STOP These 5 Habits And Watch Your English Improve

according to the dictionary

merriam-webster dictionary a habit is a

settled tendency or usual manner of

behavior or in other words behavior

pattern acquired by frequent repetition

basically something that you do over and

over now there are great habits for

example drinking water is an amazing

habit exercising is a great habit too

but there are also bad habits habits

that can affect your ability to speak in

English and I’m gonna tell you five

habits that you must stop in order to

take your English to the next level I’m

teacher Tiffany let’s jump right in

[Music]

alright habit number one trying to

memorize tons of oak AB you Larry at one

time but never using them now this is

something that I heard a lot from my

students when I was working in South

Korea I taught thousands of students but

I remember having conversations with

students about the importance of

learning English vocabulary but also I

remember students telling me teacher I’m

gonna learn 100 vocabulary words every

day and that used to bother me because

yes it’s good to memorize vocabulary but

you can’t memorize and use 100

vocabulary words in one day so let me

explain a little bit more why this is so

dangerous and why this is not a good

habit to have so here we go first

memorizing too many words at one time

results in short-term memory not

long-term memory so again in one hour

let’s say you learn 25 vocabulary words

that’s amazing and maybe you can learn

more but if you never use those

vocabulary words you will forget them

now at that moment maybe for that day

you’ll have those words stored in your

brain but then 2 or 3 or 4 weeks later

your long-term memory will kick in and

will not be able to remember

the words you learned why because you

learned too many words at one time now

another reason why this is not a good

habit to have is right here you create

stress for your brain instead of peace

here’s the thing when you’re learning a

language your brain needs to be relaxed

in order to take a lot of information in

that can actually be used I want you to

think about a child a parent does not

sit and look at a two-year-old child and

say you must learn 30 words say them

after me say them say them no parents

don’t do that I hope you guys don’t do

that but what happens is the child is in

a relaxed environment and just adjusts

and hears what he or she is surrounded

by and then naturally takes in the words

and uses them later so again the same

for us as adults we can learn vocabulary

when we are in a peaceful state of mind

and not stressed okay now don’t worry

I’m gonna give you the solution so

here’s what you should do instead here

we go first create a pattern of

consistency by studying in small chunks

or groups now I’ve spoken about this in

a previous video lesson but again let’s

say for example you say I’m gonna learn

three vocabulary words a day now you may

say teacher come on three vocabulary

words that’s nothing but it is something

because three vocabulary words a day is

not too much and also not too little so

your brain will be relaxed when you’re

learning the vocabulary words and then

you’ll also be able to use them

naturally because you’re slowly building

up your vocabulary and you’re not

stressed but you see three vocabulary

words a day after a hundred days will be

300 vocabulary words now not just

vocabulary words you know but 300

vocabulary words that you will be able

to use in real-life situations and

that’s the key developing this habit

will help you learn and use what you

learn now

another thing you can do instead of this

habit let me show you really quickly

relax and learn based on your ability

then build slowly now I’ll be honest I

have had students in the past who I just

said you know what you’re a genius I

mean they were super smart and those

students were able to memorize large

chunks of information I remember

actually you know when I was studying

Korean there was a guy that was in our

class and he was from Morocco now I

think he was a genius because he

wouldn’t study but when he took the

exams he would always get an A it was

like when he was sitting in the

classroom his brain just took everything

in even when it seemed like he wasn’t

paying attention so there are gonna be

those students and maybe you’re one of

them who are able to really take

information in and process large pieces

of information but remember you need to

study according to your ability as you

study if you feel yourself getting

stressed and frustrated when you get to

that ten vocabulary word mark stop don’t

stress yourself out remember relax

know your ability and work according to

your ability then when you get

comfortable move to the next step or the

next level okay all right now let’s move

on to the second habit now this is

another habit that you need to stop

saying um instead of simply pausing let

me show you what this um um kind of uh

you see what it sounds like right

immediately your thoughts about me

changed why because I started saying um

and uh a lot and maybe you thought to

yourself hey what’s wrong with teacher

Tiffany why is she saying um and us so

much

you see that’s what you may do when

you’re speaking in English when you’re

trying to think of something to say and

it makes you feel a bit more comfortable

because there’s a sound coming out of

your mouth but it’s actually not a good

thing so let me tell you little bit more

about why this is not a good habit and

you must stop it okay so first here we

go

saying um while you are speaking at

Julie makes you look less confident

think about it when I started saying um

I started to look less confident now

