4 Reasons Why You Can’t Compare the Average Foreign English Speaker With a Small Child in a Native Speaking Family
The English language teaching industry is awash with children vs adult comparisons. Statements such as: “Learn the English language just like babies do – simply listen, and let all the language sink in…” or “Small children are best at learning the English language, their brain is like a sponge! We adults don’t stand a chance…” are so commonplace that we tend to take them for face value and we don’t question them at all. Here at English Harmony I question all mainstream standards and practices, and more often than not I’ve found them to be totally wrong. I figured out a long time ago that you don’t need anywhere near as much focus on grammar as they’ll make you believe in any academic English teaching institution. I learned it the hard way that learning new English words via my native language – which is a typical industry standard – is actually bad for my English fluency because it creates a lot of unnatural vocabulary associations in my brain. And it took me a long, long time to define my personal problem – inability to SPEAK in English FLUENTLY – for the simple reason that no-one had ever said it to me during my English language studies at primary, secondary and college level which were 99% focused on developing my ability to read and write! Today I’m taking on another myth: “In order to learn the English language, we need to look at small kids in native English speaking families and copy what they do.” I say: “DON’T copy what little children do because you’re not comparing like with like!” (more…)
How Using Hand Gestures & Facial Expressions Helps You Speak Better English!
Funny English Phrases: Sports Related Idioms
Fluency Gym Coach Goal #1 Complete: 50 American Phrases Acquired!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjT-stTQipU 27 days ago – April 30, to be more specific, I published the first video featuring an American English phrase TELL YOU WHAT. It marked the start of a journey that saw me record 42 videos within 25 days learning 50 new American English phrases, expressions, collocations and grammar constructs. A few facts about this 50 American Phrase Acquisition Mission: All American phraseology acquired during this mission has been sourced from GONE series dystopian fiction; I was recording 2 daily videos – one in the morning and the other one in the evening. The morning video got published on my Easy Idioms blog while the evening one went live on my Accent Adventure website. I was using my own Fluency Gym Coach Program and its Action Plan to set the overall goal and organize my spoken English self-practice sessions; I was making sure to use those newly acquired expressions also outside my video recording activities (extra self-practice sessions and also speaking with my work colleagues during the day) thus imprinting them into my active vocab permanently! And here are the videos published on this blog where I’m using all those newly acquired American phrases: American Phrases 1 – 12 American Phrases 13 – 24 American Phrases 25 – 38 American Phrases 39 -50 (more…)
FGC Goal #1: Learning American Phrases 39 – 50 using the English Harmony Method
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74JtLVYOhqg Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Hello my friends! I’m nearing the end of my 50 American Phrase Acquisition Mission, and it’s been one hell of a ride :!: I’ve been recording videos day in, day out. I’ve been getting up at 5:40 AM so that I can record my morning video and publish it on Easy Idioms blog before I have to leave home for work. It’s been hard work, but at the same time I’ve also been improving my fluency and pronunciation (the evening videos got published on Accent Adventure blog where I’m working on my American pronunciation) and I don’t regret a single second of this mission! Today’s video, however, is different in that it’s created around the same concepts used in the English Harmony System, namely – spaced repetition and contextual speech pattern acquisition. Basically you can watch the video above and see me being engaged in English speech exercising in order to acquire the last 12 American English phrases/collocations/expressions: (more…)
FGC Goal #1: Using American Phrases 25 – 38 in a Self-Practice Session
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #37: YOU GUYS HEAR ABOUT?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dtTbuc2lLo Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Morning! Today’s American English phrase is YOU GUYS HEAR ABOUT?, and it’s a very handy phrase for situations when you’re approaching a group of people with an intent to tell them some news. And by the way, this phrase is a typical example of how we can omit words in conversational English, and while some perfectionists will consider such a grammar construct a mistake, in reality it’s exactly how people are speaking in real life! Obviously, grammatically correct way of wording this phrase would be the following: “Have you guys heard about?” or “Did you guys hear about?” – depending on context. In real life conversations, however, native English speakers quite often omit the auxiliary verbs from the beginning of sentences, and the resulting sentence is something of a crossbreed between a question and a statement. And if you think about it, this phrase YOU GUYS HEAR ABOUT? doesn’t even follow any English grammar rules! (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Grammar Construct #35: COME + VERB
