What is the most important English skill? What skill must you have to communicate well?
Obviously, number 1 is Fluency. What is fluency? Fluency is the ability to speak (and understand)
English quickly and easily... WITHOUT translation. Fluency means you can talk easily with native
speakers-- they easily understand you, and you easily understand them. In fact, you speak and
understand instantly.
Fluency is your most important English goal.
The research is clear-- there is only ONE WAY to get fluency. You do not get fluency by reading
textbooks.
You do not get fluency by going to English schools. You do not get fluency by studying grammar rules.
*** Listening is the Key ***
To get English fluency, you must have a lot of understandable repetitive listening. That is the ONLY
way. To be a FANTASTIC English speaker,
YOU must learn English with your ears, not with your eyes.
In other words, you must listen. Your ears are the key to excellent speaking.
What kind of listening is best? Well, it must be understandable and must be repetitive. Both of those
words are important-- Understandable and Repetitive.
If you don't understand, you learn nothing. You will not improve. That's why listening to English TV
does not help you. You don't understand most of it. It is too difficult. It is too fast.
Its obvious right? If you do not understand, you will not improve. So, the best listening material is
EASY. That’s right; you should listen mostly to easy English. Most students listen to English that is much
too difficult. They don’t understand enough, and so they learn slowly. Listen to easier English, and your
speaking will improve faster!
Understanding is Only Half The Formula.
Understanding is not enough. You must also have a lot of repetition. If you hear a new word only
once, you will soon forget it. If you hear it 5 times, you will still probably forget it!
You must hear new words and new grammar many times before you will understand them instantly.
How many times is necessary?
Most people must hear a new word 30 times to remember it forever. To know a word and instantly
understand it, you probably need to hear it 50-100 times!
That's why I tell my students to listen to all of my lessons many times. I tell them to listen to the Mini-
Stories, the Vocab Lessons, the Point-of-View Stories, and the Audio articles every day. I recommend
that they listen to each lesson a total of 30 times (for example, 2 times a day for two weeks). So, The two most important points are: listen to easier English and listen to each thing many times.
Suggestions For Powerful Listening and Excellent Speaking
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