Transcript: The Lazy (& Best) Way To Learn English (Part 2)

Today is the lazy way to learn English. Part two. With a focus more on speaking and reading. Why should we learn the lazy way? Because the lazy way is the way we have time for. It's the easier way. It is the more enjoyable way, and ultimately it is the way that you will do it without quitting. The lazy way is the most sustainable way.

Sustainable meaning it can be done for many years without stopping.

"Our Earth, is so beautiful, little actions help it grow, little actions.
Our Earth, is so beautiful, little actions help it grow, little actions"

I've collected together ideas from the top YouTube videos on this subject, so popular ideas, but also ideas that agree with the science of learning languages that I studied back at university. These ideas include Steven Krashen's, Comprehensible Input, Merrill Swain, her Comprehensible Output, and Michael Long's Interaction Hypotheses.

So these ideas on the science of learning languages. So we've chosen the ones that agree with, so everything's agreeing that these are the best ways to learn in an effortless way, English. Okay.

Tip number one. Last lesson we spoke about listening to podcasts and watching YouTube and Netflix. So, tip number one is—copy what they say.

Repeat what they say right after they say it. Copy it with the same emotion. Copy it the same, going up and down, and copy it with the same spacing between the words. Copy it exactly as you hear it. For example, I'll do an example for you. Here is a scene from Friends. They argue because Chandler has a cigarette.

It's worse than the thumb—Thumb. This is so unfair—So unfair. Why? So I have a flaw. Big deal—Big deal. Like Joey's constant knuckle cracking isn't annoying—Isn't annoying. Is over pronouncing every single word—Pronouncing every word. When she laughs—when she laughs. What the hell is that thing?—Is that thing? I accept all those flaws. Why can't you accept me for this?—Why can't you accept me for this?

And the lazy way is just do it a little bit here, a little bit there. And you do not have to stop the audio. You can just do it while listening to your podcast as normal without stopping the audio. That's the easy way to do it.

Tip two, immersion. Immersion means you when you come into contact as much as possible with the language you are learning. For you, it is English. But remember all this advice can be used to learn any language. Immersion. So how can you create an English world, an English world, in your little world?

One way is, so do you like scrolling? Are you addicted to scrolling? Maybe, you know, like scrolling the reels and shorts on Instagram and TikTok? I mean, many people do it in the evenings now as a normal thing instead of watching TV as they used to. Scrolling.

So how about making a new Instagram or TikTok profile, but on this new profile only follow channels that are in English or Korean, or Spanish or whichever language you are learning.

So a new profile but you only follow the channels in that language. This way, you'll only get the most entertaining reels and shorts in your target language. And it's also a cultural experience. You'll learn a bit about the culture of the place which is exciting, especially if you're gonna study or live there.

Immersion. Another way that you can make your world a little bit more English is change the language on your phone. You can do that.

And here's a third way to create a more English world. So you see English every day. This is to learn nouns. Get sticky notes or small pieces of paper. Write the name of the noun. Stick the paper onto the object.

So for example, write 'pillow' on the paper and stick it on a pillow, and you can stick it onto everything in your house on the paper. For example, write 'lamp', stick it on the lamp, write 'freezer'. Stick it on the freezer, right? 'Kettle' or 'mirror' or 'vitamin C supplements' and stick them onto those objects. Stick, stick, stick, stick, stick, stick these labels onto everything in your house. Actually, at the extreme, like some people, they have like hundreds of labels. So a quick way to learn the nouns.

But it's not just that, you can also stick like grammar points on the wall, you know? So every time you enter the kitchen, you have to quickly make a sentence in the past tense, or the first conditional to enter the kitchen, and you leave the kitchen and every time you go, for every time you go to the toilet, say, but I mean.

Going for a pee pee, maybe it's too much, but if you go, when you go, every time you go for a poo poo, yeah, you have to say one grammar form, you know, as you go in. So using sticky notes around the house, especially sticking them onto objects. And then when once you've remembered it, you can then remove the sticky note.

But do not throw it away. Keep the sticky notes in a drawer or somewhere in your house, and then after a few months, stick them back on. Stick, stick, stick, stick, stick as a review. Okay? This is a good little idea for you.

Another way to immerse yourself in English is to speak more English. Daily, regularly, but, 'Oh, I have nobody to speak to'. Fair enough. You have yourself and that's quite deep, eh, not just speaking English. You always have yourself as you know, the one that will never leave you in the end. So speaking to yourself, you want to do activities where you do not have to think too hard what to say next, but just speaking activities where you can easily just speak.

For example, say everything to yourself that happened yesterday from when you woke up to the night. That's actually a good memory exercise as well. Say everything that happened last year. Yeah. From the start of the year to the end of the year. Or say a classic story to yourself that you know well. Maybe there is a Disney story yeah, that you know well. Or a classic children's story. Say the whole story, beginning, middle, end.

And another thing you can do while you speak these prompts, these stories, uh, make a note, write a note of the words you do not know how to say in English. Then you can find out what these words are in English and then once you have found them out, you can then repeat, repeat the speaking exercise, including the new words. So then you've improved. This is like an improvement you can see in one day.

Other ways you can talk to yourself are think of debate questions. Debate, uh, what is better, A or B? And say why or A, B and C. Example, what is better Indian food or Korean food and why? What is better whales or sharks and why? What is better? Dogs or cats and why? Yeah. Always say. And why? Because it makes you speak more.

