of our recent issues. Or check our ESLPod.com’s English lessons!
You are receiving this email because you requested my special report on improving your English on 10/13/2017.
Pull the Trigger on Your English
In my last email, I told you about Hollywood actors getting “into character” in order to speak with different accents.
But how exactly do they do that? And is it something you can do, too?
Triggers to More Fluent English
A trigger is a part of a gun. A gun has a little “switch” - the trigger - that you pull back with your finger. When you “pull the trigger,” you cause the gun to fire or shoot a bullet.
A trigger causes something else to happen, almost immediately.
In the case of a gun, it begins the process that ends with the bullet leaving the gun.
In more general terms, a trigger is something that suddenly changes the way we think or act, something that causes something else to happen.
Many actors will tell you that they do certain things to “get them into character,” to get their mind thinking like the character they’re playing.
Sometimes the trigger is wearing the right clothing.
Sometimes the trigger is walking in a certain way.
For some actors, the trigger is moving their body in a certain way, or thinking about a certain image or picture.
Successful language speakers also, I believe, have triggers which help them “get into” or change into their English language identity.
Creating the Right Environment for Speaking Triggers
Many successful second language speakers I know use triggers, even if they don’t call them that (or realize that that’s what they’re using!).
But before you can try to create some triggers for yourself, you need to get your ear used to hearing your mouth speak with a real English accent.
That’s the problem we’ve been talking about for the past few emails.
How do you get your ear used to the “funny” sounds you make in English?
Here’s a little experiment to try.
Speak in English to yourself or someone else for about one minute. But do not speak English with the accent you have now, the one you normally use now in English.
Instead, think of yourself as being in a play or a movie. (I know, this sounds a little silly right now, but just try it first!)
In this imaginary movie, your job is to make fun of Americans. Your accent will be “out there,” an “extreme” example of an accent.
In other words, exaggerate your accent in English!
Pretend you are trying to sound almost “too” American or British, as if it were a joke.
Got it?
Okay, now listen to that accent come out of your mouth.
Here’s the thing: Most likely, that accent is actually much closer to a “real” English accent than your “normal” accent in English!
Next, try doing this “acting” for two minutes.
Take something and read it out loud in English, if you can’t think of something to say.
Then do it for three minutes. Then four.
Notice that the longer you speak in this exaggerated accent, the more your ear is saying that there is something wrong.
Ignore your ear!
Keep going, keep speaking and start getting used to your new character! Get used to sounding “funny.” Get used to “getting into” your new “language character.”
In a few days, some more ideas about creating “triggers” to get you into your English-speaking character.
All for now,
Dr. Jeff
P.S. You need a LOT of input to really improve your English. Start by listening to Learn English Magazine’s courses. Check out a recent issue of the magazine for more information!
iOS (iPhone/iPad): Click here.
Android: Click here.
You are receiving this email because you requested my special report on improving your English on 10/13/2017.
They Laughed When I Ordered a Taxi . . .
Hi Kise,
Allow me begin this email with a little story.
When I was in Mexico many years ago teaching English, I used to get very nervous when someone started talking to me in Spanish.
I was afraid I was going to make a mistake, like most of us speaking in another language.
The worst thing was getting a taxi.
You see, if the taxi driver thinks you’re not very experienced in Spanish, he may charge you more money than he would charge a “local,” someone from the city.
Now, you don’t need to say much to get a taxi. You need only a few phrases, such as “Are you free?” and, most importantly, “How much is it to [the place you want to go]?”
So one day, after paying waaay much too much for my taxi ride, I decided to ask a friend how exactly he would say, “How much is it to . . .”
I wanted to know how would a native speaker say it, and how he would pronounce it.
After he told me, I decided that this ONE phrase, one question, I would memorize.
I would practice it over and over again in my head.
More importantly, I would listen to other people say it so I could get the exact pronunciation.
Remember, my goal (objective; aim) was to sound as close as possible to a native speaker for just this one phrase, since it would be the first thing the taxi driver would hear.
I needed to convince the driver I was no “tourist” whom he could overcharge (make pay too much).
After many hours of saying the phase in my head and out loud (to myself), I tried it out.
Success!
I paid a “normal” fare (amount for a taxi) for the first time since arriving in Mexico. It felt great.
But then something strange began to happen. After getting into the taxi, the driver, thinking that I could really speak Spanish, started to talk to me. And - even more strangely - I found myself able to answer him, to actually carry on a conversation!
I soon realized that the difficult part of speaking Spanish was beginning.
