How to Learn English with my podcast 🎧 [959]

Hello listeners, welcome to this new

episode. Uh, this one is called How to

Learn English with my podcast. People

keep asking how they can learn English

with my podcast. I've done episodes

about this before, but this time in this

episode, my aim is just to answer that

question properly and keep this as

simple as possible. I will give the best

advice I can here without wasting any

time and without doing any rambling

about other things. Now, if you like the

rambling in my episodes, then don't

worry because there will be more

rambling on the podcast soon in other

episodes coming soon. But my aim here is

just to get the advice across to you as

quickly and simply as possible. How can

you learn English and how can you learn

English with my podcast? Now, I

understand that when you are faced with

this task of improving your English, it

can seem a bit too big and difficult. So

my first tip is just to start today and

don't worry about finding the perfect

method. Just start practicing. Start

using English to express yourself. Find

ways to work on areas of English which

are difficult for you. And eventually

you will find your own rhythm and method

which which works for you. And I'm going

to get specific during the episode. But

be willing to try different things,

different types of practice. Be prepared

to be creative. But use English

regularly and enjoy it. Um, before we

continue, let me just give you a little

bit of information about about me so you

know who you're listening to. So, I've

been teaching English to adults from

around the world for about 25 years, and

I've met thousands and thousands of

learners of English, helped them,

learned from them as well, and seen what

works and what doesn't work. I've been

doing this podcast for about 16 years

and have had lots of responses from

listeners who've told me their stories.

I'm from England and English is my first

language. I live in France these days

and I speak some French. If I actually

took my own advice, the advice I'm going

to give you here, my French would be

much better, but it is improving little

by little. I do spend most a lot of my

time speaking English and teaching

English. Anyway, in this episode, I'm

going to talk about these aspects of

English. So, first of all, the four

skills of listening, speaking, reading,

and writing. And then also your ability

to control these language systems of

grammar vocabulary pronunciation and

discourse management. That means

basically the way that you organize your

ideas together to produce speaking or

writing which is understandable. Okay?

So, that's beyond just a sentence level.

That's the other ways that you organize

your English to make it clear and easy

to follow.

Okay. So, my first advice actually is

simply to listen to Luke's English

podcast every day, of course, every day

or at least as often as you can. So,

first, this is a podcast and so to

improve your English with this, just

listen to it. Just listen to my episodes

regularly. When a new episode comes out,

listen to it. Listen to the entire thing

from start to finish. If you can't

listen to it in one go, just pause and

listen to more later. But do finish the

episode. Listen to at least uh one

episode a week. Okay? Listen listen at

least once a week or to listen to at

least one episode a week. Is that clear?

But the more you listen, the better. So

if you listen for an hour a day, that's

fantastic. You can find more episodes in

my episode archive at

teacherluke.co.uk/p

episodes. Get a podcast app on your

phone and subscribe to my podcast there

free um for links or links for different

uh podcast apps. Go to

teacherluke.co.uk/links.

You might already have a podcast app on

your phone. Um listen longterm, right?

Just one episode isn't enough. just 10

episodes isn't really enough. You need

to make listening a regular part of your

life for a long time and the effects

happen gradually and with time. Okay?

So, expect results after a longer period

of time. Uh you you might see people

talking about getting fluent in 3 months

or something like that. It's very

unlikely in in in fact in reality that

anyone can really get genuine fluency in

English in such a short time. I mean you

can apply yourself if you apply yourself

to learning English and only that all

day long for 3 months maybe you can get

somewhere but in reality don't think

about it in terms of it being a

three-month thing or six month thing. In

fact, don't think of learning English as

a as a thing with an end point. In fact,

there is no such thing as learning

English, if that makes sense. Um,

because you never you will never at any

point go, "Right, well, that's it. I've

learned English now. I suppose I can

start using it." It's not really the

right way to think. Uh, learning English

is a long-term process that um never

really has an end point. It's just

something that you have to keep doing to

maintain your English level and also to

make slow incremental gradual

improvements. Sometimes those

improvements are not obvious to you but

they are happening. So it's a long-term

process. So in terms of listening to

this podcast, listen longterm. The

effects happen gradually and with time.

Uh if you don't understand everything

when you listen to this, don't worry

about it. Just keep listening and in

time you will find that you understand

more and more. I've had comments, lots

of comments and emails from listeners in

the past who tell me that they couldn't

really understand very much when they

started to listen. They could even only

understand about 20% but they

persevered. They kept going and surprise

surprise amazingly enough they were able

to understand more and more. And in

fact, this gave them a sort of

foundation which they were able to use

to to make similar gains and similar

progress in other areas of their

English. It's amazing. It's amazing to

me that those people did that, that they

continued listening even if they didn't

really understand, but they were

motivated and they kept going and it

paid off. So, keep listening and in time

you will find that you understand more

and more. Okay, but that's it. just

listen and try to follow what I'm

saying. You can listen while you're

doing something else, you know, if

you're using a podcast app. Uh but the

more focused you are uh and the more

sort of uh involved you are in what I'm

saying, uh the better, right? So the

more emotionally or intellectually

involved you are, the better. Okay? So

it makes sense if you really think about

what you're listening to, really pay

attention to what you're listening to.

Okay?

But that's it. Just listen. Listen

regularly. Listen long term. Listen for

longer periods of time. Now, I could go

into the reasons why this is good for

your English, but I'm trying to be quick

here. So, I won't do that today.

Instead, I will just say trust me, okay?

Listening a lot is great for your

English. Most of the learners of English

I've met in my career have not done

enough listening. In fact, most of them

didn't listen to anything really. I've

met so many learners of English in my

career. I've met a lot of them who

didn't really, you know, whose whose

level of English wasn't that great and

they've come to me, they've ended up in

my classroom and after talking to them

and finding out about their habits in

their life, then it's no surprise really

that they aren't able to speak English

very well because they never actually

listen to it or even read it very much.

They maybe studied it a little bit at

school, you know, but that's no basis

really for gen for developing really

good operational fluent English. So

yeah, listen a lot, read a lot. Um,

so yeah, going back to these learners of

English, they just turned up to class

and hoped that that would be enough.

They sort of in their minds, they were

like, "Okay, Luke, I've paid my money.

Now fill me with English." But it

doesn't really work like that. So don't

be one of those people. Do plenty of

listening because how else do you expect

to learn how to understand and ultim

ultimately use this language if you

don't really know what it sounds like

when people speak it. So it's pretty

obvious, isn't it? Listen to it a lot.

So yes, the five L's. Okay, the five

L's. Listening, listening, listening,

listening, and listening. Right? So

there are other more direct methods of

course. Um, so okay, let's say you want

to apply yourself to this to learning

English in a more direct way beyond just

listening to a podcast. So here are some

other ways you can work on your English.

