Click to read transcript of introduction video
Hello and welcome to Phrasal Verbs in Conversation!
Today I’m going to give you a few tips to help you get the most benefit out of these lessons.
Your view of phrasal verbs
The first thing I want to tell you is, please don’t be intimidated by phrasal verbs. If you feel intimidated, that means you feel afraid or threatened because something seems very big and scary and difficult. And a lot of students feel this way about phrasal verbs.
But I want to tell you not to feel that way. Because honestly, phrasal verbs are no different than any other English vocabulary. It’s true that a lot of phrasal verbs are similar, like “take out” and “take off.”
Consider this – a lot of regular English words are very similar, like we have “cat” and “hat.” But you know the difference between cat and hat right? It’s easy to know that a cat is an animal and a hat is something you will on your head. So just like it’s easy for you to remember the difference between cat and hat, you are also perfectly capable of learning and remembering the difference between take out and take off, and all the other phrasal verbs.
Also, think about the phrasal verbs you already know very well, like “wake up.” That’s probably one of the first phrasal verbs you learned when talking about your routine. I wake up at seven o’clock every morning. You know the phrasal verb wake up… it’s easy for you, right? You know that to wake up means to stop sleeping, and you don’t have to think about it – you just remember it.
So it is definitely possible for you to learn phrasal verbs in English and use them naturally without having to think about them. Plus, if you feel afraid of phrasal verbs and you think, “Oh, these are so difficult” – then you’re going to have more difficulty. But if you take a more positive attitude and think, “These are just like any other English vocabulary words, and I can learn them well” – then it will be easier for you to learn, and you’ll probably enjoy the process more.
Lesson format
Each lesson in this course has a few parts.
In the first part, there will be a conversation with a lot of phrasal verbs inside it. You can read the text of the conversation and listen to the audio. I recommend doing both listening and reading so that you can fully understand it.
While you’re doing this. I suggest that you look at each phrasal verb in the conversation and try to imagine or guess what it means from the context. I know there will be phrasal verbs you don’t know yet, and that’s okay. You’re here to learn. But do your best to guess the meaning of the phrasal verb from the context.
Why do I tell you to do this? Well, first of all, it’s a good skill to learn guessing a new word or a new expression from the context. And second, that’s a more active way of working with the lesson. Because you’re not just sitting there passively listening and reading, you’re actively trying to figure it out.
So first read and listen to the conversation, and try to guess what each phrasal verb means. Then go ahead and watch my explanation of the whole conversation, and what each phrasal verb means, and you can see if your guess was correct or incorrect. In the explanation, I’ll teach you the phrasal verbs from the conversation and I’ll give you some more examples and clarification.
Finally, there are two exercises. One is a quiz where you have to choose the right phrasal verb to fill in each sentence. Try to do it without looking back at the lesson. But if you do need to look back at the lesson, to check the definition of a phrasal verb, that’s okay. Check your answers by clicking “Finish quiz” and then “View questions.”
And the last activity is short-answer exercises. I’ll ask you some questions, and you’ll have to reply using one of the phrasal verbs from the lesson. I highly, highly recommend that you do this because one of the most important parts of the lesson is putting what you learned into practice. And of course, you can send those sentences for correction and feedback. So I’ll tell you if you use the phrasal verb correctly, and I’ll make any other corrections necessary in your answers.
As you finish each activity, make sure to click “Mark Complete” to check it off:
Review the lessons
My last tip for you is this:
Let’s say you do lesson one today, and then tomorrow you’re going to do lesson two. But before you start lesson two, take a few minutes to go back and review the phrasal verbs from lesson one. Because when you review something the next day, that helps you remember it better.
So don’t just do a lesson and then continue right on to the next one, because then you might forget some of the things from that lesson. Instead, spend a few minutes reviewing the previous lesson before going on to the next one.
Those are all my tips for getting the most benefit out of this course – and I hope you enjoy it!