It’s like getting on a bicycle when you don’t know how to ride one. The toughest part is getting on the bike and moving the first few feet (or meters, for the rest of the world).
Once you get moving, the rest is much easier.
By memorizing one phrase, and saying it correctly and with complete confidence, I was able to relax and believe that I really could speak Spanish.
I call these little expressions that you know you can do with 100% accuracy “password phrases.” Like a password on your computer or phone, they “open” the program or file you want to open.
My Spanish password “opened” my Spanish speaking confidence and allowed me to actually have conversations in another language.
Remember the idea of a trigger from our previous emails, and how actors use these little “tricks” to play a character?
Well, the password phrases is another trigger that puts you into you “English-speaking” ego.
Using them can put you “into character” to speak English, as it did for me in Spanish.
But I immediately realized that I had a problem: I could not start every conversation with, “How much is it to…”!
So I started listening to conversations more carefully, paying attention to the kinds of things people, including more general kind of “starter” phrases to begin a sentence.
I also listened for what we can call “filler” words, words like, “Well,” “So,” and “You know” in English, that could be put into the conversation almost anywhere.
After a few weeks, I had a short list of about 5-7 words and phrases that people used in daily conversations that could be used to start off a sentence, or express a lot of basic ideas.
Even better, these were phrases I could use multiple times in a single conversation, so that if I started to lose my confidence or feel a fear of speaking, I could use one of my password phrases to get “back on the bike” of speaking Spanish.
Where to Get Your Passwords
I’ve given you a list of possible English password phrases below. But the best place to get passwords is to listen and find the ones that seem to work best for you.
Don’t crazy with this, however. You only really want – and need – a couple of these for the most common kinds of conversations you’ll likely to have in English.
If you have a list of 20 phrases, that’s too many!
Here are some passwords that can be used in many different situations. I broke these up into three categories:
(1) Phrases you can start a sentence or response with;
(2) Phrases you can use to agree or disagree with what someone else has said; and
(3) Phrases that can be used to “pause” or slow down a conversation.
Starter phrases:
- Well, I think that…
- It seems to me that…
- The fact is that…
- What happens is that… (or What happened was that…)
- The deal is (that)…
For agreeing with people:
- Oh, really?
- That’s true.
- Very interesting.
- I see what you mean.
Disagreeing politely:
- Well, I think that (disagreeing and giving your opinion)
- I don’t quite see it that way…
- That could be, but…
- I’m not so sure, actually…
Pause phrases (all of these can be followed by at least 3-4 seconds of silence while you think):
- Well…
- So…
- Okay, well…
- Yeah (said slowly while you look away as though you were thinking, which you are!)
Note: You can combine any of these pause passwords with the starter passwords - “Well, the fact is that…”
These starter and filler phrases have three important uses, I think:
(1) They give us a chance to “pause” the conversation, to slow things down and give us time to think about what we’re going to say next;
(2) They give us a change to “nail it” - to say and pronounce it perfectly, thus giving us a huge boost or increase in our confidence; and
(3) They help the person listening to us relax.
This third point is more important than you think.
If you have ever spoken to someone who doesn’t speak your language, you know that it can be a little stressful waiting for him to say what he wants to.
You have to listen harder and more carefully, and that requires more work by you, the listener.
The good thing about password phrases is that they are things native speakers are used to, have heard thousands of times, and use themselves in their own conversations.
It makes them more relaxed in listening to you, which means they will usually understand you better.
I later learned that one of the most famous applied linguists of the late 20th century, Dr. Earl Stevick, had discovered this same phenomenon (situation) among expert second language speakers working for the U.S. government (described in his book, Success with Foreign Languages, published around the same time I was in Mexico discovering it for myself).
In talking to other fluent second language speakers, I know that many other people use this “trick” to get themselves speaking with more confidence.
This may seem to be very simple to you, like something you could get out of any textbook.
But what I’m talking about here is much different than just memorizing a few phrases.
I’m saying that if you practice these password phrases and get them so you can say them as close as possible to a native speaker, you can use them strategically in conversation to keep your level of confidence high as you speak, and even to get yourself “back on the bike” when you start to fall off.
To repeat: I’m not saying you should memorize 50 phrases, or even that you should normally try to “memorize” English words and phrases for any purpose.
This is a very special and limited use of “practice” that I’m recommending to you.
It only really works for a small number of phrases, probably fewer than ten.
But I think it does work for many people.
Will it work for you? Try it and see for yourself.
