Don't Waste Your Time Learning English Like This

0:00 how can you really learn to speak English confidently let me

0:04 help you speed up the process by telling you in 10 minutes

0:08 what I learned in 10 [Music] years hello it's Keith

0:23 from the Keith speaking Academy

0:25 and the YouTube channel English speaking success here

0:27 to help you become a more confident English speaker now then

0:32 I've spent over 10 years actually no over 20 years I should

0:38 change the title over 20 years learning languages like French Chinese

0:44 Spanish and I feel like I'm a confident speaker of those languages

0:50 however what most people don't know is that I've also tried

0:53 to learn Italian Malay and Japanese and I was less success successful

1:01 why was I successful in some of them and unsuccessful in others

1:07 what is it that worked and that didn't work and how

1:10 can I help you become a more confident speaker of English

1:14 in this video I'm going to tell you five things that work

1:20 and will help you learn English more effectively these are five

1:23 things they're based on linguistic research but also on my personal

1:28 experience so it's kind of mixing a bit of Science

1:31 and a bit of anecdote I'll tell you five things that work

1:35 and the opposite that doesn't work and all of this will

1:39 help you become that confident English speaker ready let's dive in right

1:49 number one to effectively learn English and become confident you

1:52 must be focused in English we say to put the blinkers

1:57 on or to have your blinkers on if you've ever watched horse

2:01 racing you see the horses have these things on their eyes right

2:04 so they cannot see these are blinkers so to put

2:08 your blinkers on is to be very focused and only see one

2:13 thing um because otherwise you're going to get distracted and you're

2:17 not going to study okay you got to be really really focused

2:20 my experience in Italy um did you know I actually lived

2:24 in Italy and taught the Italian police I was working for the Itali

2:30 police as their English teacher there are some interesting stories there

2:34 maybe for another day the thing is through that those months

2:39 I was there I was there for two months I

2:41 picked up some Italian right getting by in the coffees

2:44 and and in the shops and restaurants and for about a week

2:47 or two when I got home I carried on practicing but then I

2:52 didn't have time I was too busy and I it just

2:55 didn't happen I wasn't focused it wasn't a priority and this is

3:01 an important lesson I learned you have to make things a priority

3:06 otherwise something else will come up and you won't do it

3:10 oh I've got my English class no but I've got

3:12 this to do and that to do I haven't got time the biggest

3:16 lesson I learned then was never to say I don't have

3:20 time CU what that really means is I choose not to do

3:26 this and I learn to change that whenever I said no

3:30 I don't have time for this no no no I choose

3:34 not to do this that's the reality because you have time

3:38 if you don't do your English class in that hour you'll do

3:42 something else right you're not going to stop breathing for an hour

3:45 you'll do something else you choose not to do the English

3:50 study always right so be clear about being focused making it

3:55 a priority and saying I choose to do it or I

3:59 choose choose not to but it's your choice always number two

4:08 be persistent what a lovely word persistent persistent and it means

4:16 to continue or to keep going I often tell my students

4:20 that learning English is not a Sprint it's not 100 meters it's

4:24 a marathon and you need to keep going right be persistent

4:29 the thing is if you go on social media a lot

4:34 of influencers will tell you now you can get fluent in three

4:39 months um you can learn English in with these five words

4:43 in 10 minutes the thing is right as people on social

4:49 media um we've always got one eye on the views and one

4:55 eye on the education and there's always a balance and so

4:58 a lot of influence influencers will we'll try and convince you that it's

5:04 easy you can do it in three months you can

5:06 become fluent it's not true it takes time if you go

5:11 to the Cambridge English website it'll tell you to move up

5:15 a band um like a B1 to a B2 it will typically take

5:21 what 200 hours of guided study and learning and the higher

5:26 up you go the more time it takes so very often

5:30 schools and courses will run for one year or nine months

5:34 to move up a level taking into account you know space repetition

5:39 and all of that nine months for a level that's

5:42 more realistic it does take time so you must be persistent

5:47 and the trick here is if you enjoy your study you're going

5:53 to be persistent you're going to carry on so do that enjoy

5:59 your study find materials you enjoy that you like that are engaging

6:04 and that's going to help you a lot let's move on okay

6:11 number three is find your mojo Mojo what I mean really

6:17 is Mojo motivation right find your motivation because you need to be

6:24 motivated to learn another language like English one way to harness

6:30 your motivation I mean to get motivated is to have specific

6:35 and realistic goals and ones that you can measure I think

6:40 smart goals right but specific and realistic so sometimes and I I

6:45 look at the comments in my video chat and sometimes students

6:48 say well I'm a beginner now and I want to be

6:51 fluent in English um okay it's it's a nice ambition I'm

6:56 a beginner now I want to be fluent in English it's not

6:59 very specific what do you mean by fluent and when how

7:04 long and and it's just it's too big I think and it's

7:07 too far away it's like the stars make it more specific

7:11 and realistic a much better goal would be I'm a beginner

7:15 now and I want to be able to speak and communicate

7:19 my ideas on some common topics in the next six months something

7:28 like that is much more specific you could even say which

7:32 topics and a teacher will come and say that's great we'll take

7:35 you from A2 to B1 in six months that's basically it

7:41 and and and it's something you can measure especially if you

7:44 identify the topics that's something it's more specific it's realistic and it's

