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Ana Luiza from Ingles Online Gives You 3 Tips to Learn English without Traveling Abroad

Gabby : This is an All Ears English Podcast, Episode 138: “Ana Luiza from Ingles Online Gives You 3 Tips to Learn English without Traveling Abroad.”

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Gabby : Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, where you’ll finally get real, native English conversation with your hosts, Lindsay McMahon, the ‘English Adventurer’ and Gabby Wallace, the ‘Language Angel,’ from Boston, USA.

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Gabby : Lindsay, I’ve heard from our listeners that they just want to connect with native speakers.

Lindsay : I know. I’ve been talking with some of our listeners also. I’ve heard the same thing.

Gabby : Yeah, that’s incredible. And I think that’s so valuable to build relationships with native speakers where you improve your English. So, we want to make a product for you our listeners that you can buy that will link you up with native speakers to do exactly that.

Lindsay : Absolutely. But in order to do that, we need to know that you guys are listening and that you love All Ears English.

Gabby : That’s right.

Lindsay : Because we’re gonna (going to) put a lot of work into this new product.

Gabby : Yeah, we love you guys. We just want to hear back from you and the way that you can do that is to leave a review in iTunes. We must have 50 new reviews in iTunes by the end of June and if we see those 50 new reviews – that’s 5-0 – 50…

Lindsay : Not 15.

Gabby : …then in the fall, we’re going to release a product that will let you connect with native speakers.

Lindsay : So please go on over to iTunes now and leave us a review. We love you guys. Thank you.

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Lindsay : Are you discouraged that you’re not able to travel to an English-speaking country to learn English? Today, Ana Luiza from Ingles Online, is gonna (going to) offer you three tips to make it work from home.

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Lindsay : Hey, Gabby. How are you feeling today?

Gabby : Oh, I’m doing great. Thanks Lindsay. How are you?

Lindsay : Excellent. I am psyched because we have an awesome guest today. Today we have Ana Luiza Bergamini from Ingles Online. How are you doing Ana Luiza?

Ana : I’m great. Thank you guys. How are you?

Lindsay : Great. Thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to come and talk to us. We appreciate that.

Ana : Oh, my pleasure, my pleasure.

Lindsay : Very, very cool. So what we were hoping to talk about today with you, Ana Luiza, we were hoping to talk about – to see if you could offer three tips, (um), for our students who are learning English, but can’t actually go to an English-speaking country.

Gabby : Yeah. We have…

Lindsay : What would…?

Gabby : We have a lot of listeners who are joining us from Japan, China, Italy, Germany, Spain…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : …Brazil, (um), as well and, (you know), they may or may not have the chance to come to North America or another English-speaking country, so, so what are some great ways that they can really engage with English from their home country?

Ana : Well, they can definitely do that and they can definitely, (uh), make a lot of progress, (uh), even though, even if they never leave their home country.

Lindsay : (Uh).

Ana : My first tip, (uh), the first tip I have is more of a “what not to do” tip.

Lindsay : Ooh.

Ana : (Uh) yeah.

Lindsay : Cool. Go ahead.

Ana : So, (uh), just be careful – so my tip is just be careful not to invest that much time in learning English only through reading, if you haven’t got the sounds of English down yet.

Lindsay : Oh.

Gabby : I like that.

Lindsay : That’s important. So…

Ana : Yeah.

Lindsay : …don’t only read. Okay.

Gabby : Right.

Ana : Yeah, and the reason I say this is (uh), I get a lot of messages from people who work in technology, especially, and, (uh), they have been learning to, (uh), understand English from manuals and technical documentation over the years…

Gabby : (Uh-huh).

Ana : …and now they’re actually able to understand a lot just reading text in English.

Lindsay : Oh, okay.

Gabby : Interesting.

Ana : But, the thing is, they didn’t have the audio to go with everything they…

Lindsay : Oh, gosh.

Ana : …were reading. They never listened to the words they were learning through text.

Lindsay : Oh, no.

Ana : (Right).

Both : Yeah.

Lindsay : So what ends up happening, do they end up having very weird pronunciation or…?

Ana : (Uh), yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. When you do that you automatically read those words in your mind using the only reference you have, which is the sounds of your native language.

Lindsay : Oh.

Gabby : Absolutely. Absolutely.

Lindsay : Yeah, I like that.

Gabby : Oh, yeah. (I mean) (uh), I, I know exactly what you mean, (right), when, when you talk to someone who’s just learning and they haven’t had a lot of exposure to (um) native English speakers or fluent English speakers. And I remember, (uh), a friend of mine who lives in Boston, but (uh), he’s from Brazil, and, (you know), he was, (uh), wanting to, I think, connect with me on, on Facebook and he said something about “Faciebookie.”

Lindsay : Oh, yeah.

