Episode 59
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Hi, everyone! I'm Georgiana, your online English teacher. My mission is to help you to speak English fluently. Speaking English is way easier when you use the right material and techniques.
• - In the first part of this lesson I'll talk about punctuality.
• - In the second part, you will practice your spoken English with a mini-story.
• - And in the last section, I'll mention the benefits of reading and listening.
"Hi, are we meeting at 5:00 pm to go to the movies? "
"Yes, of course! No problem. "
"I'll see you then at 5 pm, sharp! Just be punctual this time! The movie starts on time."
This would be a typical conversation between two friends. Unfortunately, for some people, punctuality is something, let's say, flexible. I particularly like to be very punctual, and if I meet a friend, I always arrive a few minutes early.
Punctuality: It's when we arrive somewhere on time.
Someone unpunctual doesn't arrive on time.
Sharp means exactly on time.
If you hang out with friends, it's ok if you're 5 minutes late. It's best to arrive exactly on time, but very few people arrive exactly on time. Besides, it's not the same, whether someone is waiting for you outdoors or in a coffee shop. Of course, if you have a meeting with a client, or it is business-related, it's better to be punctual.
When you are late it's best to inform people that you won't be there on time, so send a message or just call.
By the way, this is the typical phrase used by people who are late.
"Have you been waiting long?"
Here the honest answer should be:
"I've been waiting for the time we agreed to meet! :)"
Talking about unpunctuality, I have an incredibly unpunctual friend.
I remember that one day we met at 8 pm to have dinner at a new fancy restaurant. I knew she wouldn't be there on time, so I made a reservation half an hour later. After waiting for about one hour, I decided to give her a call to find out if she was on her way. Guess what? She was still about 40 miles away, so she couldn't make it in time for dinner.
That night I ended up having dinner alone. Luckily the food was absolutely delicious 🙂
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IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING
Mini-Story: Speaking Practice
Answer the questions aloud with short and quick responses. Repeat the Mini-Story several times to improve your speaking and listening.
Brian wasn't punctual because he was always late.
Was Brian punctual?
No. Brian wasn't punctual. He was always late.
Was Brian sometimes late?
No. Brian wasn't sometimes late. He was always late.
Was Brian unpunctual?
Yes, he was. He was unpunctual.
Was Brian late?
Yes, he was late.
Why was Brian unpunctual?
Because he was late, Brian was unpunctual because he was late.
Who was late?
Brian. Brian was late. It was very unpunctual.
Brian was always 7 hours late.
Was Brian late?
Yes, he was late.
Was he 5 hours late?
No. He wasn't five hours late. He was seven hours late.
Why was Brian unpunctual?
Because he was 7 hours late, he was unpunctual because he was 7 hours late.
Was Brian always 7 hours late?
Always. He was always seven hours late.
Brian's friends were very angry because he was late!
Did Brian's friends get angry?
Yes, they got very angry. They were angry because Brian was late.
Did Brian's friends get very angry?
Yes, Brian's friends were very angry. They got very angry.
Whose friends got angry?
Brian's friends. Brian's friends got very angry.
Why did they get angry?
Because Brian was late. That's why they got angry.
Brian always said, "Have you been waiting long?
Did Brian say, "Have you been waiting for a short time?
No, he didn't say that. Brian didn't say that. He said, "Have you been waiting long?
Who said that?
Brian. Brian said that.
Who did Brian say that to?
His friends?
Yes, to his friends. He said that to his friends. Brian was always late and said that.
Did Brian say that to his enemies?
No, not his enemies. To his friends. He said that to his friends.
Brian's friends solved the problem by also arriving 7 hours late.
Did Brian's friends solve the problem?
Yes, they solved the problem. They solved the problem.
What did they solve?
The problem. Brian's friends solved the problem by also arriving 7 hours late.
Did they solve the problem by arriving sooner?
No. They didn't solve the problem by arriving sooner. They solved the problem by arriving 7 hours late.
How many hours?
Seven. By arriving seven hours late.
Let's continue with the next and last section of this episode.
The Benefits of reading listening.
In this last part, I'll explain the benefits of reading and listening and the relationship between reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
As a language student, the main activities to learn a new language are: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This is what we naturally do in our mother tongue.
One key aspect to keep in mind is that we can categorize these activities as input and output. As you may guess, listening and reading are input activities, and writing and speaking are output activities.
In other words, when you're listening or reading, you are being exposed to the language, and when you're writing and speaking, you are "producing" the language.
The traditional approach tells you that the more you write and speak, the better. That's why language schools insist on writing a lot and "practicing" your speaking with other students, sometimes in groups.
This seems reasonable, but it's not effective. There's a lot of research that points out the contrary: Basically, in order to develop your English, you need to do input activities most of the time.
Why is that? Because you can't produce the language if you haven't previously learned it, and the only way to learn it is through comprehensible input, as simple as that.
But then...is speaking and writing a waste of time? No, I didn't say that.
When you speak in a conversation, you can see what areas of the language you need to improve. Then, when you listen again, you will naturally pay more attention to those areas. For example, if you're in a conversation, and you have to describe something in the past tense. When you try to do it, you see that you make some mistakes. The next day, when you listen to your materials again, I bet you'll pay more attention to the past.
A good schedule may be listening for one hour a day (a course, a podcast, etc.) and practicing your speaking with a tutor or friend a couple of times a week. You will improve a lot.
Last but not least, there's an interesting consequence when you listen and when you read:
Listening will naturally help you with your speaking.
Reading will naturally help you with your writing.
So, if you are interested in developing your speaking, your fluency, you will need to listen a lot. Then you can practice with a friend or tutor. The same thing happens with reading and writing.
Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Review
Vocabulary
Review the most useful words and expressions before listening again.
punctual
arriving or happening at the expected time.
input
language you receive through listening or reading.
unpunctual
often arriving late.
output
language you produce through speaking or writing.
run late
be delayed and arrive later than planned.
comprehensible input
language that you can mostly understand.
on time
at the correct or expected time.
pay attention
focus carefully on something.
Want more speaking practice? Continue with a complete audio course.
Haii founder..im really intresting to know more learn english by your course. because i want to improve my spoken english. so please help me to get this course. how i can do??
Hi Imran, you can learn more about how my courses work if you start with my free video course. I guide you step by step how to speak English fluency using my method: https://Method.SpeakEnglishPod.com
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