Happy New Year to all Effortless English Club members!
As you know, it is a tradition to make resolutions at the beginning of the year. The word "resolution" has a couple of meanings, but here it means "a strong decision".
Basically, a New Year's resolution is a goal for the next year.
Hopefully, one of your resolutions is to be an excellent English speaker!
How will you do it? Here are a few links and resources to help you get started on this important goal for 2008:
The 7 Rules Email Course
http://www.EffortlessEnglishClub.com/free.html
This is my free email course. In the course, I tell you 7 methods for improving your English speaking fast. The 7 Rules focus on fluency-- which means speaking and understanding English easily and automatically. Use the 7 Rules when you create your English study plan.
Lingq
http://www.lingq.com
Lingq is run by my friends Steve and Mark Kaufman. They have an excellent system, some of it is free and some you have to pay for. The free system allows you to save and review new vocabulary... which is a great service. When you pay, you can talk to their tutors on the internet (using Skype) and also submit writing for correction. I'm using Lingq now to improve my Spanish-- they offer many different languages! Last week I had my first Spanish Skype chat (Ill be writing more about my experiences with Lingq in the future).
KanTalk
http://www.kantalk.com
This is a great language exchange and social site. At Kantalk, you meet other English learners and speakers. You can sign up for group chats, make friends, and schedule individual talks with other members. The great thing is-- its all free :) Like Lingq, Kantalk members use Skype to communicate with each other.
Those three services will give you a strong start in 2008. This is the year you become an excellent English speaker!
Good luck.
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
American Accent Training- Review
"American Accent Training" is a book and CD set by Ann Cook. You can buy it on Amazon.com. As the title suggests, this is a pronunciation-only system. It is designed for one thing-- to improve your English pronunciation and get you to speak more like an American.
This system has two major strengths. First, it focuses mostly on intonation rather than individual sounds.
Most pronunciation books and CDs focus on the sounds of difficult letters. For example, they spend a lot of time on pronouncing "r" and "l". The result is that students improve these sounds a little, but their overall pronunciation is still terrible.
For most students, INTONATION, not the sounds of letters, is their big problem. Poor intonation is the reason native speakers cannot understand you. Which is why I like American Accent Training-- the program focuses on the most important pronunciation skill.
The second strength of this program is that it is listening based. Surprisingly, many pronunciation programs focus on the EYES instead of the ears. I've seen a lot of books with complicated drawings of the mouth and tongue, for example. All these complicated drawings are useless.
American Accent Training includes 5 CDs, so it is listening focused. And as all Effortless English members know, you learn to speak by listening. You improve speaking with your ears, not your eyes. This is true for pronunciation, as well as fluency, grammar, and vocabulary.
American Accent Training, however, does have one big weakness. It is boring. There are a lot of word lists and sentences to practice, but not of them has any meaning. You spend your time practicing random words and sentences. So, the biggest challenge with this program is finishing it.
I recommend American Accent Training only for students who are advanced and who want to focus all of their energy on pronunciation. If you are very motivated to improve your pronunciation, and can endure some boredom, the program will help you.
For everyone else, I recommend using movies and my english conversation lessons to improve pronunciation. These are much more interesting to use. Simply listen carefully, pause after each sentence, and copy the speaker's pronunciation. Make it a game-- pretend you are an actor!
Good luck with your English learning :)
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
This system has two major strengths. First, it focuses mostly on intonation rather than individual sounds.
Most pronunciation books and CDs focus on the sounds of difficult letters. For example, they spend a lot of time on pronouncing "r" and "l". The result is that students improve these sounds a little, but their overall pronunciation is still terrible.
For most students, INTONATION, not the sounds of letters, is their big problem. Poor intonation is the reason native speakers cannot understand you. Which is why I like American Accent Training-- the program focuses on the most important pronunciation skill.
The second strength of this program is that it is listening based. Surprisingly, many pronunciation programs focus on the EYES instead of the ears. I've seen a lot of books with complicated drawings of the mouth and tongue, for example. All these complicated drawings are useless.