YearOfEnglish.com: 3 Reasons Why Enjoying Your Hobbies Through English is The BEST Thing You Can Do To Your FLUENCY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kOM44ztGZY I guess I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that you’ve had moments when you’ve lost motivation to keep improving your English and working on your fluency. Vocabulary and phraseology acquisition. Spoken English practice sessions. Reading and listening comprehension. All is nice and well up until the moment when you just get bored for the simple reason that you don’t see relevance of all those activities in your personal life! Let’s say for argument’s sake, you’re a fitness fanatic and you live and breathe all things fitness. You go to the local gym every day, and you’re very conscious when it comes to your nutrition and lifestyle. Now, if that’s the case, then you spend pretty much your entire free time being engaged in fitness related activities, and while you may have a dream of achieving English fluency for professional reasons, you kind of find it hard to dedicate enough time to English improvement related activities. But guess what? The biggest problem is the following: You’ve separated your fitness life and English fluency improvement and you perceive them as two different aspects of your life! No wonder you find it hard to motivate yourself to engage in a lot of English practice if you’d rather hit the gym one more time instead of learning another couple of English phrases and doing some spoken English practice… Solution? Combine the two: YOUR HOBBY and YOUR ENGLISH IMPROVEMENT ROUTINE! And here are the three main reasons why combining your hobbies and interests with learning and improving the English language is SUPER-BENEFICIAL to your fluency! (more…)
GONE Series Finished: What I’ve Gained From Reading It
FGC Goal #1: American Idiom #33: AT LOOSE ENDS
FGC Goal #1: American Slang #31: YOU THINK YOU’RE SUCH A BIG DEAL?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox1iwcWEM1U Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Hello boys and girls! :-) I’m still on my 50 American Phrase Acquisition Mission, and while the GONE series books have been finished by now (that’s where I’ve been sourcing all these American Phrases), the mission isn’t anywhere near completion! I still have 19 phrases to learn, and today I’m doing the 31st phrase which is the following: YOU THINK YOU’RE SUCH A BIG DEAL? You see, the thing is, up until recently (or, to be more specific - until I came across this phrase in one of the GONE series books) I thought that the English collocation A BIG DEAL can only be used when referring to things and abstract concepts. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Slang #28 GO SEE/WATCH/DO SOMETHING…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftudwHOnfGU Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Good morning my friends! ;-) Did you know, by the way, that it’s totally fine to omit the word AND when saying things like: I’ll go AND check on my sister to make sure everything’s OK. I had to go AND watch a movie with an old friend of mine even though I didn’t like it! Let’s go AND see what food we can round up! Yes, in conversational English it’s 100% fine to omit the word AND so the above sentences become: I’ll GO CHECK on my sister… I had to GO WATCH a movie… Let’s GO SEE what food… (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Slang #27: CALL BS ON…
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #25: I JUST…, IS ALL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztvsgZl1L8 Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Hello my friends! Yesterday I published the second video where I’m using multiple phrases in a single spoken English self-practice session, and this time around I did phrases 13 through to 24 which forms the second set of dozen phrases out of my 50 American Phrase Acquisition Mission. Now I’m ready to move on, and let me introduce you to the phrase number 25 which is somewhat unusual: I JUST…, IS ALL! So, in what situations can you possibly use this colloquial expression? (more…)
FGC Goal #1: Using American Phrases 13 – 24 in a Self-Practice Session
FGC Goal #1: American Slang Phrase #23: BUSTING ON SOMEONE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk4DYW-hLyA Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Good morning everyone! :grin: Today I’m participating in a 10K run which takes place on the Curragh, in Ireland (and it’s only within five minutes driving distance from my home so it’s quite handy to get there!), but it doesn’t deter me from learning new American English phrases and recording videos while I’m preparing for the run mentally! It only stands to reason that if one wants something badly, one will do everything within one’s power to achieve that goal, and in my particular case I just HAVE TO record two videos a day no matter what happens! I also have to ignore negative attitude shown by others while I’m going about my daily business if I want to stay focused on my goals, and even if someone starts BUSTING ON ME, I simply have to let it go. It’s not always easy – especially if they’re being really mean (BUSTING ON SOMEONE might carry different connotations depending on context – there’s friendly busting and there’s also quite aggressive busting), but it’s a concept I have to embrace if I’m really serious about my English fluency development. I’ve no time for other people’s petty grievances; I’d rather stay focused on my goals and as far as today is concerned, there are quite a few things on my schedule: (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Phrasal Verb #18: See What We Can ROUND UP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CgLyHNOOo Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Currently I’m reading the last book in GONE series, and here’s a sentence I came across yesterday: “See what food we can ROUND UP!” The situation in the book was the following: a kids settlement near a lake had been attacked by a monster of extraordinary powers, and half of all humans got massacred (quite grisly for a teenage fiction, isn’t it?). When the monster was fended off by one of the human mutants (you must be thinking now – “What kind of books are you reading, Robby?!”), the girl in charge started organizing their retreat to the town. Quite obviously, when almost everything you own is destroyed, first you have to see what supplies you’re left with, so that’s when this phrase “See what we can ROUND UP” comes in really handy! The funny thing is, I knew the phrasal verb TO ROUND UP in quite a different context. It’s a mathematical term and it’s used when rounding up figures. Let’s say, for example, if you’re asked to round up the number 27, you get 30. You can also round figures down, in which case 27 becomes 25 – and I’m sure everyone having even attended a primary school is familiar with this concept! Today’s video, however, isn’t about rounding figures up or down. It’s about using the American phrasal verb TO ROUND UP in a much different context, namely – when rounding up… (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #16: I’VE HAD A RUN-IN WITH…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bv2PozTfTA Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Good morning boys and girls! When was the last time you’ve HAD A RUN-IN WITH someone? Do you like HAVING RUN-INS WITH people? Personally I prefer to resolve all differences in a peaceful and diplomatic manner, but it’s simply our human nature to HAVE RUN-INS WITH other people from time to time. Now, I’m pretty sure that you got the meaning of today’s American English expression, but in case you still have some doubts – please watch the video above where I’m discussing my sixteenth American phrase I’VE HAD A RUN-IN WITH and how it’s used in real-life English conversations! Chat soon, Robby ;-)