I mentioned the four skills of

listening speaking reading and

writing. Let's divide those things into

two categories. So you've got receptive

skills, that's listening and reading.

And you have productive skills, that's

speaking and writing. Okay. Now

practice. My main advice for working on

all of these things, all of these skills

is basically practice. Okay, so the five

Ps. We talk about the five Ps. Practice,

practice practice practice practice.

Going back to listening again. So, you

know, for listening, I have talked about

it. Listen a lot, but diversify the

things you're listening to. Yes, listen

to my podcast. I try to keep it diverse

with different guests and different

topics and different types of episode,

but also listen to other kinds of

things, news reports, films and TV for

dialogue.

But understand that those films and TV

can be very difficult to understand.

That's another episode for another time.

But don't worry if you don't really

understand the TV and films that you

watch and listen to. Even if everyone

says, "Oh, you want to improve your

English? Just watch Netflix." H I'm not

entirely sure. If you only do that, you

might be shocked to discover that

Netflix shows and movies these days are

very difficult to understand. So, they

might not be the best thing to listen to

or to start with. Of course, I would

recommend podcasts first. But anyway,

you could include films and TV in your

listening habits because as I'm saying,

diversity is very important. also audio

books, uh, TED talks which tend to be

um, more sort of non-fictionbased

things, documentaries. Basically, try to

hear different types of English in

different situations. A question you

might have is this, Luke, should I have

subtitles switched on or off when I'm,

let's say, watching something on the

internet? So, first, my first point

about this is don't put subtitles in

your first language. That's what some

people do. they'll watch it in English

with subtitles in their first language.

Don't do that. You're just practicing

reading in your first language. So,

don't do that unless you're very low

level, but even then, I think it's not

really advisable. So, forget about that.

But subtitles in English are good, but

not always. So, you can watch your show

in English with English subtitles,

but not all the time. Okay? So, listen

and watch with subtitles sometimes and

sometimes without. uh watching with

subtitles helps you to understand what

you're watching and it helps you to

connect the spoken and written versions

of English, right? Helps you to put

those two things together and it also

can help you to spot new vocabulary and

grammar because it's easier to identify

new language when you see it. So that's

those are reasons why having subtitles

can be good. But listening without

subtitles helps you to develop genuine

listening skills because there are no

subtitles in the real world. So if you

get used to listening with subtitles and

listening and reading all the time, then

you're not really developing genuine

listening skills. So don't rely on

subtitles too much. Make sure that you

do plenty of practice without reading

what you're hearing in order to train

your ears. Right now, you can always

think outside the box and be creative

with your practice.

For example, watch something with

subtitles, then watch it again without

and then watch it again, but just listen

to it. For example, don't look at the

screen, just close your eyes. You see?

So, with subtitles, without subtitles,

and then just listening, you know. Uh,

this works for podcasts as well because

of course you can uh listen to podcasts,

you can read the transcripts if they're

available. If you're watching, if you're

watching your podcast on YouTube, you

can listen with the subtitles on, listen

with the subtitles off, and then listen

to the episode again in your podcast app

with no visuals,

okay? So, you can mix it up a bit. Doing

unconventional things like this can

definitely help. So, don't be afraid to

experiment. Um, focus on what you enjoy

in English. My final tip for this

section is motivation is vital. So,

focus on what you enjoy. Watch and

listen to what you enjoy. Don't force

yourself. I mean, you know, don't just

like listen to the news because you feel

like you should. Is the news really the

thing that you're interested in or is it

too complicated and a bit sort of

depressing? There are plenty of other

things that you could listen to. If

you're listening to English, this is the

most important thing. And if you think

about it, the news, the English that you

get in the news is not necessarily the

English that you can immediately apply

to your conversations in the real world,

right? It's not like, you know, we

actually talk like that in normal life.

You know, on the news, they speak like

this all the time. Everything's a bit

strange and a bit formal and it's this

is the language of journalism. But in in

normal life, we don't talk to each other

like that. How are you, Steve? I'm fine.

Here's the weather. You know, would you

like a coffee? No one actually talks

like that. So, the news might not be the

normal thing to listen to. Um, and you

know, the people just assume, they think

learning English, use the news. That's

what the assumption is. But I mean, if

it's interesting to you, then yes, go

ahead. Basically, focus on what you

enjoy and think about what you enjoy.

There's no reason why you can't just

consume your content in English and

enjoy it. It doesn't have to be like

boring homework. So, don't force

yourself to do something you don't

really like. Keep it fun and enjoyable

because if you're not enjoying it, you

won't keep doing it and you will develop

negative feelings towards English. So,

try different things until you find what

you really like. I'll just, you know,

basically without you having to think

about it too much. It's Luke's English

podcast. Okay. Um, and then just listen

to that as much as you can. So, let's

move on to reading. For reading, it's

the same advice as for listening.

Basically, do plenty of reading, but

diversify what you read. So, read books,

that's fiction and non-fiction. Read

newspaper articles, read articles about

things you're interested in, read blog

posts, emails, anything and everything.

uh there are you know if you are a lower

level uh learner then you could try

graded readers okay graded readers are

books which have been adapted for um

lower levels so you can read some

classic English stories but they are

adapted for let's say intermediate upper

intermediate and C1 levels let's say and

they allow you to get the enjoyment and

pleasure of reading and finishing a book

in English without it being too much of

a struggle for you. So, you could just

Google graded readers in English and

you'll no doubt find some different ways

to get hold of some of those things. Uh,

read different time different kinds of

texts, particularly fiction and

non-fiction because you should be

familiar with slightly different styles

of English. Reading fiction all the time

is great, but understand that things

will be presented in a literary style.

That means the descriptions are very

sort of um expressive and fid in their

style. Uh whereas non-fiction reflects

the type of English that you're probably

more likely to write yourself,

especially if you use English at work.

It's a bit more factual

um and deals with straightforward plain

English as it applies to the real world.

So, a mix of fiction and non-fiction,

but again, go for what you like. Um, but

try and mix it up, you know, to be

familiar with slightly different styles

of English. Going back to the main point

of this, which is how to learn English

with my podcast, how do you practice

your reading with this podcast? Well, a

lot of my episodes have transcripts, and

you could read them either before,

during, or after you listen to the

podcast. So you could re you could

choose to read the podcast before you

listen to it then listen to it and maybe

read at the same time or not up to you

or maybe you listen and then you read

what you've heard later in order to like

just check things or to just reinforce

your English and turn it into a reading

exercise. So that's something uh you can

check the episode pages in the episode

archive on my website. That's where if

there's any content, any reading content

like a PDF transcript or just notes or

stuff, you'll find that on the episode

pages

um in the episode archive, that's

teacher.co.uk/ep

or in the show notes for every single

episode, you'll find a link to its

relevant episode page where you might

find some reading content. So basically,

it's a question of the five Rs here.

