5 Mistakes To Avoid As An English Learner
you are an English Learner but there are
five mistakes that you must avoid and
today I’m gonna tell you what they are
welcome to speak English with Tiffany I
am teacher Tiffany let’s jump right in
mistake number one alright the first
mistake is cramming this involves
basically trying to do too much in a
short period of time when you do this
you eventually feel burned out and I’ll
explain what that means in other words
your desire to study English slowly goes
away now let’s look at feel burned out
in a little bit more detail you see this
means to feel worn out or extremely
exhausted and you’ll see some examples
at the bottom of your screen
it’s exhaustion of physical or emotional
strength or motivation usually as a
result of prolonged or extended stress
or frustration so for example you can
feel burned out because of a group
project or maybe you’re a stay-at-home
mom and you’re very tired or it may be
overtime work at your office is making
you very tired or even high school
teachers get tired and maybe you are a
speaker at a conference you can feel
burned out in these situations okay so
let’s see some examples the man has been
working long hours at the restaurant so
he is feeling burned out again tired now
what about this picture shows us this
well working long hours well look at his
eyes his eyes look very tired and what
about the restaurant idea well this is
possibly kitchen equipment on the left
side of your screen or on the right side
it could be a large kitchen okay so
again the sentence is the man has been
working long hours at the restaurant so
he is feeling burned out or maybe this
one
the fashion designer was on the phone
with the client but it was easy to tell
by her body language that she was burned
out okay so looking at this pick
well fashion designer it looks like this
woman likes fashion her jean jacket
seems fashionable and her body language
well she looks stressed with her hands
on her face so again the fashion
designer was on the phone with the
client but it was easy to tell by her
body language that she was burned out
okay and this one the runner was totally
burned out after completing her
month-long training for the marathon
again burned out being tired okay so
runner
well her pants they look like running
pants and then training it looks like
she has on a training sweater so once
again the runner was totally burned out
after completing her month-long training
for the marathon
all right so feel burned out so mistake
number one is cramming this will cause
you to feel burned out or tired and
exhausted quickly when you study English
all right so let’s move on you can avoid
making this mistake by studying in
chunks instead of trying to do
everything at one time and I’ll explain
to you what chunks are look at the
amount of time you have and see how much
information you can study and comprehend
in that time period
all right so chunks a chunk is a large
part or portion of something so example
number one she decided to read her books
in chunks instead of all at one time so
example on the right side she decided to
read five chapters a day instead of the
entire book in one day so she did chunks
of five chapters all right number two
three hours is quite a chunk out of my
workday so let’s say you have an
eight-hour workday on the right of your
screen you’ll see that this is divided
into eight sections
well three hours removes three of those
sections okay that’s a large chunk out
of my workday and number three I see a
large chunk
of cheese on the table in the kitchen
you’ll see the picture of the cheese on
the right side of your screen the
drawing that’s a chunk a large part or
portion of cheese okay all right so
let’s think about your study habits now
this is representing your English study
time what happens is for this mistake
sometimes as a student you try to cram
or put everything in at one time but
instead of doing that you should break
out your English study into chunks so we
have vocabulary grammar listening
writing and speaking so there are
different types of chunks you’ll notice
on your screen that I’m showing you
visually how to break it down based on
time or based on days now you can choose
the specific chunk for each day all
right so let’s say we’re looking at
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday and Saturday
you can choose vocabulary for Sunday
grammar for Monday listening for Tuesday
and then a review day on Wednesday and
Thursday and Friday have different
chunks as well and then you can rest on
one day out of the week okay now at the
top where I have it broken down in
minutes if you decide to have 15-minute
chunks that means you will do 15 minutes
for cab you Larry 15 minutes for grammar
15 minutes for listening 15 minutes for
writing and 15 minutes for speaking and
the same across the board for 30 minutes
45 minutes or 60 minutes remember the
length of time for each chunk is up to
you okay this is a way you can study to
balance your learning okay all right so
again you can avoid making the mistake
of cramming by studying English in
chunks all right very good so now let’s
move on to mistake number two all right
this involves basically trying to look
up every single vocabulary word you see
in here a lot of my students did this in
the past and I had to give them its
advice so that they could avoid this
mistake you see when you do this you
eventually stop using the
capillary words you already know and
become discouraged in addition you
hinder and I’ll explain this word your
ability to learn English through context
alright so let’s look at this word
hinder hinder means to hold back or to
make difficult to accomplish now we have
three examples underneath okay number
one the power outage hindered his
ability to get his research done so look
at the sketch on the right side you’ll
see that he’s trying to do some research
or a study but because there’s no power
that means the lights aren’t working so
he can’t study he can’t do research so
it hindered his ability to do the
research alright number two if you do
not rest enough you will actually hinder
your workout progress so again looking
at the sketch on the right side the man
looks very very tired so because he
didn’t get enough rest he can’t do his
