E-book Effortless English learn to speak English like a native. Chapter 8: Babies Learn Best — The Effortless English™ Engine

Chapter 8: Babies Learn Best — The Effortless English™ Engine »

CHAPTER 8
Babies Learn Best —
The Effortless English™ Engine
You have now learned the first part of the Effortless English™ system: the fuel or psychology. You
know how to create high-quality emotional fuel to power your journey on the road to English fluency.
Now it's time to focus on the engine that will use that fuel. This is what I like to call the Ferrari of
language learning – the Effortless English™ method.
As I noted earlier, Effortless English™ is a system I developed over a period of several years of
teaching and research. Through trial and error, I've been able to improve and adapt this method to
suit the needs of learners all over the world. As long as you bring the proper psychology and
emotional fuel to the method, I guarantee you'll arrive quickly at English fluency.
For purposes of clarity, I have broken the Effortless English™ method into seven steps. I refer to
these steps as the “seven rules.” In this chapter, I'll introduce these rules and briefly explain how they
work. I'll also describe how this section will be organized, so that you can get the maximum benefits
from studying English each time you sit down.
Each of the seven rules is a piece of “profound knowledge” that will completely change the results
you get with English. Professor Edwards Deming described profound knowledge as a new idea,
strategy or distinction that powerfully changes the quality of results. Profound knowledge is often a
simple change that creates a big improvement.
Each of the seven rules is simple, but when used each will produce large improvements in your
English speaking. Used together with strong psychology, the seven rules speed your travel along the
road to fluency.
I should warn you that this method is completely different from the hidden curriculum you have
used in the past. Remember, Effortless English™ doesn't depend on traditional methods. Instead, it is
designed to follow the natural order of language learning seen with small children.
Babies Know Best
In fact, babies and small children are the best English learners in the world! They easily learn to
speak as a native speaker, with excellent grammar, vocabulary, fluency and pronunciation. Instead of
studying textbooks, perhaps we should look at babies and how they learn English.
When a baby first starts to learn English, or any language, it mostly just listens. In fact, for many
months, the baby or child will only listen without any real speaking. This period of listening is called
the “silent period” by linguists. During the silent period, the baby is learning to understand the
language. Of course, when a baby is silently learning the parents do not get worried. They don't teach
the baby grammar. They don't get angry if the baby doesn't speak.
What do the parents do? They simply talk to the baby using very simple English. They use actions
while they talk. For example, they point to Mom and say, “mama, mama,” over and over again every
day. Eventually the baby realizes that “mama” is the word for his or her mother.
Eventually, the baby will begin to speak. Perhaps one day they finally say “mama.” What happens?
Do the parents correct the baby's pronunciation? Do they try to teach the baby grammar? Of course
not. Rather, everyone goes crazy with happiness because the baby said one correct word (usually
with bad pronunciation). Everyone is smiling and laughing. Speaking English is a very happy time for
the baby!
During the next few years, the baby will continue focusing on listening. Its speech will gradually
become better. The baby will use more words. Its grammar will improve, even though it never studies
grammar rules! The baby's pronunciation will improve. And yet, for many years, its listening will
still be better than its speaking. The baby will understand more than it can say.
This is the natural way of learning English. As you can see, it is very different than the way you
learned in school. In school you focused on reading textbooks from the beginning. Perhaps you were
forced to speak very soon, even though you were not ready. You focused on studying grammar rules.
When you made a mistake, the teacher corrected you.
Unlike the baby, you did not improve quickly. You didn't improve your grammar naturally and
effortlessly. Your pronunciation never seemed to get much better. And your speaking always seemed
too slow. For you, English probably was not a joyful experience. English was not a playful and
natural experience that you loved.
Clearly there is something wrong with the traditional way of teaching English in school. Clearly
we need a better method, a method that closely follows the natural way that humans are designed to
learn a language.
The truth is, your brain is an incredible language-learning machine. When you have strong
psychology and an effective method, you learn English quickly. Even better, when you follow a
natural approach, you enjoy the process of learning because you are no longer fighting against nature
and your own brain.
You have learned Effortless English™ psychology. Now it is time to learn the engine, the method,
of Effortless English™. Each of the seven rules is an important part of this method. Each rule is a
new way to “play English.” As you learn and use the seven rules, be sure to maintain a playful
attitude. Be flexible. Have fun. Enjoy this new process of learning.
The seven rules are interconnected and work synergistically. “Synergistic” means the rules are
more powerful when used together than they are individually. Each rule makes the other rules
stronger. Together they form a powerful method for achieving fluency and skill with English.
How to use this section
The purpose of this section is to help you learn to speak English confidently and fluently. Now that
I've explained the psychology of Effortless English™, my goal is to make the material in these pages
as practical and useful as possible. In the next several chapters, I'll be explaining each of the seven
rules of Effortless English™ in detail. I'll also be including more motivational tips, teaching
examples and sample practice exercises to assist you on your road to fluency.
As you learn each rule, you'll get another piece of the Effortless English™ method. Together they
form a complete learning system. At the end of this section I will teach you how to put these rules
together to create your own daily individual learning plan. You'll learn exactly what to do, each day,
to achieve spoken English mastery.
Enjoy the ride