Repetition Mini-story

 

Hello, this is AJ Hoge, Director of the Effortless English Club, here again with another lesson, the mini‑story for “Repetition with Intensity.” Are you ready? Are you standing strong, shoulders back, good posture? Deep breathing? Big smile, moving your body? If not, do it right now. Because if you don’t, I will kick you out of the Effortless English Club, onto the street to cry and have a terrible life for the rest of your life. You don’t want that, so you better do it. So stand up, smile, peak state. Let’s go! It’s time for English again. Let’s Rock!

Alright our mini‑story today is about Asher.

* * * * *

Asher had a dream. He wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. He wanted to be a rock’n’roll god.

Hm, interesting. Who wanted to be a rock’n’roll god?

Asher did, Asher wanted to be a rock’n’roll god.

What did he want to play? The drums?

No, not the drums, he wanted to play the guitar.

Did he want to be a good guitarist?

Hell, no, he didn’t want to be a good guitarist. He wanted to be the best guitarist in the world, a rock god.

What did he want?

He wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. He wanted to be a rock god.

Who wanted that?

Asher, Asher wanted that. Asher wanted to be the best guitarist in the world. Asher wanted to be a rock god.

You know there’s a problem. What’s the problem?

The problem is he doesn’t play the guitar. He didn’t play the guitar. He never has played the guitar. No guitar for Asher.

That’s a small problem.

So, of course, he decided to find the best guitar teacher in the world.

Who did he find?

He found the best guitar teacher in the world.

Where?

In the world.

Did he find the best guitar teacher in Mexico?

No, not in Mexico, not just Mexico, in the world…he found the best guitar teacher in the world.

Who was the best guitar teacher in the world?

Well, AJ Hoge, of course.

AJ Hoge was the best guitar teacher in the world. Asher went to AJ and he said “Teach me to be a rock god.”

What did Asher say?

He said “Teach me to be a rock god.”

Who did he say that to?

He said that to AJ. He said to AJ “Teach me to be a rock god.”

Why did he say that to AJ?

Obviously, because AJ is the best guitar teacher in the world. Everybody knows that.

AJ said “My student, you must look good to be good.”

Hm. What did AJ say?

He said “You must look good to be good.” Hm.

AJ said “Imitate me. Dress like me. Jump and yell and look cool like me. Then you’ll be the best guitarist in the world and a rock god.”

What?

AJ said “Imitate me. Dress like me. Look cool like me. Then you’ll be the best guitarist in the world.”

What did AJ want Asher to do?

He wanted Asher to imitate him, imitate him.

Who did he want Asher to imitate?

Him, AJ, AJ wanted Asher to imitate him.

Did he want him to imitate Jimi Hendrix?

No, not Jimi Hendrix, he wanted Asher to imitate him, AJ.

Did he want him to copy him a little bit?

No, not a little bit, he wanted him to imitate him, perfectly copy him.

Did he want him to imitate his dress, how he dressed?

Yes, he said imitate how I dress.

Did he want him to imitate how he moved?

Yes, he said imitate how I move. Look cool like me.

Asher said “But don’t I have to practice the guitar?”

What did Asher ask?

He asked “Don’t I have to practice the guitar?” Don’t I have to practice the guitar?

Did Asher think he needed to practice the guitar?

Yes, Asher thought that he needed to practice the guitar. He said “Don’t I have to practice the guitar?”

AJ said “No, just look good.”

Did AJ want Asher to practice the guitar?

No, no, he didn’t want Asher to practice the guitar.

Why not?

Because AJ said “You must look good to be good.” Looking good is the only important distinction.

So, for one year every day Asher imitated AJ. He walked like AJ. He moved like AJ. He dressed like AJ. He tried to be cool like AJ, although that’s very difficult.

How long, for how long did Asher imitate AJ?

One year, for one year Asher imitated AJ perfectly, almost perfectly.

How often did he imitate AJ?

Well, every day, every day he imitated AJ for one full year.

Who did he imitate for one year?

AJ, he imitated AJ for one year.

Who imitated AJ for one year, every day?

Asher, Asher imitated AJ every day for one year.

But unfortunately, after one year Asher still could not play the guitar. In fact, he was terrible.

After one year, could Asher play the guitar?

No, he couldn’t. After one year he could not play the guitar, still could not play the guitar.

How good was he after one year?

Well, he was terrible. After one year he was still terrible at the guitar.

Did AJ help Asher?

No, no, no. No, he didn’t, he did not help Asher. Asher was still terrible at the guitar.

He was not a rock god. He could not play.

Asher said “You’re fired.”

Did Asher fire AJ?

Yes, he did. He fired AJ. He cut AJ, stopped paying AJ. Oh no.

Next, he went to his friend, Inka. He said “Inka, how can I become the best guitarist in the world? I tried to study with AJ but he sucked.”