think about that I’m your teacher and

I’ve been teaching you for a while but

the moment I started saying um or uh

your feeling about me kind of changed a

little bit right because saying um and

uh really does cause those listening to

you to look at you and say maybe you’re

not as confident in your own ability

okay so don’t say or stop saying um and

up now another reason why this is a bad

habit is because it causes the listener

to doubt what you are actually saying to

them so not only do you look less

confident the person listening to you

starts to doubt does she really know

what she’s saying

does he really know what he’s saying so

imagine you’re in an exam you’re taking

an exam and it’s in English and you’re

trying to figure out what to say and you

start saying um oh I the person

interviewing you will start to give you

lower marks because you don’t look

confident and you also don’t look like

you’re sure about what you’re saying

alright so how can you actually make a

better habit okay so here we go this is

what you should do instead of this habit

when you need to simply look at the

listener and pause that’s right just

pause and let there be silence let me

show you I’m gonna show you two examples

first I’m gonna do with um and uh and

second I’m gonna pause alright so first

I’m gonna tell you where I’m from um hi

my name is um Tiffany and um I I am from

Maryland and I I I’m an American alright

you saw how I didn’t look confident and

you probably doubted what I was saying

now the second example with pauses hi

I’m Tiffany and I’m from Maryland I am

American do you

see how the feeling changed now I paused

for a long period of time just to show

you how even if you pause for a little

bit longer the person listening to you

still feels like you are confident and

they’re not doubting what you’re saying

they’re actually waiting for you to

continue speaking so again stop the

habit of saying um or uh instead pause

and think it’ll make you look more

confident now another thing that you can

do is right here

ask the listener a question to give

yourself time for example ah what do you

think so let’s say for example you’re

having a conversation and the person

asks you a question and you don’t know

what to say you’re having a good

conversation in English and they say hey

what’s your favorite type of music and

you’ve never thought about that question

in English so you’re not sure what to

say well turn the question around you

can say huh great question you know I

want to know first what’s your favorite

type of music and as they’re giving

their answer you have a little extra

time to think about your own answer

again it’s all about looking confident

and giving yourself space and time to

think in English okay all right now the

third habit this is another habit that I

really want you to stop okay here’s the

habit apologizing for your English

instead of just speaking listen I get

this all the time when I speak to you

via phone call or email or in our

community students will say teacher I’m

so sorry for my English I’m sorry for

making a mistake and there are a lot of

apologies being made but here’s the deal

you don’t have to apologize it’s okay I

know that for you and may feel it makes

you feel better to say oh I’m sorry I I

didn’t I made a mistake or I’m not that

good in English but that’s actually

really bad let me show you why okay so

this is why this habit is not good it

makes people think less of you in other

words they won’t respect you as much now

again this is not me I still respect you

because I’m an English teacher and I

underst

and how difficult it is to learn English

but I’m speaking about individuals who

are not English teachers just regular

English speakers and if they start a

conversation with you and the first

thing you say is who I’m sorry my

English is not that good

immediately they’re listening or their

attention goes down like okay this is

not gonna really be an interesting

conversation so immediately you put your

insecurities out there and the person

starts to think that your words aren’t

gonna be that important don’t do that

please stop this I really want you to

stop this habit now here’s another

reason why it can be dangerous all right

here’s the other reason it lessens the

impact of your words in other words

people will doubt what you’re worth that

your words are true so if you start off

by saying I’m sorry my English is really

not that good and then you start to tell

me about some article you read in the

back of my mind again hypothetically I

may be thinking did she really read that

article because she just sent her

English is not that good how did she

understand that article I’m there are

difficult words in that article you see

naturally the brain starts to process

information based on what you said if

you said my English is not that good

then I’m just going off of what you said

this is why it’s so dangerous to have

this habit now I’m gonna give you the

solutions so don’t worry

all right so instead of this habit this

is what you need to do practice not

worrying or thinking about what other

people think it’s true don’t worry about

other people be confident in who you are

be confident in your speaking abilities

looking looking look it’s okay if you

make a mistake I just made a mistake now

when I first started making YouTube

videos I would have cut that mistake out

edited it and reshot it but I don’t need

more why because I realized that you my

student watching this video you don’t

care if I make a mistake when I’m

speaking you’re here to learn

information the same is true for you

people don’t care if you make a mistake

they want to listen to you so don’t