Reading reading reading reading and

reading. Yeah. Another question you

might have is this. Should I write words

down? Should I check words in a

dictionary when I when I meet them? So,

at this point, you might be wondering

about writing things down or checking

them in a dictionary. Actually, I will

come to that in a moment when I get to

vocabulary and grammar. So, that's

another question for later. Now, the

productive skills then speaking and

writing. Let's start with speaking. So,

first of all, listening helps your

speaking. listening actually helps you

to improve your speaking. Now, this

episode is all about how to improve your

English with this podcast. So,

naturally, this suits listening because

it's an audio podcast and yeah,

listening a lot can help your speaking

because it gives you a template to

follow and uh makes you familiar with

spoken English which should make it

easier to reproduce in your own

speaking. So, listening actually feeds

your speaking. you start to become

automatically familiar with

pronunciation in English, how words are

pronounced, but also how sentences are

pronounced with normal features of

English pronunciation, which is very

different to how English looks when it's

written on a page. Right? So, listening

to English regularly helps you become

more familiar uh in this other version

of English, which is the audio version

of it. Uh I mean you become familiar

with stress patterns, intonation

patterns and weak forms of some words

meaning how they get squashed and sound

different. So you learn the rhythm of

English by listening to it a lot. Also

connected speech how words get joined

together. You can pick this up from

listening a lot. So listening helps your

speaking but you definitely need to do

plenty of actual speaking in order to

improve this skill properly. So, how can

you speak more? Here are some speaking

tips

um either on your own or with some kind

of speaking partner. So, speaking on

your own and yes, you can do this on

your own and you should do this on your

own. Uh speak on your own. How? Well,

one idea is shadowing. I talked about it

on the podcast recently. Shadowing is

basically where you repeat what you are

hearing and you can just try and repeat

exactly what I am saying to you right

now just a moment after I'm saying it. I

demonstrated it on the podcast. You just

repeat what you're hearing. Okay.

Another idea is to speak out loud while

listening and respond to any question I

ask. So, I'm here talking to you. In

some episodes, I address you directly

with questions. I ask you questions. You

can just reply to me. Imagine you're

having a conversation with me and speak

out loud in response to things I'm

saying during the episode or pause the

podcast and just give your responses out

loud. Hopefully, you will be mentally

engaged while listening to the episode

and you will have thoughts coming into

your head. Pause the podcast and express

those thoughts in English. it is the

perfect opportunity to put those words

uh to good use. There is there is

academic research behind this which says

that when you are um sort of when you're

engaged with what you're listening to,

especially in another language, this is

a key moment for doing some practice and

learning. When you're in that zone where

you're listening to me or whatever it is

you're listening to and you're fully

engaged and you're actually having

thoughts and responding like a normal

human, you're not just studying it

because you have to, but you're actually

kind of involved and interested in what

you're listening to and you're having

ideas and thoughts. Press pause on the

podcast and actually express those

thoughts out loud. It's a really

important moment for developing that

English muscle which you have inside

you. use it to actually express real

ideas. The the more real they are, the

more you actually feel what you're

saying, actually, the more longlasting

uh the effect is on your English. So,

speak out loud while listening and

respond to any questions I ask. Or at

the end of an episode, you can summarize

what you've heard. It doesn't even have

to be perfect, but you can just like

talk about some of the things that you

heard me say in the episode, repeat some

of the points I made, and you may well

even use some of the bits of English

that I've used. You don't have to use

them all, but just some bits will stick

with you. Say them, express them, use

them, because if you don't use it, you

lose it. Um, respond to what you've

heard, adding your own opinions or

experiences. So, not just summing up the

things I said, but then expanding on

what I've said uh and personalizing it.

And also, you could talk to yourself

regularly, right? This is even separate

from the podcast. You can just in in

your daily life, you can actually talk

to yourself. Just comment on what you're

doing. Think express your thoughts out

loud in English. So, I'm so right. It's

time to cook. Let's see. Let's make some

rice. Where's the rice? It's in this

drawer. Let's see. How much rice should

I pour into here? Well, it's about one

cup should be enough. So, let's just

pour the, you know, even stuff like

that. This is interesting, isn't it? Oh,

isn't it? Isn't this fascinating? Uh,

doing a podcast about making rice. How

brilliant is this? This is amazing. Just

whatever nonsense comes into your mind.

Uh, let it run out of your mouth.

Speaking, speaking, speaking. So, that's

speaking on your own. Let's talk about

speaking with AI, uh, artificial

intelligence. So, of course, you could

pick your chat bot of choice, chat GPT,

Google Gemini, whatever it is. So, you

could do all the things I mentioned

above just now, but you could let AI

listen to you because a lot of these AIs

have like voice mode where you can just

chat to them. So, let AI listen to you

and either respond or continue the

conversation or ask it to give you

feedback on any on any area of your

English. It's particularly good at

correcting grammatical and vocabulary

errors. Uh, do role plays with AI. Ask

it to be a certain person in a certain

situation and then do a role play and

then ask for feedback. I did this on the

podcast recently. Um, and I'd like to do

it again. Uh, practice scenarios you

will need. For example, job interviews

or presentations at work or maybe

upcoming conversations you're going to

have, you can practice them with AI. Uh,

meetings, social chitchat, and small

talk. Get AI to focus on certain

situations and ask for feedback. Uh, use

any questions or content that I've

provided as the basis of your

conversations or discussions. You could

input notes, vocabulary lists into AI

and say, "Ask me some questions. Let's

have some conversation. I want to

practice this vocab and let it help

you." Uh, and then thirdly, with

speaking partners or teachers. So, this

is wow with actual human beings. Yes,

remember that practicing your English

with other humans. Uh here are some

things you can do with speaking partners

or teachers. So basically do all the

things I just mentioned but with another

human person. It's just more natural and

less weird to do them with a human than

on your own or with AI. If you do those

things with a teacher, get your teacher

to give you feedback and guide you

towards improving all aspects of your

speaking. So, if you're doing it with a

teacher, obviously you would need to

find a teacher and probably give them

some money in order to to get them to

help you. I'll give you some suggestions

for that in a moment. So, that's all I

have to say actually about speaking.

Uh, of course, there are many different

speaking skills and it's complicated,

but I'm just trying to keep it simple in

this episode. That's all I have to say.

