So if you have an audio article or podcast, something you listen to and
like, don’t just listen to it once. One time is not enough. Five times is not
enough. You should listen to that article, speech, whatever it is 30 times. Or
perhaps 50 times, 100 times or even more.
After you’ve learned the vocabulary, keep listening. Because knowing
the vocabulary means that you can take the test and say the meaning, but
when you hear it do you instantly understand it? Can you use it quickly,
easily and automatically? If the answer is no, you need to study it again,
you need to listen to that same audio again. Many, many times. This is one
of the secrets to speaking faster and to really learning grammar and using it
correctly.
You are like the professional golfer who practices his swing hundreds of
times per day. The golfer is always looking for ways to improve that same
fundamental skill. The golfer realizes that mastery of the fundamentals is
more important than a lot of advanced knowledge.
For example, you might listen to a story in the past tense over and over
for two weeks. After that, you’ll listen to another story for two weeks, and
maybe another story in the past tense for the same length of time. You never
stop. I am a native speaker and all my life I have been learning the past
tense. I still listen to the past tense now, and I will as long as I live. I’ve
heard the same common vocabulary words every day thousands and
thousands of times and will continue to hear them. That has enabled me to
use them quickly and automatically.
That’s the secret. You never stop. You just need more repetition. Focus
on the most common words, most common verbs, most common phrases
through listening and then repeat, repeat, repeat. When you do that, you
develop that “feeling for correctness” and will use English more naturally
and automatically.
Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “But won’t I get bored listening to
the same thing again and again?” Of course this is possible. The best way to
avoid boredom is to choose material that is compelling to you. Compelling
means “extremely interesting.”
