Hi, I’m AJ Hoge, one of the teachers of Learn Real English. And today is your last day, the last secret,
the last rule. And we saved the best one for last. The last rule, the last secret is to use listen and answer
stories. And learn how to think in English. See the problem in schools, one of the problems, one of the
many problems with English education is that most students learn English through translation. Right?
You learned English, probably from a teacher who spoke your own language. So when you were
studying English you were always translating to your language from your language. When you studied
vocabulary you would memorize the meaning in your language, translation. You also learn lots and lots
and lots and lots of grammar rules. And so that makes you think all the time about English, when you’re
supposed to be speaking, when you should be speaking easily without thinking, instead you’re thinking
about grammar, you’re thinking about vocabulary. You’re also feeling nervous. All of these things are
happening and that’s why your speaking is not so great right now.
But we’ve given you 6 rules already and now I’m giving you number 7 to give you a totally new way to
learn so that you can teach yourself again, teach yourself English again. And in this way, by following all
of these rules, you will learn to speak in a very, effortless way, without thinking. You will learn to think in
English so that the thought comes to you in English and then it comes out of your mouth in English.
When someone speaks to you, you just know the meaning. You don’t have to translate to your language
and back again.
And the most powerful way to do this is to use listen and answer stories. This is really the center part of
our system, the most powerful part. It’s essential. It’s so, so, so important. So what are they? What is a
listen and answer story? Well, this is a very, very special way of teaching English. So what happens is
the teacher asks a story in a very special and specific way. And when the teacher uses this method and
this technique it trains you, it teaches you and teaches your brain to begin thinking in English. It also
teaches you to understand faster, faster, faster and faster, and to respond, to speak faster and faster and
faster without translating, without thinking about anything.
So how does that work? You probably noticed I said the teacher asks a story, not the teacher tells a
story. So the important part of this technique and this method is the teacher will tell a funny, crazy story.
And we make them funny and crazy because they’re easier to remember. See, if we tell you a normal,
boring story, you’d probably forget it. But if we tell you a story that’s funny and crazy and strange, you’ll
remember the story. You will also remember the grammar and vocabulary in that story. That’s why we
make them funny and strange and crazy.
The other thing that we do is that we ask the story, meaning we create a story using lots and lots and lots
of simple, easy questions. You see, if we just tell you a story, it’s passive. You just sit there and you
listen and you don’t do anything. Hm-hm-mm, you’re listening to the story. But if we ask you questions and questions and questions, you have to do something. Your brain has to understand the question and
then answer it immediately, because we ask these questions fairly fast.
Now the good news is they’re very simple, easy questions. That’s also important.