And remember, to suck means to be very bad at something. So was AJ a great guitar teacher or a terrible guitar teacher?

AJ was a terrible guitar teacher. He sucked at teaching guitar.

Well Inka said “It’s vital to find a great player to model. Seek out Jimmy Page. He’s the best.”

What?

Inka said “It’s vital to find a great player.”

Is it a little bit important to find a great player?

No, it’s not a little bit important. It’s vital, very important, necessary.

What’s vital?

Finding a great guitar player is vital.

Vital for who?

Vital for Asher, important for Asher.

Why is it vital for Asher to find a great guitar player?

Well, it’s vital, it’s important because he needs to learn from the best.

What’s vital for Asher to do?

Well, it’s vital for him to find a great guitar player.

Who should Asher seek out?

He should seek out Jimmy Page. He should find Jimmy Page. To seek out means to find, to look for and find. It really means to look for.

Should he look for Jimmy Page or should he look for AJ?

He should look for Jimmy Page. He should seek out Jimmy Page.

Who is Jimmy Page?

Jimmy Page is the best guitar player in the world.

What does Asher need to do?

He needs to seek out Jimmy Page. It’s vital, in fact. It’s vital that he seek out Jimmy Page.

So he did. He went looking for Jimmy Page. And finally he found him in England.

Where was Jimmy Page?

In England, Jimmy Page was in England.

Why was Jimmy Page in England?

Well, it’s obvious, because he’s English. Jimmy Page is English so he was in England.

Who found Jimmy Page?

Asher, Asher found Jimmy Page.

He asked Jimmy “Jimmy will you please teach me to be a great guitarist? I want to be a rock god.” Jimmy said “Okay.” So every day Jimmy Page showed Asher new key distinctions on the guitar. He showed him key differences, key new things to learn.

Who showed Asher key distinctions on the guitar?

Jimmy Page, of course. Jimmy Page showed him a new key distinction on the guitar every day, a new thing to focus on, an important difference to learn.

He told him how to hold the guitar, how to play the guitar, how to move his fingers quickly.

Did he learn new distinctions?

Yes, he did, Asher learned a lot of new distinctions.

Who did he learn new distinctions from?

He learned new distinctions from Jimmy Page, of course.

Did he learn new distinctions about the piano?

No, not about the piano.

About what?

About the guitar, he learned new distinctions about playing the guitar, about the guitar.

And every day he practiced. Every day a lot of repetition but repetition with new distinctions.

Who practiced every day with new distinctions and repetition?

Asher did, of course. Asher practiced the guitar every day, a lot of repetitions, a lot of new distinctions.

Finally, three years later Asher became a great guitar player. He became a rock god. Everywhere he went women loved him. When he was in Israel, the women loved him. When he was in Europe, the women loved him. When he was in North America, the women went crazy and they loved him. The South American women loved him. African women loved him. Asian women loved him. He was a rock’n’roll god.

The end.

* * * * *

That is the end of the mini-story for “Repetition with Intensity.” Be sure to repeat thismini-story with intensity.

Repetition Vocabulary

 

Hello, this is AJ Hoge again. And this is the vocabulary lesson for “Repetition.” Again, pretty easy today. Let’s talk about the vocabulary.

First, let’s use that word distinction. I talked about it a lot in the main story so let’s just repeat it again, review it again, one more time. And again a distinction is an important difference. It often has the idea of a small difference, not always but often. But it’s a difference, a distinction, something that makes two things different, so a small difference, an important difference, a distinction.

Right, next is the word vital. Vital means very, very important. Repetition is vital. Repetition is vital for mastery. It’s very, very important for mastery. So again, vital, vital means very important, even necessary. Vital is something that is very important and necessary, so vital.

Next is the word intensity. I used it a lot, intensity. Intensity again means power. It really has the idea of concentrated power, so doing something with a lot of focus, concentration, a lot in a small time. So repetition with intensity means a lot of energy, concentrated energy is what we’re talking about in this lesson. When I say you need to have repetition with intensity, you need to have repetition with concentrated energy, concentrated power, emotional power. That’s what we’re talking about with intensity. It’s kind of the opposite of laziness.

The next word is imitate. I told you to imitate me, imitate my speaking. And as I said in the main story, imitate means copy. It’s a verb, to imitate, to copy. But really imitate is a bit stronger. To imitate means to copy very closely, exactly. And we usually use it when we’re talking about people. So, for example, you can copy a piece of paper, you can copy a paper. But you can’t imitate a paper. We usually imitate people, something that’s alive. Something that’s moving, we imitate it. So if you imitate a person, it means you try to speak like them. You try to look like them. You dress like them, everything. You try to be exactly like them. That’s called imitating and the noun is imitation. That process, that action is called imitation. And the verb is to imitate.

