English Learning Psychology

English Learning Psychology “Psychology is 80% of success, method is only 20%” – Tony Robbins, Peak Performance Coach Most English learners are very intelligent.  Most are highly motivated when they begin.  Most students are very successful in school, in their jobs, in their businesses, and in their relationships. So why do so many fail to speak English easily and quickly? What is the problem.  Why do people who are normally so successful fail in this one area? There are two answers to that question: 1. Bad Methods 2. Bad Psychology Learn English- Methods & Psychology I talk a lot about methods.  As you know, the grammar and textbook methods used in schools are terrible.  They are total failures.  Very few people will learn to speak English easily if they use those methods.  That’s why I developed the Effortless English system.  It is a system designed to help you speak and understand real English. But even if you use my system, its not enough.   Tony Robbins is right– a great method is only 20% of success.  The other 80% is psychology. Psychology means:  motivation, energy, beliefs, rules, standards, and emotions.   When learning English, psychology is very important. To succeed as an excellent English speaker, you must learn to manage your emotions.  You must develop a psychology of success. One key way to do this is to manage your emotional states.   In fact, this is probably the most important element of success psychology.  Poor emotional states will lead to failure, powerful emotional states lead automatically to success.  For example, if you are frequently tired, bored, or depressed–  you will struggle to study English consistently.  You will have poor concentration.  Your memory will be worse.  You will be more likely to quit, or to study in a distracted or lazy way. You must learn to master your emotions.  You must be energetic, excited, enthusiastic, and passionate every time you study English.   Imagine– smiling and laughing every time you listen to English.  Imagine feeling energetic and extremely happy, every time you listen to English.   Would that make you study more? Would that make you learn faster?  Would your concentration be better?  Would you improve faster?  Yes– yes to all! So how do you do it?  How do you get into a peak emotional state every time you listen to English? Here’s my recommendation: 1. Find some exciting, energetic music that you LOVE. 2. Before you start listening to your English lesson, play the music. 3. As this exciting music plays, raise your head.  Look up. Change your body.  Pull your shoulders back.  Stand tall. Then smile… smile a big smile. Take deep breaths. 4. Next, move your body.  Dance with the music.  Keep looking up.  Keep smiling.  Jump and dance.  Lift your arms over your head as you jump and dance and smile.   Feel the happiness and energy from the music. 5. Stop and say loudly, “Yes!”.  Say it again, “Yes!”.  One more time, “Yes!” 6. Now play your English lesson.  As you listen, keep your shoulders back. Keep your eyes up.  Keep smiling.  In fact, stand up and keep moving.  Walk and breathe deeply as you listen to the lesson. 7. When you listen to the Mini-Story lessons, answer each question loudly.  Don’t be shy.  Shout your answer! Keep your head and eyes up.  Keep a big smile on your face as you answer with a loud voice. 8.  If you begin to feel tired or bored at any time, pause the lesson.  Play your favorite music again and repeat all of these steps.  Add more energy to your body and your emotions.  Then play the lesson again. By managing your emotions in this way, you will study longer, you will remember more, and you will learn 2-4 times faster. You’ll also teach yourself to be strong and confident when you speak English. Always be in a peak emotional state when you listen to my lessons and you will always learn much faster. Learn English online.  Join a fun, international club of English learners. Learn to write English by reading and communicating naturally. Join our Effortless English Club. Effortless English is more than great lessons.  We are also a club, a community– a family of English learners. Let’s be honest- language learning is a long process, and sometimes it feels lonely.  You need friends, coaches, and helpers to encourage you. That’s why an English club is so important.  An English club is your support system. When you feel tired, they energize you.  When you feel discouraged, they encourage you.  When you have questions, they give you answers. When choosing an English club, however, its very important to find very positive members.  Unfortunately, some clubs & forums are filled with very negative people. For example, my wife Tomoe (who is Japanese) recently posted her introduction on an English community forum.   The next day, some guy responded to her by correcting all her “mistakes”.   He was cold, unfriendly, and condescending. You don’t want that kind of club! What you want are extremely positive, enthusiastic, friendly people.  You want an English learning family that will always encourage you. Our Effortless English Club is exactly that.  We are very blessed with many wonderful people.  Our members are absolutely fantastic.  They are intelligent, extremely warm and friendly, and very positive. At the Effortless English Club, we simply do not tolerate negativity. We don’t tolerate insults or personal attacks or criticism of other members. Our members will always make you feel welcome. So please, whether you join our Club or another– be sure to find an English learning family that is positive, friendly, and warm…  and enjoy your English learning! How To Use Your First Lesson You should already have my lessons now, so I want to tell you how to use them. I’m very excited because soon you will speak English easily, and fast.  English words will come out of your mouth– automatically. You’ll feel relaxed and confident when you speak English.  And you’ll feel happy when you learn with my lessons.  No more sad, boring lessons! So, how do you use my lessons?  