Effortless English: Learn To Speak English Like a native

Deep Learning Practice
Exercise 1: Pick an audio that’s ten minutes long. This is going to be your main
audio for the week. Listen to it a few times. Repeat this process every day for the
next week. Really commit yourself to mastering it. The idea is you’re not trying to
memorize it, but rather to thoroughly know it. Imagine that each time you listen to
and understand the audio, it is going deeper into your brain. It’s like a seed you are
planting in your mind. Plant it deep and water it with many repeated listenings.
After you have mastered the first audio, pick two additional audios. They should
each be 5-20 minutes long. Listen to these in the same way as you did the first.
You will notice yourself going through different learning stages as you do this.
Try to be conscious of these stages. The first will be, “Oh no, I don’t understand.”
You may need to use a text for total understanding. You’ll know you’ve hit the
second stage when you can listen to the words and phrases without reviewing any of
them. The third stage will be when you’re hearing and easily understanding without
the text. How long does it take you to get to the third stage? How does listening to
longer audios affect your understanding?
How quickly will you progress and how many repetitions are required? Much of
this will depend on your state of mind during repetition. Are you relaxed?
Energized? When I teach action vocabulary in seminars, students can often master
new words and phrases in just a few minutes because they are moving and excited.
Repetition with half-concentration and low energy is not as good as repetition with
engaged emotional energy. So as you are repeating the audios, stand up, move
around, and even shout the phrases to yourself. If you’re feeling self-conscious,
close your door and do this in your room until you get more comfortable with it.

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Exercise 2: Select an audio for listening practice. A common complaint I hear
from students about deep learning is that they get bored listening to the same thing
day after day. So in this exercise, every few days you’re going to change your
focus. On the first day, concentrate on just learning the vocabulary. On the next day,
play a game where you’re just trying to understand the audio completely without the
text. A day later, play a sentence, pause the tape and shout the sentence. Copy the
speaker ’s rhythm, tone, and emotion. Work on your pronunciation. Next, try a game
where you play two sentences and then repeat them loudly, with emotion. The next
day, return to just listening and understanding. Basically, each day you shift your
focus on the same material so that you learn from many different angles. The
important thing is that each repetition you do has a purpose.

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CHAPTER 13