How to Use NonTextbook Resources to Study English

live stream my name is alicia and in

this week’s live lesson we are going to

talk about how to use

non-textbook resources for your studies

so i’m going to talk about a few

different types of study resource we’re

going to cover music movies tv books

videos of course and some ideas for how

you can use them

to study so not just textbooks yeah

so

i hope everybody finds some ideas uh for

the ways that they study uh any language

you can use this for english of course

but for other languages too okay so

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so let’s go to today’s topic i’ll show

you today’s lesson boards now

this is what we are going to talk about

today

okay so today we’re going to cover

videos like social media videos youtube

facebook movies and tv

books podcasts and music and then some

tips for choosing your resources how to

choose and how to know when you are

improving

that’s a question i get a lot so

let’s begin i want to start today by

talking about videos because of course i

make videos so

that’s probably why most of you are here

right okay so let’s start by talking

about how we can use videos

to study so i’m going to start by you

talking about like like this kind of

video a youtube video a facebook video

maybe twitter or instagram something

like that

how do you use these effectively for

your studies here are some tips for

videos

first very important study actively

not

passively so study actively not

passively what does this mean so active

study versus passive study

everybody knows what passive study is

lots of people send me comments about

passive study for example you turn on

one of my videos and you walk away like

you’re cleaning your house or you’re

studying something else or maybe you’re

working out whatever so you’re doing

some action

and the video is playing in another room

or the video is playing

somewhere else you are not focusing

on the video right that is passive study

passive study right it’s just there

like music in a store right you’re not

focusing on that

study actively so what is active study

so that means you sit in front of the

video you watch it and you actively use

your brain you use your brain to think

of new vocabulary words you’re hearing

you are using your brain to do some of

these things we’re going to talk about

so don’t just

passively study that’s fine to listen to

stuff in the background sometimes

great

but please make sure you also study

actively

so one example

is shadowing shadowing what is shadowing

shadowing is when you repeat quickly

after someone else so when you’re using

a video or

maybe podcast as well

you can repeat quickly what the person

said yeah so it’s a type of speaking

practice you’re trying to use the same

intonation the same up and down sounds

and the same rhythm as the speaker so

you’re trying to practice those native

rhythms okay

second point i’m going to say this many

times today review review review review

review review review oh my gosh so

important so what does this mean this

means don’t watch a video just one time

i’m finished i’m done forever review the

concepts you learned review the grammar

points review the vocabulary review

challenging sentences and those kinds of

things so make sure

you review that means go back watch the

video again the next week watch the

video again the next month

make sure you refresh your brain don’t

watch something just one time and think

okay i learned it i’m done that’s a huge

mistake do not do that make sure to

review

okay

next

some tips for video make your own

sentences with new vocabulary and

grammar

you learn in the lesson

make your own sentences make your

sentences

with new vocabulary and grammar you

learn in the lesson so for example if

you watch one of my vocabulary videos

maybe there are 10 vocabulary words or

10 phrases in the lesson you can after

the lesson write down 10 sentences

that you made with the new vocabulary

words or if you watch a grammar lesson

one of my grammar lessons

use the grammar point to make some

sentences of your own so take a few

minutes after the lesson to create

something

for yourself

yeah

okay so making your own sentences

you can also

make flash cards with new words and

phrases you learn make flash cards so if

you’re studying vocabulary and you find

some new words and phrases write them

down on a flash card or if you use a i

don’t know a phone an app a flash card

app you can use that too

okay

finally

another tip check the subtitles or the

captions uh so what’s the different

subtitles is the

at the bottom of the screen the words

that appear in your language yeah that’s

a subtitle caption is the thing that the

person is saying in their language

that’s the difference so in this case if

you watch this video i speak english in

these videos so i would

have english captions and you would have

subtitles in your language if there were

a translation available

okay

so check the subtitles or the captions

for words you don’t know depending on

what you’re studying yeah okay

cool

uh i’m looking for your questions live

uh nia says i created like 2 000 flash

cards cool

okay

um

awesome okay i don’t see questions so

let’s continue

let’s go to movies and tv now so movies

and tv i have all of the above so we can

do all of these things

with movies and tv the same strategies

yeah

but a couple points

i want to talk about uh with movies and

tv

first

here’s an idea for discussion practice

or online discussion practice it’s to

look for online social media groups and

communities

talking about the movies and tv shows

you like

okay

so look for an online group for example

if you like the show friends that’s a

really popular american tv show if you

like to show friends you can go online

and find a community

social community social group maybe

facebook group reddit i don’t know you

can find a group of people

talking about that series so