American Accent Training includes 5 CDs, so it is listening focused. And as all Effortless English members know, you learn to speak by listening. You improve speaking with your ears, not your eyes. This is true for pronunciation, as well as fluency, grammar, and vocabulary.
American Accent Training, however, does have one big weakness. It is boring. There are a lot of word lists and sentences to practice, but not of them has any meaning. You spend your time practicing random words and sentences. So, the biggest challenge with this program is finishing it.
I recommend American Accent Training only for students who are advanced and who want to focus all of their energy on pronunciation. If you are very motivated to improve your pronunciation, and can endure some boredom, the program will help you.
For everyone else, I recommend using movies and my english conversation lessons to improve pronunciation. These are much more interesting to use. Simply listen carefully, pause after each sentence, and copy the speaker's pronunciation. Make it a game-- pretend you are an actor!
Good luck with your English learning :)
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Goosebumps
I often write about the benefits of easy, fun reading. In fact, reading easy novels is the best way to improve your vocabulary. If you can listen to audio books of the same novels, you'll improve your speaking too!
The very best approach is to choose a series of novels. By doing this, you get both the benefits of easy reading AND the benefits of narrow reading. The same is true for audio books and listening
Members often email and ask me, "Can you suggest a series of easy novels".... so here are a few that I recommend:
Goosebumps by R.L. Stine
These are scary novels for children. They are about monsters and mysteries and other fun stuff. The reading level is at an intermediate level- about a 3rd or 4th grade level. The Goosebumps series is a perfect one to start with. In fact, I just started reading my first Goosebumps novel in Spanish-- and I have ordered many more from Amazon.com
The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys is a very old series-- I read the books when I was a kid. The novels are about two boys who are private detectives. All of the stories are mysteries.
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew novels are very similar to the Hardy Boys books, but are targeted to a female audience.
Sweet Valley Kids; Sweet Valley High
This is a very big series of romance books. The Sweet Valley Kids books are the easiest and are written for children. The Sweet Valley High books are for High School level readers, but are not too difficult. I recommend starting with the Kids books and reading a lot of them. Of course, read them only if you like romance novels!
All of these series can be found on Amazon.com
I highly recommend reading a lot of them. Fun, easy reading is a great supplement to my english mp3 lessons. Even if you are an advanced English learner, start the habit of reading easy novels. Then gradually read novels that are a little more difficult.
Choose series whenever possible, because "narrow" and concentrated reading produces faster improvement.
This kind of reading, combined with my english mp3 lessons, will produce amazingly fast improvement in your English. Try it for 6 months-- you will be amazed!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
The very best approach is to choose a series of novels. By doing this, you get both the benefits of easy reading AND the benefits of narrow reading. The same is true for audio books and listening
Members often email and ask me, "Can you suggest a series of easy novels".... so here are a few that I recommend:
Goosebumps by R.L. Stine
These are scary novels for children. They are about monsters and mysteries and other fun stuff. The reading level is at an intermediate level- about a 3rd or 4th grade level. The Goosebumps series is a perfect one to start with. In fact, I just started reading my first Goosebumps novel in Spanish-- and I have ordered many more from Amazon.com
The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys is a very old series-- I read the books when I was a kid. The novels are about two boys who are private detectives. All of the stories are mysteries.
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew novels are very similar to the Hardy Boys books, but are targeted to a female audience.
Sweet Valley Kids; Sweet Valley High
This is a very big series of romance books. The Sweet Valley Kids books are the easiest and are written for children. The Sweet Valley High books are for High School level readers, but are not too difficult. I recommend starting with the Kids books and reading a lot of them. Of course, read them only if you like romance novels!
All of these series can be found on Amazon.com
I highly recommend reading a lot of them. Fun, easy reading is a great supplement to my english mp3 lessons. Even if you are an advanced English learner, start the habit of reading easy novels. Then gradually read novels that are a little more difficult.
Choose series whenever possible, because "narrow" and concentrated reading produces faster improvement.
This kind of reading, combined with my english mp3 lessons, will produce amazingly fast improvement in your English. Try it for 6 months-- you will be amazed!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Power of Narrow Reading and Listening
Dr. Stephen Krashen is the top language learning expert in the world. He just published a new paper with Dr. Clara Lee Brown titled, "What is Academic Language Proficiency?"
