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