Action Steps:
You need to start with just a two or three of these password phrases. Listen to how other people say them (that’s why listening to English speakers is so important here).
Listen to when and where they say them in a conversation.
Your first goal is to get ONE of these that you can use.
Then add another one. Then another one, and so on.
Practice the phrases in your head. Pretend that you’re having a conversation in your head, and see yourself using the password phrases.
Imagine yourself speaking with a good accent, fluently and effortlessly.
Take care,
Jeff
P.S. If you are looking for an easy source of listening to “passwords,” try the free podcasts here: http://www.eslpod.com
You are receiving this email because you requested my special report on improving your English on 10/13/2017.
Okay, I’ll Shut Up Now
My mother always told me to “listen more than you speak.”
I admit I am not very good at following this advice (sorry, Mom!).
I’ve been talking a lot over the past few weeks, so now it’s your turn.
What questions about improving your English speaking, listening, reading, or writing do you have?
Ask me anything!
If I can answer it, I’ll include it in a future email.
Talk to you again soon,
Jeff
Los Angeles, California
P.S. Don’t forget we have some excellent courses in English in Learn English Magazine. Be sure to take a look!
You are receiving this email because you requested my special report on improving your English on 10/13/2017.
Oh, Here are 10 More Free English Lessons
Hi Kise,
You may not know this yet, but you can actually get 10 more free English lessons from ESLPod.com (audio MP3s only) by subscribing to our podcast in iTunes.
Or you can get these lessons using any podcast app on your computer or phone by using this RSS feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/EnglishAsASecondLanguagePodcast
(and if you’re in China, try this one:
http://www.eslpod.com/feed.xml ).
Or you can listen in your web browser here.
You will hear why we are the world’s most popular language podcast, with 527,000,000+ downloads.*
Once you realize how good our lessons are, start getting the full experience by becoming a Unlimited English Member.
Talk soon,
Jeff
ESLPod.com
- We also have more than 800 5-Star reviews on iTunes and more than 1.27 million students in 189 countries, from Andorra to Korea, Republic of to Zimbabwe (seriously!). Get your English moving again today.
You are receiving this email because you requested two free English lessons from ESLPod.com on 01/16/2018.
How to Use “Stress” and “Pressure” in English
Hi Kise,
Many words in English have similar meanings, but are used differently in different situations.
It isn’t always easy to know when to use one word versus (compared to) another.
Use the wrong word, and people might get confused.
Use the right word, though, you’ll sound much more like a real speaker of English.
The good news is that it is possible to learn how to use the right words in English. Let me show you.
Take (consider), for example, the words “stress” and “pressure.” Stress is a feeling of being very anxious, worried, or upset about something. We often talk about “feeling stress” or being “under stress” when we have a lot of things to do, or when we have some very difficult things to do.
Pressure also refers to having a lot of very serious, difficult problems that we have to deal with or take care of. Like “stress,” we usually speak of being “under pressure” or “feeling the pressure of” a certain situation.
So what’s the difference? When do we use “stress” and when do we use “pressure”?
“Stress” is a more general term that can be used both for worry or anxiety that comes with (is caused by) decisions you make OR someone else makes that affect you.
For example, if I decide to invite 10 people to my house for dinner, I have put myself under a lot of stress (especially since I am a terrible cook!).
If my boss tells me I have to finish this project or report by 5:00 p.m. today, he has put me under a lot of stress.
In both cases, I am “under a lot of stress.”
“Pressure,” however, is usually used to describe just the stress that someone else has caused me, not the stress I cause myself. (I say “usually” since, well, there are are exceptions to every rule!)
That’s why we often use the preposition “from” with “pressure,” since we want to indicate WHO or WHAT is putting us “under pressure.” For example:
I am under a lot of pressure from my boss to do well on this presentation.
Chin was under a lot of pressure from her parents to get good grades in school.
Pressure from friends and family convinced Pablo to quit smoking and start jogging every day.
If you liked this little explanation of the difference between “stress” and “pressure,” then you’ll love the “Listener’s Questions” section of our Cultural English lessons that you get when you join Unlimited English.
Nearly every Cultural English lesson has clear, simple explanations just like this, explaining to you the difference between similar words and phrases in English.
An excellent way to sound like a real speaker of English is to understand these important differences in how we use similar words.
That’s why I explain them to you in our Cultural English lessons.
Become an Unlimited English member today and start sounding like a real English speaker. Just click this link to get started:
Unlimited English Membership
Talk soon,
Jeff
Beauuuuuutiful Los Angeles, California
P.S. One more thing: You sometimes hear a person talk about being “stressed out” or tell other people to “stop stressing me out!”
