In the previous lesson, I told you about my fiancé’s lost earrings and the challenge of discovering English.
If you haven’t read it yet, click here to read it…
Like I said before… Discovering English is a great way to learn, and it works best when you know what you’re looking for and when you’re looking in the right place.
Let’s use grammar as an example.
There are two main philosophies when it comes to learning grammar:
- Ignore grammar – forget all about grammar and just focus on speaking. It’ll all come naturally.
- Learn all of the grammar rules – find grammar rules and use them until you don’t think about them anymore.
Let’s look at these two philosophies in a bit more detail.
The first one, ignore grammar, is usually used by ‘fluency coaches’ to attract people who want to speak English quickly. The idea is simple: You just ‘say what you hear’. You’ll speak quickly, but you won’t really be able to make English your own. You’ll just copy what you’ve heard.
If you use the ‘ignore grammar’ philosophy, you only know where to look.
The second one, learn all the grammar, is something that teachers with textbookitis* and people who like rules use. Basically, you get a textbook or watch a video where they explain each rule in detail, and then you do some exercises. Sure, you’ll learn all about the tenses, but when it comes to using the language… well, you’ll probably freeze up trying to speak.
If you use this one, you only know what to look for.
So what can you do?
Well, it’s all about finding that ‘happy English learning place’ where you can find the language that you need, and then practice it:
- Know what English you’re looking for – have an idea of what you say or write.
- Know where to find the English you’re looking for (for ex. books, websites, essays, TV shows)
- Find ‘it’.
- Study / analyse ‘it’.
- Practice ‘it’.
- Use ‘it’.
It’s simple in theory, and it’s definitely effective… but it might take you some time to do it all.
To make this process easier and shorter, I’m working on a new English learning project. I’m calling the project ‘the Difference’ for now. It’s going to focus on advanced and higher level English, deeper language analysis and more. One of the things I’ll be doing is creating a ‘happy English learning place’ where I’ll show you what to look for and where to find it.
If you’re interested in learning more about this new project, you know what to do:
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^^
Sam
Ps. ‘The Difference‘ will come with a price. The high level English learning, the language analyses, & the amount of love, care and effort that I’m putting into it demands that there must be a fee. Still interested? Join the notification list above ^
* Textbookitis – This is a term I made up to describe teachers who sound like they’ve eaten a grammar textbook.