Of course, it's harder to um work

directly on your speaking with my

podcast, right? It's harder to, you

know, to to to convert that to speaking

practice. But you can use my podcast as

a starting point and find ways to be

inspired by it to do speaking practice.

And you can find qualified teachers and

speaking partners on a platform like

Ialkie. That's I T A L KI. Uh check out

teacherluke.co. co.uk/talk,

okay? And get started. You can find

different teachers there, different

conversation partners, and you know,

shop around until you find someone who

you like and who's on the same

wavelength as you, and then book some

sessions where you talk to that person.

You can ask them to help you in certain

ways, and that can be a great idea. Uh,

what about Dolingo? You might be asking

yourself, what about Dolingo? Well, my

quick answer to that is don't bother.

Don't bother with Dolingo. I think it's

not the best in my opinion. I think you

should try instead to practice actually

speaking to other people, communicating

in real time with your mouth and getting

feedback on it rather than constructing

sentences out of context on an app. Uh I

say the same for other similar apps. I'm

not just singling out Dolingo there.

Although that green owl is particularly

annoying, especially the way it tries to

guilt trip you through emails if you're

not practicing your English on it. And

it says, "I'm worried about your

English." Oh, go away. Just stop. Just

stop uh harassing me. I have nightmares

about that green owl. What is it? Oh,

it's the green owl again. I thought I'd

unsubscribed.

Anyway, apps like Dolingo are good to an

extent. Okay, don't get me wrong. there

is some use and usefulness because

anything is better than nothing really.

But I think you need real English

practice in a wider context of a real

conversation

you know to work on that that discourse

management I mentioned earlier. Um,

another tip, Cambridge exam tasks,

Cambridge exams like FCE for B2 level,

CAE for C1 level, CPE for C2 level, and

IELTS, which kind of works across all

the different levels. Cambridge exam

tasks. So, for more inspiration for your

speaking, consider using Cambridge exam

speaking tasks as the basis for your

practice. This should ensure that you

are working on a variety of speaking

skills. Get your teacher to help you.

Preparing for a Cambridge exam with a

good course can help you work on all

your skills. Actually, I would recommend

a course with a real teacher rather than

just like an online thing or

computer-based. I would recommend

actually doing a course with a teacher

where you focus on improving a variety

of skills, including speaking skills,

because the Cambridge exams do test

proper skills. And hopefully if you

raise your English through a good

preparation course, you are genuinely

improving your skills, not just

improving test skills. Right, let's move

on to writing then. So for writing, it's

actually the same thing as with

speaking. Do plenty of practice writing

different types of text. At the very

least, you should try to write on a very

regular basis. Simply the act of writing

in English regularly is tremendously

important. And for this, it doesn't

matter so much what you are writing. In

fact, it's just important to express

yourself in English and practice

constructing different sentences and

paragraphs in English. So, write a diary

in English every day. Write a few lines

about what you did, what you thought,

and how you felt. Okay? It's very, very

important to produce a lot of English.

So, write right. In fact, write right.

Find your voice. It's like speaking and

it's like a lot of other things.

Practice a lot. But as well as writing a

diary to develop your voice and your

written fluency, let's call it, you also

need to be able to write different texts

in different styles like these. You need

to work on

being able to write formal and informal

emails. You know, the different tone,

the different style of language and the

different organization, the structure.

So that's formal and informal emails,

reports at work, proposals at work,

stories articles essays.

Think about this. What kinds of things

do you write in your first language?

What generally when you write in your

first language, what is it that you're

writing? You probably will need to write

similar things in English. Okay? So,

it's probably going to be emails, isn't

it? Maybe the other things I mentioned,

but it's probably emails. So, practice

writing emails in English. Now you might

need to get creative uh to think of

things or again use Cambridge exam

tasks. Do the writing tasks. They will

test your real world writing skills. Or

you can ask uh al I mean AI to give you

writing tasks and then ask it to give

you feedback. Um by the way for

Cambridge exams you can find sample

papers with sample tasks, answers and

model answers which you can compare

yours with. So, you can find everything

you need

uh on the Cambridge English website. So,

you I'm talking about it uh preparation

sample tests and you can find sample uh

tasks in there. So, check the PDF for

this episode. You'll find links for

cambridgeenglish.org

uh and then preparation materials for

the different tests. You'll find links

there. So, for all those tests, use the

speaking and writing tasks as the basis

of some practice. Also use AI. Again, um

AI can help you a lot with your writing.

Ask it to give you different writing

tasks and ask it to correct you and give

you feedback. Uh when your work has been

corrected, do it again. Okay?

See if you can produce something closer

to the correct version without reading

it. Right? Uh you can input Cambridge

exam tasks, writing and speaking into AI

and ask it to test you on it. Um, you

can also just basically ask AI to have

an email conversation with you and ask

it to to give you feedback on your

emails. Okay, so those are the four

skills. Basically, practice a lot and

get feedback and keep going, right? Um,

regular real world practice is

important. So, if possible, make friends

with people in English and just spend

time in your life in English and make

English part of your life. Don't be shy.

Give it a try and don't be afraid to

start now. But if you don't have access

to English- speakaking people, you know,

you got the other option. Speak to

yourself, use AI or pay someone to talk

to you on Eyealkie, for example. Let's

move on to language systems, right?

Let's talk about those language systems

I mentioned before. Grammar, vocabulary,

pronunciation, and discourse management.

So, I'm trying to be super fast and

efficient here. I could go into insane

levels of detail on these things, but I

will just try to give my best tips and

keep them short and sweet here. So,

starting with grammar, knowing grammar

is definitely important, so study it. It

can be boring, but try to make it

interesting for yourself by noticing

examples in the English you're listening

to and reading. So, when you're

listening to me or whoever,

sometimes you can kind of um put your

grammar hat on, if that makes sense, and

just sort of think, I'm going to listen

to this and I'm just going to notice the

grammar that's being used. Also,

remember that grammar isn't the most

important thing. It is important, but

it's not necessarily the most important

despite what maybe you were led to

believe at school. making a connection

and being communicative. Those things

are actually more important than just

knowing

specific grammar points. So, don't worry

too much if you make mistakes. Just make

sure you learn from them. Okay? Making

mistakes is all part of the process. You

just have to make sure you learn from

them. Uh I I make that point because

some people their fear of making

mistakes which is completely natural

especially if you've gone through a

school system that really prioritized

accuracy

uh with red pen and all that stuff you

might be afraid of making mistakes but

do not let that stop you from actually

communicating in English because um

uh it's you know like the girls from all

ears English say it's about connection

not perfection and this is true. Don't

wait until you feel that your English is

proficient and then start using it. Just

start using it and you know learn from

the errors that you make along the way.