Next we have one of my favorite words, bullshit. Bullshit is a great word and we say this word, bullshit, we say it when we totally disagree with something. When we think something is foolish or crazy or wrong, it really shows that you think something is wrong, totally wrong. So if somebody tells me, a student tells me “AJ, I already know the past tense. I don’t need to learn it anymore. I want to learn the future perfect progressive.” And I say “Bullshit, you’re totally wrong. You don’t already know the past tense. Because you just made a mistake with it. You just said yesterday I go to the

store and then you say I already know the past tense. There’s a problem here.” And a lot of students do this. They say “I know this, I know this.” They don’t know it because they constantly make the same mistakes with it. When I talk about knowing, I mean deep acquisition.

Remember acquisition? It means you have something and you keep it and you never, ever lose it. That’s real knowing. So when students say “I already know it,” I usually say “Bullshit.” It means you’re totally wrong or I think you’re totally wrong. So you can use that word, that phrase, anytime you totally disagree with someone, with what they’re saying. When you think they’re saying something that’s totally foolish or wrong, you say “Bullshit.” Or you can say “That is bullshit.” That’s another way to use it. It’s a very common word.

Okay, and then in this talk I talked a little bit about scales. I was talking about my own singing practice and how I have to practice scales every day. So we’re talking about a musical scale. Scale has other meanings but in this case, in this situation we’re talking about a musical scale. And a musical scale is just notes that go up and down. It’s a series of notes. You probably know, do re mi fa so…nah nah nah nah nah…right? Usually 8 maybe in a scale. So it’s just a series of notes and there are lots of different scales in music. We don’t need to talk about the details of that. But basically a series of notes in music, we call that a scale, a set series.

Okay, that is all, that is all of our vocabulary lesson today for “Repetition.” Now, as always, it’s very important to listen to these many times. That’s the whole point of this lesson today, right? Or I should say this week because you’re going to be listening deeply for the entire week, maybe even longer than that. So none of this is going to help you if you don’t use it correctly. If you just listen to each lesson one time, or a few times, one or two days, you will not get the same benefit. You’ll be entertained, maybe. You might enjoy it. You might learn a couple words, but you’re not going to learn extremely deeply. You’re not going to learn how to speak English effortlessly and automatically like a native speaker. To do that you’ve got to really have this deep level of repetition with intensity. You have to follow this system to succeed at that level and I hope you’ll do it. I’m sure you will. I know you’re serious about it so you’re going to do it.

Good luck. I look forward to hearing about your success on our forums on our member site. See you next time, bye bye.

Repetition Main

 

Hi this is AJ. Welcome to the seventh lesson. Let’s begin. This one is called “Repetition with Intensity.” Intensity means power, concentrated power, really, is what it means. Of course, repetition means doing something again and again and again and again and again. So maybe this is the bad news or the good news, I don’t know, but the truth is to learn English, to learn any language, to learn any skill, to be a master you have to have a lot of repetition. And this is something that a lot of people don’t like and they go “Oh my god, I’m bored. I don’t want to listen to this again. I don’t want to do this again and again and again.”

I’ll give you a small example. I’ve recently started taking singing lessons and every lesson we do the same thing. We do these scales, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Every single time. Every day, same scales, same exercises. And anyone who wants to get really good at singing, and I do want to get good, has to do this. You have to repeat. You can’t just say “Oh, I already know this. I did it 10 times so I’m finished and let’s do something new.”

Unfortunately a lot of people have this idea with language learning for some reason. Most people understand if you learn a sport you have to repeat the same basic actions again and again and again. If you want to be great at basketball, you probably know you have to practice dribbling, [which] means bouncing the ball, passing and shooting the ball, again and again and again and again. Michael Jordan practiced these same basic skills from a child until he finished his career. What, 20 years maybe, every day practicing the same skills, again and again. And not just practicing, practicing with emotion, practicing with power, practicing with energy, every day for 20 years or more. We’ve already mentioned Tiger Woods a lot, same thing with golf. He practices the same skills again and again and again and again, every single day, years and years and years.

So why, when we’re learning English or learning a language, do we say “Oh, I don’t want to study this any more, I already know it. I already know the present tense. I already know these words. I already know this grammar. I already know this lesson.” What, maybe you listened to it 7 times, 5 times? It’s not enough. We need a lot of repetition, a lot of repetition with power, with intensity. Your whole life, that’s why babies learn so quickly and so well, that’s why I’m a master of English and not a master of Spanish. Because every day for 40 years I have been listening to English, the same basic English.

When I was 5 years old I didn’t tell my mom “Mom, I already know the past tense so stop using it. Let’s learn something more difficult now. I’m bored with the past tense.”

