Episode 164 What You Need To Know About Yourself To Make Learning Anything Easier

There are many things that can make learning a language easier or more difficult. In this episode I'll talk about three things I think are vital if you want to learn a language as an adult. One of the important things we need to know about ourselves, is our learning style. This is something we may easily not know yet, especially as it's something that many modern education systems don't take into account when building their curriculums. Today I'll tell you about 6 of the most common learning styles and what they might look like in an educational setting. I would suggest you take some time to go and learn more about learning styles. There are even free tests on the internet where you can find out what kind of learning style you have (I would suggest doing more than one because they're not always great tests). Once you know your learning style then you can start to use it to help you learn English. Find ways that integrate your learning style into the tasks you're doing so you can remember more easily. Learning Styles Visual - looking at writing on the board, graphs, flashcards, pictures Auditory - Listening to what the teacher tells us, what classmates say, listening to videos or audio references Verbal - Answering teachers questions, talking to classmates, doing presentations, writing answers, essays and tests Kinaesthetic/Physical - need something to hold in your hands or learning by touch, texture or physical work Logical - Needing patterns, reasoning or sequences Social - learning through interactions with others Individual - learn best when you're on your own. Vocabulary sucked at learning languages - to 'suck' at something is slang for being very bad at it. on the other hand - commonly used phrased to connect two related (but often contradictory) points I'm listening to Chinese on a regular basis - 'on a regular basis' is a common phrase we use to describe something we do often. Persistence - being able to continue doing something even when you're bored or it's taking a long time. I couldn't get it to stick in my head - 'stick in my head' means to be able to memorise something who have come out of Industrial Style Education - come out of is a phrasal verb describing something we have matriculated from. Industrial style education describes the modern, large classroom, exam focused learning environment that doesn't allow for much creativity or physical movement. its easy to come away thinking - come away - phrasal verb meaning to leave doodling - drawing without a goal or purpose, often when we're bored or procrastinating kinesthetic - physical, involving movement or touch Go off and do some research - 'go off' phrasal verb meaning you should go and do something by yourself help you narrow down which tools to use - narrow down - phrasal verb meaning to reduce the options or choices to a smaller number geared towards helping you learn - geared towards - phrasal verb meaning the point or aim of something, in this case the aim of something is to help you learn.