workout because he’s so tired alright
alright number three an ankle injury
will greatly hinder your ability to
exercise again remember hinder means to
hold back or make it difficult to
accomplish well on the right side with
the sketch if you’ve hurt your ankle
then you can’t move easily to exercise
alright so again hinder alright so let’s
look at some visual examples her injury
is hindering her from playing to the
best of her ability now looking at this
picture injury well we see her knee and
we see that someone is spraying her knee
so something happened some injury
happened and then plane well she has her
cleats on okay cleats are the shoes you
wear when you play soccer or for some
country’s football and also other sports
on turf or on actual grass okay alright
so listen to the next one his fear of
heights is hindering him from even
attempting to climb the big mountain
okay so we see this man standing right
here so fear of heights
well this mountain looks very big and
very high
okay he’s staring at the big mountain
but he’s not moving and then climbed the
big mountain well if we look at his
backpack we see he has gear on his
backpack okay again so his fear of
heights is hindering him from even
attempting to climb the big mountain all
right and next his addictions are
hindering him from getting a job so
looking at this picture
addictions well this man is holding some
alcohol and a cigarette he is drinking
and smoking at the same time so he has
an addiction and getting a job well we
see he is looking out for help so we
made the sentence his addictions are
hindering him from getting a job okay so
mistake number two is looking up every
word this will actually hinder or make
difficult to achieve your ability to
understand English
based on situations okay alright so
again vocabulary words are important but
not looking up every word is also
important okay all right
mistake number two how you can avoid it
you can avoid making this mistake by
using the focus method using this method
your first goal is to listen for or
redefined the main focus topic and then
the supporting information or details
about the topic let’s see what this
looks like so the focus method first
you’re gonna find the main idea in other
words the focus or subject then you’re
gonna look for supporting points you can
listen for the five W’s the who what
when where why or you can listen for
other details alright so let’s look at
this actual in an actual example alright
so on the left side of your screen
you’ll see an actual article now this
article comes from the speak English
with Tiffany Academy they’re updated
every month so if you’re not a part of
it yet you want to join right now
there’s so many students there and don’t
wait okay so this article on the left is
called talking through teens growing
pains now they’re gonna be many words
you don’t know in this article but again
the focus method says find the main idea
so the title is about teens and their
difficulties the word teen or teenager
is all throughout the article and the
overall feel of the article is there are
difficulties and how to relate to them
so without even looking up the difficult
words you were able to find the main
idea then look for supporting points
parents have a hard time communicating
with them this point is seen in the
article then difficulty with their peers
or friends and also spending time with
parents these are the points that are
mentioned in the article now even
without knowing for example at the
bottom I highlighted some words that may
be difficult or expressions like utter
about wince or manipulate now you can
look those up after the video but these
are words that when you first read the
article you may not know but you can
still find the main idea and look for
supporting points ok and next this one
is a conversation this is for listening
so the main idea as you’re listening to
this conversation ah
Sarah’s biology class and her difficult
professor that’s the main idea those are
the two points right and what are the
supporting points Michael took his class
before the professor’s class so he can
help and Sarah is happy now you may not
know what the word lifesaver means but
you have the general idea of the
conversation that is why the focus
method is so important okay so you can
avoid making the mistake of looking up
every single word by using the focus
method understand the most important
parts first now again remember I’m not
saying never to look up vocabulary words
but I’m saying first find the important
information alright okay so let’s move
on to mistake number three mistake
number three this involves basically
trying to see how good or bad you are in
English based on another English
learners capability or ability that’s
why the mistake is called compare
yourself when you do this you actually
can discourage yourself from trying
harder to learn English okay so you can
avoid making this mistake by placing
more focus on your own English learning
journey on a daily weekly or monthly
basis you can write down where you
improved and where you need to improve
okay so let me explain a little bit more
what on a daily weekly or monthly basis
actually means this refers to how often
something happens or is done in other
words it refers to the frequency of an
action so for example in the pictures
you’ll see how often you hang out with
your friends how often you eat out or
how often you go to work these are
actions that happen on a regular basis
okay so let’s go to the first example I
work with a great team of coders on a
daily basis so again in this picture
what do we see well work well we see
this man sitting at his computer and he
is very focused on his task and then
coders well we see code on her screen so
coders refers to computer programmers
who actually work with code ok so again
I work with the great team of coders on
a daily basis usually we work every day
of the week ok
all right next I eat out with my family
on a weekly basis ok so eat out well
we’re looking at this picture and he has
a suit on and is eating a big juicy
burger so he’s probably eating out all
right ok and this one my friends and I
try to hang out with each other on a
monthly basis well hang out with each
other in this picture it looks like
they’re all sitting together and
