This lesson is dedicated to all students asking themselves how they can improve their English. Mr. P. will start to talk about the points on what NOT to do when learning English. Then he will give advice on what TO DO when learning English. He will talk about his experience learning Italian and give useful tips and tools when speaking the language. This lesson is intended for pre-intermediate students (A1 to B2 levels) who wish to improve their English grammar and those above levels who wish to clarify doubts about this topic.
Watch, Listen & Speak English!
Mr. P/Marc is a Canadian English Teacher/Coach from Toronto, Canada, who has been teaching English since 1997. He lived in Rome for 20 years but is now living and teaching English at an international high school in Canada.
He is an Honorary Fellow in the English Language at UNITELMA La Sapienza University in Rome. In the past, he was also a Language Monitor at the University of Toronto. He has also taught English to many important politicians and celebrities in Italy. He is a certified English Teacher specializing in TEFL, TESL, TESOL (Arizona State University) & TOEFL.
His studio is located in downtown Rome, where he teaches small groups, 1-to-1, and online. He even offers on-sight corporate English training, especially Business English. He makes his lessons tailored to students’ needs (Exam preparation: CAE, FCE, KET, PET, and IELTS, Business English, English for Tourism, English for lawyers, etc.). In his channel, Mr. P. aims to make his lessons concise and effective for everyone. Subscribe for weekly updates, and please make comments and requests.
Hello everyone, I'm Marc. I'm an English teacher and coach from Toronto in Canada but I live in
Rome. Since I began teaching English in 1996, students have often asked me the same question.
How can I learn English faster and more efficiently? The answer to this question
has been rolling around in my head for some time now. I'll give you advice on what not to do
when learning English first. So, first off, don't translate word by word from your own language.
Try to figure out the meaning by reading through the sentence and then try to understand it from
the context. If you don't know how to say a certain word in English, try to explain it
by using the language and the vocabulary you already know. So, this might seem difficult
but it works. Second, don't give up on your studies. Be constant. Never stop learning.
Research shows that if you give up on your studies, you'll relegate your English
to the back of your mind. It's like going to the gym for a year and then taking a year off.
When you return, all your muscles will hurt. That's because you didn't work out for a year.
So, never give up. Now, number three, don't be shy when you speak English. By gaining confidence
in the language, you'll become better at it. If you are confident, you won't think about your
grammar mistakes. When you speak to people in English, they understand you are learning the
So, don't worry. Nobody expects impeccable English from you.
So, how about those points? Are you actually using them? Well, I hope so.
Now, let's talk about what you should do when learning English.
Try to immerse yourself in the language. What do I mean by immerse? Well, let me tell you about
my own experience with Italian. I moved to Italy in 1997. For the first two months,
I had 360-degree contact with the language and I spoke Italian with some mistakes.
My friends were Italians. The environment was Italian. The air that I breathed was Italian.
The whole context was Italian. Well, I learned Italian in two months.
I was able to have a real conversation with someone, even making some mistakes now and then.
Obviously, I don't expect you to move to the USA or to Canada or to the UK or even to Australia.
However, you can recreate your English learning environment.
But how? These are the most important things. How? For your listening comprehension,
I suggest watching TV in English, by renting or buying movies or even by using the internet.
You can find tons and myriad of movies with English subtitles, complete series or TV programs,
even on YouTube. You just need to Google English movies and then, for example, you can type
series like The Mist, Friends, Sex and the City or TV programs like 2020 or Dateline.
There is a myriad of links to shows, programs or movies in English. I would also recommend
English podcasts. They are easy to get. You just need to subscribe to the ones you are most
interested in. And again, there are tons of English podcasts. For example, English vocabulary
podcast or English grammar podcast or English pronunciation podcast or English speaking
podcast, I think. Yes, etc. There are tons of podcasts. When listening, you don't need to pay
particular attention to what you're hearing. Your mind will subconsciously retain the English you
hear. Getting used to the sound of English will definitely help you improve your comprehension
and understanding, obviously. This is particularly true if you live in a context where every American
or British movie is dubbed, just like here in Italy. In order to learn new vocabulary,
I suggest reading a book you've always wanted to read in your own language. For example,
a book that you'll enjoy. When you learn a language, it is extremely important you enjoy
what you're doing. When reading, it isn't important to look up all the words you don't know.
It is, however, important to try and understand new words by context. When an author writes a
word, they usually explain it in the successive sentences. Likewise, when an author uses this
kind of word once, you'll often find it repeated several times throughout the rest of the book.
In this way, by the time you've got to the end of the book, you'll have found it several times
and you will have definitely learned what it means. I've seen students translating every
single word they didn't understand. For long-term retention, this has been proved to be ineffective.
After a few weeks of not actively using or re-encountering the words they so meticulously
looked up in the dictionary, they simply forget them. In order to use what you've already learned,
I suggest going to venues where foreigners usually hang out. Try and meet new people.
They don't have to be native English speakers. They could be from anywhere but your own country.
Tell them you're learning English and you'd like to practice what you've learned. Talk about the
weather, the city, their or your life in general, the news, anything you think will be appropriate
for that occasion. Meet new friends online. There are hundreds of chat rooms for English students.
Even on Facebook, there are millions of English-speaking groups. By now, you know you can
either test or speak live with anyone on the internet. I suggest you always mention you're
learning English and you want to practice. There are many people who are learning English and wish
to use what they've learned. Traveling. Visit a place outside your country. Anywhere you go,
you'll find people who speak English. By traveling, you can practice the English
you've learned firsthand. Try to put yourself in situations where you have to speak English
in order to communicate. In this way, you're forced to use what you've learned. I strongly
suggest traveling alone so that you don't speak your own language and thus speak only English.
If you live in a country where English isn't the first language, I strongly suggest attending
English lessons. Make it a habit. Don't stop attending. This will definitely increase your
level of English and will maintain what you've learned so far. Well, I hope you found my advice
helpful. If you'd like to make a comment or to post a question, just do so under this video.
Don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you haven't and please share the video
with your friends. They might even thank you for thinking about that.
Thank you very much for watching and have a great day. See you next time. Bye-bye.