Of course, that’s ridiculous, right? I’m still hearing the past tense used correctly constantly, every single day of my life. And that’s why I can use the past tense without thinking, totally effortlessly. Because it’s something I hear again and again and again and again and again and I have since I was born until right now and you need to decide that you’re going to do this, too. So forget this idea of levels. Forget levels, there is no level. You’re not an advanced English speaker and then suddenly “Oh, I don’t need to worry about the past tense anymore. Oh, I already know the present tense, I’m an advanced speaker.”

Well bullshit! It’s not true. You never finish. And in fact you have to focus on the basic things, the most frequent, core, fundamental, important parts of the language. You have to focus on them every day, you never stop. Yes, you’ll start to learn some advanced vocabulary. Yes, you’ll learn some of that great advanced grammar that you always want to learn. But that stuff is just extra. Always, the core, main focus of your learning must be the fundamentals, the high frequency words, the most common grammar structures, and the basic pronunciation of the language. You never stop practicing those. You never stop improving them. Every day you continue to focus on them.

Okay, you believe me? Alright, we agree? Alright, good. Well, your next question is probably how. Because the problem with this is that it gets boring. Right, and you’re like “Oh, I don’t want to do it again.” And this is a problem that everybody has.

Everyone who wants to be a master has this same exact problem. I’m sure Michael Jordan at sometime said “I’m sick of shooting free throws.” Free throws are the basic, same shot, all basketball players practice them every day for all their life. Probably at some time he decided, “Oh man, I’ve already done this 20,000 times, I don’t want to do it again.” But then he said, oh, I need to. He realized that he could never stop.

How does Tiger Woods keep going? How does he continue to practice the same things every day when he’s already a master? It’s an emotional problem, right? It’s a mental problem. It’s not a physical problem. It’s easy to do, the problem is we stop wanting to do it. So again, it’s a problem of our mentality. It’s a problem of our psychology. And we have to learn how to practice with a lot of repetition but continue to feel strong, continue to have energy and intensity. That’s the trick. That’s the secret.

We’ve already talked about some ways to do this. So one way you do this is to manage your emotions. Manage your peak states. You get in that peak state. That’s why I keep reminding you…are you smiling? Are you moving? Is your head up? Are your shoulders back? Are you breathing deeply? I continue to remind you about this because it’s important. It will keep your energy high. It will help you repeat again and again and again without boredom. When your body, when your physiology is strong, you get bored less easily, you focus more. You concentrate more. You can do more repetitions. You can repeat more of the same thing. That’s great. So that’s one of the key things, what we’ve already talked about, managing your emotions.

Managing your beliefs will also help. Thinking constantly about what you want in the end. Imagining yourself as a successful English speaker. All of these things are

building your energy. And that will help you repeat more often with more energy. But there’s one more secret to repetition and this is something that all masters do and have always done. It’s a key point to using repetition most powerfully. Because if you just repeat and do the same thing, if you do it badly, well then you’re teaching yourself to perform badly. If you practice English every day with no energy, repeating, repeating, well you’ll learn to be bored and tired when speaking English. And you don’t want that. So here’s what you’re going to do.

First, of course, you’re going to get yourself in that peak state again. Always, every time before you listen to English, you’re going to manage your body, your physiology. You’re going to move. You’re going to smile. You’re going to change your posture. You’re going to breathe. You’re going to change your emotions. You’re going to change your focus. You’re going to think about that big goal, all those great benefits to speaking English. And you’re going to do your incantations. You’re going to say “I’m a great

English speaker” or “I’m getting better and better with English every day.” And now you’re feeling great. And you start to repeat. You say “Okay, now, I’m going to listen to that lesson again. Again, 7 times, 12 times, 20 times, 50 times, 100 times.”

On the 100th time how are you going to keep your energy still? Well, you’re going to get in that peak state but you’re also going to change your focus. When you repeat, you don’t just do the same exact thing. You find small distinctions each time. A distinction is a difference, an important difference, okay? An important difference. So you’re doing the same thing, maybe you’re listening to the same lesson, for example. But you, with your mind, are doing something a little differently each time, a different distinction each time. What do I mean? Let me give you an example. Let’s say you listen to this lesson the first time. The first time you probably want to focus on just understanding.

You need to understand all the words I’m using. You need to understand my pronunciation. You need to, most importantly, understand the whole meaning of this lesson, of what I’m saying, the meaning, the basic meaning of the English I’m speaking. So the first time you probably read and listen at the same time. And you’re focused just on the meaning, just on understanding. Maybe you do that 1 time, maybe 4 times, maybe 10 times, it depends, everybody’s different. But eventually you start to feel bored. Eventually you think “I understand this, I understand the meaning. I know all these vocabulary words, no problem.” Most people will then change. They’ll go to a new lesson “I’m bored, I already know this vocabulary, time for a new lesson.” That’s what most people do.