enjoying each other’s company so they
are together but maybe this doesn’t
happen every day so we say my friends
and I try to hang out with each other on
a monthly basis alright let’s move
forward now
again you can avoid making the mistake
of comparing yourself by writing down
and checking your personal progress on a
daily weekly or monthly basis regularly
basically so don’t compare yourself just
check your own progress okay all right
mistake number four now this mistake is
not making a schedule this involves
basically studying English with no plans
or goals plans and goals are so
important when you do this it actually
becomes harder for you to stay motivated
to continue studying English alright so
you can avoid making this mistake by
creating a simple study schedule your
schedule can be based on a daily weekly
or monthly plan but my advice is to
focus on making a weekly schedule first
so that you can get in the habit of
studying now let me explain get in the
habit of okay this just means to begin
doing something regularly or often okay
so for example reading a good book or
having a cup of coffee sometimes people
do that every day on a regular basis or
going for a jog these are habits that
people have alright so for example she
got in the habit of going to Starbucks
every morning when she was in university
okay
so Starbucks well we can tell by the cup
the Starbucks logo on the cup and she
was in university well she has on a
backpack okay
alright so again she got in the habit of
going to Starbucks
every morning when she was in university
all right next one
the man and the woman got in the habit
of jogging together after they learned
the health benefits of exercising well
okay we see the man and the woman
they’re jogging together they look like
they are talking to each other
alright so they have a habit of jogging
okay all right and Barbara got in the
habit of reading one book a week after
she
the biography of Martin Luther King okay
well reading one book we can see that
she’s sitting there she is focused on
her book so again Barbara got in the
habit of reading one book a week after
she read the biography of Martin Luther
King all right so get in the habit of
you can avoid making the mistake of not
making a schedule by getting in the
habit of or to start doing regularly
planning out your English study time it
can be days times or even by topic but
plan out your study time okay all right
mistake number five this involves
basically studying only one aspect of
English for a long period of time that
is why the mistake is called studying
only one aspect for example only
studying grammar and neglecting don’t
worry I’ll explain this word listening
speaking writing and vocabulary by
studying only one for a long period of
time you inevitably or unavoidably
become weaker in all of the other
aspects so let’s look at neglecting this
means a fail to care for properly or to
not pay proper attention to or disregard
so the first example my friends told me
to stop neglecting my boyfriend so on
the sketch on the right side you see
it’s kind of like the guy is trying to
hug her but the woman is actually
ignoring him or neglecting him okay
number two the boss neglected his
employees and they got upset well in
this sketch you will see there’s a man
in front but he looks a little bit
worried because of the people behind him
he neglected them didn’t pay attention
to them for a long period of time and
number three
both parents were found guilty of
neglect and their child was taken away
from them so again we see in the picture
the baby is screaming and crying because
the parents did not take care or give
proper attention to the baby okay so we
say neglecting now this is what happens
if you only focus
on one aspect let’s say you focus only
on vocabulary your vocabulary is strong
but everything else is weak or you focus
on grammar and everything else but
capillary listening writing and speaking
get weaker the same is true no matter
what aspect you focus on if you put too
much focus on it it’ll make the other
aspects get very weak all right so
mistake number five is studying only one
aspect this will cause you to neglect
the other aspects remember to balance
your study time all right so you can
avoid making this mistake by allotted
time for each aspect and again a lot of
time for I’ll explain in other words you
can create a schedule that includes all
aspects of English by doing this your
English ability will improve in a
balanced way all right a lot time for
okay this means to divide distribute or
set aside an amount of time for a
specific purpose or task so look at the
bottom you see for example time to send
messages or time to talk to friends time
to plan or time to work or time to read
we always a lot or set aside a specific
amount of time for certain parts of our
day or our life okay so for example did
they a lot time for the project this
month well looking at this picture
project well we’ll see that what’s
happening he is looking at some diagrams
so he’s working on a project so again
did they a lot time for the project this
month next picture my boss told me that
he allotted three hours for the
interviews on his schedule this
afternoon so looking at this picture
interviews well he is dressed
professionally and the two of them are
talking so it’s possibly an interview so
once again my boss told me that he
allotted three hours for the interviews
on his schedule this afternoon and then
we have this one Michael allotted a
specific amount of time for studying
today because he had
a big exam next week while we see
studying right here and we’re looking
and we see this man sitting at the table
right and then we also see a big exam
being the focus so the man he is focused
and then we also see that he has a lot
of books so he’s studying for a big exam
so once again Michael allotted a
specific amount of time for studying
today because he has a big exam next
week all right
so you can avoid making the mistake of
studying only one aspect by allotting a
specific amount of time or setting aside
time for each aspect okay all right now
if you want to keep studying with me and
you haven’t joined the speak English
Tiffany Academy yet you need to join now
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