In the article, Drs. Krashen and Brown discuss the best strategies for learning "academic English". Academic English is basically Advanced English. Its the English you need to succeed in universities and professional jobs.
Academic English is the next step after fluency.
So, how do you learn academic fluency? What does the research show?
1. Narrow Reading and Listening
"The narrow reading strategy is to read texts by one author, which helps ensure comprehension and natural repetition of vocabulary and grammar." (Krashen, 2004b).
Many students believe that they must listen to MANY different speakers and read many different authors. But, in fact, this is a less successful method. Picking just one speaker or writer is much better. Why?
Because speakers and writers naturally repeat many words and phrases. Each speaker has their favorite set of phrases. In speech, they naturally use these many times. By focusing on just one speaker, you will automatically get a lot of repetition of new vocabulary and grammar.
In other words, you will learn English deeply. If you want to learn academic English, you should listen to a speaker who discusses advanced topics. For example, in my level 3. lessons, you hear me discuss many academic-level topics related to culture, politics, human rights, and relationships.
By listening to all of the lessons, you naturally get a lot of repetition of common academic words, phrases, and grammar. You learn these deeply, but you don't need to try to memorize them. You learn deeply and automatically. You learn them effortlessly.
2. Don't Study Word Lists or Grammar Rules
We acquire language and develop literacy by understanding messages, not by consciously learning about language and not by deliberate memorization of rules of grammar and vocabulary (Krashen, 1981, 2003).
This is a very important point. To learn Academic Level English, you do not study grammar rules.... and you do not memorize vocabulary lists. As Dr. Krashen says, these strategies are failures. They are not successful.
To learn Academic Level English, you must listen to and read a lot of academic English-- and you must understand it. This seems simple, right?
The important point is that you MUST understand what you hear and read. How do you do that if the English is difficult? First, you can use interesting and fun lessons that help you understand more difficult articles and speeches.
Second, you can start with easy speeches and books, then slowly find more difficult ones. For example, you start listening to easy audiobooks for children. You pick one writer-speaker and listen to all of their books.
Soon, these will seem easy, so you find some books and audiobooks that are a little more difficult. You keep repeating this process, and within a year, you are reading adult novels.... and listening to adult audiobooks.
Finally, you choose academic level books, magazines, and audiobooks that interest you, and you listen to them everyday.
By following these methods, you will learn Academic English. You will understand Advanced vocabulary and grammar. You will correctly use advanced vocabulary and grammar.
And you will never again study grammar rules and vocabulary lists!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
In the article, Drs. Krashen and Brown discuss the best strategies for learning "academic English". Academic English is basically Advanced English. Its the English you need to succeed in universities and professional jobs.
Academic English is the next step after fluency.
So, how do you learn academic fluency? What does the research show?
1. Narrow Reading and Listening
"The narrow reading strategy is to read texts by one author, which helps ensure comprehension and natural repetition of vocabulary and grammar." (Krashen, 2004b).
Many students believe that they must listen to MANY different speakers and read many different authors. But, in fact, this is a less successful method. Picking just one speaker or writer is much better. Why?
Because speakers and writers naturally repeat many words and phrases. Each speaker has their favorite set of phrases. In speech, they naturally use these many times. By focusing on just one speaker, you will automatically get a lot of repetition of new vocabulary and grammar.
In other words, you will learn English deeply. If you want to learn academic English, you should listen to a speaker who discusses advanced topics. For example, in my level 3. lessons, you hear me discuss many academic-level topics related to culture, politics, human rights, and relationships.
By listening to all of the lessons, you naturally get a lot of repetition of common academic words, phrases, and grammar. You learn these deeply, but you don't need to try to memorize them. You learn deeply and automatically. You learn them effortlessly.
2. Don't Study Word Lists or Grammar Rules
We acquire language and develop literacy by understanding messages, not by consciously learning about language and not by deliberate memorization of rules of grammar and vocabulary (Krashen, 1981, 2003).