A final talking to yourself activity is a classic game. Also, this is a good, like a good social and drinking game, A classic game, 'Would you rather'.
-Would you rather have no arms or no legs? And why?
-Would you rather have five sisters or five brothers? And why?
-Would you rather have children? Or would you rather, here's a good one. Would you rather have seven children or no children? And why?
Yeah. So just, uh, sorry about me saying that and why, I dunno, why I'm doing it. A little bit of fun for me. So yeah, so that's another speaking to yourself activity you can do.

Make it easy. Yeah. Enjoyable. So just do one every day and maybe after you wake up, you do one. Or you have a quick conversation to yourself or after lunch, a quick little speaking exercise, or after your nap, a quick little speaking exercise.

No pressure. Make it easy and make it enjoyable. So you'll do it again and again until you can speak English. A final speaking practice you can do alone. Is if you watch a Netflix show or a movie, or listen to a podcast. After it, say what happened in English. Summarize what happened in English. So you, you watched Batman? Yeah. Then you watched the new Batman quickly speak the beginning, middle, and end of what happened in the story.

Last lesson, we spoke about listening materials. Now let's speak about reading. Reading is the best way to learn English. And remember what you read should be topics you enjoy, but it should be just one level. Uh, just one little level above your level so you understand 80% or more, 80 or 90% or more means you will understand what is generally happening.

You'll understand the storyline and you'll experience, again and again, language you already know in this reading, making it stronger in your memory and your memory recall. And also you'll be experiencing a bit of new language too, but the new language will be around the language you already know. Enough that it will give meaning to the new language.

And why is reading better than listening? Well, in the science of education, most people are visual learners.

Visual learners, people who learn by what they see.

People also learn by what they hear. These are called auditory learners.

In education and some people learn by doing with their hands. Yeah, doing. These are called kinesthetic learners.

So we have different kinds of learners and everyone is is better at one kind. It's believed that most people in the world are visual learners.

And I mean, in my own experience I pick up more language by reading than by listening. But of course I do both because listening is very easy to listen to a podcast when I go to work. But I do learn more while reading. So read simple stories, read simple news.

There's lots of simple news websites in English. And when you are ready. Move to children's books. And then once children's books are easy enough, then you move to teenager's books. And then when teenager's books become, you know, boring and too easy, you can move to, well, very high level here, young adult books. The top level, of course, like C2 or higher is full adult English novels. If you read ones that are written recently, it's easier to understand of course. And if you are like fluent level, you can read the classics, you know, like Withering Heights, Moby Dick. Dracula, Frankenstein, but these are all the books written a hundred, 200 years ago. So you have to be, I mean, the highest level at that point.

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Next is podcasts. If you are pre-intermediate level or above - podcasts because, well, they're a bit more intimate than YouTube, right?

People can speak more freely on podcasts. I concentrate on podcasts more than my YouTube channel. YouTube is. More like, here are some tips. 1, 2, 3, 4. Stay on topic. Stay on topic. But podcasts. In podcasts, I'm able to sometimes drift away from the topic and speak more freely about life experiences and different things. I'm more like a, like a little friend in your ear, and I like that. But in YouTube as a content creator, I will not do too well on YouTube doing my style anyway. Anyway, enough about me.

Podcasts are very flexible and for listeners too, which is the main point. You can listen to them while you walk the dog, while you do the gardening, while you relax by the swimming pool. Yeah, like it's very flexible - podcasts. And also the atmosphere of a podcast is a bit more relaxed than YouTube. And video. Right? It's a bit like, yeah, just chatting.

Anyway, next English speaking clubs. Here in Vietnam, where I currently reside there are many speaking English clubs. It's nice and it's really cute, you know, the Vietnamese, they come out and sit down and get a coffee and are excited to practice their English. We usually do them in a cafe with like a big garden and foreigners come join too. And actually in Vietnam, dig this, lots of couples meet and sometimes the couples meet and even get married through these English clubs!

Anyway, the main purpose of the English clubs is not to get married, but it does happen, but to speak and practice English. Sometimes learners just sit and listen to others, and that's also fine. If they're a bit more underconfident, then they can first listen for a few times and then they can join the conversation.

If you organize these speaking clubs or you meet with your friends to speak English in this kind of way, you must bring activities. There are many activities online or you can ask, you know, ChatGPT, or AI, give me some type in, 'give me some activities for my English speaking club', or bring a news article.

And some questions, yeah. To talk about or bring a list of small talk questions, like a list of simple questions because I've seen it when people have nothing prepared and when there's nothing prepared, there's often like no speaking because people will be too shy and, and they'll have nothing to say. So bring activities if you have a speaking club.

My final tip, be consistent. Consistent means that you must do a little bit every day. Doing a little bit every day in the science of education is much better than doing a lot. A lot, but only once every two weeks. A little bit of speaking every day, a little bit of reading every day. And when you go to work, you listen to a podcast every day.

I mean, you decide what works but a little bit every day is easy and it feels like no effort. Effortless. I love that word. Effortless.

And above all, do not stress. Enjoy it. Have fun. Do not do activities that make you think, 'oh goodness, like, oh, I can't do this. Oh, I can't be bothered to do this. I'll do it tomorrow'.

It has to be easy enough and effortless enough that you can easily always do it. Okay. Do the ones that you enjoy and because you will continue to do them. And if you do it, guess what, guys? This time next year you will be able to speak English. Like you, you will be! If you, if you do it. How exciting! How exciting!

So have an awesome week and remember if you are listening to this, if you got this far, you are in my heart and I appreciate you and I wish you the absolute best for your learning journey. A hug and lots of love and take care.