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
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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
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and you can use the code that is here
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giveaways and I did one with Cambridge
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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
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