This is a very important point. To learn Academic Level English, you do not study grammar rules.... and you do not memorize vocabulary lists. As Dr. Krashen says, these strategies are failures. They are not successful.
To learn Academic Level English, you must listen to and read a lot of academic English-- and you must understand it. This seems simple, right?
The important point is that you MUST understand what you hear and read. How do you do that if the English is difficult? First, you can use interesting and fun lessons that help you understand more difficult articles and speeches.
Second, you can start with easy speeches and books, then slowly find more difficult ones. For example, you start listening to easy audiobooks for children. You pick one writer-speaker and listen to all of their books.
Soon, these will seem easy, so you find some books and audiobooks that are a little more difficult. You keep repeating this process, and within a year, you are reading adult novels.... and listening to adult audiobooks.
Finally, you choose academic level books, magazines, and audiobooks that interest you, and you listen to them everyday.
By following these methods, you will learn Academic English. You will understand Advanced vocabulary and grammar. You will correctly use advanced vocabulary and grammar.
And you will never again study grammar rules and vocabulary lists!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Deep Learning
My Effortless English Lessons contain three levels. Level 1 lesson sets are at a low intermediate level. The audio and text articles are shorter, and I speak more slowly in the Mini-Story lessons.
Even though these are "intermediate" level lessons, all learners should use them-- even advanced learners. Why? Because advanced learners usually have a lot of basic problems. They may know a lot of vocabulary, for example, but may not know many common phrases that native speakers use.
Advanced learners also have another BIG problem- they often "know" very difficult grammar, but when they speak, they make very simple grammar mistakes. This is because they learned with old methods- they learned to analyze English grammar but they never learned to "feel" correct grammar. They didn't learn it deeply.
So, even advanced learners need to practice the level 1 lessons-- all of them.
Next are the level 2 lesson sets. These still contain fairly short text and audio articles, but I speak faster. The Mini-Story lessons are much faster... and there are some Point of View lessons too. The level 2 lessons increase your "processing speed". You also learn a lot of idioms and phrases.
What is processing speed? Its how fast you understand (and speak) English. For example, you might "know" a lot of vocabulary, but when you hear native speakers you still can't understand. Why not? Probably because your processing speed is slow. Your brain can't understand whole phrases and sentences and it cant understand them quickly. Level 2 lesson sets help you improve.
Finally, there are the level 3 lesson sets. This is the biggest group of lessons. These lesson sets include much more difficult text and audio articles. The Mini-Stories are much more difficult too... I speak quite quickly-- at a quick (but normal) native rate of speech.
When you finish all of the level 3 lesson sets, your processing speed is fast. Also, you know a lot of vocabulary, including common idioms, phrases, and slang.
For all students, it is important to do ALL of the lesson sets. Whatever your level, start with the level 1 lesson sets, and do all of them (one set per week). Then go to the level 2 sets, and then to the level 3 sets. Do not skip any sets or any levels.
You listen to one set every day-- for one week (or more). In this way, you learn everything deeply. You learn to understand quickly. You learn to speak fast-- and effortlessly. You are a fluent English speaker!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
Even though these are "intermediate" level lessons, all learners should use them-- even advanced learners. Why? Because advanced learners usually have a lot of basic problems. They may know a lot of vocabulary, for example, but may not know many common phrases that native speakers use.
Advanced learners also have another BIG problem- they often "know" very difficult grammar, but when they speak, they make very simple grammar mistakes. This is because they learned with old methods- they learned to analyze English grammar but they never learned to "feel" correct grammar. They didn't learn it deeply.
So, even advanced learners need to practice the level 1 lessons-- all of them.
Next are the level 2 lesson sets. These still contain fairly short text and audio articles, but I speak faster. The Mini-Story lessons are much faster... and there are some Point of View lessons too. The level 2 lessons increase your "processing speed". You also learn a lot of idioms and phrases.
What is processing speed? Its how fast you understand (and speak) English. For example, you might "know" a lot of vocabulary, but when you hear native speakers you still can't understand. Why not? Probably because your processing speed is slow. Your brain can't understand whole phrases and sentences and it cant understand them quickly. Level 2 lesson sets help you improve.
