Train Your Brain To Think English 5 Exercises To Stop Translating in Your Head

Let’s think in English. When you can build
a habit for your brain thinking in English,

it’ll make expressing yourself, English
conversation so much easier and faster.

There are steps you can take to
build this habit in your brain

and today we’re going to do exactly that.

I’m also going to give you an assignment
so you can keep going with this practice.

Together, we’re going to make
awesome things happen for you.

And don’t forget, if you like this
video or you learn something new,

please give it a thumbs up and don’t
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Did you know that there are actually
step by step exercises that you can do

to build your brain’s habit of thinking in
English. You can practice anywhere because

well, it’s thinking, it’s in your head. It’s
not like you need to practice out loud. Today

we’re focusing on training your brain to
quickly go to English by focusing on words.

Sometimes we do whole phrases but today we’re
just doing words. And if ever you can’t think

of one of the words, you don’t know it,
no problem. We’ll go over everything.

Let’s just start with me. For ten
seconds, think of every word you can

that describes what you see in English.
They can be very basic words. Ready? Go.

There’s so many things you could have said.

Woman, hair, gray hair, gray streak,
shirt, white with blue pattern,

plain background, eyebrow, hairline, nostril,
ear, ear lobe, neck, chin, jaw, lips, smile.

Maybe you went into words that describe things
you can’t see like teacher. Maybe even you use

the word friend. Were any of these words new to
you? Watch this part again, pause at the new word

and make up a sentence using it. Close your
eyes, think of a sentence, think the picture.

This will help you remember. Now, the same
thing only not me, do yourself. Think words in

English that describe your
appearance. What you’re wearing. Ten seconds. Go.

Now we’ll look at my environment, where I am now,
my office. It’s a little bit messy, it always is

no matter how hard I try. So this is a little
seventeen second clip, a scan of my office.

Let your mind bring up all the
English words for what you’re seeing.

Now let’s go over some of
the words you may have said.

Tree, window, window sill,
window pane, office chair,

storage cube, light switch, blinds, power
lines, tree, shelves, books, plants, planters,

cactus. I have a lot of plants don’t I? Maybe you
notice I have some of them up on two yoga blocks.

And some on mixing bowls I turned upside
down. I even have a pair of tiny dumbbells

so I can do a quick little ten-minute arm
workouts when I need a break from work.

Laptop, door, door knob. What’s this?
It’s a sign I put outside my door when

I don’t want to be disturbed.
It’s like a do not disturb sign,

only since my kids can’t read,
it’s just an X. What else?

Hinge, floor, baseboard, corner, rug,
lights, equipment, cords, outlet, ring light,

overhead lights, pull cords for my ceiling fan,
magazine, glasses case, poster, flowers, vase,

desk, stamps, tissues, papers,
calendar, water bottle, hard drives,

candle, lamp, coaster, computer, daybed,
pillow, duvet, vent, wall, ceiling, fan.

And maybe you saw some things
that I didn’t even notice.

Maybe some of the things you saw,
you didn’t know the English word for.

And now you do. Now, you’re going to do
this for yourself, your own environment.

An exercise like this is great because it’s simple
and it can have a couple of benefits. First,

when you tell yourself I’m going to think
of these things in English. It trains your

brain to do just that. To think in English without
having to translate from your own native language.

The other benefit is you’re building
vocabulary that is incredibly useful

to you. Because you’re using words in your
life relevant for you. For example, the word

ring light. From my office is
not relevant to most people.

But around you, everything is a word that it
would be useful for you to know in English.

First, do the exercise for just ten seconds
where you name things in English, go!

Now take a minute to look around your environment
more, is there anything that you don’t know how

to say in English? Think just three of these
things and look them up in a translator. Get

the English word, think it a few times or say
it. Look at the object. Close your eyes and

visualize yourself making the scan around your
room again. And thinking the word in English.

If you have a method of tracking and learning
vocabulary, add these new words to your list.

Now, let’s take a scene from a movie. We’re
going to watch it together. It’s a short scene,

it’s full of objects. Tell your mind now, name
the things you see in English. Let’s watch.

Oh, hello.

Hi, how are you?

Fine.

This scene by the way is from the movie “Good
Will Hunting”. A few days ago, I posted on

Instagram asking you to suggest movies, TV,
even specific scenes to use to learn English

and Good Will Hunting is a movie that came
up. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Let’s go back now and name some objects.

Okay, we have a lot of people. They all
seem to be men in this shot. We’re in a bar,

I see a lot of baseball caps or baseball
hats. He’s wearing a jacket, these are taps,

they’re for pouring draft beer out of a keg.
We have a lot of glasses. This looks like it

might be an ashtray. You can’t smoke in doors
in the US anymore but this movie is pretty old.

Pendant lights. There are a couple of neon
signs. A string of colored lights. This

guy has on a watch. He just grabbed a glass of
beer. We start to see another character. Woman.

She’s wearing a tank top. It could also be called
a camisole. When a shirt or dress has really thin

straps like this, we call them spaghetti
straps. She has her hair on a ponytail.

Now we see another character. She has
a bar barrette and you can see the part

of her hair. She has on a T-shirt, it’s
striped. The flag above also has stripes.

He has a cut on his face. He has a logo
on his shirt. You can see her collarbone.

You can get very detailed. And don’t
forget to look up words you don’t know.

This is such a great way to build
your vocabulary. Your assignment is:

Do this at least once tomorrow whether you’re
at home or somewhere totally new. Take a minute

to think of the names of things around you In
English. Then put in the comments below where

you were when you did this exercise. And
if you love it, do it every day. The more

consistent you are with asking your mind to think
in English, the easier for your mind to go there

and respond in English. Now, we’ll review all
the words we went over together. See the object,

read the word and think the word in
your head. Build that connection.

Thanks for learning with me, I really love
teaching you. Keep your learning now with

this video and don’t forget to subscribe with that
notification bell, I make new videos every Tuesday

and I love to see you back here again. That’s it
and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.