participate in the discussion so add

your own comments

if that’s scary

participating is scary at first that’s

okay

just start by reading the discussion so

start by reading the discussion and

learning new vocabulary

so this can help you because of course

watching the tv show

you know the characters and the stories

and so on but talking to other people

about what you saw and about what you

heard is a different skill set right so

this is another way that you can

practice

okay so look for discussion groups you

can do this with youtube videos too

sometimes if you like a really big

creator maybe there are people talking

about your favorite creator uh on a

youtube community somewhere okay but

maybe movies and tv for popular movies

and tv there are probably some

communities talking about those topics

okay

cool all right good so this is part one

for today how to use videos and movies

and again review please please please

review make sure to review

awesome we’ll take one quick break i’m

looking for

your questions rasheed says you are my

community yeah that’s true this so the

uh the youtube uh chat we have like we

have live video running on youtube chat

i know there are many people that uh

chat together in the comment section as

a community and maybe the facebook page

as well um that’s a good community where

people can practice absolutely good

point

okay

um

i don’t see any other questions oh hey

patrick olivier thanks very much for the

support from brazil that’s super cool

all right uh let’s take a quick break i

said so if you missed it earlier i

talked again about the free uh pdfs you

can find from the link below the video

if you’re watching on youtube and above

the video if you’re watching on facebook

download these

and practice

to pick up some phrases some vocabulary

words some key culture points you can

download all of them you don’t have to

choose only one you can download all of

these i’ve showed you what haven’t i

showed you in a while oh here’s some for

travel here’s one for time and planning

so check out some topics grab a few

print them out put them on your phone

your computer so that you can practice

you can find the link below or above the

video okay

cool so let’s go to part two for today’s

lesson so if you haven’t please please

please make sure to like this video and

share it so that other people can find

today’s lesson that would be super cool

all right let’s move along um

someone says how can i improve my

speaking through videos i that was point

number one in this video so please go

back after the live stream

okay let’s go to the next part books

podcasts and music how can we use

these resources for our studies of

course review review again

such an important thing to do

let’s talk about books now

so

from the book you choose a book you’re

reading i will talk later about how to

choose

books and things it’s part three

so

create lists or flashcards of new

vocabulary words create lists or

flashcards of new vocabulary words so

when you read and you find a new word

you can mark it or what i do

i try to read one page

completely i don’t stop and then i go

back and i mark the new words so i can

put them in a list later that’s what

works for me so you can create a list or

flash cards uh

with new vocabulary words in the way

that’s best for you

okay

another thing read out loud to practice

speaking read out loud to practice

speaking so the book you’re reading just

say it out loud like maybe when you are

home alone maybe don’t do it in a

library but read the book out loud this

will have you practicing grammar

patterns vocabulary words creating

sentences yeah you don’t have to think

about what to say just read it from the

page so read out loud to practice

speaking

okay

another one this is a tip uh for just if

you feel tired i know sometimes when we

read a book in another language in the

language we’re studying it feels really

difficult yeah like you feel tired you

want to read but you can’t you feel you

can’t and you feel tired right here’s a

tip to help with that so if reading for

a long time is difficult

choose a number of pages to read every

day so for example choose one page every

day or two pages every day five pages

depending on your level and depending on

you help you get regular practice to

read the book

really fast like in one week like 50

pages a day you’re like oh my gosh i

can’t do this you burn out like you have

no energy right so

instead break it down say okay i’m going

to read two pages every day or i’m going

to read five pages every day that gives

you time to check for new vocabulary

words and review your new vocabulary

words and you practice every day with

this approach so if reading for a long

time is difficult just break it down

make it smaller yeah

okay

all right this is book tips some book

tips okay let’s go to the next part

podcasts podcasts so

uh podcasts you can do shadowing

practice if you don’t know what a

podcast is it’s just audio

yeah it’s just like one person or maybe

two people or a group of people it

depends on the podcast it depends on the

series people they talk about a topic

like news or language learning or

science technology whatever there are so

many podcasts so you can find one you

like but how do you use that for your

studies you can do shadowing which i

talked about before so repeat the things

the speaker says yeah so try to mimic

the way they speak

then some podcasts have

transcripts so transcript is the words

the words in the podcast what do they

say

so all of that that file is called a

transcript so you can check the

transcript if there is one not all

podcasts have transcripts but check the

transcript for some reading practice

yeah

okay

um onward let’s see victor says is

google translate reliable for

pronunciation oh good question i don’t

use google for uh pronunciation checking

i usually use merriam-webster the

american dictionary the american english

dictionary to check pronunciation so i