Finally, there are the level 3 lesson sets. This is the biggest group of lessons. These lesson sets include much more difficult text and audio articles. The Mini-Stories are much more difficult too... I speak quite quickly-- at a quick (but normal) native rate of speech.
When you finish all of the level 3 lesson sets, your processing speed is fast. Also, you know a lot of vocabulary, including common idioms, phrases, and slang.
For all students, it is important to do ALL of the lesson sets. Whatever your level, start with the level 1 lesson sets, and do all of them (one set per week). Then go to the level 2 sets, and then to the level 3 sets. Do not skip any sets or any levels.
You listen to one set every day-- for one week (or more). In this way, you learn everything deeply. You learn to understand quickly. You learn to speak fast-- and effortlessly. You are a fluent English speaker!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Exciting Things
At the moment, I am on vacation in Honduras. Im on Roatan Island, SCUBA diving for the next week. So far, the diving has been fantastic. I have gotten my Advanced certification, and also certification in Enriched Air Diving (Nitrox).
When I return to San Francisco, we'll be working on several new exciting things. At the moment, our two new teachers, Kristin and Chris, are working on new lesson "albums". Kristin and I are finishing the movie lessons.
As you know, my Effortless English Club lessons include two sample movie lessons. In these lessons, you have the text from a real Hollywood movie. For each scene, there is also a Vocabulary lesson-- I explain difficult phrases, especially idioms and slang. Then there is a Listen & Answer Mini-Story lesson (or more than one). This is the most powerful lesson. In the Mini-Story, we ask a lot of questions while telling a story. You answer the questions. As you hear the questions and answer them, you effortlessly learn vocabulary and grammar.... and you learn them deeply.
Some lesson sets also include a Point of View Lesson-- in which we tell the same story using different grammar (past, future, etc).
Chris and I are working on a Core Fluency Lesson album. These lessons focus on the most common English words, phrases, and grammar. When you finish these lessons, you will master the most common English-- allowing you to speak easily to native speakers. The Core Fluency lessons will be great for learners who want to strengthen their fluency, or for learners who are lower level.
The Movie Lessons will be a great addition to my Effortless English Club Lessons-- you will continue to improve while learning more idioms and common American slang!
So, continue to check this blog for more news about the new lessons.
Meanwhile, the best way to get started is with my Effortless English Lessons. Enjoy English!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
When I return to San Francisco, we'll be working on several new exciting things. At the moment, our two new teachers, Kristin and Chris, are working on new lesson "albums". Kristin and I are finishing the movie lessons.
As you know, my Effortless English Club lessons include two sample movie lessons. In these lessons, you have the text from a real Hollywood movie. For each scene, there is also a Vocabulary lesson-- I explain difficult phrases, especially idioms and slang. Then there is a Listen & Answer Mini-Story lesson (or more than one). This is the most powerful lesson. In the Mini-Story, we ask a lot of questions while telling a story. You answer the questions. As you hear the questions and answer them, you effortlessly learn vocabulary and grammar.... and you learn them deeply.
Some lesson sets also include a Point of View Lesson-- in which we tell the same story using different grammar (past, future, etc).
Chris and I are working on a Core Fluency Lesson album. These lessons focus on the most common English words, phrases, and grammar. When you finish these lessons, you will master the most common English-- allowing you to speak easily to native speakers. The Core Fluency lessons will be great for learners who want to strengthen their fluency, or for learners who are lower level.
The Movie Lessons will be a great addition to my Effortless English Club Lessons-- you will continue to improve while learning more idioms and common American slang!
So, continue to check this blog for more news about the new lessons.
Meanwhile, the best way to get started is with my Effortless English Lessons. Enjoy English!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Greek Family Lessons
"Greek Family" is one of my intermediate level lesson sets. The set has several parts:
1. A real letter from a woman who is married to a Greek man. The woman writes about her problems with his family. Because she is not Greek, they do not accept her. Even worse, they don't accept her children either. The couple lives in America. In many ways, the letter sounds like it was written about the family in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
2. An audio version of the letter. All lesson sets include both a text article and an audio version. Audio is very important because you improve your speaking by listening. Listening to native speakers is the best way to improve your speech: your pronunciation, your spoken grammar, your spoken vocabulary, and your understanding.