But someone who is focused on mastery will not do that. They will stay with the same lesson. What they will do is find a new distinction, an important difference, a new way to focus. For example, you know now all of the vocabulary. You understand easily. So next you change your focus, a new distinction. Next, you don’t focus on just understanding. Next, you focus on speed. You decide “I’m going to answer those mini‑story questions very fast.” And it becomes a game.

So the first time maybe you answer somewhat slowly. The next time you listen you try to get faster. Maybe you still need to pause, but you’re getting faster. The next time you try to go faster, answer those questions more quickly. Then you try to not use the pause button. Answer before I answer. And it becomes this game, a challenge. It’s repetition, it’s the same thing again but now you have a new distinction, a new focus, a little bit different way of repeating. First, you were focused on just meaning and understanding. Now, you’re focused on speed, the speed of your response, faster and faster and faster. And that’s kind of a game, it keeps your brain awake. It keeps your brain alive. It keeps you learning with this same repetition.

Now eventually that will become boring. You’ll get really fast. You’ll become faster than me. At that point you have two choices. You can stop and go to a new lesson, what most people will do. But you are a master, you want to master English. So you will not do that. You will continue repeating the same lesson but, what do you need now? A new distinction, a slightly new way to focus on the same lesson.

So next, for example, you might focus on listening deeply and carefully to pronunciation, to my pronunciation. What do I mean by that? I mean you listen carefully, how do I pronounce each word? You especially listen to my intonation. Intonation is kind of the music of a language, it’s when I go up and when I go down. It’s when I stretch a word or say a word very quickly. All of those things are important. If you want to improve your pronunciation you’ve got to first listen very carefully. Not like a normal person, just listening and hearing it.

You have to really focus on the sounds. You want to hear the emotion in my voice. You want to focus, when do I get loud and when do I get quiet. What do I stress, what do I not stress. So that’s your next distinction, you’re going to focus on listening very carefully. Not so much for meaning, you already know that, you’re going to focus this time on the sound, the music. Pretend you are a musician and you want to hear the notes, the rhythm, the small important sounds of my pronunciation. Hear everything. So you do that again and again and again, 5 times, 10 times, 15 times, 20 times or more, focused on pronunciation, each lesson, the main lesson, the vocabulary lesson, the mini-story lesson. This time you’re focused on pronunciation, listening, listening, listening super carefully. Very detailed listening.

What’s going to happen eventually? Boredom, you’re eventually going to get bored. Not in the beginning, in the beginning it’s a new challenge. Your brain is awake and alive but this will become easier and easier and finally you’ll think “Oh, I finished listening to his pronunciation, I can hear it.” Now you have another choice. Is it time to go to the new lesson or do you find a new distinction? Well, of course, you’re a master so you’re going to find a new distinction, yet again, a new focus, a small difference, something a little bit different to focus on using still the same lesson. You’ve been listening deeply for my pronunciation, well your next step is to imitate my pronunciation, to imitate me. And to imitate means to copy perfectly.

So now what you’re going to do, you’re going to listen to me, after every sentence you’re going to pause. And you’re going to say the same sentence. Now here’s what you do not do. You do not do listen and repeat. So I say “Hi, how are you?” You pause “Hi, how are you?” I mean that’s the normal school way of doing it, listen and repeat. You’re not repeating, repeating has no power, repeating does nothing. You’re imitating. Think like an actor or an actress. Your job is to be me, be AJ. So when I say imitate, I mean copy everything. Copy my speech exactly, perfectly, the sounds of the words, the exact pronunciation. That’s just the beginning. The whole sentence, the words in the sentence, that’s easy, that’s just the beginning. I’m talking about my intonation, the exact music. You were listening to it before, now you’re going to do it.

So when I go up, you’re going to go up. And when I go down, you’re going to go down. When I’m loud, you will speak loudly. When I’m quiet, you will speak quietly. You want to sound like me, just like an actor. You want to copy my emotion. So when you speak it has the same emotion and power as my speaking. Copy my accent. If you’re really serious, copy how I move. You can’t see me but you can imagine how am I moving. Am I standing stiff, not moving? Not usually. I usually move around a lot when I’m speaking. My hands are moving. My face is moving. You should do that, too. That’s the final distinction, imitation.

You can do this with anybody, not just me. You can watch a movie and copy the actor or actress. And this is great because you have a picture to look at, so you can definitely, you can copy how they’re moving their body, how they’re moving as they speak. And then you’re going to copy exactly how they speak. When they pause, you pause. When they’re loud, you are loud. When they stretch a word, you stretch it. You copy everything. And that’s an even deeper distinction, a deeper level of repetition.

So this is very important. This is how the masters do it. This is how Michael Jordan gets better and better and better, or got better and better and better as a basketball player. He didn’t just shoot, shoot, shoot, same thing every day. No, every week or every month he changed his distinctions. He reached a certain level, he decided “I want to go higher.” So he focused on something a little different. Same action, same skill, but now he’s focusing on something even higher or something even deeper.

