Ten years ago, this question would be on my mind every time I wanted to work on my English. I'd chose a podcast, I'd press PLAY, and then get carried away by the ideas, the voices, the content... I’d lose track of time listening to great content, but I'd end up disappointed every time.

Nothing changed when I did that. Each time I did the same thing. I allowed other people's ideas to take over my time and hold my attention.

Problem #1: even advanced English learners listen to WHAT is said. To change how you speak and express yourself in English, you need to listen to HOW it is said.

Almost NO ONE I have coached in the last 15 years understands how this is done and what that even looks like. People never learned the skill of managing their attention. They are constantly trained to GIVE their attention to whoever asks for it.

This skill must be modeled. There is no way to learn it if you have never seen others do this and if you have never observed their process.

Problem #2 : people prefer guessing over knowing. It's faster. When everyone is in a hurry, "faster" has value. Who has time to listen to what was said one more time?

People make assumptions about what they heard, and they get lost in their own assumptions, i.e. misinformation.

So, we have a situation that repeats:

Let me give you an example.

Marco has been working on his English for the last 10 years. He has made great progress, scoring Band 9.0 on the IELTS, obtaining an O1 visa, and moving to the U.S. He speaks English every day now, but he still feels disconnected from the people around him. His English skills are still not enough to understand everything, especially when people speak quickly, share stories from college, or tell funny jokes when drunk. It's still not quite enough to make important connections at work or network with ease at conferences and parties.


So, he decides to practice harder. He is already advanced. He doesn't need an online course or a grammar teacher. He has done all that. He is convinced that he needs to listen more, read more, speak more, and things will eventually improve. This is logical, right? Quantity will transform into quality.


He devotes 40 minutes every day to listening to podcasts.
He chooses a podcast he likes and .... he listens to it.
He finds the content very interesting, and soon he is completely consumed by it.

He tries to pay attention to the words, but he can't hear any words that he doesn't know. He knows all of them. He understands everything and follows easily.


He tells himself that exposure to more English is good for him, and the more he listens, the faster he will improve.

But in reality, podcast after podcast, day after day, practice after practice, nothing really changes in the way he speaks, listens, or thinks in English.


Marco is passively consuming entertaining content because he doesn't know what else he can do.

He is stuck. "If I understand everything that people say so effortlessly, then why do I still sound so different from how they speak? What else is there to learn for me?"


He doesn't see two important things:

1. He thinks he understands everything. In fact, he doesn't. He doesn't take the time to zoom in and listen to EVERY word that was said. If he did, he'd find a lot of information that he missed entirely. He often misses the mood, the emotion, the intent, the hint, or even the verb.
2. He wants to speak better, but he doesn't practice speaking at all. He passively consumes hours of content, and his brain immediately translates the main concepts and ideas into Portuguese, his first language. He can tell his Portuguese friends what the podcast was about, but he can't share the same with native speakers. At least, he can't do it as eloquently as he can in his first language.

The reason is simple: he has never intentionally practiced this specific skill.


Here are the mistakes that Marco keeps repeating:

• He works with the entire podcast episode, which is 30-40 min long. He can't stay concentrated on the practice for so long yet, and he naturally drifts away from practice and right into familiar autopilot mode. It makes more sense to work with 30-60 seconds of a podcast episode. And believe me, this is ENOUGH even for advanced learners because our entire focus is on the "HOW". How can I say it too?

• He listens to the WHAT, while growth happens when we learn to pay attention to the HOW. We don't struggle with "what". We know what we want to say. As non-native speakers, we struggle with "how". We don't know HOW to express what we really mean in English. So, Marco gets the message but remains oblivious to HOW the message was delivered. If he did, he could learn to deliver the same message, build similar sentences—crisp and concise—or speak with similar melody/intonations.

• He doesn't take any notes as he listens. He doesn't take any handwritten notes.

• He doesn't do the self-evaluation work. As soon as the episode ends, he considers the work done. He doesn't take the time to reflect, analyze, and plan the next exercise with the intent to improve what needs improvement.

Marco feels powerless. The more he practices, the more he feels stuck. Three months later, he doesn't feel any improvement, even though he practiced at least four times a week.


How can you break free from this powerless and meaningless learning?

1. Practice the "HOW". The "WHAT" is easy for you and doesn't challenge you enough.
2. Get feedback to see what you don't see about the way you sound.
3. Work with no more than 60 seconds.
4. Learn the right way to practice. Stop doing the things that you already know how to do.

How to practice "the right way"?

Watch the first 20 min of a real-time video lesson from my Resource Library to see
what I mean.

Bonus: self-evaluation is modeled for you in both exercises.

They SEE or don't see them.

I am here to remind you that you can get 40% off my Library today!

To get my resource Library, you need to:

• Be a community member
• Pay the full price
• Go through the application process
• Get the annual community membership

None of this applies if you act now.
This generous offer expires tomorrow, on June 25.

You will also get 3 BONUS months in the community, i.e. you're saving $207, in addition to getting 40% an amazing product, which is a fully curated library with lessons, clear instructions, and human feedback.

If you're not a member of the community, use the links below:

Pay in RUB

Pay in USD

If you're a member, click here. You will also get 3 BONUS months and participate in the new experimental reward system.


I am committed to helping you learn better.

Take a step forward, and I'll meet you there with a map to your most rewarding results.

See you on the other side
Natalia

What's new in the community of practice.
Not a member? Apply here

© Copyright 2023 Natalia Tokar

Unsubscribe from this newsletter anytime