Input and output

When we learn English, we have many wrong ideas about learning English. A lot of people think that they have to master Speaking, Listening, Reading and writing. They believe in these ideas. Not only learning English but also other languages. They always think that they have to learn all of them (To be fluent in any language.)

Actually, you only need listening when you first learn a new language. If you want to know about listening very deeply, that’s called (Input). That means you MUST listen to a new language. You have to have a lot of input or you have to listen to a language many times. After listening enough to a new language, then you can speak a little with an incorrect sentence. Of course, you cannot speak the language very fluently. Because now you are learning and also you will make a lot of mistakes. In the beginning of learning a new language, listening ability is much higher than speaking ability.

You can see that a baby learns a new language that way too. Of course not, they never force themselves to speak a language immediately. They listen a lot before they speak. It’s the same with adults English learners. Most adult English learners want their speaking to be fast and they don’t take time. They can’t wait, they don’t spend on learning English every single day. But they want to speak English very easily without making a lot of efforts.


A lot of students say that “We want to speak English fluently and easily”. I always tell them “OK” that’s great. But how many minutes can u spend on learning English each day? Usually they say” We have no time, we are busy doing something.
Unfortunately, a lot of people focus on output. What is output? Output means speaking, writing. Too many people focus on speaking before their listening is enough. Also they focus on writing before their reading is not enough.

When we learn Burmese, we first listen and after many months or many years. We start speaking a little with an incorrect sentence. When we speak, we make mistakes too. We don’t care about mistakes. Naturally, we know that making mistakes are important. Meaning, we don’t learn speaking first, we listen first before we can speak fluently.

In most English classes, they focus on speaking. They force students to speak immediately when students are not ready. That’s why you are afraid, worried and shy. You can’t speak fluently in a shorter time because you focus on output (which means) speaking.

So, we listen first to speak fluently and effortlessly. Speaking is the RESULT of listening. Fluent speaking comes from listening a lot. Sadly, too many English classes or schools, they never tell you the truth. So, a lot of students think that we must do this way when we learn a new language. It’s not true. It is totally wrong. So, maybe now, you want to ask a question.
Maybe, you ask “ if we practice speaking first, what will happen? Well, let me tell you the truth, you will have many problems. For example, you want to learn how drive a car. If you don’t learn to drive a car first, you will hit someone or something very badly. Same with English. If you don’t listen first, your speaking is not natural and your speaking is hesitant. (Hesitant means waiting and stopping because of fear). And you always think about grammar rules, tenses and translation. For Burmese people, thinking about grammar rules is a big problem. It is very difficult to be fluent in English in a shorter time.

So, ask yourself (Do you think about grammar rules and tenses all the time before you speak). If your answer is YES. You have to change something. Sadly, most students are bored to study English text books. That’s why a lot of students don’t want to take an English class for a very long time.
In fact, too many students need not only English but also beliefs. Because they believe that English is difficult and they always say” we are very bad at English”. Most teachers don’t know how to change this stupid beliefs. Where do these beliefs come from? Maybe in the past, your past English teachers told them. Maybe you got 40 marks when you passed the matriculation exam. Don’t believe them. It’s wrong. Get rid of them. They teach English all the time.

But they never worry about students. If some students don’t want to learn English, they are bored to learn English, they make lots of mistakes. What do they do? They do something bad to the students or they will say “you are very bad at English”. They think that teaching English is important for them but NOT the students.

For me, students are SUPER important. When I teach English, I change their stupid beliefs first and then I teach English. Why do I do that? Well, because if you believe in yourself very strongly that you can do that or you can learn that even if you can’t do. Finally, because of this belief, you can learn everything very fast.

so, you can use English or speak English even if your English is not good enough. Believing yourself is so powerful than anything else.
Because they believe that they can do it so their confidence, motivation, energy and passion GO UP and all of them are stronger. They can learn faster. Let me tell you the truth even if you can’t speak English RIGHT NOW, you will do it because you believe in yourself.

Dr Stephen Krashen says “ we have to learn any language in the same way like we learn our own native language”. You can listen to his video where he talks about this.

So, believe in yourself, focus on listening to English a lot every day. Never focus on speaking when learning English. Also if you want to learn English with me or to be fluent in English in shorter time.If your English doesn't improve, you will get all of the money.

So, Don't wait, improve your English Right now. Contact me (09 25 495 1800).

Shwe Gabar Aung (Empowering English)