7:50 measurable as well so all of that can really really help

7:53 now the thing with motivation is you need to feed

7:56 your motivation it's like your dog or your cat P if you

8:00 have one if you don't feed your pet they will become

8:05 lazy and tired they'll have no energy and ultimately I'm afraid they'll

8:09 die like your motivation it'll disappear so you must feed

8:13 your motivation right what do you give your motivation the best thing

8:18 you can do is remind yourself why you're doing this why

8:23 am I learning English and maybe it's because well because you want

8:28 to travel and speak to other people if you're studying IELTS

8:33 actually your goal is not IELTS right your your goal is

8:36 the reason why because I want to study abroad I want

8:40 to actually work and live abroad or take my family abroad and have

8:44 a better life that's the why and so in those difficult

8:49 moments when your motivation is down remember the why another thing

8:57 you can do and I did this when learning Spanish um

9:00 I was living in Spain I was there for about a year

9:04 I was there for a long time but after a year

9:06 I decided to join some classes and my roommate said what why

9:13 are you doing classes I mean we live in Madrid just

9:16 go on the street and talk to people and I said yeah

9:19 I know I do but I just I always say the same

9:22 things and you know and I don't really know many people

9:26 when I went to the class oh it was Just My Level

9:30 went up because I was learning much wider not language vocabulary

9:36 grammar but I was also connecting with people I was making

9:40 friends I was talking to people in the same boat as me

9:45 we weren't in a boat idiomatically we were in the same

9:48 situation and it was just it was great to connect with others

9:52 and when when my motivation was lagging we could cheer each

9:56 other up and say you know keep going connect to others

9:59 it was invaluable the best thing I ever did even though

10:03 I was living in Spain at the time joined a Spanish course

10:07 um and finally I think a nice thing to do is

10:10 to reward yourself when you reach a goal or part of a goal

10:14 um just give yourself a pat on the back I can't

10:18 reach but reward yourself say great I've done it I've done

10:23 a month study I've studied every day I've I've learned to speak

10:26 about this this and this great go to the cinema go

10:31 and buy yourself a book give yourself a little reward keep

10:36 the motivation going feed your motivation let me feed you with some

10:41 more ideas moving on to number four number four is Big

10:50 Goal small steps now this is related to the motivation but so

10:56 having a big goal is great breaking it down into small

11:00 steps is really important what you're going to do step by step

11:04 if you've ever been walking in the mountains if you like

11:08 rambling right sometimes you say you go out rambling you say

11:12 right we're going to go in a big circle um for 10

11:16 kilometers and you go it's going to take ages that isn't

11:22 great what's much better is to say well okay we'll do

11:25 a circle but first we go to that Peak then we'll go

11:29 to that Lake then we'll go down the valley to the village

11:33 and then we'll come around and there are steps small steps

11:37 and you think oh yeah that's doable little things you'll achieve

11:41 on the way that's great so when I arrived in China

11:47 many years ago I knew that I wanted to speak Chinese

11:53 and I really wanted to speak to a very high level I

11:55 was a bit like I'm a beginner I want to be

11:58 fluent in Chinese but I also realized that's not going to work

12:02 so I broke it down I thought right what am I

12:04 going to do the first year I'm here I want to be

12:08 able to communicate with family and friends that was key second

12:13 I wanted to be able to have daily conversations with people

12:17 on the street in the shops thirdly I actually wanted to be

12:21 able to work in Chinese to function in Chinese so I

12:27 broke that down into three goals each one a year

12:32 and the first one I remember every day for about eight months I

12:37 went for an hour or an hour and a half to class

12:41 before work 8:00 in the morning boom to class an hour

12:45 and a half and then go to work and did that for eight

12:48 months and that took me up to like an A2 level

12:53 and I was able to talk to family and friends very

12:56 simple like pass me the sugar and I like this things

13:01 like that the key was Big Goal small steps you

13:06 see the small steps help you focus on the present moment

13:12 on the now when you've got big goals you start thinking oh

13:17 God it's so much it's too much it's overwhelming the more you

13:21 think the less you are present um you're lost in your thoughts

13:26 to avoid that to be present small steps because the small

13:31 step helps you focus in the present moment and it works

