Hi, I’m Joe Weiss, one of the directors of Learn Real English. And today you are going to be learning
Rule Number 5 for Excellent English Speaking. But before I talk about Rule Number 5, I want you to think
back a couple of days to Rule Number 2.
Rule Number 2 is do not study grammar rules. When you study grammar rules, then you think about that
grammar before you speak, and that causes you to hesitate. And you speak much slower and you
understand much slower. So since you learned Rule Number 2, you may have wondered, “Hmm, how
am I going to learn to speak English with correct grammar if I do not learn grammar rules?” Well, that’s
what I am going to be teaching you today.
Okay, so how do we do it? Well, there is a simple, powerful technique. And there is research that shows
that this technique is the best way to learn grammar, the best way to learn English grammar or grammar
for any language. Okay, so what is this technique? Well the technique is called point of view stories, or
sometimes it’s even called point of view mini-stories. Mini means small, so a mini-story is just a short
story.
So Rule Number 5 is use point of view stories. Okay, so now that I’ve told you what the technique is, how
do we use this technique? How do we use point of view stories? Well, first I tell you a story, a mini-story.
Then, second I tell you the same story but this time I change the point of view of the story. So you may
be wondering, what does it mean to change the point of view of the story? Well, one way to change the
point of view of the story is to change the time that the story occurs.
So in the first story, I may tell you that story in the present. Then, in the second story, I tell you the same
story in the past. So that is how I change the point of view. Another way to change the point of view is to
change the person who is actually telling the story or narrating the story. Now, I’ll give you an example of
that later in this video. But one important thing to remember is each time that you change the point of
view of the story, you change the grammar in the story. So each time I tell you the story, I tell you the
same story but you hear different grammar.
Okay, so now that I’ve told you how to use this technique, I think it’s a good idea that we practice. So
let’s practice this technique. So I will tell you a story in the present, right now. Okay, let’s start.
There is a man and his name is John. And John goes to the store and John buys a shirt, and the
shirt is blue. And John pays $20 for the shirt.
Okay, so that is our first story, told in the present. Now your job is easy. You just listen to this story;
listen, listen, and you just try to understand what is happening in the story. And you listen many times,
because we want this information to be stored deeply in your memory. Okay, so how do we use these stories to learn grammar? Well, now I’m going to tell you the story again. Same story, but this time I’m
going to tell you the story in the past. So let’s start the story.
One year ago, there was a man and his name was John. Now John went to the store and John
bought a shirt, and the shirt was blue. And John paid $20 for the shirt.
Okay, so that is the end of the story that I’m telling the second time, in the past this time. Now I want to
tell you that this is just a very simple and short exampl