Here are some suggestions: Start with the first Lesson Set named “A Day For The Dead” Listen to all lessons in the set every day for 1 week (learn deeply) Listen to the Mini-Story lesson two times a day (or more) Answer the Mini-Story questions loudly Do NOT think about grammar.  Do NOT try to memorize Just relax. Listen. Respond.  Everything will happen automatically Most importantly– relax and smile as you listen to the lessons.  If you don’t want to speak yet, its OK.   Effortless English is a “Listen First” system.   Listening is most important. It’s OK to just listen.   You will improve quickly and automatically if you listen every day.  That is the key.  Listen to the lessons 1 hour (or more) every day. That is all you need to do.  Do that, and I guarantee your success. Good luck and enjoy the lessons! PS: If you don’t have my lessons yet,  get them now and start the first lesson set today.  Start immediately: English MP3  lessons are the most convenient and efficient way to learn English. Think about the old days when you had to carry CDs or tapes. Now, you can have a huge library of English lessons on your small iPod.  You can easily carry it with you on the train, while walking around town, on the bus, while exercising. Mp3 lessons make it very easy to learn with N.E.T. time. N.E.T. means “No Extra Time”– and it refers to the time you must spend doing other things anyway.  For example, if you must wait in line at the bank, why not listen to my mp3 lessons at the same time. When you must ride a train or bus to work, use that time productively.  Turn on your iPod and learn English! When you go to the gym, or go for a walk or run, you can also attend the Effortless English Course.  In this way, you double your productivity.  You get your body strong and you feed your mind with excellent English input. English MP3 Lessons and NET Time Try to make NET time a game.  Think about your day.  What are the time-consuming tasks you must do?  Which of these tasks also allow for mp3 English learning? Washing the dishes? Doing laundry? Sitting in traffic? Many students complain that they have no time for English learning. But that’s not true.  You do have time, but you must learn to be creative. Its true that going to a traditional school can be very time consuming.  But now the school can come to you. Get some high quality mp3 English lessons, put them on your iPod, use your NET time wisely… and speak English easily and fast. Don’t make excuses– manage your NET time and speak fluent English! Things Have Changed Business English For New Business I’ll be honest.  My Business English lessons are not normal.  They aren’t the average, boring, dry, super-formal lessons you find in most business English materials. As you know, I think most general English textbooks are boring.  But what’s absolutely incredible to me is that Business English books are even more boring!  They are truly awful! Sadly, most business English materials focus on business models that come from the 1940s and 1950s.  They are full of very stiff, formal English.  But American businesspeople don’t speak that way.  I certainly don’t! Business has changed since the old days. New business is fast.  New business uses rapidly changing technology.  New business is exciting and passionate. New business is Steve Jobs of Apple, Tom Peters, Seth Godin. If you want boring old business English, do not buy my business English lessons. My business English lessons focus on new business.  I talk a lot about online business. I talk a lot about freelancing. I talk about entrepreneurs.  I talk about innovation.  I talk about passion.  I talk about “permission marketing”.  I talk about “purple cows”. My business English is based on my own business experience– the experience of building my company, Effortless English LLC, by myself, starting with $200. Who will love my business English lessons? Freelancers will love the lessons.   Entrepreneurs will love them.  People who hope to someday start their own business will love them.   Independent, creative businesspeople will love them.  Designers will love them.  Marketers, especially internet marketers, will love them. If you are an old businessperson, buy old business English lessons. But if you are an energetic new businessperson–  try mine.  I think you’ll like them. Learn English Online Learn English Online With Powerful Internet Tools The web now has everything you need to learn English online- you can buy English lessons, find a private teacher, use a translation dictionary, save and review new words, improve your English grammar, and chat with other English students- all online. Learn English Online With The Following Tools Download MP3 English Lessons From The Internet Your first step is to find top quality English lessons online.  You want lessons for speaking English, not grammar or reading lessons. I confidently recommend my own Effortless English Lessons.  They are designed to improve your English speaking and listening quickly and easily.  The lessons, like most online lessons, are mp3 files. MP3 lessons have several advantages.  Perhaps the best advantage is that you download them immediately. No waiting for the mail– you get them instantly.  Another advantage is that they are portable– simply put the lessons on your iPod or MP3 Player and you can learn English anywhere, anytime. Finally, audio lessons in general are much more effective than written textbooks. Get An Online English Teacher No need to pay for an expensive tutor or English school.  You can now find English teachers online!  Most online teachers use Skype or other voice chat programs which make it easy to talk to anyone in the world for free.  Thus, you can easily find a native speaker teacher- no matter where you live.  Some teachers use video chat– even better! While there are many good sources for online English teachers, I recommend Lingq.  In my opinion, they are the best.  I used to work with them and thus I feel very comfortable recommending them. Online English Dictionary & Word Saver As you use your English lessons, you’ll sometimes want to look up new words in a dictionary or find a translation in your language.   