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Imagine you could learn English faster
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without studying more. Wouldn't that be
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great? Well, I have good news because
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this is entirely possible.
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It's entirely possible to improve your
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skills in a language without studying
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more and without putting in more effort.
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And this is what I'm going to teach you
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in today's video. My name is Michael.
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I'm the founder of English at the ready
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and it's my goal to make you fluent in
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English. In English we have a saying and
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you might have heard this before, work
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smarter not harder. This essentially
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translates to it's better to work
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intelligently and efficiently than it is
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to spend hours and hours working but not
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getting great results. And this is so
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true because it's entirely possible to
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waste your time. I see so many students
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spending days, weeks, and months
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studying English the wrong way. They're
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working harder, they're putting in the
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time, but they're not working very
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efficiently. They're not doing the right
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thing. We have a limited number of hours
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in the day and learning English probably
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isn't the only thing you're doing. You
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have to go to school, you have to go to
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work, you have to attend to your family,
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to your kids. You have social
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engagements with your friends. You have
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a life and spending hours every day
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learning English can be challenging and
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in many cases not possible. So I would
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much you spend less time and get better
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results than spend more time and get
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worse results. It sounds so obvious, but
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so many students don't do this. You see,
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if you want to improve your English, you
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need to identify your weaknesses. I mean
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this, sit down and think about what you
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really need to improve cuz you don't
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need to improve your English. You need
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to improve certain skills. That might be
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grammar, that might be your vocabulary,
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that might be your pronunciation, your
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accent, whatever it may be, it's not the
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whole language, it's just specific
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skills. For example, some students are
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amazing at grammar. Maybe they spent
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years studying grammar in school. If
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that's the case, if that's you, you
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probably don't need to spend too much
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time studying grammar. Some students
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find it easy to pronounce words. Some
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students find it easy to understand
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native speakers. Everybody has their own
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strengths, but they also have their own
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weaknesses. And it's a waste of time to
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focus on your strengths. You need to
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focus on your weaknesses. So, if you're
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good at grammar, you might be bad at
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speaking. That means you don't need to
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study English, you need to practice the
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skill of speaking. So, all your time
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should be dedicated to speaking, not to
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grammar. Or if you're really good at
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pronunciation, but your writing isn't
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very good, then don't work on
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pronunciation. Don't watch videos on
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YouTube on pronunciation. Read books,
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expand your vocabulary, and practice
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writing. Do you see what I'm saying? I
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want to give you an example of a student
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who I worked with a couple years ago.
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Her name is Shadab, and Shadab came to
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Canada and was finding it really
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difficult to integrate and to speak
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English with people because she felt
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nervous. She didn't feel confident to
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speak. She was good at grammar cuz she
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had learned grammar back home in school,
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but her speaking skills needed a lot of
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improvement. And the advice I gave her
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in our programs was to forget about
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grammar. Don't worry about grammar.
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Instead, dedicate all your time to
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speaking. Go out, try to speak with
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strangers, make an effort to get out of
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your comfort zone and to practice
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speaking English, and eventually you
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will improve. I told her not to worry
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about grammar cuz she was already really
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good at grammar, and I told her to focus
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specifically on her speaking skills.
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Sure enough, after a few months Shadab
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improved significantly, and she felt a
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lot more confident to speak simply
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because she focused on the right thing.
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So, what does this mean for you? Figure
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out what you're bad at, and work on
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that. Don't work on what you're good at,
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work on what you're bad at. Now, the
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second thing you need to know is that
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yes, there are so many ways to improve
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your English. You can watch videos, you
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can take classes, you can read, you can
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listen to podcasts, music, whatever, and
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some are better than others, but to be
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honest, this is a very personal thing.
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You might hate listening to podcasts,
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and you might love reading, whereas
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somebody else might love podcasts and
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hate reading. There's not one right or
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wrong way of learning a language because
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everybody is different. Everybody has a
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different learning style. So, normally
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it doesn't matter what you do, but it
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should be something you enjoy. This is
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so important. You have to make learning
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English fun. You have to make it
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something you enjoy because if you
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don't, you will get bored. I promise
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you, you will get bored, and you will
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give up. If you don't enjoy doing
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something, it's going to be very, very
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difficult to stay disciplined. I'll give
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you the example of myself when I learned
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German and French. A few years ago, when
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I was studying these languages, I was
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really interested in reading. I loved to
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read, but I didn't really enjoy
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listening to podcasts or watching
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movies. So, I spent all my time reading,
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which helped me because I stayed
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motivated, and I didn't get bored. Now,
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reading might not be something you enjoy
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doing, and if that's the case, don't do
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it, but figure out what you actually
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enjoy and stick to that. Because if you
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enjoy it, you're going to stick with it
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longer, and it's actually going to be
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fun, so you won't give up. Remember, do
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something you actually need, so work on
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your weaknesses and not your strengths,
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and do something you actually enjoy. If
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you stick to these two principles,
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learning English is going to be so much
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easier, it's going to be so much faster,
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and it's going to be a lot more fun. You
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don't need more hours in the day, you
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don't need more time in your schedule,
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you simply need a better strategy. A
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strategy that actually works and that
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makes learning fun. Let me know in the
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comments, what is your favorite way to
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learn English? Do you like movies? Do
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you like podcasts? Do you like reading?
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What's your favorite way to learn
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English? And of course, if you enjoyed
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this video, make sure to leave a like
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and subscribe to English at the Ready
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here on YouTube. Your support means the
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world to me. I really appreciate every
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single one of you who's here and who
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wants to improve their English. And of
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course, if you are looking for a program
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with live classes, recorded classes, and
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so much more, you can click the link in
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the description below to apply for our
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online programs. If we have availability
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and if we think we can help you, we'll
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reach out. So, click the link below and
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submit an application. Thanks for
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watching and I'll see you in the next
