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  • What is up guys? I'm Ethan your RealLife English fluency coach

  • and in today's lesson we are going to talk about six things that you need to do

  • every day in order to improve your

  • English communication skills so if you have ever had that feeling

  • where you're about to get into a conversation and

  • freeze up or that really what you hear in your head

  • doesn't come out of your mouth then this lesson is for you!

  • And really the best part is that you don't need to go live

  • in an English-speaking country you can create your own immersion experience

  • wherever you are in the world so I promise you that if

  • you do these six things every single day you are going to notice

  • a huge transformation in your ability to confidently

  • communicate in English.

  • So let's get into it but quickly before

  • we do I want to let you know that if you are

  • new here every week we make new lessons like this one

  • to help you attain the mindset, the method and the mastery

  • that you need to go beyond the classroom and live your English.

  • So if that sounds like something that you want to be able to do it's really

  • simple, hit that subscribe button and the bell down

  • below so you don't miss any of our new lessons.

  • Alright so this first one is really fantastic because it will help you with

  • all the other five tips that I have for you today.

  • So all the other five are actually going to be about

  • different things that you can do to learn and study that will help you

  • improve daily and one of the easiest way to make

  • different habits like this effortless is by connecting them to your already

  • existing daily routines.

  • Now although there's a lot of different

  • lessons out there about the same topic of different things that you should do

  • every day in English I haven't really seen any other teachers

  • talk about the importance of routines.

  • Now this is really about your mindset

  • for learning English, for me personally I really like planning

  • out my days and my weeks on Google Calendars now if you get in

  • the habit of planning out your days and your weeks and maybe even your years

  • it can be a really life-changing thing for you because all

  • of a sudden you're in control of where your life's going,

  • you get to design exactly what you want to happen in your life.

  • I actually use a guide from a website called Live Your Legend which is really

  • fantastic and it's also free, I will link that down in the description below.

  • Now I work a lot and so for me this is really essential to be able to fit in

  • all the important priorities around my work that's things like

  • exercising, meditating, cooking, doing other things

  • around the house, studying and currently i'm actually

  • learning how to sing.

  • Now you know just like brushing your

  • teeth or showering learning English should become something that is

  • non-negotiable, that you do every single day even if

  • it's just 10 minutes so of course to do this it becomes

  • really important to know your already existing daily routines.

  • So basically what i'm going to do to help you figure this out

  • is to ask you some different questions, now you can just think this in your head

  • but you might also want to actually get a piece of paper and write it down

  • because this will really help you to start thinking about your daily planning.

  • So first off,

  • All right now that you have that in your

  • mind or maybe even on paper it's going to help you a lot to think

  • about how you can fit the next five activities

  • into your everyday life now as an English learner listening is

  • essential you need to do it at least

  • twice as much as you speak

  • but the great news is is that listening is super convenient to fit in throughout

  • your day and there's so many different ways to do

  • it that you're guaranteed to find some way that you love

  • so definitely one way that maybe you're already doing is learning with music

  • now of course it's not enough to just listen to music on the radio in English

  • while you're driving to work you actually need to actively learn why

  • you're listening to music so of course you need to learn with the

  • lyrics now i really like Spotify because with most popular music they

  • show you the lyrics on screen while you're listening

  • so you probably can't do this in your car but maybe if you take the bus to

  • work or if you're somewhere else where you're

  • sitting and can listen at the same time this is a really fantastic way to learn

  • and then you can test yourself by going to LyricsTraining or downloading the

  • app on your phone and then of course once you've actually

  • learned the lyrics of a song then a really fantastic way to kind of

  • improve your English on the go is to listen to it while you're doing

  • other things just have it on in the background.

  • Now the next thing that you could do is listening to the radio or listening to

  • an audio book and if you're not already you

  • should definitely give listening to podcasts a try

  • a really great place to start could be with our own RealLife English podcast

  • which is a really great way for you to learn with kind of lessons like this

  • but it's more through informal native conversations between me

  • and Andrea your other fluency coach and Justin

  • so you can find that and subscribe on Spotify,

  • Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio or anywhere else where you listen to podcasts.

  • So i'll be sure to link that up here and down in the description below.

  • Anyways this is exactly why we did that exercise at the beginning

  • because now you can take a look at your schedule and think of what convenient

  • moments do you have

  • where you could be listening to things

  • in English.

  • So maybe while you're preparing your

  • breakfast in the morning you could be listening to the news on the radio in English.