usually don’t use google for that

i can’t give a good answer for that i

usually use the dictionary for it

okay

um

others

lots of people are saying what kind of

book what book should we read what do

you recommend part three i will talk

about this in part three okay

all right next part is music

music many people ask can i study with

music yeah here are some ideas and also

please remember when you choose music

try to choose music that is maybe polite

if you’re a beginner too so of course

there’s lots of really cool music out

there

it uses different ways of speaking and

different vocabulary words but try to

choose music that has kind of everyday

conversation topics or maybe um

is easy for you to use in your everyday

life okay so what can you do with music

sing along with the music so when you

listen again this is active practice

yeah when you listen sing at the same

time as the singer yeah so sing along

with the music sing along with the music

okay

then try to memorize the words try to

memorize the words how can you do that

so for example you could listen to one

line

and then try to say it

without the music then the next one and

then the next line so try to memorize

the words be careful when you do this

sometimes

sometimes i hear people

in any language they make sounds that

are kind of similar to what the singer

says

take the time to check the lyrics and

read them check the lyrics and read them

so don’t just try to make the same

sounds

take a moment take a few minutes check

the lyrics the lyrics the lyrics lyrics

means the words of the song so like the

transcript of the song

so check the lyrics and read those to

make sure you are saying the words

correctly you’re saying the correct

words too so try to memorize the words

to the song

okay and then

try to translate the lyrics this is

something else you can do because trying

to translate the lyrics is kind of fun

because it’s one short line usually or

maybe four short lines with one idea so

it’s like a short translation exercise i

did this in high school actually with

music i was listening to that was fun

for me

so you can use these ideas these

strategies to practice with music so

there are some ideas for books podcasts

and music

okay some questions please don’t spam

the chat everybody there’s make sure

everyone has a chance to participate

yeah

okay i don’t see any questions about

today’s topic so let’s go to

uh

last we’ll do one more super quick break

and then we’ll go to uh the last point

so if you missed it before there is free

stuff for you from the link below the

video on youtube or above the video on

facebook these three things i showed you

if you want to download these to

practice your vocabulary and build new

vocabulary uh take a look these are for

free you need your name and an email

address yeah to get these and then you

can download all of them so check it out

okay

uh yeah let’s go so everybody not

everybody many people are repeating the

same question what books what books what

books books i said i would answer this

in part three you must be patient

you guys are very impatient part three

my gosh okay

let’s talk in part three about how to

choose

resources how to choose resources so

this means how do i choose books how do

i choose movies how do i choose tv

podcast what do i do

okay lots of you say what’s the best

book

what’s the best movie there’s no such

thing as the best thing for everybody

you have to choose according to your

level according to your interests

according to what you can access right

so every person has a best every person

at different levels has a best thing so

there’s no perfect answer for everybody

so

how do we choose

first very important

choose something you enjoy

or that you are interested in maybe you

need it for work so you’re going to use

it every day so choose something you

enjoy a book you enjoy a movie you enjoy

whatever podcast

this will help make sure you practice

every day

okay so choose something you actually

like for your studies if you choose some

really random topic that you hate

your motivation is probably going to be

low okay

then

when you choose a book

choose something you can understand 70

to 80 percent of

when you choose a book choose something

you can understand 70 to 80 percent of

so

that means you go to the bookstore and

you check books you take some time to

look at the books

and go

this seems really hard for me or this

one seems about right so take a little

bit of time

to check the book to check a few pages

to look at the topics to look at the

vocabulary words if it’s too hard you

don’t need to get it now maybe it’s

interesting for you so you can add it to

your list for the future but try to

choose something you can understand

maybe 70 to 80 percent of so why do i

say this

because if you choose something that is

too difficult for you you will lose

motivation it will drop like if you

can’t read one page

without stopping you have to stop every

sentence to check vocabulary words your

motivation drops right so choose

something you can understand a few are

sorry that you can understand 70 to 80

percent in my case when i choose a book

that means maybe on one page i find like

two or three

new vocabulary words about there so more

than that and i think it’s a little too

difficult so i try to find a book that

i’m interested in and that is at my

level

also

uh if this is difficult

try looking for young adult books so

books for like teenagers in the native

language that’s great so look for those

they’re called also like reading

practice books in english for learners

you can check those

if those are super super difficult start

with children’s books i have had i’ve

used children’s books when i was

studying japanese for the first time so

check that out so there are many

different levels so start with

children’s books if you have to that’s

fine no shame don’t be embarrassed and

then slowly work up