How to Learn English with Newsmart video lessons
Newsmart video lessons are a great way to practice your listening skills. But they’re very different from listening activities in other English courses.
How are Newsmart videos different?
The videos on Newsmart are always real videos from this week’s Wall Street Journal. They aren’t easy videos made for English learners. We choose them because they’re interesting, useful, and up-to-date. We don’t change them at all.
The videos can be difficult to understand. The people often speak quickly. They use words and phrases that you don’t know. They use cultural references and technical language. The speakers also use many different grammar structures. They sometimes stop in the middle of a sentence, or forget what they wanted to say. Some people in the videos have strong accents. Some of them speak non-standard English.
In other words, it’s exactly the sort of English you need to understand in international business. It certainly isn’t easy, but it gets easier with practice.
How can I understand more from the videos?
First of all, remember that you don’t need to understand everything. If you understand 10%, that’s great — it’s better than 0%! Next time, maybe you’ll understand 11%.
Before you try the exercises, look at the title. Think about what it means. What do you think the video will be about? What will the people say? What words will they use?
Now watch the whole video — watch, don’t just listen. Try to get a general idea of what it’s about. Were you right with your predictions? Pause the video or listen to some parts again if you need to. How much did you understand? 10%? 30%? Write down the number.
How can I answer the questions?
Read the first question carefully. Do you understand all the words? The difficult words in the questions are the same as the difficult words in the video. If you try to understand them now, it will be easier to understand the video.
If it’s a multiple choice question, read all the options carefully. The writer usually explains all the important words from the video here, so this will really help you to understand the video.
Read the instructions carefully. How many correct answers do you need to find? What do you need to write, a number or a word? Can you guess or remember the answer before you watch again? Are any of the options clearly wrong?
Check the time marker (e.g. 00:00–00:30) to find out which part of the video to watch. Now watch that part of the video — don’t just listen to it. Pause the video at the end of the section and try to answer the question.
What if I don’t know the answer?
If you’re not sure of the right answer, think about which answers are wrong. Maybe you’ll find only one answer that’s not wrong — that’s probably the right one! Listen to the section again to check.
If you’re not sure of the answer, don’t worry. You don’t need to get 100% right! (In fact, if you always get 100%, perhaps you should try something more difficult!) It’s OK to guess the answer.
What do I do next?
Always read the feedback carefully, even if you got the answer right. The writer always explains the answers, so you can check that you were right for the right reason!
In the feedback, the writer also explains important words and cultural references. After reading the feedback, you should be able to understand everything from that part of the video. Watch the same part of the video again. You’ll be surprised how much you understand this time!
The last exercise in each video lesson is usually a vocabulary matching task. This will be easy if you’ve read all the explanations of new words in the feedback. Try to learn some of these words and phrases later. Can you use them next time you write or speak in English?
When you finish all the exercises, watch the whole video again. How much did you understand this time? 50%? 80%? Write it down next to your first number. Did you understand more this time? If you did, congratulations! It means you’re learning! Keep up the good work.
