4 Steps to Easily Understand English | Improve English Listening Skills

hello everyone and welcome back to english with lucy long time no see right i know i had a little break i've moved house i'm in a new house now and this room will soon be my new studio it's got a lovely window over there there's lots of light so i'm in the middle of setting that up for you guys today i'm going to talk about improving your understanding so being able to understand what native speakers say when they're talking and when they're talking quickly now i have done a video that is quite similar to this it's along the same lines it talks about the same subject about listening and improving your listening skills if i remember correctly i think there were 12 ways that you could improve your listening skills in that last video if you want to see that you can click right here and i'll put a link in the description but today we're only going to focus on four tips and we're going to be focusing less on the academic side of listening and more on the real life side of listening and the listening skills and the listening comprehension skills because it's about understanding that you will use on a daily basis so let's get started so tip number one order your resources now the biggest tip that any english teacher will give you if you're trying to improve your listening is listen to movies listen to audiobooks listen to more exams and things like that listen to the news listen to the radio excellent tip it's a tip I give myself but I want to make sure that my students listen to the right things in the right order I wouldn't recommend a sarcastic British comedy that uses the complexities of British English to the fullest extent see they'd use things like that and I almost don't know what I'm saying so you maybe won't either and you want to start with easier things and work your way up to more difficult things there is no point starting at the top unless you're a genius so I'm going to give you this sort of order of resources that you should go for and you can kind of see where you're at see what you understand and then you know maybe move up to the next one so what kind of thing should you listen to if you don't know any English if you're a complete beginner mr. bean joke that is a joke in mr. bean he says very little in English but it is a fantastic TV show so watch that for fun first and then you can start your English listening practice so beginners and even early intermediate because remember that listening is often found to be the hardest skill of all for skills that they tend to test in exams listening speaking reading and writing I always see with my students they get the highest scores in reading and writing and it's listening and speaking where they start to suffer and listening tends to be the worst oh my god oh my god sorry about that I got disturbed this is why I do upload more regularly by well so what I was trying to say was don't be afraid if you can actually understand way less than you would expect a person of your level to understand so even if you're at like a an intermediate level you might need to listen to to lower levels to start with so what I always recommend is test out listening to children's TV programs simply because children's TV programs are normally designed to help a child learn more and understand more and also improve their vocabulary especially TV programs for younger children if you want I have a great recommendation for a British TV show that's designed for kids it's very educational it's packed full of vocabulary and it is Peppa Pig incredibly famous TV show that I imagined will be in your country as well see if you can switch it into its native language which is British English and it's actually really really funny because I think it's designed for parents to watch it with the child so not only are you learning loads it's just a really good program if you find yourself understanding 80% of Peppa Pig whatever you choose to watch that's designed for children then you can move up to slapstick comedy comedy that is silly it's not got in-depth humour and it doesn't play around with the language it's just basic comedy normally and I really don't want to offend anyone here but normally American comedy shows are more on this level than the English ones the British English sense of humor tends to be darker more subtle we tend to say things with a straight face that as a huge generalization American comedy TV shows seemed to be more in-your-face the jokes are more obvious and you can follow the plot more easily a couple of recommendations for you are of course friends friends can be enjoyed in any language and chances are you've seen friends in your language so you understand more or less what's going on in English as well um if you do want a British TV series one I really like it's an old one now is the Vicar of Dibley again I'll put this in the description box it's very very British I would say it's slightly more difficult than friends because they do use the language and play with language a little bit but it's a gorgeous British accent they've got a wide variety of accidents really it's about a female vicar Dawn French one of my favourite female comedians who becomes the vicar for a very small village that's very set in their ways they're not very modern they like to do things in a traditional way and it is hilarious there aren't that many episodes but it's something I always watch with my parents at next I would move up two films and TV shows that tend to have less talking ie action films detective films films and TV shows where there's time for you to think about what's going on and it's very visual and then obviously for the most advanced you'd want to look at sci-fi because they give in-depth explanations dark comedies drama and also period drama that's quite difficult because they tend to use old-fashioned language obviously the next tip is one that is so so important it's practice but it's not just practice it's practice with consistency an hour-long conversation with a native fantastic that is great practice but an hour-long conversation with a native every single week with feedback and that is how you're going to improve your understanding and not only that making sure that you work on every single other skill as well obviously we need more obviously it's always good to really focus on what you're lacking which is your listening skill but improve your pronunciation improve your reading so that you understand more words writing is also incredibly important speaking and listening goes hand-in-hand this tip comes thanks to the sponsors of today's video it is lingo de lingo de is an online language learning platform that is very close to my heart I really like what they do there at lingo de you can learn English French Spanish or German with real qualified native teachers in both group and private classes I've had so many English with Lucie students studying lingo de and I've got such great feedback because it's perfect for busy people you can schedule in classes 24/7 there are teachers all over the world there are always group and private classes available I've tried out some of their classes myself and they are really high quality you've got fantastically prepared activities with the real native qualified teacher very small group sizes private lessons as well you pay on a monthly basis there are various different tiers different levels and they have given me a special offer to give to you you can get $50 or 50 euros off your first month at lingo de all you have to do is click on the link in the description box and use the code that is right here please let me know how you get on because I love to hear about your success stories moving on to my next point which is more focused on real-life conversations and how to understand native speakers when they're talking to you and when they're talking quickly my tip for you is dominate the conversation which I know can be quite hard especially if you're