[0:00] Hello friends. This is Karl. For the fiftieth episode of Boxcar English, I’m going to do something a little bit different. So, this is a podcast for learning English. But, up until this episode, I haven’t talked about how to use the podcast to learn English. Now, I’m going to give you some ideas about how to do that.
[0:58] NUMBER ONE:Repeated listening. That means listening a lot — probably more than you think! But, how you listen is also important. What I am about to tell you may appear to be very simple and very easy, but I think it can help you! So, my friends, here is how I recommend listening to Boxcar English:
[1:31] Imagine that there are two kinds of listening – and I’m going to talk about them using colors. I’ll call the first one RED listening: RED listening uses 100% of your attention. I’ll call the second one BLUE listening: that’s listening while doing some other activity, in a distracted, or, I really hope, dear listener, in a relaxed state.
[2:01] RED listening takes more energy and less time. Spend about 15 to 20 minutes using this type of listening. Listen to one episode two or three times in a row, paying close attention. The second and third times through, listen very closely to the parts that were the hardest to understand, and that can be your English practice for the day.
[2:36] Now, BLUE listening—it’s good to switch to Blue listening right after Red listening, but you can do it anytime during the day. In BLUE listening, you listen while doing something else: walking your dog, drawing a picture, cooking, driving your car, or even falling asleep… BLUE listening takes less energy and more time. In this case, you could just listen to all the episodes one after another, … This helps ears get used to the rhythms and sounds of American English, and it’s going to make it easier and easier to understand people talking.
[3:31] Listening to a lot of language that you mostly understand is very important to learning a language well. Boxcar English is gentle and easy to listen to on repeat, and works well for both Red and Blue listening. So, to sum up, I recommend setting aside a time for RED listening — listen to an episode two or three times in a row with all of your attention and focus. Then, add in as much BLUE listening—sit back with your dog, on the couch, and play some Boxcar English in the background while you just sit there and pet your dog, or you draw a picture of your dog, or your cat…anyway…
[4:26] NUMBER TWO:
is reading and listening at the same time. This is something that will help with RED listening, listening with your full attention. Now, there is a text for very episode of the podcast. Some are available for free at the website: boxcarenglish.com (when you click on “podcasts” on the website some episodes will have a link underneath them that says “Transcript.” That’s the text of the episode there). The texts for all episodes are available when you support the podcast on Patreon for as little as 3 euros a month. There’s a link in the description of this podcast, it’s patreon.com/boxcarenglishpodcast.
[5:21] So, why does it help to read along? For one, it is very good for the memory. You will remember words and sentences better when you read the text while listening. The second reason why it’s good to read the text while you listen to the episode is that it helps you make connections between the English that. If you read English, and you know a lot of English words, but it’s hard to have a conversation in English, well this exercise is very good for you.
[6:12] You can’t speak a new language well without listening very closely, and when we read more than we speak, we might not be able to be understood very well.
[6:33] The third reason why it’s good to read along, is spelling. The way English is spelled is sometimes pretty weird! What about words with two o’s in a row: we have book, pool, blood… those three words are spelled with two O’s, but they don’t sound the same. And there’s no way to know that without hearing the way the words are spoken.
So, I recommend, while doing RED listening, to read the podcast at the same time. This will make your BLUE listening much, much stronger, and your Blue listening will make your red listening stronger.
[7:17] So, now, another very helpful way to use the text—very helpful—is to read it out loud, yourself. First, listen to an episode, while reading along with the text, then go back to the beginning and use the transcript to read it out loud. If there are words you don’t remember how to pronounce, you can go back and listen to those, and because when I make the texts, I add in times to help you find your place in the audio file and the text, you can compare your pronounciation to mine that way, until you feel like you pronounce words in a way that can be easily understood by English speakers. And, by the way, different accents are absolutely beautiful, and I don’t want you speak just like me. I want you to keep your beautiful accent, your beautiful voice, but to be able to pronounce English in a way that others can understand.
[8:34] Technique NUMBER THREE:Write! Write yourself! Every episode of Boxcar English has several ideas for writing, floating in it. In fact, I think I’ll add writing topics in the podcast descriptions from now on, to get you started. We’ve had episodes, for example, on how to choose what colors you want to paint your room, or seeing an interesting poster in the street, or what it feels like to wear sunglasses, or to walk by a house and hear music playing inside… These things may make you think of memories or ideas of your own.
[9:30] So, I give email-based writing lessons, too, and the first one is absolutely free. Write around 250 words, about a page, and send it to me at this email address: karl@boxcarenglish.com. You send me your writing, and I correct it, and I give you advice, and maybe I’ll write back to you, my own writing, and we continue like that. Those are my writing lessons, and it’s extremely helpful to have someone correct your writing; I can help you express yourself in a natural way.
[10:16] So, please, don’t hesitate to send an email to me at karl, that’s K-A-R-L, at boxcarenglish.com. To sum up, first of all, use RED listening (intense! short!) followed by BLUE listening (relaxed! long!) 2nd: Read and listen at the same time 3rd: Read the text out loud! 4th: Write something! Make your own story! And send it to me! So, thanks so much for listening, everybody, to Boxcar English, and for being with me through the first fifty episodes of this podcast.
[11:03] Also, I have one more idea… because you know, I’d like to hear from my listeners. I expect you all live in different places around the world, and that’s so amazing and so wonderful. I wonder if you would send me an audio clip of you telling me a story about your life, or asking me a question even, and I’d like to make a podcast featuring many of your own voices, your own stories, your own questions, and I’ll answer any of the questions you have about my life, and Karl’s life, and learning English. So, I would like to make a podcast with all your voices in it, one of these days, so please Make a recording, just on your phone is fine, and send it, attached to an email to me at karl (K-A-R-L) @boxcarenglish.com.
[12:10] As always, thanks for listening to Boxcar English, where there’s always room for you.