Okay. Um going back to the original

question in the title of this episode,

how can you learn English with this

podcast or with my podcast? Well, to

learn grammar specifically with this

podcast, you could do these things. So,

first of all, you could listen to the

episodes I've done about different

aspects of grammar. Actually a lot of my

episodes um are about grammar. So uh

find these episodes, listen to them and

do any exercises which I present on the

episode pages on my website. Remember

you can always find links in the episode

descriptions. All right. So here are the

episodes I've done about grammar or

which feature grammar teaching. There

might be more than these but these are

the ones I can think of. So episode two

about Easter. There was a language focus

on adverbials. Episode five about the

actor Wacky Phoenix. There was a focus

on modal verbs for speculation. Episode

19 is about passive verb forms. Episode

29 is about narrative tenses. Episode 44

is about a variety of different

structures that we use when we're

telling stories. Episode 176 was a verb

tense review. Episode 224 was about

pronunciation of verb tenses and

connected speech, but that included

quite a lot of grammar. Episode 239 is

all about prepositions and verb

collocations with prepositions. Episode

263, another chance to look at uh the

way we talk about past, present, and

future in English with lots of verb

tenses.

Episode 406 had a focus on past

continuous tense. Episode 450 included a

variety of questions about grammar.

Episode 518 was about present perfect

continuous and future continuous. Uh,

plus the language of newspaper

headlines. That was a funny episode. Um,

episode number 795,

uh, was a short story which included

lots of different grammar. Now, there

are others, but I can't remember them

right now. Also, sign up to Leap Premium

and listen to the episodes I've done

there, including ones about articles,

present perfect tense, modal verbs, and

and more. teacherlook.co.uk/premium.

In premium episodes, I always focus

specifically on teaching you English,

and that includes grammar and vocab and

pronunciation work. Uh there are other

ways to practice your grammar, of

course. Uh for other ways to work on

your grammar, try doing some good

old-fashioned grammar practice. Uh there

is room for this in your English

learning routine.

First, try to work out where your

weaknesses are in grammar. Which areas

are you okay at and you don't need to

practice? and which areas do you need to

improve? A good start would be to do the

study guide at the back of the book

English grammar in Use by Raymond

Murphy. My copy is really really old. Uh

because you know I've been teaching

English for bloody ages and so my copy

of English grammar in Use is from oh

what ages ago. Uh but anyway there are

new editions. So maybe the fifth edition

is is currently out. So, I've got a copy

of the second edition here, but it's

basically the same as it used to be.

It's just a new cover. Anyway, English

Grammar in Use. You know it, the Blue

Grammar Book. You know that one? English

Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy. It's

one of the biggestselling books of all

time alongside Harry Potter and the

Bible. Um

anyway, uh at the back of that book

there is a test which is designed to

help you identify which areas of grammar

you need to work on. It's a sort of

diagnostic test. It's called the study

guide. Um

but yeah, it works as a as a diagnostic

test to show you your weak spots in

English grammar. Now, if you don't have

a copy of the book, you can probably

download it as a PDF these days. So you

could just download it from the

internet. Now I wouldn't want you to do

anything illegal though. For example,

downloading a PDF of a book that you

haven't actually paid for. Right? So if

you don't want to illegally download the

PDF of English grammar in use by Raymond

Murphy, definitely don't do a Google

search for English grammar in use PDF.

Don't do a Google search for that if you

don't want to download it. Is that

clear? Now, I did that accidentally and

I found loads of free PDF downloads for

the book. And remember, the study guide

is at the back of the book uh around

page 300 and something. Do the study

guide and then work on the grammar

points that you don't know. All right.

Also, get plenty of input. Of course,

listening and reading are important

because input is a vital way to develop

your sense of what is correct or

incorrect in English. Um, notice grammar

when you're reading or listening. Be

mindful

and ask yourself uh things like why is

this particular form being used here?

And accept certain things as being

normal and make a conscious effort to

make your English the same even if it

doesn't feel completely natural because

English surprise surprise has a slightly

different structure to your language.

Keep a notebook of grammatical

structures that you've noticed. Even if

this is just good sentences that you

like or structures which seem to be good

or new to you, note them down. Record

grammar in this way. It's a great way to

remember and absorb real world English.

Practice producing your own sentences.

Don't be satisfied with grammar until

you can actually do it yourself. Make

this a part of your learning. It's not

done until you can do it yourself.

Always personalize whatever aspect of

English you're using and try to make new

sentences about yourself or your

opinions using the new structure you're

working on. Just focus on one small

point at a time, okay? One bit at a

time. Don't worry about overdoing it.

Just make little incremental steps bit

by bit. It's more effective that way. So

slow and easy, slow and steady wins the

race when it comes to learning grammar.

Bit by bit. How do you eat an elephant?

You eat it one spoon at a time. It's the

same with English grammar. Learn little

bit by a little bit and build slowly.

Get feedback from someone, ideally a

teacher. Get corrections and encouraging

positive feedback. Use that as the basis

for more and more practice and more and

more trial and error work where you try

things out and you know make mistakes,

learn from them. Watch out for the

mistakes you often make. Right? Watch

out for your frequent mistakes and try

to iron them out consciously until it

becomes second nature. Don't be too hard

on yourself and do keep using English.

Be patient. Remember, it's about what

you can do. It's not just about what you

know, right? So, focus on being able to

do it, but yes, be patient as well. Yes,

I will make that point again. You're not

finished until you can use the grammar

yourself in your own conversations or in

your own writing. So, make that your

sort of end goal. Can I just produce

this stuff myself?

Okay. Right. Let's move on to the next

language system, which is vocabulary.

How long have I been talking? Um, a

little bit longer than I expected, but

it's not bad. I've been going for what,

40 minutes or something.

For about 40 minutes. Let's have a

little water break and then I'll talk to

you about vocabulary.

Okay. How you doing, listeners? How you

getting on? Um, is this a useful

episode? I'd love to know your thoughts

as well and your feedback and your

comments. What has worked for you? Can

you tell me, can you think of a specific

thing that you've done that's helped you

with your English or a specific thing

that you do that has helped you with

your English? I don't need the master

plan. Okay, we're not looking for the

ideal master plan uh you know that that

always works all the time, but just one

habit or one thing that you've done or

one thing that you you've used that has

helped you with your English. Maybe

that's just listening to Luke's English

podcast. But is there something else

that you do beyond just listening? Tell

us what it is. Share your thoughts in

the comments section. I'm now going to

have a little drink of water and then

talk about learning vocabulary.

So, vocabulary. Now, I've done entire

episodes before about vocabulary,

particularly one episode called How to

Really Learn Vocabulary and Not Just

Stare at Word Lists, which you could

listen to. But here is a summary of the

main points I made during that episode.

