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
while we wait for others to join us live
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me a question
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you think of it later like when you’re
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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