Listen & Answer - the best method to start speak English fast

Every student knows about "listen and repeat". Listen and repeat is the normal way to teach and learn English.

In school, the teacher says something in English. Then the students repeat exactly what the teacher said. I call this "robot English".

English students also do this at home. They buy CDs, or tapes, or a podcast. They listen. Then they repeat after the speaker. More robot English.

Listening to English is great - but Listen and Repeat is the WRONG way to do it. Listen and repeat is a robot - like activity. You don't even need to understand the English to do it. Just copy the speaker like a robot.

There are several problems with this method:

1. It is passive. You don't think. You don't need to understand. You just repeat, like a robot machine.

2. It is totally unnatural. In a real conversation, will you ever do this? Of course not.

3. It is super boring. Since you don't use your brain, you quickly get bored with "listen and repeat".


As you know, I think Listening is THE MOST IMPORTANT activity for learning English. But you must use a better way.

That better way is "Listen and Answer". This means you Listen to a question, and then you Answer it. You don't repeat after the speaker, you answer his/her question correctly and quickly.

With Listen and Repeat, the speaker says, "What is your name?"... and then you repeat, "What is your name?"

With Listen and Answer, the speaker says, "What is your name?"... and you say, "My name is AJ". It seems like a small difference - but in fact it is a VERY important difference.

To ANSWER, you MUST understand. You must understand the question, and then you must quickly think of an answer in English. This encourages your brain to think in English. This is an active method.

This is also much more natural. In real conversations, this is exactly what you do... someone asks you a question and you must understand it and answer it quickly.

Listen and Answer is also more interesting. It is challenging. You can't get bored and sleepy because you must Understand and Answer. Its like a game - you try to answer more and more quickly.

When you use the old method, you are not ready for real conversations. When you use Listen and Answer, you are ready.

Effortless English lesson sets always include Listen and Answer Mini - Stories. You improve your English quickly by answering questions. The questions are usually very easy, but by answering them you teach your brain to use English quickly.

Get my lessons at: http://www.EffortlessEnglishClub.com

Or find your own Listen and Answer lessons and stories. Just never use "listen and repeat" again!

Author: AJ Hoge, http://effortlessacquisition.blogspot.com

Learn to Speak English Fluently and Quicker Than Ever, Using Short Stories and Multi-Modal Learning

There is no doubt that learning to speak English fluently online has its benefits in terms of cost savings, the ability to learn at your own pace, and at a time that fits your lifestyle.

However, there are many courses on the internet that firstly do not engage you in using multi-modal (multi-sensory) learning – using all of your senses to make sure you retain the information, and secondly do not concentrate enough on correct pronunciation and intonation.

Correct pronunciation and intonation is paramount when trying to sound like a fluid English speaker which will greatly increase your negotiation potential if you do business overseas, and will also significantly increase the clarity of your conversations.

When looking for an online learning provider the following criteria should definitely be considered:

• Make sure the courses offered are fun in nature.
• Make sure the course provided uses videos, sound, and as many learning modes as possible, ideally the course should integrate stories in its programs that engage your memory.
• Lookout for courses that oversell themselves as this is a clear sign that you will end up feeling stranded.
• Great pronunciation and intonation should be of top priority throughout the course.

Four great tips to help you learn fluent English:

1. Only study genuine material from an English provider that definitely uses correct grammar. Find an English person online that will check this for you or only deal with a native or fluent English-speaking provider.

2. Speak out loud the content you are learning and if you know somebody in the UK practice to them out loud. Find a pen pal to help you do this, or a YouTube buddy.

3. Envelope yourself in English. Surround yourself by other people who speak the language already and make a rule that for a whole day you will only communicate in English to force you to think through your problems in English.

4. Practice developing phrases you learn. Play games with yourself and colleagues centered on phrases you know and understand well and slowly link other words and develop the phrases and their meaning.

There are lots of really high quality learning programs online. Learning to speak English fluently is by no means an easy task. if your goal is to speak fluently, with the right tutor and learning system it can be achieved very quickly. Take time to find the right course that suits your lifestyle.

This entry was posted in bedtime Story and tagged learning provider, senses.