Doing English: Recent Episodes
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The post The Power of Going Slow to Learn English Faster appeared first on Doing English.
Here’s a random Airline fact for you: The number of plane crashes are constantly going down. Compare 41 crashes in 1972 with just 3 in 2015. Bearing in mind that around 100,000 flights go out every day now (far more than 46 years ago). That’s a tiny number. Why are they going down? Because every […]
The post What pilots can teach you about fixing your mistakes in English appeared first on Doing English.
Do you struggle with English grammar while speaking? This beginner’s guide will help you improve your spoken English skills with ease. Understand Your Challenges: Improving grammar in spoken English starts by understanding your specific difficulties and reasons behind them (and they’re not normally what you think). Focus on Spoken English: To speak fluently, shift your […]
The post Your English Grammar and Spoken Skills: A Beginner’s Guide appeared first on Doing English.
By now you know how much I hate the English testing industry — IELTS, TOEIC and all the rest of them. They’re largely bullshit and a waste of time unless you need the piece of paper. But there is one test you should pay attention to. I call it the “So what?” test. It’s very, […]
The post The only English test you should care about appeared first on Doing English.
First off, a quick heads up: MEFA enrolment will open again tomorrow. But That’s not what I want to talk about today. One of the big questions I get a lot is: Why is it better to limit your study time to a short, focused block of time rather than studying, say, five or six […]
The post This is why you should study less, not more, every day appeared first on Doing English.
So here I am, feeling, yanno, a bit guilty. I’ve been busy the last week and didn’t get around to writing an email every day (I know, excuses, excuses). Then yesterday (Monday) I was honestly tired as hell. So I decided I needed a rest day. I got EES member lessons out, did the day’s […]
The post She said WHAT TO ME?! appeared first on Doing English.
Over the weekend The Girl and I mostly binge-watched Christmas films (hey, don’t judge — ’tis the season). Last night we watched: “Love Hard” (This is not the kind of film you can “spoil” as, let’s face it, these films are all exactly the same and you already know what’s going to happen without watching […]
The post Catfish-Christmas Film Gifts You English Speaking Insights appeared first on Doing English.
We all live with fear. It’s just a result of our biology. And some fear is good — it’s rational. Being afraid of getting hit by a car, for example, or of being stabbed in that dark, dodgy part of town, are both pretty damn good kids of fear to have. But not all fear […]
The post Is there anything more irrational than this? appeared first on Doing English.
Using filler words (i.e., “umm”, “ahh”, “kinda”, or “really”) when you’re speaking English as a second language could mean a couple of things. In one sense, you can think of these filler words as a processing lag where you’ve gone ahead and your brain’s trying to keep up with you. And in order to do […]
The post How can you stop using filler words when you’re speaking English as a second language? appeared first on Doing English.
Any type of passive exposure (i.e., listening to podcasts, watching TV shows, reading books, etc.) while useful… isn’t going to do much by itself. But if you want to want to improve your English, you will need a balance of focused intensive studying… accompanied by extensive passive exposure. And this is because when you study, […]
The post “Am I learning English right if I read, write, and listen to podcasts a lot everyday?” appeared first on Doing English.
The honest answer is that you’re probably focused TOO much on grammar rules. You’ve spent too much time studying it, so you’re overly reliant on it. And it’s not really your fault… especially if you learned English by focusing on grammar rules. But speaking English is more than just knowing grammar rules. Most of us […]
The post Why do you have difficulty speaking English even though you’re quite good at grammar? appeared first on Doing English.
The big problem here is simply that you’re too focused on words (and probably grammar) – but that’s NOT what you should be focused on for speaking. Let me explain: what matters for speaking well is how you combine the words you’ve got into nativelike chunks of English. And this is true of remembering words, […]
The post “Why can’t I find my words every time I speak English?” appeared first on Doing English.
I created the first video on YouTube about using Shadowing for English as far as I know, so I think I’m definitely the right person to answer this question 🙂 What I’ll write here is a greatly updated shadowing guide (taken from my free ‘Good Shadowing Guide’). First, shadowing is great exercise. But the way […]
The post How can you use a shadowing technique for fluency in English? appeared first on Doing English.
The reason why most native English speakers aren’t particularly impressed when you speak English is because… they just don’t care. It’s exactly the same reason why they’re not that impressed when you manage to get dressed in the morning or tie your shoelaces. Speaking English to most native English speakers is just something that you […]
The post Why aren’t people impressed when you speak English? appeared first on Doing English.