So, at this point, I'm just going to

basically restate the main points I made

in that episode about how to learn

vocab. So the key principles in the

episode were surprise surprise read and

listen a lot because constant exposure

to English is essential but also notice

new words in context. Pay attention

while reading or listening. Don't just

memorize isolated terms because a lot of

people do that. I've seen that many

times over the years. students of mine

staring at lists of words and it's just

the English the new English words on the

left and then a translation on the right

and all the student is doing is just

reading through the list. It doesn't

work like that. Um

record words effectively. Don't just

write translations. include more

details definitions collocations

examples, pronunciation notes, grammar

notes, synonyms, antonyms, any other

details like whether it's formal or

informal, anything else that you need.

Fill up a page with details about the

word. So, it's not just how many words

can I put on this one page in a list,

but how much detail can I add for each

word. Uh, common mistakes, relying only

on translations. That's a common

mistake. going English word on the left,

translation on the right. It doesn't

they don't always work like that. Uh

also writing isolated word lists without

context. That is a mistake in my

opinion. Not including grammar usage or

pronunciation details, especially

example sentences. You want to include

new vocabulary in the context of a

sentence. It's really the meaning of the

whole sentence that will help you

understand and remember that word. And

also, you've got to remember how the

word fits into a sentence. Is it

followed by a certain preposition? Does

it tend to go with an ing or an

infinitive form? Things like that. And

another mistake is not is never testing

yourself or trying to use the words.

Your goal when you're learning

vocabulary is recall. Okay, recall. This

is what you should be practicing. This

is what you this is how you learn new

words. You practice retrieving them

actively from the depths of your brain.

the dark the dark uh black hole that is

your brain. Uh you've got to somehow get

those words out and get them out of your

mouth. It's no good just looking at a

list going, "Yeah, yeah, I remember that

from the last time I looked at this

list." You actually have to try and get

that word out of your brain and into

some sort of coherent sentence. So, what

you should be giving yourself are little

prompts, little memory prompts,

okay? Little clues to help you go, "Ah,

I remember that word. Ah, here's here's

the word. And look, here's a sentence.

In fact, here's a sentence about me.

Here's a sentence about a thing that I

did once,

right? That's really important. So,

remembering words, meaningful context,

learn words inside real sentences with

meaning. Spaced repetition is really

important. So, this means reviewing

words at increasing intervals. So,

you've just learned a new word. You

quickly revise it. You quickly test

yourself on it then and there instantly,

right? By covering it up and seeing if

you can remember what it is. And then

maybe 10 minutes later you do it again

or an hour later you do it again or

maybe a day later you do it again, a

week later, two weeks later. at

increasing

uh intervals,

increasingly long intervals, you review

um those words. So this sense of spaced

repetition, going back and reviewing

words at increasingly long intervals. It

might be like a day later and then a

week later and then two weeks later.

This is a really important

scientifically scientifically backed up

principle for remembering things. So

spaced repetition and there are apps

that you can use like Anki A N KI which

is essentially a sort of flashc card app

that will automatically allow you to

check. So any words that you instantly

remember. So you've got a little memory

prompt and if you get it right then it

puts those words at the back of the list

and it takes longer for you to be

reminded of those words. the ones you

couldn't remember, it instantly reminds

you when you get them right. They go to

the back of the list and then you get

reminded of them maybe a day later or

something. So, you can just like work

with your li word lists, your piles of

flashcards and just constantly be

working on them. They try they prompt

you to remember words. You come up with

a word maybe in a sentence. If you do it

right, great. You'll be reminded of that

word and asked to remember that word uh

sometime later. And this system is

called spaced repetition. Anki is a app.

Quizlet is another app you can use. Um,

active recall. I've said it before, I've

said it. I'll say it again. Test

yourself. Force your brain to produce

the word. Don't just recognize words

when you see them. Actually come up with

the word yourself. Uh, pneummonics and

associations. So, you can use vivid

images, personal or emotional

connections, or anything any little

tricks that you can think of to uh make

some sort of connection with a new word.

Okay? If that word sounds like something

that you already know, if it sounds like

something else, some put that make a

connection with that thing somehow. Uh

controlled practice and free practice.

So first get the form of the right uh

the word right. Practice putting that

word into sentences just to get the

spelling and the form right and then try

to use it more spontaneously

uh later. Uh speak out loud when you're

practicing. Don't just study silently.

actually say things out loud with your

mouth as well as writing them down. Uh

some useful tools that you can use of

course there are online dictionaries

Longman Oxford Cambridge flashcard apps

I've mentioned AI tools the usual ones

like chatgpt for examples questions

corrections yugglish.com to hear

authentic usage in different accents

lukegish

uh.com if you want to check if I've ever

used uh those words uh lukegish.com is a

great resource uh word lists as well the

Oxford 3000 and Oxford 5000 word lists

which basically can give you a starting

point if you want to learn the most

important frequently used words in

English. So a summary of my advice then

expose yourself to a lot of English.

Notice, collect and study vocab in

detail. Practice recalling words

actively. Use vivid personal strategies

to fix words in your memory. Apply

vocabulary in writing and speaking. Stay

positive and adapt methods to your own

style. And of course, sign up to Luke's

English podcast premium to get all of

this stuff packaged and put on a plate

for you. Okay, this, you know, I kind of

apply all of this stuff to the way I

design my premium episodes. So, you can

just, you know, I I've I prepare it all

in PDFs for you and then put it all on a

plate for you.

teacherlook.co.uk/premium.

We're getting closer to the end. Will I

be able to do all of this within the

hour? Let's see.

Hello, this is Luke from the future.

Just interrupting here and extending the

length of this episode slightly. I've

just realized that I didn't answer the

question from earlier on which was if

you remember, should I check words in a

dictionary when I discover them while I

am reading? Should I check those words

in a dictionary? Should I write those

words down? How many words should I

check? Should I check them at all? Or

should I just keep reading? What should

I do? Right? So, should you check words

in a dictionary while you are reading?

Well, not always and not always

immediately. If you stop for every

unknown word, you'll lose the flow of

the text and you'll get frustrated. I

want you to prioritize when you're

reading something, you should prioritize

the actual reading of it and prioritize

getting as much English into your head

through reading as possible. And if you

stop all the time to check words or

write them down, then you lose the flow

of of what you're reading and

potentially it stops you reading. What I

don't want you to do is start reading a

book

and get distracted by noting things down

and checking a dictionary all the time.

Because what will end up happening is

you'll just do a few pages of the book

and that'll be it. and you'll stop and

you'll put the book down and you'll

never go back to it. All over the world

there are English books which have got a

few notes on the first few pages and

then nothing else ever happened to them.

