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TPR & Listen First

Hello, welcome to our new lesson type, the mini-story point-of-view lesson.

This lesson uses the same story from the other mini-story lesson, the first mini-story lesson; however, I will change the point of view. Usually I will change the time frame.

This will help you practice and hear and learn different kinds of English grammar without studying grammar. Yeahhhh.

You don’t need to memorize grammar rules; you don’t need to know the name of verb tenses, none of that is necessary.

Just listen to these stories and start to get a feeling for the meaning, the meaning of the grammar. That’s important. Not the different names and grammar terms, forget that stuff.

Ok, I’m going to tell the original version first in the present tense, meaning now, basically happening now. Here we go:

Bill is scared of heights. He hates high places. In fact, he avoids them at all cost. Bill engages in a lot of strange behavior to avoid heights. For example, he will not go upstairs. He always stays on the first floor.

One day, Bill decides to join a class for people who hate heights. The teacher tells the class, “I will cure you if you do what I tell you. I will cure you, no matter what”. Bill is receptive to the teacher’s ideas because he’s tired of being afraid.

On the first day of class, the teacher says, “Today, we will go back to square one. We will start by climbing just 2 stairs”. But the next day, they climb 5 stairs, and the next day they climb 20.

As they climb the teacher yells, “You are strong, you can do it”. Bill internalizes these messages. He feels strong and brave. However, other students drop out of the class like flies, but Bill stays.

On the final day, Bill watches a movie about mountain climbing. The movie approximates the experience of being on a mountain.

But Bill feels no fear. He’s not afraid during the movie. The class worked. Bill is no longer afraid of heights. He leaves immediately, gets a plane ticket and then climbs Mount Everest.

Ok, very good. That was in the basic present tense, happening now. Let’s change this a little bit. Let’s begin the story with “8 years ago”.

8 years ago, Bill was scared of heights. He hated high places. In fact, he avoided them at all cost. Bill engaged in a lot of strange behavior to avoid heights. For example, he would not go upstairs. He would always stay on the first floor.

One day, Bill decided to join a class for people who hate heights. The teacher told the class, “I will cure you if you do what I tell you”. Bill was receptive to the teacher’s ideas, because he was tired of being afraid.

On the first day of class, the teacher said, “Today we will go back to square one. We will start by climbing just 2 stairs”. But on the next day, they climbed 5 stairs, and on the next day they climbed 20.

As they climbed the teacher yelled, “You are strong, you can do it”. Bill internalized these messages. He felt brave. However, other students dropped out of the class like flies, but Bill stayed.

On the final day, Bill watched a movie about mountain climbing. The movie approximated the experience of being on a mountain.

But Bill felt no fear during the movie. The class had worked. Bill was no longer afraid of heights. He left and immediately climbed Mount Everest.

Ok, fantastic, great. That’s the normal past tense for any of you who do know the grammar words.

Let’s try it again, this time, let’s begin the story with “since 2003”, “since the year 2003”. Ooohh, a little more difficult, let’s give it a try. Let’s see if I can do it quickly, it’s not so easy. Here we go:

Since 2003, Bill has been scared of heights. He has hated high places. In fact, he has avoided them at all cost. Bill has engaged in a lot of strange behavior to avoid heights. For example, he has not been able to go upstairs. He has always stayed on the first floor.

But one day, Bill decided to join a class for people who hate heights.

Ohh, notice I switched now. Now we’re talking about one day, right? In the first paragraph it’s something that started in 2003 and continued until now. Bill has been scared of heights. He has hated high places.

But now, one day, one day is our clue, one day it changes, right? Now we’re talking about one specific thing, one specific time and it’s in the past, it happened already.

One day, Bill decided to join a class for people who hate heights. The teacher told the class, “I will cure you if you do what I tell you”. Bill was receptive to the teacher’s ideas, because he was tired of being afraid.

On the first day of class, the teacher said, “Today we will go back to square one. We will start by climbing just 2 stairs”. The next day, they climbed 5 stairs, and the next day, they climbed 20.

As they climbed the teacher yelled, “You are strong, you can do it”. Bill internalized these messages. He felt brave. However, other students dropped out of the class like flies, Bill stayed.

On the final day, Bill watched a movie about mountain climbing. The movie approximated the feeling, the experience of being on a mountain.

But, Bill felt no fear during the movie. The class had worked. Bill was no longer afraid of heights. He left and immediately climbed Mount Everest.

Ok, so very good, very, very nice. Notice in that story only the introductory paragraph, the introduction, the first paragraph, it changed. The rest of the story was normal past.

Let’s try the future, “in the year 2020”. Are you ready? “In the year 2020”:

In the year 2020, there will be a guy named Bill. Bill will be scared of heights. He will hate high places. In fact, he’s going to avoid them at all cost. Bill will engage in a lot of strange behavior to avoid heights. For example, he won’t go upstairs. He’ll always stay on the first floor.

One day, Bill is going to decide to join a class for people who hate heights. The teacher will tell the class, “I will cure you if you do what I tell you”. Bill will be receptive to the teacher’s ideas because he’s going to be tired of being afraid.

On the first day of the class, the teacher is going to say, “Today we will go back to square one. We will start by climbing just 2 stairs”. The next day, they will climb 5 stairs, the next day they will climb 20.

As they climb the teacher is going to yell, “You are strong, you can do it”. Bill will internalize these messages. He will feel brave, he will feel strong. However, other students are going to drop out of the class like flies, but Bill is going to stay.

On the final day, Bill will watch a movie about mountain climbing. The movie is going to approximate the experience of being on a mountain. But Bill will feel no fear.

The class will work. Bill will no longer be afraid of heights. He’s going to leave immediately and then he’s going to climb Mount Everest.

Ok, that’s all. Listen to the each one of these many times.

Especially compare them, right? Listen to each one. When you talk about verb tenses, switching verb tenses in English, pay attention to, concentrate on clues, introductory words or phrases; Certain phrases, certain words tell you when to switch.

For example: one day, one day Bill decided, right? One day was a clue, it told me, “ahh! Now it’s one specific day, maybe I need to change”, especially talking about the past.

Or, 8 years ago, ahh! Now we know it was in the past and it’s already finished; That tells us what to do.

Or since 2003, since 2003, ahh! That tells us it started in 2003 and it has continued until now, it’s still happening until now or until recently, almost now.

In 2020, that tells us it’s in the future.

So notice those phrases in each of these versions of the story. Listen to each version many times. You will begin to learn the grammar effortlessly without studying grammar, without trying to memorize it.

Don’t think about grammar. If you think too much, your speaking will be slow. If you think too much, your speaking will be unnatural. You will never be fluent if you have to think about grammar for every sentence you use. It’s impossible.

You have to learn it deeply. You have to internalize the grammar, right? You have to learn it unconsciously, instinctively, effortlessly, without conscious thinking. You must internalize the grammar. This is a good way to internalize the grammar we use every day in conversation.

There are other kinds of grammar, but this kind of grammar we use every single day, so internalize it by listening to the mini-story point-of-view lessons, many, many, many times every day.

Ok, that’s it. See you next time, bye-bye.