How to Use the Learning Guide: Part 4
Today’s email, the final part of our email course on how to use ESL Podcast to improve your English, I want to try to address (discuss) two of the most common issues for those just starting to use our Learning Guides.
*****Listening Once, Twice, or 100 Times*****
How often should you listen to each episode of the podcast? Let me answer this question with a story:
Abraham Lincoln, the U.S.’s 16th president, was once asked how long a man’s legs should be. He replied that they should be long enough to reach the floor!
Here’s what I mean by this story: You should listen until you feel you have understood it as well as YOU want to understand it. Some people want to feel like they understood 100% of everything I said, Other people are okay with just understanding 80%. Everyone is different.
There’s no one giving you a test tomorrow on the episode. If you feel like you understood most of what was said after listening only once, then great! Listen to the episode only once. If you still feel a little confused about things, then listen to it again – and again, and again, if you want to. There’s no “magic” number of times to listen.
There’s no question that listening more than once will improve your comprehension. If you don’t understand the episode, or part of the episode, listening again will usually help. BUT there is probably a limit to how many times re-listening will really make a difference. If you are listening 15 or 20 times or more, I would say you are probably doing too much!
The other part of the issue is interest: How interesting will it be to listen to the same episode more than a couple of times? Although I would like to think that I am REALLY interesting, funny, and entertaining on the episodes (especially when I sing!), I think most people would begin to sleep after listening too many times.
If you’re not interested any more, you’re probably not paying attention. And if you’re not paying attention to what you’re listening to, you’re not understanding it. And if you’re not understanding it, it’s not helping you get better.
Personally, I get bored really easily. So I usually don’t listen more than twice to anything (and most things, only once).
But that’s me. Do what feels most comfortable for you. Remember that we have more than 1,000 hours of free English audio on our website, plus several more hours of special business and daily English courses. There’s plenty to keep you interested.
*****From the Beginning, or from Today?*****
ESL Podcast is not like most other English “courses.” It isn’t really a course at all. It is a collection of interesting, comprehensible (understandable) dialogs and stories about American English and culture. Some are funny, some are surprising, and all of them are full of new words, phrases, and expressions we use in everyday English.
Some people like to start from “the beginning” at whatever they do, and there is nothing wrong with that. But remember that the episodes are not in any sort of “order” – you don’t *have* to listen to Episode150 to understand Episode 345. In fact, we try to give you different topics each week to keep things interesting.
In other words, if you just start listening to the episodes from this week, you won’t feel lost or confused.
If you really want to listen to the past episodes in some kind of order, then I would suggest listening to similar topics. This is easy to do with our website.
Just go to the Search box on the left side of the home or main page and click on View All. You’ll then see all of the topics we talk about on the dialog episodes, and one selection for our English Cafes. Select the one you think might be interesting, and you’ll get a list of the podcast episodes about that topic.
Now pick a group of episodes within that topic that seem similar or are about the same general thing, and listen to that group. You’ll find that your English will actually improve more quickly by listening to similar topics for a while, rather than a different topic each day.
Hint: Here’s another way of getting “concentrated,” single-topic English that will improve your vocabulary faster: Try one of our special courses. If you want “general” English for everyday conversation, start with A Day in the Life of a Man (Jeff) or A Day in the Life of a Woman (Lucy) by going here.
http://www.eslpod.com/eslpod_blog/store/
If you want to learn about American history, government, and culture, I suggest that you listen to all 100 parts of “Introduction to the United States” by going here:
http://www.eslpod.com/eslpod_blog/store/introduction-to-the-united-states/
*****Just Do It!*****
Regardless of whether you like listening one time or ten times, whether you want to start at the beginning or begin with today’s episode, the important thing is to actually listen as much as you can! A lot of people listen to the episodes while doing other things – commuting in a car, bus, or train, washing the dishes, cleaning their room, jumping from airplanes (well, maybe not that last one). The more you listen, the faster your English will improve.
That’s it! Acquiring English is not as difficult as you might think, if you follow these simple guidelines.
Still have questions about *how * to learn English? Email me at eslpod@eslpod.com, and I’ll answer them in a future newsletter.
Until later,
Jeff