Uh don't contribute don't don't make

another sad story like that. Um so I

would like you to focus on actually

reading books and trying to um get a lot

of English in through reading. But of

course there will be times when you just

don't understand what's going on. And

there will there will be times also when

you keep noticing new words and you

really feel that you need to know what

they mean. So by all means in those

cases, yes, check them. And if you

really want to record them because you

feel like you want to use them again

later, then you can start noting them

down. But first, when you discover

something that you don't know, try to

guess what it means. Uh try and work it

out from context. often you can get the

meaning just from how it's used and

that's probably the most efficient way

because that allows you to then keep

carrying on reading. So just try and you

know practice that skill of just kind of

guessing and managing to continue but

then check some words. So look up words

in in dictionaries such as Cambridge and

Oxford's online dictionaries if you

think that they are important for the

overall meaning. If you think these are

key words

which are perhaps preventing you from

being able to enjoy the story. So if

they're important for the overall

meaning, then yes, check them. If they

are repeated over and over again or

repeated a few times, you might need to

check them. Or any words that you feel

will be useful in your own speaking or

writing. So words or phrases that jump

out at you that you think, "Ah, that's a

good one. I'd like to keep that one and

use it myself." Now, of course, there is

nothing wrong with just checking words

also just simply because you're curious

about them. And obviously, it's really

important to be curious about English as

you're consuming it. But be selective

about what you note down and try to

focus on just letting the story flow so

that you keep turning the pages and

ultimately read as much as possible.

Secondly, should you write words down?

Should you note them down? Um, yes, you

should sometimes, but with a purpose.

Um, don't write everything down, just

write some things. So, be selective. Uh,

writing things down does actually help

you remember them. But don't just make

endless lists.

Instead, you should try to write the

sentence that you saw the word in. So,

don't just write the word, but write the

whole sentence because context is key.

Add your own example sentence as well at

some point.

um note any other details like make

notes of pronunciation and word family

if relevant and you can find out that

information by looking up those words in

a good online dictionary. Um and review

your notes regularly and try to use the

new words in speech or writing. So just

to recap this little in interruption

about uh discovering words when you're

reading uh read for meaning first. Try

to guess new words when you meet them.

Check only the important or interesting

words. Uh write them down with context

and examples and use them actively so

they actually become part of your

vocabulary. But don't let new vocabulary

stop your reading flow or stop your

overall enjoyment of what you're

reading. Don't forget the simple value

of extensive reading. So that's my

answer to those questions. Let's carry

on.

So pronunciation again listen a lot.

Have I have I said that enough that you

should listen a lot? Now, it's vital to

simply get plenty of exposure to spoken

English for your pronunciation and to

become accustomed to hearing the sounds,

rhythms, and features of English, but

also copy what you hear. So, do listen

and repeat practice and shadowing as

I've mentioned before. Now, I could get

more specific about that, but really

it's just a case of repeating what you

hear and trying to copy it. Uh but also

to be more specific you can study the

English phonemes understand the sound

system of English. This can be a bit

like hard work but it can be a really

good idea to understand the different

option different sounds that we actually

use as the basis for our pronunciation.

And that includes all the different

sounds, but also other features like the

ways that, as I've said before, words

connect together, the way that certain

words get stressed in certain ways, uh,

intonation patterns and so on. But

certainly study the English phonemes,

learn the phmic script, practice

transcribing things into phonemes and

then check in an online dictionary and

also transcribing from phonemes into

normal spelling. There are various

different tools you can use to help you

do this.

transcribe sentences into phenemic

script. You can use the phenemic script

typewriter to help if you're doing this

on a computer. There's a basically a

phmic typewriter opens up on your on the

on the website and you can type things

out in phonemes, copy paste them into

other documents. So if you you don't

know how to get the phonemes, you you

can actually use the phmic script

typewriter e-lang.co.uk

UK or just Google phenemic script

typewriter and you'll find it. Here are

some other useful tools that will

definitely help you to learn the phmic

script. There's a IPA chart.com. It's an

interactive IPA chart. That's the

international phenemic alphabet. You can

click on any IPA symbol to hear its

pronunciation and explore what it means.

That's basically a way to just practice,

you know, checking the sounds of all

those phonemes. ipachart.com.

Uh there's IPA chart app

uh a focus on English specific phonemes.

You can click symbols to listen. You can

view sample words and get pronunciation

tips. It offers a f user-friendly layout

for vowels, dip, thongs, and consonants.

That's the IPA chart app. Uh

pronunciation studios English IPA chart.

This includes audio mouth position

visuals and explanations of the 44

phonemes in English plus distinctions

between phmic and phonetic transcription

that is pronunciation studio English

with Lucy. Um she has a phmic chart.

This is a British English uh chart with

clickable symbols, example words and

audio for each sound. This is great for

contextbased learning and you know it's

in a British English accent. That's on

English with Lucy's phmic chart on her

website. Okay. Uh Cambridge's online

phmic chart. There are other things you

can check on the um on the PDF for this.

Let's skip forward to other tools.

Pronunciation playback from IPA text.

This is where you can write something in

IPA and it will play the sounds out to

you. Uh so you can check IPA to speech

tools. Itinerarium's phone synthesis

tool reads IPA phonetically. Um you can

you can find the link on my page on the

on the PDF for this. And there are other

things that basically allow you to input

IPA symbols and have them read out to

you, which is important for when you're

essentially learning the phmic chart by

transcribing things into phonemes and

then transcribing back into English.

That's how I learned the phonemes. And

it's important for learning the

soundboard of English, let's say. And

there are other um other sources, other

um resources that you can use all listed

on the PDF to help you do that. Again,

my premium subscription always features

episodes designed to make it easy for

you to repeat lines after me to focus on

all aspects of English pronunciation.

But anyway, there you go. There there

are tips about pronunciation.

Finally, we're going to talk about

discourse management. So again,

discourse management, let me define

that. This basically relates to how you

organize the things you say and write in

order to make them more clear and

logical. The other stuff we've talked

about, the other language systems have

all been very much focused on, let's

say, word by word or um sentence by

sentence constructions. But discourse

management refers to the way that we

deal with English um on a larger level

in terms of how we construct like whole

paragraphs of text or whole uh pages of

text or how we construct speeches or

extended bits of speaking, right? How we

deal with conversations, how we manage

the English that we are actually

producing at at a larger level. Okay? So

remember that everything you write and

say needs to be nicely packaged for the

person you're communicating. Here are

some key features of good discourse

management. So you've got range and

development of ideas. So extending your

answers beyond just yes or no. Giving

explanations reasons examples

opinions, developing your points,

organization, logical sequencing of the

things you're saying, a beginning, a

middle, and an end. clear topic

sentences, clear transitions from one

point to the next and clear conclusions.