And when that became easy, he found something else, something else that was new and he went higher still. And he kept doing that endlessly. Same with Tiger Woods, same with anyone who is really great at what they do. It’s what you did naturally as a native speaker of your language. You didn’t know it, it was happening unconsciously, intuitively, effortlessly. But it’s what you did as a child as you grew up. You were at a certain level but then every day or every week or every month you focused on something new, you got something new.

So that’s what I want you to do. This is your homework. This is your homework for life, for the rest of your life, every day. You’re going to learn more deeply than other people. You’re going to repeat more with more intensity. And the way you’re going to do it is by always finding new distinctions. You can start with these lessons now. You’re going to

go more slowly. And you can follow my plan. You can add more to this. There’s always a new distinction. If imitating me becomes easy, think of something else. Keep getting better and better. But for now, try my plan. So in the beginning you’re going to listen for what?

Basically for understanding, that’s the first level of repetition. Listen for understanding. Focus on the meaning, the general and specific meaning of what I’m saying. And do that for as long as you can, until you can hear it and instantly know the meaning, no problem, no effort. When that becomes super easy, then you go to the next level, the next distinction which is you’re going to focus on speed. You’re going to focus on answering themini-story questions faster and faster and faster and faster, until you can beat me. What’s next? What’s the next distinction?

That becomes easy, then what do you do? Well then maybe after 50 or 100 repetitions with the mini-stories going fast, then maybe you decide “Well, now I’m going to listen very, very carefully and deeply to AJ’s pronunciation.” Every tiny detail of pronunciation, the intonation, the individual sounds, the loudness, the pauses, the emotion. Everything, carefully, carefully listening to the music of English, the music of my speech. And you’ll do that as many times as possible. And then finally you’ll go to the deepest distinction, the deepest for us right now, which is imitation. When that has become easy, you will go on to imitate me perfectly. You will try to copy exactly my pronunciation. Be me when you speak.

By following this system for every single lesson you will get a lot more repetitions for each lesson. Therefore, you’ll learn it much more deeply. Not just a couple times then on to the next one and forget it. You won’t forget this. You will never forget this. If you follow this system, every lesson will be stuck in your brain 10 years from now. You’ll still remember it. I promise you but you have to follow this system.

Okay, then. Good luck. Keep finding those new distinctions, always, again and again and again. Increase your repetition. Increase the intensity. And always go deeper, deeper, deeper to a deeper level.

Models Vocabulary

 

Hi this is AJ again and welcome to the vocabulary lesson for “Models.” Well, let’s start with that first word.

Role model, as I mentioned already in the main talk a role model is kind of a hero. It’s someone you want to imitate. You want to be the same as them. It’s usually specific though, it doesn’t mean you want to be like them in everything, in every part of your life. It’s usually specific, in one part of your life you want to be like them. So maybe Donald

Trump, he’s a very rich man for example, so you might say “Donald Trump is my role model for business.”

So you want to be rich like Donald Trump but maybe you don’t want to be like Donald Trump in other ways. Like he had a big divorce, for example, so maybe you don’t want your relationships to be like Donald Trump but you want your business to be like him. So you say “He’s my business role model.” And it’s the same with sports, if you play golf then maybe Tiger Woods is your golf role model, but maybe you don’t want your personal life to be like Tiger Woods. So a role model usually has this idea of specific, it’s kind of a hero but just in a specific part of your life, or in a specific way.

The next word we’re going to talk about is randomly, I mentioned the word randomly. Randomly means by chance, it’s not planned. So, for example, I said “I randomly chose English lessons when I was a beginning teacher in the beginning.” So randomly means I just, by chance, I just picked a book and picked an exercise. I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have a clear, focused, organized reason. I just picked something and then I’d pick something else and pick something else, just by chance. It was random.

Okay, I used the phrase bring back up, to bring something back up. To bring something back up means to return it to a higher level. Bring back means return. So bring back my book means return my book. So bring back up just means return up, return to a higher level.

Okay, next, I used the word or the phrase actually, fast track. It’s a very common, kind of an idiom actually, common phrase, fast track. The fast track or a fast track is a method or a situation where you are improving very quickly. So, for example, you have two students are learning English, John and Jane. We might say John is learning slowly but Jane is learning very quickly.

So we say Jane is on the fast track. On the fast track, it means she is improving very, very fast. This is used in business sometimes, in careers. So, for example, in a company if you are on the fast track it means you are going up, up, up, up, up in the

company very fast, right? You’re making more money and more money and more money and more money, very fast. You’re getting better jobs, higher jobs, higher jobs, higher jobs, very fast. You’re on the fast track. Faster than other people. You’re improving faster than other people. Okay, so that’s the fast track. You want to be on the English fast track, right? I hope so.

