1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,320 Episode 1, let's begin. 2 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,640 Welcome to the first episode of the Learn English podcast. 3 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:17,960 My name is Melissa, but my students usually call me Dr. C, and I am so excited to have 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:21,120 you with me here for the premiere episode. 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:26,000 I have been working for a long time to launch this podcast, and it is thrilling to finally 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:27,000 have our debut. 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,080 Since it's our first time meeting, I want to spend this episode introducing myself, 8 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:37,880 discussing what my philosophy for learning English is, and discussing what my goals are 9 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:39,920 for this podcast. 10 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:41,440 So a little bit about myself. 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:43,360 I'm from the United States. 12 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:48,880 I was born and raised in Southern California, where I currently live, and I have been teaching 13 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,720 English as a second language for a little over two years. 14 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,160 What made me want to start teaching English? 15 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,960 Well, that goes back to my own language learning journey. 16 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:06,280 So I have wanted to learn Spanish for almost my entire life. 17 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,560 I have tried and failed a number of times. 18 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:15,000 When I was in high school, I took Spanish as a foreign language, like most students 19 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,160 in the United States. 20 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:22,680 I took Spanish for two years, and even though I got good grades, my teachers gave me A's 21 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:29,760 and I did good on our exams, after two years, I could not even introduce myself. 22 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:34,360 Literally saying, my name is, would give me anxiety. 23 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:40,160 The most complicated question I could ask was, what is the date today? 24 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:44,480 Not really something that comes up in everyday conversation, does it? 25 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:52,040 So when I would try to talk with people in Spanish after taking my two years of classes, 26 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:58,240 I would stumble and I would get so nervous and I struggled so much that the people I 27 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:04,040 was talking with would switch back into English because they could see how much I was struggling. 28 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,880 I don't know about you, but for me, that was really embarrassing and it kind of broke 29 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,200 any confidence I had with speaking in Spanish. 30 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,600 For me, there was really nothing more soul-crushing as someone switching back into English because 31 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,520 they could tell I was just failing miserably. 32 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,080 For the next couple years, I would go back and try to learn Spanish. 33 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:30,120 I would download apps on my phone, I would play games, but I never really seemed to improve 34 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:31,760 that much. 35 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,120 At the beginning of the pandemic, when we all were in lockdown, I finally found myself 36 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:41,720 with a bunch of free time and I promised myself, now, now was my chance. 37 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:48,280 I was going to finally learn Spanish and be able to have a basic conversation with someone. 38 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:52,640 I didn't want to fail again because honestly, I kind of already felt like a failure. 39 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:57,600 I had tried for years to learn this language and never really had much success. 40 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,320 So I decided to research. 41 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:01,400 I Googled it. 42 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:02,760 How do you learn a language? 43 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:04,840 What are the best methods to learn a language? 44 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,560 How can you learn a language fast? 45 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:12,600 What I came across was a lot of different strategies and a lot of different philosophies. 46 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:20,520 The two that I really liked the best were Stephen Krashen and Steve Kaufman. 47 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:25,520 I'll put links in the description for this podcast so you can check them out, but I'm 48 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:31,040 going to talk a little bit about how they approach learning the language. 49 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,920 Steve Kaufman is a polyglot. 50 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:38,080 He knows, I think, 18 languages, maybe even more. 51 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:44,200 He has a YouTube channel where he discusses learning a language and he also runs the LingQ 52 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,960 website, which is one of my favorite apps that I use when I'm trying to learn a language. 53 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,880 His philosophy is that you need input. 54 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,600 You need to be able to read and listen in a language. 55 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,920 The more you do that, the more input you have, the better you're going to be at speaking 56 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:04,180 and understanding that language, which makes sense. 57 00:04:04,180 --> 00:04:08,400 He also says that the input that you get should be engaging. 58 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,560 It should be things that you enjoy, that you like, things that you actually want to read 59 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:14,140 and listen to. 60 00:04:14,140 --> 00:04:18,680 The more that you want to read and listen to them, the more likely you are to do it. 61 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,760 And then the more you're going to improve in that language. 62 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:26,720 On his YouTube page, Steve Kaufman also did interviews with Stephen Krashen. 63 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:28,560 Stephen Krashen is a linguist. 64 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:35,240 He's a researcher and he researches how people acquire languages. 65 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:41,760 His research has shown that people acquire languages by reading and listening, having 66 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,320 engaging input and being exposed to the language as much as possible. 67 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,760 This makes sense because this is how we acquire languages as children. 68 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:55,000 When we're babies, we aren't speaking, but we're listening to the conversations around 69 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:00,520 us, and eventually we are able to speak in that language. 70 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:06,920 Hearing their conversation, seeing their methodology, I decided to try it and see what I could do 71 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:08,280 with Spanish. 72 00:05:08,280 --> 00:05:11,240 I started listening and reading as much as possible. 