Online dictionaries are simply great– much faster than text. In addition to a dictionary, you also want to save your new words and review them.  Ideally, you should use a service that combines a dictionary with a save & review feature.  There are many. One very popular online memory tool is Supermemo.  Supermemo is designed to review vocabulary in a scientific way- so you remember words forever.   Get supermemo at: Supermemo.com A lot of students love supermemo and say it speeds their language learning considerably. You can also use Lingq– they have a free dictionary and word saver on their site- so you can use this and find a teacher with them as well. Find An Online Learning Community The English language is for communication, not study.  So its absolutely necessary that you connect with other people and communicate.   Connecting with other students is a perfect way to start– you are all learning, so no one cares if you make mistakes. A community also gives you support and encouragement.  You’ll get great ideas from other learners.  You’ll also make new friends from all over the world. The best way to find a community is to join an English Club’s Forums.  When you get my lessons, for example, you automatically become a member of the Effortless English Club Forums.  You meet other students who are learning with the same lessons.  You can ask questions.  You make new friends. You get advice, support, and encouragement. This is a very important part of online learning. Chat With Other Students Online After a few months of listening to my lessons and communicating on the Forums, you’ll be ready to speak English and practice what you have learned.   Technology now makes it possible for you to connect with people in every country in the world. How do you do it?  The easiest way is to use Skype and chat with other members on the Forums.  Just schedule a time with another member and chat as long as you want.  Its a great way to practice English and make friends. Another great place to find English chat partners is KanTalk- an internet chat community for students. Learning English Online- The Future Is Here You no longer need to attend boring and expensive schools.  You no longer need to read boring English textbooks. The internet has opened a whole new world of English learning.  Its now possible to create your own English education– with powerful internet tools that are much more effective than traditional schools. Join the online English revolution and improve your English speaking fast! English conversation is quite different from English reading.  Conversation uses a different type of English, including different vocabulary. English conversation vocabulary is much more casual.  In English, this means we use more words of Saxon or Old English origin during conversation.  We also use more phrasal verbs (two or three word verbs). The difference between conversation and more formal English is one reason that even “advanced” students have difficulty with everyday conversations. The problem is that students learn more formal English in school.  Formal English tends to use more words of French & Latin origin.  This kind of English is, in fact, much easier for students who speak Romance languages such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, or French.  These students often do quite well when reading English, but have a lot of trouble understanding normal speech. So, if you want to communicate with native speakers its very important to learn English conversation– not just textbooks and reading. To learn conversation, you must listen to more casual English and you must learn the different vocabulary and patterns used in normal speech. In my lessons, I always focus on real English conversation and I use the vocabulary of common speech.  Another great source of casual English conversation is film.  Listen to American and English movies and read the subtitles.  This will also help you. Finally, Kristin, Joe, Tomoe, and I are working on some very exciting projects.  We are recording real conversations with our friends and family.  In fact, Kristin and Joe are already finished recording over 30 real conversations. Next, we’ll send these recordings to be transcribed– so you’ll have the text for all of them.  Then we’ll make lessons based on the vocabulary in the conversations– including idioms and slang.  For example, we’ll use the Listen & Answer technique to guarantee you learn the vocabulary and grammar deeply. These lessons are scheduled to be released on November 1st.  The title of these lessons is simple and direct. We’re calling them “Learn Real English“. Learn English grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and listening with Listen & Answer Stories Learn English grammar without studying any grammar rules.  How? Listen & Answer stories are designed to teach you grammar in an intuitive, natural way.  You learn grammar the same way American children learn it–  by understanding the structure of the language. Most native speakers do not know grammar rules.  Ask an American, “what is the past perfect tense” and most will not know.  But, of course, they use the past perfect tense correctly every day. In fact, they use English grammar effortlessly.  They don’t think about it.  Rather, native speakers have a “feeling for correctness”.   They know what “sounds right” and they know what “sounds wrong”. Can a non-native English learner develop these same skills?  Yes. Definitely. But you’ll never develop the natural ability to use grammar effortlessly if you try to learn by memorizing and thinking. Learn English Effortlessly In many ways, becoming effortless with English grammar is a zen-like experience.  You can’t do it directly through studying grammar rules. Listen & Answer stories, on the other hand, imitate the natural way children learn.  Your job as the student is very easy- simply listen to the story and answer the super-easy questions. In fact, I make the questions super-easy for a reason.  If the questions were difficult, you would start to THINK.  You would probably try to translate.  