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Some of the most successful English language learners swear by podcasts as a means of learning the language. Here are some reasons why you should consider using mentor podcast to help you improve your English speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills.
Let’s dive into why students typically ignore podcasts, why every competent English learner should make podcast listening a key part of their learning regimen, and how podcasts may be utilized to help students improve their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. If you live in an English-speaking country or a non-English-speaking country, you should find this guide beneficial.
Whatever your English learning goals are, language learners nearly always overlook the importance of listening. Your primary goal as an English student is most likely to communicate with others in English. It could be native English speakers in an English-speaking country or non-native English speakers in a non-English-speaking country.
When virtually any English learner is asked what they want to improve the most, it’s almost never listening or comprehension. The majority of students will respond, “I wish to enhance my speaking English.”
It is fairly understandable.
Speaking is the most visible display of command over a person’s language. You’ve all met someone who can speak eloquently and confidently without any grammatical or vocabulary errors.
Is the key to getting there just focusing on practicing speaking consistently, making mistakes along the way, and correcting yourself? This is a very common strategy, and … the idea goes something like this:
- Make every effort to have a conversation with a natural speaker.
- Make mistakes and learn from them
Speaking is evidently a fundamental part of learning English, but the common misconception among learners is that the only way you get better at speaking is, well, speaking.
Unfortunately, that is not true…
The result of this misconception is millions of English learners ‘practicing’ speaking while they really would make much better progress through a blended approach, combining speaking with listening.
And, you guessed it, listening to English podcasts is the best approach to improve your listening skills. Yes, using mentor podcasts as your listening resource will help you improve your speaking – here’s how listening to an English podcast can help with all aspects of English.
Listening
Obviously, the more you listen to any language, the greater your listening abilities improve. The language of English is no exception. By listening to more English spoken by native speakers, you will gain a better knowledge of how native speakers use words, sentence structure, and English-speaking pronunciation to convey the different meanings of English-speaking words.
Additionally, you will also enhance your grammar and vocabulary via acquisition. Well, that’s not true, there are many people who have impeccable grammar without ever opening a textbook in their life.
Wanna know how? ‘Language acquisition’ and ‘Language learning’ are the two main approaches to acquiring a language.
Language acquisition means getting in touch with the language ‘in context’ and learning how to use it over time. You’re not in class or reading a grammar or vocabulary book, so it’s usually ‘informal’. Yes, that’s how everyone learns their first language.
Language learning is a type of formal education. It’s taught in a language school or through formal language classes, and it’s done through grammar and vocabulary activities. Grammar and vocabulary are learned through artificial exercises rather than in context.
This is excellent for beginners and can be used as a basis to advance your language skills to a certain level, but it is not as beneficial in English as it is in other languages with more complex grammar systems.
There is an imperative case that once you have achieved a certain degree of proficiency in English, you must learn them either ‘in context’ or ‘through acquisition’. Of course, learning through acquisition is much more fun than learning through ‘learning’, which aids in self-motivation.
Speaking & Pronunciation
Have you ever heard a native English guy speak Latin? Bet you! it sounds nothing like how the Romans might have spoken it. Imagine learning to speak solely through reading and writing, without having to listen to a native speaker.
Yes, this is how people learn to speak Latin – from mentors who have never heard anyone speak it (since the Romans have been dead for almost 2,000 years), and they pronounce words as if they were speaking English. And it sounds awful, really, just ask an Italian.
Of course, the same can be said of English.
There are some specific tips on how to learn English, in fact, you can dramatically improve your speaking skills by practicing things like:
- Take a recording of yourself reading from the transcript and compare it to the way the mentor podcast host speaks.
- Speaking aloud at the same time as the podcast host, i.e. shadowing!
- Taking notes on words you didn’t recognize from the podcast and using them in your speech
One of the most significant aspects of English pronunciation is recognizing sound patterns, such as the difference between “sheep” and “ship.”
Highlight any difficult words to pronounce in the audio transcript, record yourself saying them, and compare your pronunciation to that of a native speaker. Most English learners don’t make this effort, and the difference between those who do and those who don’t is clear.
Don’t just record yourself verbatim repeating the transcription. Why not tape yourself discussing your opinions on the podcast? It prompts you to speak more fluidly as you experiment with new phrases and expressions.
Are you an introvert? then podcasting like mentor Nation Podcasts might be a great tool, especially for you!
If you’re someone who feels self-conscious about making mistakes, using podcasts to practice speaking might be really helpful. You can do this yourself, and as a result, you’ll feel more comfortable speaking in front of others.
Reading & Writing
Listening to mentor podcast will primarily help develop reading and writing skills, but they can also help improve your reading and writing.
For reading skills, you can read the transcript before listening to mentor podcasts. Which words did you not understand? It can be a handy study aid if you’re listening to a podcast with crucial vocabulary.
For your writing skills, it’s wise to practice transcribing a podcast and then comparing it to the transcript.
Similarly, to record yourself speaking about your reflection on a mentor podcast, you can:
- Write a synopsis of the podcast or your own thoughts on the topic. And don’t forget to share it with the podcast’s host.
- Read more about the topic through books or other sources on the Internet.
Why Mentor Nation Podcasts Better Than Watching TV, YouTube & Netflix?
We’re highlighting the benefits of listening to the world class mentor podcasts through this guide, but you might be wondering if you can get the same outcomes by listening to the radio, listening to audiobooks, watching movies or TV shows with subtitles, or watching YouTube!
Well, we should start by saying that you can listen to mentor podcasts, on the radio, or in any audiobook. The key to getting the most out of any listening resource is that you are 100% focused, and there are no videos or other stimuli to help you understand.
So that means there will be no Netflix, YouTube, or television. Why? Video viewing is a sedentary activity. Exceptionally passive. You can just slouch down on the couch and turn on the TV, and your brain will virtually shut off, almost! According to some research, your brain is more active when you’re sleeping than when you’re watching TV.
There is no external stimulation with the audio. It’s hard to ‘guess’ what’s going on based on context alone, which means you really have to exercise your brain.
Of course, it sounds harder than it is to flick on YouTube, but that’s exactly the point. For every individual who has to become fluent in English by watching English films, there are 100 others who have made little or no progress.
If you can understand podcasts and audio without visual cues you will find it much easier to understand conversations, because you have educated yourself not to rely on external stimuli for understanding.
In the end, this does not preclude you from using Netflix or YouTube to aid your English learning. But yes listening to podcasts is the most effective way to learn English.
Summing up
Podcasts geared explicitly toward language acquisition can be really beneficial, but just listening to something you enjoy and find entertaining can be hugely rewarding.
If what you’re listening to interests you, you’re more likely to pay attention to new words or phrases, so why not subscribe to a podcast on something that interests you?
Some podcasts that are very popular include the Mentor Nation Podcast, in which people tell stories based on a different theme every week, and share their journey, their stories, and their best advice, which is like having a personal mentor.
Do you want your personal mentor? Then why wait? join Mentor Podcast with John Abbas today!
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