73 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:12,960 I did it every day. 74 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:18,400 And after three months, I could confidently say that I learned more than I did in two 75 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,960 years of a traditional class. 76 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:28,160 I realized that I never read or listened to anything in Spanish when I was in school. 77 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,360 Our teachers would say words and we would repeat after them. 78 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,920 We would write out conjugations for verbs. 79 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:41,640 We would look at grammar tables, but I never actually watched anything in Spanish. 80 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:47,960 I never actually listened to anything that was designed for someone who was learning 81 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,680 Spanish and that just wasn't the methodology that was used in high schools. 82 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,480 Honestly, I don't even know if high schools teach languages that way. 83 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:02,920 I highly doubt it, but it's one of the most effective ways to learn a language. 84 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:08,160 While I was going through my language journey, I realized that even though I was enjoying 85 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:13,480 learning a language, what I really was getting the most joy from was helping people improve 86 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:15,480 their English abilities. 87 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:21,040 I liked helping people improve their English skills, so I decided to become a certified 88 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:25,320 English teacher teaching English as a foreign language. 89 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:29,400 I have been helping my students for the past couple years, and I can honestly say that 90 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:37,040 one of the most common questions I get asked is, how do I improve my English? 91 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:42,320 When a student asks me this, what I almost immediately respond is, how much time are 92 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:45,560 you spending reading and listening to English? 93 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,640 How much time are you spending being exposed to the language? 94 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,120 Input is one of the most effective ways you can improve your English abilities. 95 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:59,640 So I ask my students how much time, how much input are they getting? 96 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:05,080 And I've heard from a lot of students that they have difficulty finding the right content 97 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:07,660 to use for input. 98 00:07:07,660 --> 00:07:12,380 When you're a beginner in a language, especially with a popular language that's spoken all 99 00:07:12,380 --> 00:07:19,520 over the world like English, Spanish, French, there are so many resources out there for 100 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:20,520 beginners. 101 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,520 If you're brand new to the language, you can start learning right away because there's 102 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:27,160 resources everywhere for you. 103 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:32,480 And if you are at an advanced level, there is a ton of content in English. 104 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:38,640 You have the whole entire entertainment industry of the United States at your disposal. 105 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:43,240 But when you're in that middle area, when you're at that intermediate area, that's where 106 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:48,500 you have a lot of difficulty finding comprehensible input. 107 00:07:48,500 --> 00:07:54,320 When you are using beginner material, eventually you kind of grow out of them. 108 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:58,680 They become too easy and you're not really learning anything and you're not pushing yourself 109 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,220 as hard as you need to to improve your skills. 110 00:08:02,220 --> 00:08:07,920 If you try to use native content though too early, you can get frustrated because it can 111 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:10,040 be really hard to understand. 112 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:16,760 A lot of my students tell me that listening to native content, watching movies or television 113 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:22,080 shows in English is difficult because Americans speak really fast. 114 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:23,760 They use a lot of slang. 115 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:28,640 They have a lot of cultural references that people who are learning as a second or third 116 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,440 language just don't understand. 117 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,480 That's what got me thinking about launching this podcast. 118 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:36,080 I'm a native speaker. 119 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:37,680 I'm speaking relatively quickly. 120 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:43,320 And I want to make this podcast a resource to help people who are stuck in that intermediate 121 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:44,320 bubble. 122 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:46,920 My main focus will not be on grammar. 123 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,560 Of course, I will talk about it occasionally as needed. 124 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:58,160 But my main goal is that this becomes comprehensible input for those of you who are at the intermediate, 125 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,420 upper intermediate or lower advanced stage. 126 00:09:01,420 --> 00:09:07,400 This way you can push through that intermediate plateau and get to the point where you can 127 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,320 understand native level content. 128 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:13,680 I also want to keep these episodes to around 8 to 20 minutes. 129 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:17,040 That way you can incorporate them into your language learning routine. 130 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,880 That way it won't take up too much of your time, but it also will allow you to go back 131 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,780 and re-listen to the episode if you need to. 132 00:09:23,780 --> 00:09:28,000 If you're at the intermediate level, you might not fully understand everything I say the 133 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,480 first time when you're listening to it. 134 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:31,960 And that's okay. 135 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:38,200 You can go back and re-listen and absorb more and more of the episode every time you listen 136 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:39,640 to it. 137 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:44,340 Once you're at the upper intermediate or lower advanced level, then you might be able to 138 00:09:44,340 --> 00:09:46,840 understand everything I'm saying the first time around. 139 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:48,880 And that's great. 140 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:55,660 Well, that is a little bit about myself, my philosophy and my goals for the podcast. 141 00:09:55,660 --> 00:09:57,520 I hope you enjoyed this first episode. 142 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:02,720 It was really exciting to record it and launch this podcast. 143 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:07,240 If you enjoyed it, please like and subscribe so you don't miss our second episode when 144 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:08,840 it comes out next week. 145 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:32,280 Until then, keep on learning English.