3. A Vocabulary Lesson: In the vocabulary lesson, I explain difficult vocabulary. I especially focus on difficult phrases and idioms. Individual words are easy to find in a dictionary, but phrases and idioms are often difficult to understand-- unless a native speaker explains them.
4. A Listen & Answer Mini-Story: The Listen & Answer Story is the most important lesson. In this lesson, I tell a story with questions. I ask many, many questions. Most are quite easy. You answer every question with a loud voice. If necessary, you pause your computer or iPod and then answer.
The question technique I use is very powerful, for two reasons. First, the questions create a lot of repetition of important structures (grammar) and vocabulary. Its not enough to hear something one time-- you will forget it. But in these lessons, you hear the important phrases MANY times. You learn them deeply-- so you understand them instantly and automatically.
Secondly, the question technique is powerful because you must participate. You must respond. You must answer. This is like a real conversation. In real conversations, someone asks you a question, and you answer. Most textbooks and tapes don't ask enough questions.. and the student just sits there (or even worse... the teacher says, "repeat after me"-- terrible). In my Listen and Answer lessons, you learn to think in English. You hear a lot of questions and you answer all of them. After using all of my lessons, you will be ready for real conversations!
4. Point of View Stories. The Point of View stories tell the exact same Mini-Story... but each one uses different grammar. By listening to all of them, you practice the Past tenses, the Perfect tenses, and the Future. But don't worry-- you never study boring grammar rules. You don't even need to know the names of the verb tenses. You learn to understand and use them naturally-- without thinking-- just like a native speaker.
By using all parts of the lesson set, you learn English deeply. You learn to use English automatically. You learn effortlessly.
Enjoy!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
1. A real letter from a woman who is married to a Greek man. The woman writes about her problems with his family. Because she is not Greek, they do not accept her. Even worse, they don't accept her children either. The couple lives in America. In many ways, the letter sounds like it was written about the family in the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
2. An audio version of the letter. All lesson sets include both a text article and an audio version. Audio is very important because you improve your speaking by listening. Listening to native speakers is the best way to improve your speech: your pronunciation, your spoken grammar, your spoken vocabulary, and your understanding.
3. A Vocabulary Lesson: In the vocabulary lesson, I explain difficult vocabulary. I especially focus on difficult phrases and idioms. Individual words are easy to find in a dictionary, but phrases and idioms are often difficult to understand-- unless a native speaker explains them.
4. A Listen & Answer Mini-Story: The Listen & Answer Story is the most important lesson. In this lesson, I tell a story with questions. I ask many, many questions. Most are quite easy. You answer every question with a loud voice. If necessary, you pause your computer or iPod and then answer.
The question technique I use is very powerful, for two reasons. First, the questions create a lot of repetition of important structures (grammar) and vocabulary. Its not enough to hear something one time-- you will forget it. But in these lessons, you hear the important phrases MANY times. You learn them deeply-- so you understand them instantly and automatically.
Secondly, the question technique is powerful because you must participate. You must respond. You must answer. This is like a real conversation. In real conversations, someone asks you a question, and you answer. Most textbooks and tapes don't ask enough questions.. and the student just sits there (or even worse... the teacher says, "repeat after me"-- terrible). In my Listen and Answer lessons, you learn to think in English. You hear a lot of questions and you answer all of them. After using all of my lessons, you will be ready for real conversations!
4. Point of View Stories. The Point of View stories tell the exact same Mini-Story... but each one uses different grammar. By listening to all of them, you practice the Past tenses, the Perfect tenses, and the Future. But don't worry-- you never study boring grammar rules. You don't even need to know the names of the verb tenses. You learn to understand and use them naturally-- without thinking-- just like a native speaker.
By using all parts of the lesson set, you learn English deeply. You learn to use English automatically. You learn effortlessly.
Enjoy!
Listen To This Article at:
The Effortless English Podcast.
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