I don’t want that.  I want you to answer instantly and automatically– without any kind of translation. Another thing I do in the stories is repeat these easy questions in many different ways.  I do this to get the grammar structures deep into your brain.   You don’t realize it, but as you answer all these easy questions, you are actually learning English grammar. This kind of learning is useful and practical.   You can learn English online with these stories- just download them and put them on your iPod. Over time, you will use grammar correctly as you speak.  You’ll use the correct grammar but you won’t think about rules at all. The more you listen to the Listen & Answer Stories, the more deeply you learn the grammar, and the more automatically you will use it.  That’s why I tell students to listen to only one Lesson Set per week.  I want you to be a master of English grammar. One final benefit of learning in this way– its a lot more fun.  You’ll actually smile and laugh while you learn English grammar.  Does that happen when you study textbooks?   Its very important, if you want to have your own business, to understand the difference between a “business” and “self-employment”. Self-employment is what most people create when they try to make their own business. Self-employment is basically a job… the only difference is that you no longer have a boss. You are both the boss and the employee. Certainly, self-employment is more fun than working for someone else. But it has many problems. The biggest problem is over-work. For example, many lawyers are self-employed. But they work too much– 50, 60, 70, or more hours a week. In many ways, they don’t own their business,… their business owns them. When self-employed, you are basically doing the same job you used to do for someone else. A key trait of self-employment is that your business only makes money when you work. If you take a vacation, your business stops making money (or makes less). A true business is different. It is not the same as a job. A business is an organization of systems. It continues to work even when you are not working or present. You create systems by automating your business and/or training others to do parts of it. Your goal is to create a business that can run without you. Ideally, you should be able to disappear for 6 months… and the business continue working well while you’re gone. This is easier said than done. To accomplish this, you must organize every part of your business. You must simplify all tasks and train people to accomplish them easily. You must create a strong, clear management system. You must automate every part of the business that you can… so that things happen automatically. To understand this idea better, I recommend the following two books:The E-MythRich Dad, Poor Dad Both are available on my Amazon Business BookStore, or at your local English bookstore. Business English Success You’ll also learn more about this idea with my new Success Business English Lessons…. Business English lessons with a strong focus for small business and entrepreneurs- that’s how I describe my new “Success” business lesson pack. As always, I did not want to create normal, boring lessons.  Unfortunately, most business English lessons are incredibly boring– even worse than regular English lessons!   Most business English lessons are filled with horribly fake and boring dialogues. Most contain no valuable information– other than long lists of business vocabulary. As you know, I never teach in a boring or conventional way. I decided to make my Success Business English Lessons totally different and unique. Business English Lessons That Teach Business First, I decided that the content of the lessons must be interesting and useful.  Anybody can make a list of vocabulary. In my business lessons you do learn business English, but you also learn something much more. You learn the business secrets that I have used to build my own company- Effortless English LLC. I started my company 2 years ago with $200.   This year, we are nearing $1 million dollars in revenue.  I don’t say this to brag, but rather to convince you that the business principles you learn in my Success Business English Lessons are powerful. In these lessons, I teach the principles, the secrets, the strategies, and the specific practices I have used to build my company. I teach you: How to create inexpensive products/services that excite people How to be noticed in a crowded marketplace How to advertise and market successfully How to create a powerful brand How to create and keep customers who absolutely love your company I also teach you important tips for managing your personal finances. Learn Business English With The Effortless English System Of course, my lessons are also great for learning English.  I use the same powerful Effortless English System that I use with all of my lessons. That means you get: The research proven Listen First approach The most powerful English lessons you’ll ever use– Listen & Answer Stories Audio Vocabulary Lessons–  learn with your ears, not your eyes Audio Articles– Interesting business content that you learn by listening My usual high energy, motivating, and somewhat crazy teaching style! Business English For Business People I designed these lessons for people like me– business people with a strong desire to be entrepreneurs.  These lessons are not for people who are in boring jobs and want to stay in boring jobs! These lessons are for people who are motivated and independent.  Business owners, and people who want to start their own business, will really enjoy them.  You’ll learn English and you’ll get great ideas for starting or improving your own business. So, if you want to speak Business English and you want to be a successful independent businessperson, try my new Success Lessons. And when you finish them, be sure to share your business ideas with our members on the members’ Forums.   This is a place where we can help each other with business problems, solutions, and ideas. I look forward to meeting you on the Forums and hearing your Success story!