To stress out is a phrasal verb (a verb consisting of more than one word) meaning to cause someone else stress, or to be stressed by something or someone. It really means the same as “to feel a lot of stress.” Examples:
“John is stressing me out by telling me about all the things I have to do today.”
“I am stressed out by all these healthy people jogging. I wish they’d just sit down and have a drink.”
Don’t let English stress you out! Begin your Select English Membership today - click here to start:
> > Improve Your English Today«
P.P.S. I hope you like these free lessons about English. I’ll send you some more soon . . .
You are receiving this email because you requested two free English lessons from ESLPod.com on 01/16/2018.
My Best Tip for Improving Your English
Hey Kise,
If your English isn’t improving as fast as you want it to, you are not alone.
I’ve taught more than 2 million people English from all around the world (189 countries, to be exact). The one thing I hear most often from thousands of people just like you is that they wish their English would improve faster.
For example, recently a listener from Korea, Republic of asked me for some “tips,” “hints,” and “secrets” to improving his English.
Here is what I told him:
The fastest way to improve your English is
to stop studying English.
Yup (informal way of saying “Yes!), that’s right. That’s what I told him.
Stop. Studying. English.
You think I’m crazy?
But it’s true. The worst way to get better at English is to sit down with a grammar book or vocabulary list and actually study it.
In fact, you know this is wrong, because you have tried it many times. And it doesn’t work, or only works very sloooooooooowly.
Here’s what I think you should do instead of “studying” English: Just listen and read English you can mostly understand.
No “studying.” No “memorizing.” No vocabulary lists, grammar rules, or “repeat-after-me.” Just listen and read English you can mostly understand.
The key part of this “mostly understand.”
If you can understand most of the English you read and listen to, you will more easily pick up (learn) the English you don’t understand.
That’s because the English you already know helps you learn the English you do not know yet.
Get it? What you know helps you figure out what you don’t know.
If you try to listen to English that is TOO HARD for you, you won’t be able to take advantage of (use in the best way) the English you DO know.
For most people, that means knowing at least 80-90% of the words you read or listen to BEFORE you start. Then you can use that 80% to figure out the 20% you do NOT know.
See what I’m saying here? It is VERY important.
The biggest problem you have, however, is finding English you can “mostly understand.”
Dr. Lucy Tse and I decided 10 years ago to finally create dialogues, stories, and explanations that intermediate and advanced English learners like you could actually understand. We called it “ESL Podcast,” and we created more than 1,800 lessons for it.
Now we’re making ALL of those lessons available to you - as many as you want each month - through our Unlimited English Membership.
Learn more about it here:
> > Unlimited English Membership«
If you listened to your free sample lessons, you heard how easy they are to understand.
You’ve heard how we explain all the difficult vocabulary, how we make sure you understand it.
(And if you did NOT listen to these sample lessons, what are you waiting for? You can listen to them again, and our complete Learning Guides, here.)
THAT’S what you need to improve your English quickly. That, and pretty much only that.
You don’t have to suffer through (feel pain) improving your English. There is an easier way.
Get some real English you can actually understand today and start improving your English quickly:
> > Unlimited English Membership«
Talk soon,
Jeff
P.S. If you’re not ready for improving your English with our Unlimited English Membership, at least take a look at our Special Courses in business, daily, and cultural English.
You are receiving this email because you requested two free English lessons from ESLPod.com on 01/16/2018.
New Issue: Learn English Magazine is Back!
Hi Kise,
It’s been too long, I know, but Learn English Magazine is now back with a new issue available on your iOS or Android app!
Download our FREE Issue #16 today!
Here’s what we have in this issue to help you improve your English:
Dozens of new phrases and expressions for daily English.
English With Your Coffee video lesson.
Business English: The company you keep.
Warren Ediger’s America: “Shop Phobia” among men.
Life in the United States: What celebrities request before they perform.
Last Laugh: Laugh and learn English at the same time.
BEFORE you go, one more thing . . .
We now have a NEW way to improve your English that I think you’re going to love.
You can now listen to as many of our 1800+ lessons as you want each month with our new Unlimited English Membership.
You can try it absolutely free - get your first two lessons HERE.
There’s nothing to buy, no forms to fill out . . . just tap here to be taken to your two free lessons.
Questions? Just hit REPLY and ask me!
Talk to you soon,
Jeff
Editor, Learn English Magazine
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