Gabby : And I was thinking, ‘What is he trying to say? I don’t know.’ But, yeah, (I mean), that’s because he was reading…

Lindsay : Right.

Gabby : …(right), the word Facebook…

Ana : Absolutely.

Gabby : But in English we say it, (uh)…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : “Facebook,” right.

Lindsay : That’s a good example. So if he’d been listening…

Ana : You just, you just pronounced, (uh), Facebook in Portuguese.

Lindsay : Yeah.

Ana : Exactly. That’s exactly what it means.

Lindsay : Very interesting.

Ana : (Uh), so what happens is (uh) – sorry, got a little lost.

Lindsay : Yeah.

Ana : So you use the only reference you have, which is the sounds of your native language. So if your intention is to one day be able to actually speak the language and be understood, you’ve already, at this point, (kind of) trained yourself to associate the wrong sounds, (you know), to words in English.

Gabby : Right.

Lindsay : (Mm).

Ana : And, and I’ve actually had a few students in that situation, and they start to notice that English actually sounds quite different to what they thought it sounded.

Lindsay : Oh, yeah.

Gabby : Right.

Ana : And that can be a bit of a barrier.

Lindsay : Right.

Ana : (Uh), so get started with audio real soon.

Lindsay : Okay. Yeah.

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : So audio maybe in the beginning – no, not – yeah, not just reading, but getting started with audio. That’s great. And what would be the next tip?

Ana : So the second tip is also about listening.

Lindsay : (Uh-huh).

Ana : (Uh), and, and there’s one thing I noticed over the years and, (uh), that is most people know the importance of listening. Like, if you ask people around, they say, “No, yeah, yeah, listening’s really important.” And one of the most common pieces of advice around is surround yourself with English… Lindsay : (Uh-huh).

Ana : …news shows, TV shows and such. And what I’m going to suggest is start with English you understand…

Both : (Hm).

Ana : …or at least focus most of your time on English that you already understand.

Gabby : Right.

Lindsay : Yeah. And…

Ana : People often think that once you understand something you’re done with it.

Both : (Um).

Ana : But that’s just not how it works with a foreign language most of the time ‘cause (because) if you learn about – let’s say, if you learn about how to ask questions with the simple past in class. And your teacher gave you five examples and it made sense to you while you were in class and then you listen to the conversation from that lesson, which includes asking questions in the past, and you got it. Let’s say you got it. (Uh), so you listen to it a couple of times and what a lot of people do is, “Okay, I’m done with this, what’s next?”

Both : (Um).

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : So always going back and reviewing and making sure that you’re maintaining the skills you’ve already, you’ve already built.

Ana : Yeah, and actually, (like), giving yourself a chance to acquire it, ‘cause (because)…

Gabby : Right.

Ana : …(like) acquisition, acquiring the language to, to the point where it becomes second nature. It’s a process that can take a while. (Uh), you may need to hear structures that use the simple past a number of times before…

Lindsay : Absolutely.

Ana : …it becomes second nature to you.

Gabby : Absolutely. Yeah.

Lindsay : Great.

Gabby : And looking at different situations, (like) you might know the, the simple past in the classroom examples that your teacher gave you, the five examples, but what about other situations, what about with other vocabulary, or other verbs, right?

Lindsay : (Uh-hm). Absolutely.

Ana : Yep.

Lindsay : I think that’s important. Very cool.

Ana : And, (uh), (um), and you all, you may need to hear those words, the regular past forms of those, of those verbs a number of times before you’re able to speak them naturally.

Lindsay : Absolutely. For sure.

Ana : So, yeah, so my suggestion is – or before you surround yourself with audio that right now, you understand very little…

Gabby : Yeah.

Ana : …try to set up a routine of listening to all this audio that you can understand…

Gabby : Yeah.

Ana : …but that you can’t just speak just yet.

Gabby : Well, I think it’s…

Lindsay : (Um)…

Gabby : …also very good for your confidence and motivation to do that because if you’re always trying to do something very difficult…

Lindsay : (Uh-hm).

Gabby : …I think you’re going to feel (kind of) bad about your…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : …your English skills…

Ana : Yes.

Gabby : …(right), because it seems so difficult and you feel like you’re never advancing, so you want to go back and listen to something that’s a little easy to know that you can understand quite a bit of English already.

Lindsay : Yeah, you really need those little wins, right.

Gabby : (Uh-huh).

Lindsay : Yeah, from a psychological perspective. Very cool, very cool. And how ‘bout (about) a third idea?

Ana : Oh, okay. So here’s my third tip. (Um), it is – if you feel a little anxious about not having enough time for English ‘cause (because) you’re really busy or you have this crazy routine…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Ana : …try to start small. (You know), instead of saying, “Okay, from now on, I’ll dedicate one hour to English every day.”

Both : (Um).

Ana : And don’t get me wrong, some people do that. They make the decision and stick to it and they’re successful.