A lot of this is about signposting what

you are saying while you are saying it.

Okay? Making everything very clear and

simple. Imagine you are a tour guide on

a tour bus and you are essentially

essentially explaining where you are,

what's happening, what's coming next.

You know, you have to package everything

up nice and neatly and clearly for

everyone. Cohesion and coherence are two

words very relevant for having a good

level of English. Cohesion means making

things logical, making things nicely

collected. So ideas

are logical from one to the next. And

coherence means it's it's clear and easy

to understand. It's not just some random

series of crazy ideas all jumbled

together, but it's clear and easy to

understand. So, this refers to using

linking words and phrases like however

or on the other hand or as a result.

Referring back to previous points like

saying as I said before or going back to

my main idea, right? Another idea,

appropriacy. This means choosing the

right style or the right register for

the right situation. And so we think of

formal and informal English. Fluency in

interaction. So in speaking this means

responding smoothly, taking turns

naturally, keeping the conversation

going. Uh active listening as well as

speaking. Here are some tips on how to

improve discourse management. So first

of all, extend your answers. So avoid

the short minimal replies. Always add

reasons, examples, and details. For

example, I like traveling. That's the

end. You should say, "I like traveling,

especially to big cities because I enjoy

exploring new cultures and meeting

people." For example, last year I went

to Berlin. Now, obviously, you shouldn't

go on and on and on, but you can see

we've just got several ways that we are

adding a bit more information rather

than just I like traveling. Stop. you

know use linking devices connectors like

first of all um moreover on the other

hand for instance in conclusion I

actually don't like moreover I would

probably say uh as well as that maybe

something like that first of all uh also

and furthermore no furthermore and

moreover in spoken English sound a bit

formal try to include at least two to

three connectors in every extended

answer so basically connect your ideas

up together

uh organize your talk. Uh think in

chunks. So introduction, what's the main

point you're trying to make? The body,

this is where you develop, you introduce

points and then development, develop

them. And then conclusion, this is where

you round off with a final thought.

That's how you you would structure a

piece of writing, but it's also how you

might have to structure a piece of

speaking as well. Um even in a short

answer, like in 30 to 60 seconds, that

kind of structure works. Practice

storytelling. Telling anecdotes helps

with sequencing and cohesion. Use time

markers like first, then after that,

finally. Add details that bring the

story alive. To practice all these

things, you can record yourself. Choose

a question from a Cambridge exam, for

example. Record your answer for 1 to two

minutes. Listen back. How would you rate

your response? Did you extend your

ideas? Did you use linking words? Was it

organized? If you struggled, what

specifically was it that that you

struggled with? And try to practice

that. Learn discourse markers for

interactions. So in discussions, use

phrases to manage turn taking. That's a

good point, but I'd like to add this. I

would say that I see what you mean, but

what do you think about that? Because

when you're talking to someone, you are

both interacting together to essentially

develop the same conversation. You're

not just waiting for the other person to

stop so you can say something unrelated.

Um,

uh, al listen read and listen to good

models. So notice how people actually

talk in podcasts, in TED talks or in

interviews. Uh pay attention to how

speakers move from one idea to the next

and take, you know, take bits of useful

English that allow them to do those

things. So in short, discourse

management means managing your ideas

clearly, logically, and appropriately in

longer stretches of language. uh to

improve. You can extend your answers,

use linking words, practice organizing

your ideas, and train with recordings

and models. For an episode, a specific

episode full of good advice, you could

listen to the one I did with

communication expert Matt Abrahams. It

was episode 879. It was called Think

Fast, Talk Smart: Communication

Techniques for Spontaneous Speaking with

Matt Abrahams. It is full of top tips

for developing your discourse management

in your speaking. So that's the end of

the episode. I I managed I didn't manage

to keep it less than an hour. Um but I

think it's okay. So that's the end of

the episode. Right,

that brings us to the end of this

episode in which I have honestly tried

to give you a detailed yet efficient

answer to the question of how can I

improve my English with your podcast.

Admittedly, quite a lot of my advice

doesn't actually involve the podcast

beyond just listening to it a lot, but I

still think that listening to my show

regularly is a really good basis. Uh,

and and from there, you can do all sorts

of other practice to make sure your

English develops properly. Here's a

quick summary of the advice I've given

in this episode. Listen, make it a

habit. Listen regularly, listen

longterm, and listen to diverse sources.

Sometimes with subtitles, sometimes

without. Focus on what you enjoy so that

you'll keep doing uh so you'll keep

doing it. Read. Read widely. So fiction,

non-fiction articles transcripts.

Exposure to different styles develops

your vocab, your grammar awareness, and

your discourse sense. Speak. Use what

you hear as a model. Shadow, summarize,

and respond out loud. Practice with AI,

with teachers or partners, uh or on your

own, I should add. Focus on real

communication and get feedback. Write.

Write regularly, a diary. Uh, experiment

with different styles. Use exam tasks or

AI prompts for practice and correction.

Grammar, notice it in context. Practice

producing it yourself. Use diagnostic

tests like the one in English grammar in

use to find your weak spots. Learn from

your mistakes, but don't obsess about

it. Communication comes first.

Vocabulary. Notice words in context.

Record them with details. Review them

with spaced repetition. And use them

actively in speaking and writing. for

pronunciation. Listen and copy, practice

stress, intonation, connected speech,

and those other features. Learn the

phmic script and use online tools to

practice. And finally, discourse

management. Extend your answers,

organize ideas clearly, use linking

words, and practice storytelling. Notice

how good speakers structure their talk.

And try and do the same thing. And and

also mindset, motivation, and enjoyment

are vital. Keep it fun. Be patient.

Practice a lot. Seek feedback. So look

for feedback and make English part of

your life. Uh remember I want your

advice too. There are many ways to learn

English and you have to choose what

really works for you. Uh I would love to

get your comments on this episode. So

please tell us in as much detail as

possible which specific things have

helped you to improve your English. Have

a little think which experiences,

methods resources

have really helped you do you think? Can

you suggest one method, habit, resource

or tip that has helped you improve your

English across any of the areas I've

mentioned? Listening, speaking, reading,

writing grammar vocabulary

pronunciation, discourse management, or

communicative competence. Your comments

may be enormously helpful for other

listeners, and I'm very curious to read

what you have to say as well. But now

that's the end of this episode. Thank

you for listening and have a great

afternoon, evening, morning or night

wherever you are in the world. And I

will speak to you next time. But for

now, it's just time to say goodbye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye.