Welcome to the Listening Time podcast.
Hey everybody, this is Connor and you're listening to episode 153 of the Listening Time podcast.
I hope you're all ready and motivated to practice your English again with this new episode.
The birds are chirping outside my window here, as always.
I hope you like that. background noise and it puts me in a good mood and I'm ready for this episode.
So today we're going to talk about some different things that I learned from teaching.
So I use the past tense here, I learned, because I'm not really teaching anymore.
I'm pretty much done with this.
Maybe in the future I might teach again.
That's definitely possible.
But for now, I'm done.
So I thought it would be good to reflect on my experience as a teacher specifically teaching people from around the world who are learning English.
So I have taught for more or less ten years, but more specifically, I taught for a little more than seven years one-on-one with people learning English from around the world.
So I've done thousands and thousands of hours of classes with different people from all over the world.
And obviously, I've learned some lessons during my time teaching.
So I'm sure this will be an interesting topic and that you'll like it.
And before we start, remember that if you want my training to help you understand people when they speak fast, make sure to join my membership so you can get my listening practice seminars where I help you practice with all the different sound patterns that are difficult to understand in English.
So the link is down below.
That's patreon.com slash listening time.
And if you feel ready to start with my other podcast, in which I talk to different English teachers from around the US and we talk about a lot of topics.
And specifically, you get to learn about different parts of the country here.
If you're interested in that, then you can sign up for my US Conversations podcast.
The link is also down below.
That's patreon.com slash US Conversations.
All right, let's get started.
Are your ears ready?
You know what time it is.
It's listening time!
All right, let's talk about some different things that I learned from teaching, from my time as a teacher.
So I wrote down six things here, but obviously there are many more.
But I want to focus on these six lessons that I learned.
The first one is... is that the world is really big and there's so much to learn about it.
We often hear the expression it's a small world, because people often talk about how The world is a lot smaller than we think it is.
People have more similarities than we think they do.
And of course, all of that is true when you look at it from a certain angle.
I kind of see it from another angle, because I've been an English teacher all these years and I've talked to people from all around the world and to me it seems more like the world is a really big place And there's so much that we can learn about the world.
There are so many different places.
So just to give you an idea of my experience interacting with this big world, I've had students from over 80 different countries.
Over 80.
So I've talked to people from all over the world, from many different language backgrounds and different cultures.
And so I've had the opportunity to learn a lot.
I've learned a ton. about different cultures in general.
I've learned a ton about the history of different countries.
And I think one of the coolest things, this is something that I really like.
I've learned a lot about geography in general.
So you might remember from the episode about stereotypes.
I think that was a normal episode, right?
It might have been a bonus one.
I don't know.
I've made so much content now that I can't really remember which topics I did during normal episodes and which ones were bonus episodes or advanced episodes or YouTube videos sometimes.
But I think I did an episode about stereotypes, right?
Well, I did some type of content about this.
And when I talked about stereotypes, one stereotype that I mentioned about the US is that people in the US tend to not really know that much about the rest of the world, especially things related to geography.
So many people in the us have no idea where different countries are.
They have no idea which cities are in which countries and where they are on the map, which continent they're a part of.
So people in the US are known for not really knowing anything about the geography outside the US.
So I'm definitely an exception to this rule.
I know a pretty good amount of geography people thanks to my work as a teacher and thanks to the fact that I think geography is really interesting.
I'm fascinated by this topic.
In the past, even now still, I sometimes just open up a map online and just kind of explore the world through this map.
I've always liked that.
So this is one of the cool things I've gotten to learn more about as a teacher, and I've gotten to learn a lot more about the different geography and things like that regarding different countries around the world.
So, in summary, one of the lessons I learned from teaching is that the world is really big and we can spend our whole lives learning about it.
So that's a cool lesson.
The next one.
The next lesson I learned from teaching is that people from around the world have specific difficulties with English based on their particular language, and This is kind of an obvious one.
This one makes sense.
However, you really see this as an English teacher because, for example, when I would have a new student, it was their first class with me.
Just based on the country that they were from, I already knew what mistakes they would make.
I could already predict the errors they would make.
Sometimes they would start a sentence slowly and I could already predict an error that they would make later on in the sentence, and then they would make it.
That's because, based on your language, there are certain things about English that are especially difficult because those things don't exist in your language.
So this is something related to the differences between languages.
And it's a really interesting thing for me as a teacher.
I like to see the different difficulties that people have with English based on their language.
But of course...
This is not something that students like.
They don't like that.
They have these same errors that everyone else from their country also has, and these errors tend to be the hardest ones to correct.
The ones that are based on kind of your language background, the ones that everyone else in your country makes, these tend to be the errors that are the hardest to correct.
They stay the longest, right?
And also when it comes to people's accent.
Obviously this depends on your language background and where you're from.
And unfortunately, some accents are harder to understand than others.
And so people from certain countries with certain language backgrounds are going to have a harder time being understood by native English speakers than people from other countries.
It's not all the same.
It's not like everyone is... equally as unintelligible as everyone else.
The word unintelligible means you can't understand it.
So it's not like everyone's accent is equally as understandable or unintelligible.
It is is really different actually based on what language the person speaks.
So this is unfortunate, because some people have a natural advantage because, even though they have an accent, their accent is easier for us to understand, whereas Other people's accents are harder for us to understand.
So as a teacher, this is something we need to be aware of.
And it's just kind of one of the difficult things when it comes to language differences, sound differences, those types of things.
So that's another lesson.
I learned that everyone has their specific difficulty with English, based on their own language.
And another thing I learned from teaching is that, despite these differences that I just mentioned, Everyone feels the same overall difficulty when it comes to language learning, specifically when it comes to learning English.
So everyone has their specific difficulties based on their background.
But the overall challenge, I would say, is getting enough exposure and practice to to be able to understand well and speak well.
Really, that's what it all boils down to.
In English, when we say it all boils down to something, we're saying that this really is the key thing.
It really all boils down to getting enough exposure to the language and practicing enough to eventually speak and understand well.
Okay, regardless of your individual difficulties, regardless of your background and the things that you struggle with, this is the overall challenge And this is not a problem.
This is how language learning works.
You need to get tons and tons of exposure and practice with the language and you will improve over time.
However, as a language teacher, I have heard this same complaint hundreds of times.
Students will say, I have a problem with English.
This is my problem with learning English.
And students tend to think that it's just them.
They're the only ones with this difficulty.
And that's not true.
Everyone has this difficulty and difficulty.
People really just don't understand how long it takes, how many hours it takes to get good at a language.
And because they feel like they're not progressing, They look for solutions in the wrong places.
They come to my class and say, I need to start over again and learn all the grammar from scratch.
Let's start with the verb to be and learn all the grammar together.
That's their solution to what they view as a problem with English.
But that's the wrong solution.
The solution is to increase their listening hours and...
Their hours spent reading and their hours spent speaking.
That's the solution.
The solution is not to start over and try some new system and learn all the grammar, and no, that's not the solution.
Okay, so what i want you to take away from this lesson is that you don't have a problem with english.
Your problem, as you see it, is simply the challenge of learning a language, and you don't need to find some creative solution and you don't need to start over and learn all the grammar.
No, you need to keep on reading and listening and speaking and find more motivation, find more interesting content to consume and have patience.
That's the solution.
So that's another lesson.
I learned that almost everyone feels this same difficulty and they tend to think that it's their specific problem.
No, everyone has this quote-unquote problem.
It's not a problem.
This is how language learning works.
So just accept that it takes many hours, thousands of hours and tons of input and output listening and reading and speaking and writing.
So that's another lesson.
And another lesson I learned is that students who know less grammar but listen more and read more are easier to talk to than students who know more grammar but spend less time listening and reading.
I've mentioned this before, so I won't spend too much time on this topic, but it's a really important lesson.
I've noticed this throughout the years that all of my most accomplished and advanced students who speak really well and understand really well, these are almost always the people that don't know any grammar.
Like, they don't know what a preposition is, they don't know what a conjunction is.
They don't know almost any grammar in the sense that they can't explain the rules to you, but they know the grammar intuitively in their mind.
They don't know how to explain it, but they know how to say a certain sentence correctly.
And on the other hand, I've had students that know a lot of grammar, but this doesn't really help them speak and understand at an advanced level.
So that's something I have seen over and over again that people that don't stress about knowing everything.
These people tend to focus on what's important, which is listening, reading and speaking.
These are the students that accomplish more and progress faster, because they spend more time doing the necessary things and less time worrying about success.
Knowing the rules.
And when I speak to them, they sound natural.
But when I speak to people that try to apply their grammar knowledge to their speaking, they tend to speak less fluently, more robotically, and it's not as easy to talk to them.
So I'm not saying that you shouldn't ever focus on grammar and you shouldn't know grammar.
I love grammar.
I'm a grammar nerd.
However, that's not what makes me fluent in other languages.
In my experience, it's more rewarding to learn grammar explicitly once you already intuitively know it.
So you already know the correct sentence and then you kind of look at it and you're able to deconstruct it and see the grammar and how it works.
That's better, in my opinion, than trying to do the opposite and focus on the grammar before you can even say the sentence correctly.
Right.
So that's just my opinion.
But from my experience with students, I can see that people that don't focus on grammar tend to reach higher levels than people that are really stressed about this.
So that's another lesson.
And the fifth lesson that I wanted to mention is that most people I would say the majority, maybe the vast majority of people, I don't know, but most people are not great conversationalists.
Most people are not really good at managing conversations, and that's okay.
I'm not trying to criticize here.
It's just something i've noticed over the years that the vast majority of people are not experts at managing conversations, making the other person feel really comfortable and at ease in the conversation.
The phrase at ease means that you're not stressed, you're relaxed.
So when I talk to different people from around the world, Even when I talk to teachers because I've taken many classes as a student and even in those sessions I have to control the conversation usually.
Because even these other language teachers aren't very good at at managing conversations and making it feel really easy and comfortable.
And so the reason I wanted to mention this is that you can really stand out if you practice this skill.
The phrasal verb stand out means that people notice you, right?
You're exceptional.
So if you can practice your conversational skills and practice managing these situations and making the other person feel like the conversation is going really smoothly, it's easy.
If you can do that, you will definitely stand out and I think you will have more success in life.
I notice this every time I talk to a student or a teacher who has this ability.
It's really noticeable to me and it feels really different from when I'm just talking to the average person.
And when I talk to people that have these skills, I feel at ease.
It feels fun to talk.
I feel more motivated to exchange with this person.
Everything feels better.
And when someone feels this like how I feel in these situations, It really makes me like the other person.
It makes me have a good image of the other person.
So if you can practice your conversational skills, you're going to succeed more in your job, your relationships, your life in general.
People really appreciate it when you are good at conversations and and you make it easier for them to talk to you.
So I wanted to mention that because that's a big thing I've noticed.
So work on your conversational skills and your people skills, and you'll see the benefits for sure.
And one other lesson I learned from my time teaching is that languages can't be taught.
They can only be learned.
I heard someone say this recently and I loved this expression.
I think it's really true.
The learner is the one who is responsible for their improvement, for their ability to learn a language.
It's not the teacher.
What does the teacher do?
The teacher can provide motivation.
That's what they should do.
They can provide feedback.
For example, they can give you corrections.
They can tell you what you're doing right and wrong, etc.
They can provide you with helpful content.
And probably most importantly, they are a good source of conversation in a very comfortable environment where you can practice your speaking and your listening, because the teacher talks to you and you try to understand them and you talk to them and you don't need to worry about making mistakes and they help you out and give you feedback.
It's a great environment in which to practice your speaking and listening.
So that's what a teacher can do for you.
However, the teacher does not give you the knowledge to speak or to understand a language.
That's simply not true.
Okay, i've been doing this long enough.
I can tell you with certainty that a teacher does not give you the knowledge of the language.
You have to learn it, you have to acquire it, and you can use teachers for what they're supposed to be used for in the language learning world.
Like I said, motivation, feedback, content, and most importantly, good conversation practice.
Use a teacher for those things, but don't expect a teacher to teach you and give you language skills that will make you fluent.
That doesn't happen.
So you are responsible for your improvement.
You are the only person that can determine whether or not you become good at English or any other language.
Okay, so those were the lessons I wanted to talk about today, things that I learned from teaching.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about these different things.
And remember that if you want my help to understand native speakers better when they speak fast, make sure to sign up for my membership to get my listening practice seminars.
The link is down below.
And if you want my U.S.
Conversations podcast, I'll leave that link down below as well.
That's great practice for those of you who are ready to train your listening with two people talking and not just one.
So the links are down below and you have the transcript for this episode down below as well.
All right, thank you so much for listening to this episode and I'll talk to you on the next episode of Listening Time.