Gabby : Wow.

Lindsay : Yeah, that’s true.

Ana : I’m amazed at those people, really.

Lindsay : Oh.

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : Yeah.

Ana : But, (uh), I’m just speaking from my own experience here. (Uh), if you’re like me and you get sidetracked easily, (um), just set a realistic goal for yourself. (Um), but let’s say, for example, listening to last week’s English lessons for 15 minutes a day this week, or…

Lindsay : Yes.

Ana : …maybe reading English for 15 minutes a day.

Gabby : Yes, absolutely.

Lindsay : (Mm).

Gabby : Absolutely.

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : Just small, small steps…

Lindsay : (Uh-huh).

Gabby : …the smallest step possible and then just, just do it, (you know)…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : …15 minutes, right.

Ana : Yeah.

Lindsay : And I think…

Lindsay : Yeah, that seems to go, connect with the last idea of little wins.

Ana : Yeah.

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : …because if you finish that listening, you feel like you’ve had a little, a little win.

Gabby : (Mm-hm).

Lindsay : Right. And that’s actually why we keep our podcast pretty short. We try to keep it…

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : …short and very consumable.

Gabby : It’s easy to listen to when…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : …you’re on the train…

Lindsay : Right.

Gabby : …or working out.

Ana : I know.

Lindsay : You can…

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : …complete it and you’re done for the day…

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : …and that’s it.

Ana : Perfect.

Gabby : And maybe, I think…

Ana : Yeah.

Gabby : …what … maybe what you mean too is you can do small activities in English, like, (um), I don’t know, even daily activities like when you’re (um), (uh), I don’t know – when you’re cooking, let’s say…

Lindsay : (Uh-hm).

Gabby : …and you maybe listened to a podcast or you listened to a lesson from, from last week’s lessons, like you said, (um), or maybe, (you know), sing a song in, in, (li-), in English, or…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : Talk to yourself in English.

Lindsay : Little activities.

Gabby : Yeah.

Ana : Absolutely.

Lindsay : I like that.

Ana : Absolutely. I actually do listen to my podcast while I’m cooking.

Lindsay : Nice.

Lindsay : Cool.

Ana : Absolutely.

Lindsay : Oh, I like that.

Ana : And I tell my students to do the same.

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : Oh, that’s awesome.

Gabby : That’s great. It seems totally possible to connect with English even…

Lindsay : (Uh-huh).

Gabby : …from your home country, even if people around you are not speaking English…

Lindsay : Yep, yep.

Gabby : …you can still do a lot.

Lindsay : Absolutely. That’s why we really appreciate that you’ve come on the show and, and let us know about these ways. So just to (kind of) sum up what we’ve heard today, so what you said was we want to focus on audio and not just reading in the beginning, right, because we wanna (want to) pick up the right sounds of English…

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : …not just the, the written word. And we wanna (want to) try to listen, (um), as much as you can, and listen to the English that you actually understand because acquiring language is a, is a process.

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : And the last thing that you talked about was starting small and learning in little chunks. I like that.

Gabby : Yeah.

Lindsay : Awesome, awesome.

Ana : Yep.

Lindsay : Well, thank you so much, Ana Luiza. This has been great.

Gabby : Yeah, I love these tips.

Ana : You’re very welcome.

Gabby : It was very helpful.

Ana : You’re very welcome.

Gabby : Wonderful.

Lindsay : So where can our listeners find you online, (like) where would they go if they wanted to check out what you’re doing?

Ana : Well, there’s my website. (Uh), it’s www.InglesOnline.com. br. (Um), you’ll find all the information there. You’ll see, (uh), the podcast, (uh), a link to my English course, (uh), the Facebook link, the Twitter, every… Lindsay : Wonderful.

Ana : …everything on there.

Gabby : And, (uh), as you said, that’s a, (uh), (uh) specific site for Brazilians who are learning English or Portuguese speakers. So for our Brazilian listeners, this is a great, (uh), site to check out or if you know, (uh), a Brazilian…

Lindsay : Right.

Gabby : …who, who wants…

Lindsay : Yeah.

Gabby : …to improve, (uh), his or her English…

Lindsay : Right.

Gabby : …(you know), please check that out.

Lindsay : Exactly, but these tips are valuable for anyone.

Gabby : That’s right.

Lindsay : So we really appreciate that.

Ana : Okay.

Gabby : Great.

Ana : What should I say?

Lindsay : No, that’s, no, that’s great. Thank you so much for coming on today, Ana Luiza. That’s okay. We’ll talk to you soon. Thanks a lot.

Ana : Thank you guys.

Lindsay : Bye. Take care.

Ana : Bye.

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Lindsay : If you wanna (want to) put your ears into English more often, be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes on your computer or on your smartphone. Thanks so much for listening and see you next time