Next is the word peer. I discussed it already in the main article but let’s talk about it again. A peer is an equal. Someone who is equal to you, that’s the direct meaning. But the more general meaning is a peer is anyone who you have contact with frequently. Your friends might be your peers, your coworkers, just people who you associate with, who you have contact with, who you communicate with regularly, often. Those are your peers. And it does have this idea again of your equals. So your bosses’ boss is not your peer, usually. But your coworkers, they are your peers.

Alright, I used the word superstar a lot. You probably know this from celebrities, from movies or music. A superstar is a very famous person. But a superstar can also just mean a master, again it’s very similar to master. A superstar student means a super excellent student, a great student, the top master in the class basically. So a superstar student, a fantastic super student.

Okay, I used the word linguist again, using this one a lot. I said Steve Kaufman of The Linguist. The Linguist is the name of Steve Kaufman’s company. Of course, a linguist is a person who learns languages, who studies languages. And Steve studies a lot of languages so he is a linguist.

Okay, that is the end of the vocabulary lesson for “Models.” As always, listen and learn deeply. So remember that Tiger Woods example, or any top athlete. You’re going to notice that they do the same simple things again and again. They continue to practice the most basic easy things again and again and again. Tiger Woods continues to practice his most basic swing. He doesn’t say “I’ve already learned it. This is boring.” Well, it’s the same with you. You must continue to learn and practice the most core, basic parts of English. You don’t know the past tense well enough yet. Even if you think “I already know the past tense.” No you don’t. If you still make mistakes using the past tense, you don’t know it.

So you need to listen to it more and more and more and more and more. It’s the same with all parts of English. Too many students try to go ahead. They want advanced material, advanced, advanced. “I already know the beginning stuff.” Well, you know it intellectually, but you don’t really know it deeply. And most students really need to go back and focus more on the core, basic parts of English. Simple sentences, the past tense, the present tense, the stuff we use every day in conversation, you need to master that.

Not just know it, you need total mastery and that requires deep learning, a lot of repetition. And that’s why, in our system we always tell you to listen to each lesson set for one week, every day for one week. Don’t go faster. Slower is okay. Every day for

two weeks, every day for five months is fine. But don’t go faster than every day for one week.

Okay, I will see you next time for the mini‑story, bye.

Models Mini-story

 

Hello, welcome to the mini‑story for “Models.” Are you ready to begin? Big smile! Shoulders back, breathing deeply, moving your body? Let’s go.

* * * * *

Laura wanted to be a tri-athlete.

Who wanted to be a tri-athlete?

Laura, Laura wanted to be a tri-athlete.

What is a tri-athlete?

Well, a tri-athlete is a person who does three different sports, swimming, cycling…riding a bicycle, and running, right? So tri means three, T-R-I, tri means three so three sports, a three‑sport athlete, swimming, cycling and running.

Did Laura want to swim, cycle and run?

Yes she did. She wanted to swim, she wanted to cycle and she wanted to run. She wanted to be a tri-athlete.

Who wanted to be a tri-athlete?

Laura, Laura wanted to be a tri-athlete.

Did she want to be a normal tri-athlete?

Not Laura.

Laura wanted to be a superstar tri-athlete. In fact, she wanted to be the number one tri-athlete in the world.

What kind of tri-athlete did she want to be?

A superstar tri-athlete, Laura wanted to be a superstar tri-athlete.

She wanted to win the Ironman race in Hawaii.

Which race did she want to win?

The Ironman race, she wanted to win the Ironman race in Hawaii, the Ironman tri-athleterace.

Did she want to be a superstar tri-athlete or a pretty good tri-athlete?

Well, of course, superstar, she wanted to be a superstar tri-athlete. Laura always wants to be the best. So Laura wanted to be a superstar tri-athlete. She wanted to win the Ironman race.

How long is the Ironman race?

Hm, well, the Ironman race is a swim that is 2.5 miles, 2.5 miles swimming, and 212 miles cycling, and 26.4 miles running.

Is it a long race or a short race?

Oh, it’s a long race, it’s a super long race. 2.5 miles swimming, 212 miles cycling and basically 26 miles running, that’s the Ironman race.

Who wanted to win the Ironman race?

Laura, Laura wanted to be a superstar tri-athlete. She wanted to win the biggest race. She wanted to win the Ironman tri-athlete race.

But she had a problem, of course. Oh there’s always a problem.

What was Laura’s problem?

Her problem was her peer group were all lazy losers.

Did she have a positive, strong, superstar peer group?

No, no she did not. She had a peer group of lazy losers.

Were her friends superstars?

No they weren’t. They were lazy losers. Her peer group was full of lazy losers.

What about her job? Were they superstars? Were they athletes?

No they weren’t.

Her coworkers complained constantly and they were lazy.

What were her coworkers like?

Well, they were lazy and they complained constantly.

Who were lazy and complained constantly?