apologize from the beginning in

said practice not worrying and not

caring what other people think now along

with this this is also what I want you

to do simply say what you want to say

and don’t worry about mistakes I get it

I know that you’re concerned about

sounding an intelligent or sounding like

oh my English is not that good I get it

when I was studying Korean I have the

same thoughts so I understand I

empathize with you but I want you to

practice just speaking don’t worry about

your mistakes okay all right now the

fourth habit this is another habit that

you need to stop here we go

criticizing yourself instead of

encouraging yourself to move forward

listen there are so many things going on

in this world today so many good people

but also so many bad people and there

are gonna be people that have negative

things to say about you don’t be one of

those people don’t add to the negative

comments by actually saying it about

yourself I want you to practice

encouraging yourself okay so again let

me tell you exactly why this is so bad

to criticize yourself you will start to

compare yourself to others and think

they are better than you so the more you

criticize yourself like ah I can’t

believe I made that mistake I can’t

believe I didn’t know that word don’t do

that the more you do that the more

you’ll start looking at other people man

Sally is better than me or man Michael

is really good how come I can’t speak

like him don’t do that another reason

why this habit is so dangerous is

because you will never be satisfied with

your own personal achievements here’s a

fact you are amazing do you realize that

right now you are learning a second

language and for some of you a third a

fourth and a fifth language English is

not your mother tongue but you speak

your mother tongue ah make you speak it

like a native and you’re trying to learn

my language and it’s your 2nd 3rd 4th or

5th language so listen you can be

satisfied with where you are you’re

doing

right but if you continually criticize

yourself you’ll never recognize your

milestones or your achievements okay so

what are the solutions here are the

habits that I want you to have okay

here we go so first chart your progress

and see the things you have learned

start the document hey I was trying to

learn this new expression and you know

what two days ago

I actually used it in a conversation

write it down it’s okay to give yourself

a pat on the back it’s okay it’s alright

and those around you can cheer you on

you know I think I mentioned to you guys

in the Academy I actually have a private

group a private community and I want to

show it to you guys but in our community

students are able to talk with each

other I’m trying to find it what I’m

talking to you but they’re able to talk

to each other and I love seeing them

talk to each other and see if you can

see it you know why because they

encourage each other they post videos

they post video video clips sorry guys

video clips and audio files but again

they are encouraging each other and I’ve

noticed that they all kind of gain

confidence that’s what I’m talking about

you need to chart your progress see what

you’ve learned use it and then encourage

yourself and those around you who are

doing the same okay all right and

finally another thing is this right here

document your achievements and the goals

you reach very similar to what I just

said a moment ago all right now the

fifth habit very important now this

fifth habit I also want you to stop

using subtitles only in your language

instead of in English that’s right now

subtitles in English amazing very good

but when you use subtitles in your

native language that’s not good you know

I can remember a little extra story time

I can remember when I was first learning

Korean now I was level one so I was

saying things like you know - opened up

and up Sumida like simple things like

how are you nice to meet you or hello

but I was watching Korean dramas and I

had no subtitles so no I didn’t

understand everything but my brain was

making connections but if I had turned

on the English subtitles suddenly my

brain would shut off the part that

needed connections and I would just

start reading in English so let me show

you again why this is so dangerous

there’s two things that make this have

it really bad if you continue doing this

you will always struggle to really think

in English remember one of your goals is

to think in English but you have to

challenge yourself and if you’re always

looking at subtitles in your native

language

you’re never gonna challenge yourself

alright the other reason why this habit

is not good is because you will struggle

to properly express yourself in

real-life situations you will always

think of expressions in your native

language now what are the solutions here

are the solutions let me show you first

switch to English subtitles and write

notes as you watch the program that’s

right as you watch the program maybe

it’s difficult write notes hey I noticed

that they use this expression I wonder

what it means I wonder how I should use

it write it down and then continue

watching the program the other thing I

want you to do is this right here pay

attention to the expressions used based

on specific emotions now for those of

you that follow me on Instagram I teach

a slang term everyday and also a

vocabulary word now you’ve learned a lot

of slang from me but the slang that I

teach you is connected to an emotion or

something you can tell that I teach it a

little bit differently from the videos

here on YouTube so again let’s say for

example I’m excited right and I’m going

somewhere and then I get some really

