let's be honest who doesn't want to learn better faster and more English well in this
lesson I'm going to share how you can improve your vocabulary and conversation overall English
fluency in just this one 10 minute lesson so if that sounds good then let's get fluents hi I'm
Gabby Wallace from gonaturalenglish.com in case it's your first time here welcome so there are a
few things that you can do that you might not have learned in your traditional English class
like traditionally you learn to memorize individual vocabulary words and that's not
wrong it's not bad but it's not as helpful as memorizing or learning pairs of words phrases
of words or short sentences so that you can be ready to use them in conversation because
because what happens is the problem is when you learn individual vocabulary words
you may be able to produce them for a test filling in the blank or a multiple choice question you
know the meaning but you don't know how to use them when you're speaking in conversation you
don't know how to use them in a sentence or maybe you know but you're not able to use them
quickly as you need them for a conversation so instead of learning for example the word pepper
learn the collocation a collocation is two words that we tend to use together
salt and pepper that's a step up that is going to be more helpful than just memorizing the
individual words so now maybe you're thinking okay great but that's not really so Advanced
okay now I'm memorizing two words instead of just one but my next suggestion for you is
to learn to memorize phrases so not just pepper not just salt and pepper but memorize the phrase
could you pass the salt and pepper or please pass the salt and pepper choose one and learn it this
way because then when you go out to eat you can try this phrase you can actually use it easily
and automatically because you've practiced it in a full phrase and not just an individual word
again pay attention to groups of words and not just individual words on Long lists of vocabulary
you can do this with so many different groups of words for example verbs like make the bed
pass the salt and pepper which we just talked about do your homework give advice or take advice
take a risk there's so many examples that for the sake of time I'm not going to list more but the
general idea is stop memorizing individual words and start learning groups of words
next learn some commonly used idioms and expressions for example instead of just
saying it's raining a lot you can learn idioms like it's raining cats and dogs which by the way
you don't want to translate literally or directly because it probably won't make sense in your
native language but these are fun ways to make your English more colorful and more native like
So speaking of the weather we have a lot of idioms related to whether words but they actually don't
mean anything about the weather at all for example Cloud Nine I am on cloud nine I am so happy
so you could use this when you're talking about something really exciting what makes you feel like
you're on cloud nine on the other hand we have Rain on My Parade if someone tries to tell you
not to do something that makes you happy you might say hey Don't Rain on My Parade don't try to tell
me that I can't do the things that make me happy if someone Reigns on your parade they try to ruin
your plans let's throw caution to the wind that means let's forget about our responsibilities and
just go have some wild spontaneous fun when's the last time you threw caution to the wind
steal my thunder so if someone for example steals your idea or steals attention or takes attention
away from you you can say they stole your thunder there are so many idioms that you can learn I
would highly recommend to just learn one a day and try to put it to use the most beneficial way that
you can learn new phrases is to use them actively even if it's by yourself even if you're talking
to yourself out loud even if you're writing in your Journal you know ideally you are speaking
with someone else maybe a classmate a teacher or in the real world but if you don't have that
opportunity like if you're not my student in my fluid communication course you can still benefit
from this idea by using phrases on your own but it's important not just to read them or listen to
them but use them on that topic of how to use phrases in order to make them a part of your
English repertoire or your English toolbox or your active vocabulary here's an idea for you many many
English Learners are afraid of having conversation because they don't feel prepared do you ever feel
afraid or unprepared if you're saying yes then this suggestion is going to help you so much I
want you to think of a situation where you want to use your English you want to speak better English
in the situation it can be a very small situation it doesn't have to be something high pressure or
high stakes like a TED Talk presentation it can be as simple as I want to have a small conversation
with my co-workers when I go back to work on Monday okay great so you have this situation in
your mind good then we can continue if you don't have it ready then think of something really quick
where you would like to use English and then I want you to Envision how you would like that
conversation to go so you walk into your office on Monday morning and you say hi John how was your
weekend so you actually take control start the conversation ask a question what is a question
that you could ask to start a conversation in your situation that you're thinking of
so maybe you ask how was your weekend and then they say something about their weekend and you
say oh nice I had a great weekend too but actually and maybe you say something about what you did for
me personally I didn't do anything too exciting I caught up on chores laundry grocery shopping
things like that so I'm excited to be back here at work because I don't have to do any more laundry
you can make your response fun kind of cheeky um joking like that or you know keep it really
simple whatever feels good for you you can say what you did if you watch TV if you went out
and did something if you stayed at home you know you choose what you want to share with people you
can tell them about your family if you want to share you know your home life but the idea here
is to just visualize imagine that conversation because because that will prepare you for it and
you'll be so much more excited and bold when you speak you'll be ready with confidence to
have that next English conversation using some of the idioms phrases and collocations that you will
have studied so so if you enjoy learning English like this the smart way with go natural English
make sure to come visit gonaturalenglish.com you can learn more about my complete English
course called fluent communication again I'm Gabby Wallace and I'm so glad that
you're here learning together with me thanks for watching and I'll see you again soon bye for now