Her coworkers, her coworkers complained constantly and they were lazy.

Were they superstar athletes?

No, they weren’t. They were lazy. They were lazy and they always complained.

And they stole from their company.

What did they do?

They stole money from their company. They were thieves. They were complainers and they were lazy.

Was this a good peer group?

No, it was a terrible peer group. Terrible coworkers for Laura, her coworkers were complainers. They were lazy and they were thieves. They stole from the company.

How did Laura feel about her coworkers?

Oh, she hated them.

She hated her coworkers.

Did she love them?

No, of course not, she hated them. She hated her coworkers, they were a terrible peer group. They complained. They were lazy. They stole from the company.

Did her coworkers encourage her and inspire her?

No, they didn’t encourage her. They didn’t inspire her. She hated them. They were terrible.

How about her friends?

Well, they were nice but they were lazy.

Her friends slept all day and watched TV and ate french fries.

What did her friends eat?

French fries, 20 pounds of french fries every day.

All her friends ate 20 pounds of french fries every single day, each!

How much did they eat?

20 pounds, 20 pounds of french fries every day.

Were they healthy?

No, they weren’t healthy. They were very unhealthy.

Were they in good shape?

They were not in good shape, they were not healthy. In good shape means healthy or strong physically. So they were not in good shape. They were not healthy.

Did Laura want to be in good shape?

Yes, she did. She wanted to be in great shape. She wanted to be super healthy.

What did she want to be?

A superstar tri-athlete, she wanted to be a superstar tri-athlete.

Were her friends superstar tri-athletes?

No, they weren’t. They were lazy french fry eaters. They ate 20 pounds of french fries every day while watching TV.

Was this a good peer group for Laura, who wanted to be a superstar tri-athlete?

Of course not, it was not a good peer group for Laura.

So Laura said “I want a new peer group.”

What did she want?

A new peer group.

Who wanted a new peer group?

Laura did. Laura wanted a new peer group.

Who wanted a new peer group?

Yeah, that’s right, Laura. Laura wanted a new peer group.

Did she want new coworkers?

Yes, she did.

Did she want new friends?

Yes, she did.

What did she want?

A new peer group.

So she got a new job.

Was it a better job?

Oh yes it was.

It was a better job with great coworkers, super enthusiastic coworkers.

What kind of coworkers did she have?

Super enthusiastic, she had super enthusiastic coworkers.

Did they have a lot of energy?

Of course, they did. They had a lot of energy, they were super enthusiastic, of course they did.

Who had a lot of energy?

Her new coworkers.

She also found new friends.

What kind of friends did she find?

Well, she found super athletes, super athletes.

Her new friends were all super athletes. They all loved to run. They all loved to swim. They all loved to cycle. They went to the gym every day. They ate healthy. They were super healthy.

What kind of new friends did she find?

Super athletes, superstar athletes, her new friends were all superstar athletes.

Were they superstar athletes?

Of course they were. They loved to exercise.

So she had new coworkers. She had new friends. She had a new peer group, a great peer group, an inspiring peer group. Now she felt great so she trained every day. She practiced every day. Every day she ran. Every day she swam. Every day she rode her bike.

Did she ride her bike every day or sometimes?

Every day.

How often did she swim and run and cycle?

Every day.

Who swam? Who ran? Who cycled every day?

Laura, of course, Laura swam every day. Laura cycled every day. She ran every day. She exercised every day.

Finally the day came, the Ironman race. First the swimming, she jumped into the ocean and she swam and she swam.

Was she fast or slow?

She was fast.

She was a superstar swimmer. She came out of the water number one! And next she got on her bicycle and she rode and she rode and she rode and she rode. Faster, faster, faster, she was a superstar cyclist. Finally, after 212 miles she jumped off her bike and began to run. She ran faster and faster and faster and faster. She felt stronger and stronger and stronger. She was a superstar athlete at last. Of course, she won the Ironman race. She became the number one superstartri-athlete of the world. Laura succeeded.

* * * * *

Okay, that is the end of the mini-story for “Models.” As always, listen to it many times, deep learning, deep learning, deep learning. I’ll say it one more time…deep learning. I know this seems like repetitive points, but I’m going to keep saying it every time because you need to learn deeply. Most of these stories are in the past tense because most students need more practice with the past tense. And there are some other tenses mixed in there too sometimes. You don’t need to know the names, it’s not important. Don’t think about it. The important thing is to listen, listen, listen. And if you want to answer the questions quickly, quickly, quickly. It’s okay to just listen. You don’t need to answer if you don’t want to, if you’re on a train or you’re around other people, you can just listen quietly. But if you want to you can pause and answer the questions, pause and answer the questions. Try to do it quickly. But the important part is repetitive listening, deep, deep learning. You don’t want to just learn these things, you need to master them.

Okay I will see you next time.