  • you could listen to an audiobook while

  • you're in your car on the way to work or you could even listen to songs while

  • you're in the shower and sing along and this is a great way to improve your pronunciation.

  • So as you can see if you're creative

  • there's a million and one ways to improve your listening

  • and it's really convenient so if you do this then you can actually add

  • hours every day of english listening and really take your skills to the next level.

  • And by the way a really fantastic way to

  • build your listening habit and to take your English comprehension

  • vocabulary pronunciation and confidence to the next level

  • is with our RealLife Native Immersion course

  • now in this 41 week course you will learn with episodes of our podcast

  • and it's really a great way to expose yourself

  • to native English as it is spoken in the real world.

  • Plus you get PDF power lessons, vocabulary memorization software,

  • access to our fluency circle global community and so much more

  • and you can try for free right now with our Power Learning Week

  • simply click up here or down description below to learn more and sign up.

  • And on a final note do things because you enjoy them

  • don't just go and start listening to the radio in English because i suggested it to you.

  • If it's not already something you enjoy

  • doing in your native language because the most probable thing is that

  • if you start some new habit but you don't really enjoy it then

  • you're probably going to give up after a short amount of time.

  • So choose things that you already like doing

  • and that way you'll have fun,

  • you'll make it convenient

  • and you're really going to see a huge impact on your English.

  • Alright so we have talked about building

  • routines, we've talked about building different convenient habits

  • into your day, now let's talk about how you can develop some other habits that

  • will really help take your English to the next level.

  • I have a few suggestions for you but then I want you to get kind of creative

  • and think of other things that you could do.

  • So my first tip for you is actually journaling,

  • now various studies have shown the benefits of journaling

  • for things like reflection stress relief and increased gratitude

  • now as an English learner if you start doing this in English it's a really

  • great way to start practicing your writing every single day

  • and don't worry so much about mistakes most learners think that that might make

  • their English worse, it will not, really the important thing

  • to focus on is the actual daily habit of it the

  • actual practice of writing and one thing that you could

  • actually try doing is once you've built a habit of this

  • then go back like two weeks or so and look at the mistakes that you made then

  • kind of from the lens of what you've learned since

  • then and you can probably find some mistakes that you've made and correct

  • them yourself now another really great idea could be

  • getting a teacher because they can actually correct it for you

  • and they'll also hold you accountable to maintaining that habit.

  • Now my recommendation for you to get started with this

  • is to just start small by writing down three things every day that you're

  • grateful for, you could do this while you're having

  • breakfast in the morning or coffee or you could even do this just before bed

  • but i guarantee if you start doing this after a few days you're going to notice

  • that you're more positive and happy throughout your entire day.

  • So the next thing is meditation this is

  • one of my own personal favorite habits that has made such a huge impact on my

  • own life, now one benefit of meditation is that it

  • helps to make you more present now obviously the benefit of this is

  • that you enjoy every moment more, now of course it won't be all the time

  • at first it takes a little while to feel the effects of meditation

  • but if you do actually make a daily practice of this I guarantee

  • that you're going to notice it's just made a huge difference on your life.

  • It can also help you to be less reactive now this means you know with people that

  • you work with or your family members then maybe you won't be so quick to get

  • angry about things you'll be able to reflect on them more

  • and see other people's point of view more this is really helpful when you're

  • learning another language and you're more exposed to people who

  • have different points of views they're from other different cultural

  • backgrounds, also different studies have shown that

  • this helps to reduce stress and of course for you as an English

  • learner one of the most important benefits

  • is that it helps to improve your focus so that when you actually study English

  • you'll get more benefit from it.

  • Now some of the most successful people

  • that you can think of swear by meditation

  • just to give you a few examples Lady Gaga, Will Smith,

  • Katy Perry and Bill Gates are just a few names of people

  • who practice meditation every day and rave about the benefits of it.

  • So if you want to try meditation and feel its benefits then I'll definitely

  • link a couple resources down below, like two of my favorite apps that have

  • definitely helped me a lot Inside Timer and Waking Up and the great

  • thing about both of these is they are guided meditations in English which is

  • another great way to practice your listening

  • and finally we actually have an article on our blog explaining to you how

  • meditation can help your English so go check that out.

  • Now the other habit that you can try building is chatting using apps like

  • Whatsapp, Telegram or others and joining different

  • groups to practice your english now i talked about in the introversion

  • lesson that i made a couple weeks ago that this is just a really great way for

  • you to lower the bar and get some confidence communicating.

