When we learn English, we have many wrong
ideas about learning English. A lot of people think that they have to
master Speaking, Listening, Rea
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)
