You Can't Understand the Teacher in Your English Lesson!

... understand what the teacher is saying to you! How can you learn this way? You are already feeling this class is too difficult and you might not learn anything!

What's the Problem?

The teacher is a native English speaker. The teacher speaks only English, and that is too fast. You cannot understand the teacher. You are afraid that your time in class may be wasted. And you money. How do you solve the problem?

The Solution

Relax. You can solve this one just like other students solved it. First you have to relax and say to yourself, “If thousands of other students can do it, so can I!” Then get onto the next step.

The Next Step

You have to work in the next step. In this step, you have to do several things. First, you must go to every class.

Second, you must set a target to ask a question in every class. One question. No exceptions.

The third thing is to talk to the teacher once between classes. Anything is ok. Ask a question about class. Mention a problem you are having. Ask the teacher something personal, like what countries they have travelled to. Just talk to the teacher. And listen.

Listen for Patterns

Everyone has patterns. Your teacher also has patterns. You must listen for the words that your teacher repeats. The common words. Usually they are ‘sets’ of words. This step is something you can control. Once you know these patterns, you can turn your listening focus onto the other things the teacher says.

Ask for Permission

I recommend you ask permission to record the class. Use anything you can. Just get a recording. This is something you cannot control. The teacher might say no. If the teacher says yes, then listen to the recording once or twice between classes. This will help you learn the teacher’s expressions, and other things discussed in class.

Shadow in Class

This step is something you can control. You can shadow what the teacher says. Do it quietly, in a small whisper. And do it for about fifty percent of the time. Shadowing all the time is too tiring. Now that you are shadowing, and listening for patterns you have to remember patience.

Be Patient

Do you know about the learning curve? You do not learn in a smooth line. Your learning line goes up and then goes level (plateau) then up, then level. The plateaus feel difficult. You work and work and you don’t feel any progress.

This is when you have to keep going. Your brain is learning but it is not finished. You have to keep going, and then one day: Flash! The light goes on. You feel the progress you made.

Your English lesson will be just like this. Several classes of not understanding the teacher. Then one day: Flash! You understood some words that you could not hear or understand before. Not everything, but a bit more.

A Real Plateau Crossed

One of my students, Masako, was having trouble understanding spoken English. She said it was all too fast. We met once a week. I gave her a CD to practice listening to. After a week, she came back to class and reported that it was very fast and she could not understand it at all.

I smiled and told her to keep listening to the chapter one tracks on the CD every day. And I told her to look for patterns. After two weeks, she still reported difficulties. And I told her to keep going.

Then, after two months, I asked her how the CD was. She beamed a big smile. She was starting to understand it! I could see that she had passed the first plateau.

Summary

When your teacher speaks only English and you cannot understand, you feel a problem, and perhaps you are very anxious. The first thing to do is relax. Then make a decision to go to every class, ask a question in every class, and talk to the teacher once between every class.

You will listen for patterns in the teacher’s English, and ask for permission to record the class. You will shadow the teacher for some part of the class (quietly), and you will be patient because you know learning has plateaus.