naturally quite an introvert I have my days some days I'm an introvert and some days I'm an extrovert but I'm not talking about going into a conversation and taking over and dominating everything I'm saying take the lead with the conversation and direct it because if you're speaking with a native speaker or somebody who has a much higher level than you you are the one who is doing most of the work and they can kind of relax it's very easy for them to not understand if they're just native or to forget if they did learn once but now they're at a kind of level where they don't have to think about anything it's all natural it's very easy for them to not understand how tough it is for a non-native speaker for a learner of English so I want to make it very clear to you I as a teacher and I as a friend and as a native speaker of English have never once felt annoyed or frustrated with somebody asking me to repeat something if I know that they have been listening and trying to understand me if you know it's my boyfriend who obviously has zoned out who wasn't listening to what I was saying and then says what sorry can you say that again yes that is annoying if someone's obviously not understood me I don't mind in fact I'm glad that they want to understand what I'm saying and that they care enough about what I'm saying they're asking me to repeat it so there are two things I want you to start getting confident that's saying the first one is asking for repetition and the second one is asking for somebody to slow down so asking for repetition oh sorry I didn't catch that I didn't quite understand it I got the majority but not all of it I didn't quite catch that sorry could you repeat that note that I'm often starting with sorry because it's a good interjection to get somebody to stop talking what was that could you say that again notice that I'm showing you my ear and I'm kind of doing a circle motion could you repeat that I'm making it very clear that I'm having trouble understanding about slowing down you're either asking for them to speak a little bit more slowly or to speak more clearly maybe they're joining their words too much they're using too much connected speech you could say sorry I'm having a little bit of trouble understanding what you're saying would you mind speaking a little bit more slowly a little bit more slowly and I think these hands here mean separate your words don't showing them all together I remember living in Spain I could see English people coming over to Spain and speaking slowly but still using words like won and gunner and don't sure like connecting all these words together and not understanding why people weren't getting what they were saying they had no idea they were trying to be clear so people just need that reminder and you have every right to ask someone that so dominate the conversation another part of this tip is you ask the questions you can make sure that the conversation stays on track it stays on the topic that you are comfortable talking about if you ask the questions and instead of asking for repetition again and again and again you can kind of confirm that what you've heard is correct by saying an affirmative statement so you missed the bus or by using a tag at the end of the sentence so you missed the bus didn't you and then they will confirm that that's yes what they said or if you've misunderstood they might say no no I got the bus but I almost missed the bus and there we are it clears it up a bit I think that tip is more of a collection of pieces of advice that are often overlooked in the English classroom asking somebody to speak more clearly is absolutely fine one last thing I'd like to add to that is asking somebody if they've used a specific saying or if it's a slang word if you have no idea what someone has just said you could say is that a saying and then they will hopefully explain it to you or is that regional slang or do you say all over the country then that will hopefully go on to explain what they're talking about and it might also serve as a reminder that they can't use loads of different slang words and loads of different sayings when they're talking with an English Learner obviously if you're at a very high level you of course want somebody to speak as naturally as possible but there is nothing wrong with asking somebody to slightly adapt to you if you're really struggling to understand now my last tip tip number four this one is incredibly important because it's very easy to lose enthusiasm and to feel disappointed because you're not understanding as much as you think you should be able to I get this comment all the time okay it is Lucy are you speaking really clearly because I can understand everything you're saying but when I try to listen to other natives because I can't understand anything my tip is manage your expectations you need to understand that what you study in private and what you practice in private is always going to be at a higher level than what you experienced in real life what I mean to say is I'm in a teaching environment right now I am making sure that I'm clear I'm not slowing down a hell of a lot and I still use slang phrases but I will try and explain them a hell of a lot means a lot but you need to understand and expect you're not going to be able to comprehend as much outside of the classroom and outside of your private personal practice as you do in those times and it's very important to have this understood from the very beginning because it's so easy to lose most vation and really these tips they all link together you need to practice in order to practice you need to use different resources but make sure you choose the right one make sure you put them in order understand that you might be feeling really confident after an English lesson but when you go out and you speak to a native you might not be able to communicate as much as you thought before manage that expectation but something that you can do to understand more in real life is lead that conversation you ask the questions ask them to slow down ask them to speak more clearly and ask them to repeat things that's one thing that you can do but in order to understand 70% of a real-life conversation you need to make sure that you're understanding 80% in the classroom right guys that's it for today's video thank you so much for joining me here in my new house very exciting it's in a lovely tiny village near Cambridge here but it's a very old property and I can hear everything my neighbor is saying I can hear everything my boyfriend is saying on the phone downstairs and I can see and I can well I can see neighbors walking but I'm very happy here very excited don't forget to check out lingo der all of the information is in the description box and you can use the code that is here and don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media I've got my facebook my Instagram and my Twitter but I definitely want to point out Instagram because I've been doing loads of giveaways and I did one with Cambridge University Press the other day we gave away some grammar in use books we've got some very exciting giveaways in the pipeline in the pipeline means they're being planned they're coming up soon I hope you enjoyed the lesson today let me know any video requests in the comment section I will see you soon for another lesson [Music] [Music] you

Channel: English with Lucy

Views: 905,945

Keywords: 4 ways to understand, english lesson, improve english understanding, improve english listening, improve english listening skills, improve english comprehension, understand more english, how to understand english, how to learn english, english with lucy, english listening practice, understand british english, 4 listening tips, english listening tips, 4 steps to understand, easily understand english, english listening skills, lucy bella earl, learn english with lucy, english

Id: BVMkUzxiMCo

Length: 17min 39sec (1059 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 12 2018