Effortless English: Learn To Speak English Like a native

What Should You Listen To?
The most important thing to keep in mind is that you must listen to easy English. It
has to be easy for you. That means you should understand 95% or more of what is
being said. That’s without stopping the audio and without a dictionary. So it should
be quite easy. I say this because the natural desire of most students is to pick
something harder, thinking it will help them. It sounds more impressive to say I’m
listening to CNN rather than a children’s program. If you choose something too
difficult, you can get frustrated. With something easy, you get confidence.
Remember Dr. Krashen’s idea of understandable input. If you don’t understand,
you are not learning. No understanding means no improvement. Easier listening is
almost always better than difficult. Eventually, you will be ready for more difficult
material, but take your time and listen to plenty of easy English.
If you’re just starting out, try listening to children’s programs since the English
tends to be simpler. You can buy audio books online as a download, and get the

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audio book immediately so you can get started.
If you find yourself listening to something more difficult, you can still use it, but
you usually need the text. You can get an audio article or a speech, and use the text
so you can read and listen at the same time. For more advanced learners, another
great source of casual English conversation is film. Listen to American and English
movies and read the subtitles. This will also help you. Just remember, listening is the
most important thing. To get the most from films, use the movie technique below.
If you don’t have an audio player or smart phone, get one. It will enable you to
listen to English conveniently whenever you can. Listen in the morning when you
get up. Listen when you go to work, or when you are at home. Listen when you are
at lunch. Listen when you are coming home from work. Listen in the evening – lots
and lots and lots of English listening, lots of easy listening. I even have a free
Effortless English™ podcast on iTunes and you can listen to that. Listen, Listen,
Listen.
Rule Three is the reason that all of my courses are based on audio. Effortless
English™ is a listening system where most learning is done through the ears. It’s
okay to use text to help understanding, but focus most of your time and efforts on
learning with audios.
No matter how you choose to do it, it’s important to listen to English as much as
you can. Some of my students have been reluctant at first. But most of them say that
getting to choose what they listen to starts to make it enjoyable. Instead of suffering
through yet another boring textbook drill, you can relax and listen to something that
is interesting to you.