ETSW 6: Stop studying grammar - focus on listening! Interview with Kristin Dodds, Learn Real English

English the Smart Way

In today's episode I’m talking to one of the founders and teachers of Learn Real English - Kristin Dodds. Read the show notes, full transcript & join the discussion at: englishthesmartway.com/session6 Kristin has more than 20 years of experience teaching English to speakers of other languages. She has taught English in South Korea, Thailand and Japan, as well as in the United States. She has a CELTA certificate, as well as a Master’s degree in TESOL, which stands for Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages. Kristin Dodds with AJ Hoge and Joe Weiss run together Learn Real English which helps students around the world becoming fluent and confident English speakers. The Real English Conversation Lessons - which is the name of the course - teaches you English without focusing on grammar rules. Instead you listen to real English conversations of native English speakers. This way you will learn grammar subconsciously without even realising it. In the first part of our interview Kristin is sharing with us her challenging first experience in teaching English in South Korea and her soon realisation that studying grammar to succeed in English isn’t effective at all. Later in the interview Kristin talks about acquiring language in the most natural way - by listening a lot - which is actually very similar to the way how children learn language. We also talk about how opening up to culture of a country can help us tremendously with our language learning. Kristin then shares with us the success story of her Thai friend, her number one tip for English learners, and she also talks about the benefits of free voluntary reading. Listen to and enjoy today's episode with Kristin Dodds from Learn Real English. In the session you will learn - How was Kristin’s first experience in teaching English in Korea and Georgia (9:01) - How Kristin realised that teaching English using textbooks isn’t effective (14:51, 15:30) - What we can learn from the research of Stephen Krashen and James Asher (15:30) - How you can acquire language as a child in the most natural way (15:30) - The success story of Kristin’s friend from Thailand (21:45) - How can Free voluntary reading improve our English - not just reading skills (26:01) - How opening yourself up to culture of a country can help you tremendously with your language learning (28:15) - What to do when your brain wants to translate from your native language to English instead of directly thinking in English (33:30) - Kristin’s number one tip for English learners around the world (36:32) Enjoy! :) Read the show notes, full transcript & join the discussion at: englishthesmartway.com/session6