good food you can already tell that my

emotions are changing and then my body

language is changing now when something

is delicious I may say oh that food is

bangin but maybe you never heard banging

before but you watched my emotions and

my expressions and say wait a minute

teacher Tiffani is talking about food

she really likes and she kind of got

excited and said the food was bangin so

does that mean the food was bad or good

good right and probably really good so

you made those connections based on

looking at my emotions and listening to

the words that I said that’s why it’s so

important for you to actually use

English subtitles and not subtitles in

your own language alright I hope you

enjoyed today’s lesson I hope you

remember to stop these five habits I

want you to be confident and to believe

in yourself if you want to watch part

two of this episode of this lesson all

you have to do is click the link in the

description and you can get part two and

you can also get the PDF that goes along

with this lesson alright I hope you

enjoyed and I’ll see you next week but

as always remember to speak English

oh yeah it’s storytime

I said storytime alright ah today we

have a good story time it’s gonna be a

little shorter but it’s um it’s gonna

tell you a little bit more about how I

was when I was younger so when I was in

school I was a very studious

I was very studious meaning I liked to

study I got good grades and I loved

school but I was also a very happy

playful and talkative child so whenever

I’d get my report cards my mom my dad

would look at our report cards my sister

and I my mom would look at my report

card and she’d see all A’s and then

she’d get to the comment section and the

teacher would always write we really

enjoy having Tiffany in class she’s

really smart but she talks all the time

in class now my sister and I would get

the same comments teachers loved us we

studied hard we got our work done we got

good grades but we loved to talk so let

me tell you about one situation related

to me being talkative so this is when I

think I was in sixth grade or seventh

grade

and we were in class and I think our

teacher was having a stressful day but

you know my friends and I we wanted to

talk we had finished our works of Libra

just yapping yapping means talking we

were just yapping and having a good time

laughing and joking and I just said I

told you guys to be quiet

now we were never disrespectful so we

kind of looked at her and said yes ma’am

and then two minutes later just talking

and laughing I mean we were kids so she

said okay you have no recess so recess

is that period of time in the day when

children go outside and they play like

after lunch and recess was meant

everyone wanted to go to recess so when

she said we had no recess we were kind

of a little upset but let me said okay

now there were about 20 I think 25

students in our class and I think

they’re about 2 or 3 students that were

always good I mean always good they

never got in trouble ever so throughout

the course of the day so my my friend

and I we got in trouble so we didn’t

have recess then three other people got

in trouble and they didn’t have recess

than five other people then two other

people so buddy by the time lunch came

around I think about 15 people didn’t

have any recess so the girls that were

actually really good and always active

good in class they were like guys come

on we don’t want to lose our recess so

the teacher said okay if you guys don’t

stop talking you’re all losing recess so

long story short for that part 20 22

people lost their recess I don’t know

what was happening that day we were just

in a good mood we were laughing and

joking by the time 20 of us had lost our

recess we really didn’t care because we

were all gonna be together now when I

was younger so you know when you are

outside and you park your car there are

lines right for a parking space and we

our teacher would say you have to stand

on the line the line where you have a

parking space so if you got in trouble

you to stand on the line during recess

and you couldn’t play so we got to

recess and that there were about twin

again 22 of us were in trouble so 22 of

us

standing on the line you have 22 kids

standing on the line all together do you

really think we’re gonna be quiet no so

we’re all like well we’re on the line

now let me ask you a question where do

you think those three girls were the

ones that were always good do you think

they were running around playing no now

twenty-two of us got in trouble but the

three girls were standing at the line

waiting for us because they don’t like

to play with so we’re standing on the

line all 22 of us laughing joking we

said well we can’t play but we could

talk so our teacher was just sitting she

was sitting there looking at us outside

she said I just can’t take it

everybody go play we all started

laughing and we just ran and went to

play now the thing is our teacher really

loved us and actually to this day I love

her so much she was an amazing teacher

and she always told us that we were her

favorite class and to this day she says

that we were her favorite class so the

situation even though we were laughing

and joking and talking we weren’t bad

kids and we weren’t disrespectful

so she even I think she was laughing

inside too as she saw the other three

little girls when are they gonna get off

the line teacher I never forgot that

so yeah if you guys have any stories

from when you were younger were you

talkative were you quiet did you ever

get in trouble when you were younger let

me know in the comments section alright

guys I hope you enjoyed this story time

and I’ll see you next week