  • Now this is really fantastic too because you can just do it during a five-minute

  • break at work while you're having your coffee

  • just jump on the app and read some messages and respond and you'll be

  • getting a little bit of your English practice in.

  • Now I might be biased but the Fluency Circle community is probably one of the

  • best places where you can practice your English by chatting

  • now we have groups on both Facebook and Telegram

  • and this is included with all of our courses such as the ReaLife Native Immersion course

  • that i told you about before.

  • Next our TV series, now if you're like the average person you probably already

  • watch at least some TV so why not actually practice your

  • English while you do this now i'm not going to get into too many

  • tips for you here we can definitely do another video on

  • that but we already have a fantastic resource

  • for you to practice your English with TV Series on our

  • Learn English with TV Series channel here on YouTube

  • so be sure to check that out.

  • Now like TV series, if you enjoy reading this is another really great thing that

  • you can try doing in English of course start out slow maybe pick

  • something that you have already read in your native language

  • my first book that I ever read in Spanish was Harry Potter, that's a

  • fantastic series to get started with if you like them

  • and be patient recognize that you don't have to understand every single word

  • as long as you understand the context.

  • Now i would love to give you some more

  • tips that have helped me learning language with reading

  • and if you would like us to make a lesson on that then please give us a

  • like down below to let me know and then you

  • can also check out this lesson that I made

  • about six books that will change your English and your life.

  • And then the final one is to do things that aren't related to

  • English learning in English so to give you an example I had a friend

  • who was a huge fan of Game of Thrones and he

  • actually really enjoyed participating in different

  • fan forums talking about different fan theory and this was a great way for him

  • to connect with natives and other English learners

  • around something that he's really passionate about.

  • So get creative,

  • think about the things that you enjoy doing and research what different

  • resources are out there where are people talking about this

  • thing and be sure to check out our Instagram because we give you more tips

  • like this over there.

  • Alright so if you are really committed

  • to reaching the really advanced levels of English

  • then it's not always going to necessarily be fun actually maybe if

  • you're a bit of a geek like me you will actually find it fun so you

  • actually need to spend some deliberate study time every single

  • day in English.

  • Now what does deliberate mean?

  • Deliberate means doing things that challenge you to practice certain details that help to

  • sharpen your skills now if you're serious you must do this

  • every single day even if it's just 10 minutes with your

  • breakfast so let me give you some examples of different things that you

  • could do so you could actually do some exercises

  • in a good grammar book, I'll actually link one of

  • my favorites down below.

  • So another really great thing you can do

  • is drill exercises now drilling is repeating the same thing

  • over and over again and this can maybe be a little bit more boring but it is

  • very effective so you can do this with pronunciation

  • one way that helps with this is by practicing minimal pairs

  • and a minimal pair is two words that are the same except for one vowel sound

  • so for example one of the most common examples is ship

  • and sheep now i'll link a website that actually can help you to practice with

  • these you can also drill with different

  • youtube videos that focus on pronunciation

  • or you could try tongue twisters which is a more fun way to do it

  • another really great thing that you can do is learn the International Phonetic Alphabet

  • now this will help you learn every

  • single sound that exists in English and this is important because many of

  • those sounds might not exist in your native language

  • now I highly recommend that you actually record and listen to yourself

  • because you might actually be able to hear a lot of your own errors

  • and of course it can be really beneficial to watch videos on YouTube

  • just like this one but it is only deliberate if you

  • actually take notes and then you actually apply what you

  • learned from that video now if you're watching TV or reading books in English

  • one thing that you can do is actually take note of the new vocabulary and

  • expressions that you're learning and then the next day during your

  • deliberate study time you can look up the definitions and do not just

  • translate these actually look up the definitions in an English

  • dictionary and then add them to a vocabulary memorization software like

  • Anki and then you can actually practice these

  • or you could also write example sentences of these or if you are picking

  • up a journaling habit then why not try using these new

  • vocabulary or expressions in your journal

  • so of course I'm sure you're learning English because you actually want to

  • speak it so you should actually try to practice this every single day.

