How to practice English listening skills (without spending extra time)

Summary

In this video, the speaker shares an effective and convenient technique to improve listening skills. Rather than using methods that are time-consuming or inconvenient, the speaker suggests downloading natural listening materials and listening to them during daily activities like commuting or exercising. By doing this for just 30 minutes a day, one can accumulate over 10,000 minutes of real conversation in a year, with no extra time required. This method proves to be far more efficient than traditional methods, like watching movies, offering a more sustainable and effective way to boost listening abilities.

Takeaways

• 😀 Listening improvement takes time and consistency; it's a long-term process.
• 😀 Many people fail to improve their listening because they use inconvenient methods that are difficult to sustain.
• 😀 Methods like watching the same movie multiple times or transcribing what you hear are often too time-consuming and boring, leading to frustration and quitting.
• 😀 To succeed in improving listening, the method must be convenient and easy to continue for long periods.
• 😀 The best listening materials are natural conversations where people speak casually, using everyday language.
• 😀 The key to success is listening to materials while doing other tasks that don't require much attention, such as commuting or exercising.
• 😀 By integrating listening practice into your daily routine, you save time while improving your skills.
• 😀 Listening for 30 minutes per day using this method leads to over 10,000 minutes of listening in a year without extra time spent.
• 😀 In contrast, watching movies to improve listening is inefficient, as a large portion of the movie involves non-dialogue content.
• 😀 If you spend the same amount of time listening to natural conversations instead of watching movies, you can save over 20,000 minutes per year.
• 😀 The technique works because it's easy to sustain, so you are likely to keep practicing and improve your listening skills over time.

Q & A

Why do most people fail to improve their listening skills?

Most people fail because they use inconvenient methods that are difficult to sustain over time. This leads to frustration, and they often quit before seeing any results.

What makes a method for improving listening skills successful?

A successful method is one that is convenient and easy to integrate into your daily routine. If it's not easy, you’ll likely give up before making any progress.

What is the first step in the technique to improve listening?

The first step is to download a lot of listening materials to your phone or MP3 player. The best materials are real conversations between people, as they use everyday vocabulary.

What is the second step in the technique to improve listening?

The second step is to listen to the materials while doing something else that doesn’t require much of your attention, such as commuting, waiting in line, or exercising.

Why should you not try to do listening practice in your free time?

You shouldn’t try to fit listening practice into your free time because this makes it less convenient. The key is to listen while doing other tasks to avoid adding extra time to your day.

What is the main benefit of using this listening technique?

The main benefit is that it’s convenient. By listening during everyday activities, you can practice for long periods without taking time away from other tasks, leading to consistent improvement.

How much listening will you have done in one year if you use this technique for 30 minutes daily?

If you use this technique for 30 minutes per day, you’ll have listened to 10,950 minutes of real English conversations in one year.

How does the technique compare to watching movies for listening practice?

The technique allows you to listen to more real English conversations and save time. Watching movies requires significant free time, and only about half of a movie is dialogue. In one year, watching movies would require over 20,000 minutes of your free time.

What is the drawback of watching movies to improve listening skills?

The drawback is that it takes up a lot of your free time, and the conversations in movies are often scripted and not as natural as real-life conversations.

How much time would you save by using the listening technique instead of watching movies?

By using this technique, you would save over 20,000 minutes of your free time in one year compared to watching movies.