13:35 much much better so if you've got your goal of getting

13:40 let's say a band seven in IELTS think about small steps

13:44 first three months the next three months the next three months what

13:48 are you going to do how are you going to reach

13:49 it Big Goal small steps let's move on number five practice Lots

14:00 you see the big state the big mistake a lot

14:03 of students make and I did as well um although I'm going

14:07 to blame my teacher at school with French is we studied too

14:11 much we just studied and by study I mean reading and reading

14:16 learning the rules learning the grammar reading reading a bit

14:19 of listening it was all passive it was study we weren't actually

14:26 practicing we weren't speaking writing very little right and that's what

14:33 happened at French and so you know I got to the age

14:35 of 18 having studied French for 10 years and I couldn't

14:39 speak that's ridiculous so it's so important practice Lots wherever you

14:46 are now and as you're studying whether it's with videos my videos

14:51 or with a book as you study practice at the same

14:54 time you can practice speaking out practice making phrases changing phrases

14:59 you can use the speaking success system that you can learn

15:03 from my videos um you can practice in the real world

15:07 you can practice online with classmates or students or teachers um online

15:12 is the real world as well right or face to face

15:17 it doesn't matter but as you're studying practice as much as you

15:22 study and that will help you become a more effective learner

15:27 and a more confident speaker of English next right Point number

15:36 six hang on Keith you said five I did I know

15:41 all right you can call this a bonus if you like

15:44 or Point number six and that is review and I couldn't leave

15:48 you without telling you how important it is to review to become

15:53 an effective learner and speaker of English review because well there's

15:59 a lot of Science and theory behind this do you remember teachers

16:03 will probably know ebbing house Herman ebing house and his learning

16:07 curve or his well his memory curve some call it a forgetting

16:11 curve that after a certain number of hours a lot

16:16 of people say 24 hours you you will forget 70% of what

16:21 you've studied if you don't review and then several days later

16:25 you need to review again or the learn your learning goes goes

16:29 down there's a lot of Mythology around this and even you know

16:34 ebing house he was the researcher and he was the the person

16:39 undergoing the research he was the candidate if you like so

16:45 I think there's a lot of flaws but the general idea

16:48 that if you don't review within a day and within a week

16:52 you are going to forget a large amount um there's also

16:56 spaced repetition Theory right this is what most of the apps

16:59 like du lingo work with that you learn some words and then

17:03 the next day they come back again few days later they

17:06 come back again that spaced repetition and it is it does

17:10 work it's very very important so I think it's essential to review

17:15 what I do with my classes learning French or Spanish now

17:19 is after the class I review after a few hours the notes

17:23 I've taken and then a day or two later I don't

17:27 review the notes but I listen or watch something on the same

17:30 topic so if I've been watching something about weather I'll listen

17:34 to the weather report or I'll watch a film about

17:37 weather or I'll do something on a similar topic so there's

17:40 a a recycling of language reviewing

17:45 and recycling basically hugely important very

17:49 valuable quite easy to do just find time remember don't say I

17:55 don't have time it's I don't choose to do it or I

17:59 choose to do it the choice is in your hands okay

18:06 so there you have it five or six different ways to help

18:08 you become a more confident speaker now I realize I am

18:12 mixing research and anecdote here right and you know that's what

18:17 I did to build my online course I speaking Gold Course

18:22 um it's a mixture I mean it's based on Research I

18:25 did in my Master's Degree on digital education which I did very

18:28 very late in life um but also anecdote my own learning

18:32 experience in fact the speaking success system is based on my own

18:37 experience of learning languages um you can watch a video about

18:41 that actually straight after this one if you like um you can

18:44 find out about the course more details on how that might

18:47 be able to help you in the links Below in the description

18:51 and the comments that's it for today listen thank you so

18:54 much for taking the time to be with me um if

18:57 you've liked it you know what to do if you subscribe

19:01 you know what to do and listen I can't wait to see

19:04 you in the next video keep going be focused persistent motivated

19:10 and all the rest of it take care my friend bye-bye [Music]