FGC Goal #1: American Idiomatic Expression #14: IT STANDS TO REASON
FGC Goal #1: Using American Phrases 1 – 12 in a Self-Practice Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FYYtI5X1pY Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Hello my dear friends foreign English speakers! I’ve spent the last 6 days learning new American phraseology taken from English fiction I’m currently reading - GONE series – to be more specific! I’ve been also recording videos all of my spoken English self-practice sessions so that you can see EXACTLY how such spoken English practicing is done in real life! Here are the 12 phrases I’ve learned so far: TELL YOU WHAT IT SPELLS TROUBLE ZONED OUT HAVE YOU A BEEF WITH ME? IT HAS WRONG WRITTEN ALL OVER IT IT WAS A LONG SHOT RINGED WITH CHAIN LINK, TOPPED WITH RAZOR WIRE IN THE RIGHT ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE TO CALL SOMEONE OUT ON SOMETHING GOT A THING FOR SAY WHAT? They’re all quite American (although most of them would still be used worldwide anyway!) , and I’m choosing these phrases depending on how relevant they might be in my personal life. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #11: GOT A THING FOR
FGC Goal #1: American Collocation #9: ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnsbzJXjunE Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Good morning on this wonderful Saturday morning! :grin: Saturday mornings are ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE the same as working day mornings for me. I still have to record a video and publish it on my YouTube channel and write a blog post for this blog, so there’s no real difference in terms of my morning routine – getting up at 5:40 AM, having a breakfast, recording a video… The simple fact, however, that I don’t have to be ready to get into the car at 8:00 AM and go to work makes a world of difference to my mental state! Not that I wouldn’t be able to motivate myself to do the right things every day, it’s just that when you don’t have to go do work, it almost feels as if there’s something big and exciting going to happen! You mightn’t even have planned anything in particular for your day off, but it still gives that added dimension to your life! I, for example, don’t even get to sleep much longer on weekend mornings than on working day mornings; I wake up before 6:00 AM no matter which day of the week it is, yet it’s always easier for me to get out of the bed on a weekend morning for some reason or another. Anyway, today’s American English phrase is ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE and it’s one of those self-repetitious sayings that don’t necessarily make sense yet they’re handy to use in conversations for the simple reason that they sound good! (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Collocation #7 – RINGED WITH CHAIN LINK, TOPPED WITH RAZOR WIRE
FGC Goal #1: American Slang Phrase #5 – IT HAS WRONG WRITTEN ALL OVER IT!
FGC Goal #1: American Slang Phrase #3 – ZONED OUT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj2BeNh1uV0 Current Goal: Learn 50 American Phrases in 25 Days! Good morning my friends! :grin: So far so good – I’m on the third American phrase today and there’s only 47 more phrases to go! Today’s American slang phrase is to be ZONED OUT and it’s an informal way of describing when someone is daydreaming or in a state of absolute relaxation. You know the feeling when someone talks to you but you don’t even hear them? That’s a typical example of you being ZONED OUT, so next time it happens you can say to that person: (more…)
FGC Goal #1: American Phrase #1: TELL YOU WHAT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNRyDDDikUQ Hi boys and girls :!: I’m going to learn some American English phrases within the next 25 days, and I’m going to shoot for 50 phrases in total. Here’s the video I published yesterday on my English Harmony blog where I announced this mission, and it’s all done as part of my Fluency Gym Coach Program (FGC – hence the title on the video “FGC Goal #1”) where people can set their own English confidence and fluency improvement related goals and achieve them using my program as an effective framework. My goal is basically to add 50 new American phrases onto my active vocab, and the first phrase I’m doing today is TELL YOU WHAT. It’s a very handy way to make your point when speaking with another person, and it could be put into other words simply as HERE’S THE THING. (more…)
FGC Goal #1: Learning 50 American English Phrases in 25 Days!
David Gemmell’s Heroic Fantasy Fiction: How It Helped Me Define My Moral Code
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-d8_4b8zQ Hi guys on this beautiful Sunday morning! ;-) Currently I’m still reading GONE series by Michael Grant, but this morning I decided to tell you a little bit about English fiction that has had a deep and profound impact on my personal development and my moral values. David Gemmell. He’s the man. He’s the author of over thirty fantasy fiction books, and most notably – Druss the Legend novels. Druss is the character who struck a chord with me, and ever since I got to know him through David Gemmell’s heroic fantasy fiction, my life has never been the same. It might sound like a far-fetched claim, but it’s true nonetheless. Whenever I face a tough situation in life, I imagine what Druss would have done had he been in my shoes. (more…)
Video for YearOfEnglish.com subscribers: Learn English Vocabulary That’s Relevant for YOUR Life!