  • Now you don't need to go live in an English-speaking country you can find

  • ways that you can do this in your own city you have to be creative

  • now you have to be open to opportunities to speak wherever possible

  • whether it's by skype or in person so you can consider you know joining the

  • comments down below and meeting people there

  • or over on our Instagram you could also be looking for opportunities like this

  • in person maybe you could go stay in a hostel if you're in a touristic city

  • and you can meet foreigners this way and start talking with them

  • another really great solution is by joining Facebook groups now I don't just

  • mean joining Facebook groups for English

  • learners actually look for Facebook groups around things that you're

  • passionate about about your deepest interests now one

  • thing that I'm actually doing right now is I'm looking into adopting a dog

  • so i've been joining different dog groups on Facebook

  • and this has been a really great way to meet other dog lovers

  • and to practice my vocabulary around dogs in Spanish

  • and as I mentioned before we have our Fluency Circle community where you have

  • learners from all around the world who are dying to speak with you

  • now if you don't have anyone else to speak with one day then

  • the best thing that you can do is speak to yourself and when you do this again I

  • highly recommend that you actually record yourself

  • and listen back and correct your mistakes now it can be really useful to

  • actually pick different topics because it will kind of build your

  • abilities to talk about that and then actually when you get to speak with

  • someone it will come really easily to you.

  • So this is a great way to start thinking in English as well so a couple tips for

  • how you could do this is for example if you like reading the news then maybe

  • look for a news story that interests you and talk about that just as if you were

  • talking to another person or an article about something else

  • or after you finish this video for example why not record yourself talking

  • about what you just learned and this is also going to have the other benefit

  • of really grilling this information in your brain all right are you ready we

  • are down to the final habit so this is all about getting accountability.

  • Now if someone holds you accountable it

  • basically means that that person makes sure that you're going to do

  • what you committed to doing, now certainly one of the simplest ways to do

  • this is by having a teacher or coach or tutor

  • or language exchange partner who makes sure that you're going to show

  • up to class or to that skype session that you have talked about

  • now it doesn't necessarily need to be this though if you have someone close

  • that you live with or that you see every single

  • day like your husband or wife your child or maybe someone you work with then you

  • can have them hold you accountable so a really great tip that I just heard

  • on podcast is getting an accountability partner

  • and actually sending that person a message every morning telling them what

  • you're going to do, so for example for your English you

  • could tell that person what you're going to do for your deliberate study time

  • and then at the end of the day you write them again and you tell them what you

  • actually did so you could do the same for them and then that way you're

  • helping each other grow all right so finally maybe you need to

  • raise the stakes a little bit to give yourself that

  • extra push to do that thing so basically what you would do

  • is set up something that if you don't do the thing you're supposed to do

  • you have to do something else that you really do not want to do

  • so probably the easiest thing would be using money so for example you could

  • tell some friend every day that I don't do my deliberate

  • studying in English I will pay you twenty dollars and you

  • can bet that that friend is going to check in every single day to make sure

  • that you are studying and you're probably not going to want to

  • miss that time more than once or twice but it doesn't necessarily have to do

  • with money maybe if you don't have a lot of it

  • you could choose something else so for example say

  • that your husband takes out the trash every single day

  • now you could tell your husband any day that I don't do my deliberate study

  • I'm going to take out the trash for the next week and i'm sure your husband will

  • also check with you to make sure that you're doing your

  • study every day as he's probably not going to want to take out the trash either.

  • or you could actually take away

  • something that you really enjoy so for example if you really look

  • forward every day to watching TV after work then you could say well if I

  • don't do my studying in the morning then i do not get to watch TV at night

  • now you can get really creative with your own solution but basically the idea

  • of this is to choose something that's going to make sure that if you go

  • to bed at 10 p.m and it's 9 30 p.m and you have not yet done that thing

  • that you're really committed to doing that you are going to be sure to do it

  • before going to bed because you do not want to suffer the consequences.

  • All right so that is all of the habits that I have for you

  • but I want to remind you again to take a look at your schedule,

  • to plan some convenient things that you can do to improve your listening,

  • to develop some new fun habits to get at least

  • 10 minutes of deliberate study time per day and

  • of course to speak whenever you can and find the people who can hold you

  • accountable but also just a warning to pace yourself

  • because generally people get really excited about trying something new

  • they try to take on everything at once and when you do this you will probably

  • just end up getting burnt out and giving up

  • so i want to hear from you comment down below and let me know

  • which of these new habits is the most useful for you and which one are you

  • going to try.

  • Now it's time to go beyond the classroom

  • and live your English, awww yeah!

  • Hey everyone, I'm Andrea your RealLife English

  • fluency coach and today's lesson is really going to

  • help you with those pains you have about learning English.

  • I'm going to give you the best tips and tricks that you can start

  • learning and using so that you can speak English

  • faster but also understand natives better even

  • when we speak fast.

What is up guys? I'm Ethan your RealLife English fluency coach

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