Transcription
Hi, this is AJ, and it's time for secret number four. Rule number four for excellent English speaking. Now you've learned three powerful ones already, and just using those three, it's really going to help your English speaking. I think you're going to enjoy learning English a lot more. But as I said, it's a full system, so you really need to learn all seven. So let's learn number four today.
Secret number four is this: learn deeply. Learn deeply. What do I mean by that? We have this idea of wide and shallow. You think of water, for example. Shallow water is like this; deep water is like an ocean, very, very deep. So when we're talking about learning something deeply, it means you totally learn it and master it.
There's a great quote from a guy named Tony Robbins, which is this: "Repetition is the mother of skill." Repetition is the mother of skill. Means to be very skillful, to be very great at something, you've got to repeat it so many times. Well, that's basically what we're talking about here: learning something deeply, totally, completely.
Once again, it's the opposite of what happens in school, in most English classes. What happens in the normal English class, the normal English school, the traditional way of learning? Well, you go very, very, very fast, right? Right. There's a lot of pressure to keep going, learning more, more, more, and more, right? Because you have to finish the textbook. Every teacher feels some pressure to finish the textbook in the correct time, right? We have to finish the textbook this year, so next year we can do the next textbook, right? We got to finish book number one; we got to do it quickly so that next year we can do book two. It would be terrible not to finish book number one this year. That's the idea that they have, and it's totally crazy and wrong.
So here's what happens: every week or every two weeks, you're learning something new in your English class, new grammar, for example. So you learn the past tense, and then two or three weeks later, oh, now you're learning the present perfect, and then a few weeks later, now you're learning the future. That is crazy. There is no way you can master and truly learn the past tense, for example, in just a few weeks, even in just a couple of months. It's not possible. And then you start adding more and more and more and more, of course, all the vocabulary lists, more and more and more every week, another huge list of words to memorize. And there's all this pressure to go faster, faster, faster.
So what happens, of course? You study all this stuff for the test; you memorize it; you memorize it; you take the test; maybe you get a good grade, maybe you don't. And then after the test, you forget a lot of it, right? Right. Because you never learned it deeply; you just memorized it short-term, and then you forget a lot of it. Or maybe you remember it, but you can't use it. I know you know the past tense; I know you've studied it, but do you always use it correctly? If the answer is no, if you still make mistakes, it's because you never learned the past tense deeply.
Now, I have no problem with the past tense. Is it because I'm a genius? No, of course it's because I learned English as a small child, and I mastered the past tense. How did I do it? How did I learn it so deeply? Through lots of repetition. My parents did not try to teach me the present perfect or the future progressive or something when I was very small. No, I heard the past tense again and again and again, every single day, hundreds of times a day, thousands of times a day, day after day, until the past tense was so deep in my mind, I didn't need to think about it anymore. And I don't need to think about it; it's totally automatic. That is deep learning. That's what you need. You need to slow down and totally learn what you are studying, what you are listening to. You need to completely master it, to know it deep inside, not just know it, you know, in your brain.
It's the same with vocabulary. You might know a word; like if I ask you the meaning, you can tell me the meaning, but can you use it instantly in a conversation, a real conversation? If I say it in a conversation, do you instantly and automatically understand it completely? If not, you have not learned it deeply. Now you're beginning to understand why you are having problems with English speaking. You may think you know a lot of grammar and vocabulary, but most of it you do not know deeply. It's not automatic; you have to think about it. So you have to change the way you learn. Once again, this is another secret, another rule, something else you need to change about the way you are learning English.
Now, the most basic way to do this is to do the opposite of school. So instead of hurrying, instead of trying to go fast and new chapter all the time, I want you to do the opposite. I want you to go slowly. For example, when you buy our lessons, I will tell you that each lesson set—a lesson set has maybe four or five connected lessons; they're about the same topic—I will tell you that you must study that one lesson set at least 10 days to two weeks, maybe even more, maybe three weeks, maybe one full month for a lesson set. Why? Because I want you to repeat that lesson every single day. Of course, you're listening with your ears, so what you're going to do is you're going to listen to each of those lessons—it's about an hour total—every day. You'll listen to those maybe once, maybe twice a day. The next day you'll listen to those same audios again, and the next day the same audios again, and the next day the same audios again, for 10 days, 14 days, 21 days, more if necessary. It's not a race; you don't need to hurry. No, what I want you to do is to totally, completely learn it, know it deeply, automatically. And of course, the way we design our lessons, there's also a lot of repetition in the lessons. So let's say there are four or five different audios in that set; each of those audios is using some of the same vocabulary, a lot of the same grammar. So you hear it in one situation, then you hear it in another audio article, then you hear it in a kind of funny, crazy story, then you hear it in another situation. So you're hearing the same thing, but in different situations, so it's not boring; it's still interesting, but you're getting that repetition. So you will start to learn the vocabulary and the grammar much more deeply. That's how our system is designed; it's very, very important.
So here's the thing: you have to do a lot of repeating, focus on repeating a lot and doing a smaller amount of material. So instead of reading 20 books, read one book, but read it slowly and well. Or a better example is audio: instead of listening to 50 audios and watching 20 movies, pick three audios and listen to them every single day, the same audios for seven days, 14 days, 20 days, whatever—lots and lots and lots of repetition. Then the phrases will go into your mind deeply; the grammar will start getting in there; you don't need to think about it; it happens automatically; the new vocabulary—if it's easy—the new vocabulary gets in there; all of these things go deeper, deeper, deeper each time you listen until it becomes automatic. You don't need to translate; you don't need to think about it; it will pop out of your mouth. That is the power of deep learning, and it never stops. It never stops. I'm still hearing every single day the past tense in English, so in a way, right, I'm getting more repetition; it never stops; I'll never stop as long as I'm alive; it's never-ending. It's the same for you; you never stop, but you listen to fun and interesting things, so the repetition is fun and interesting. If you're focusing on textbooks and schools and grammar, uh, of course repetition is difficult because it's painfully boring, but with our lessons, for example, you're listening to funny, crazy, interesting stuff, so it's easy to repeat it 7 days or 14 days or 20 days; it's not a problem. And you can go out, and you can find other interesting audios and do the same thing.
So here it is: secret number four, rule number four, very, very important: learn deeply. Repetition is the mother of skill. Learn deeply. All right, I will see you tomorrow for secret number five. Have a great day. Bye-bye.