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Interdependence - VIP Audio
Hi, this is AJ. Welcome VIP members to our new lesson. This month we’re going to talk
about something a little more philosophical maybe. It may be a little less directly
practical, but still an interesting topic I think. So, let’s get started. The topic is
‘Interdependence’, so first let’s talk about the meaning of that word.
‘Dependence’ really means to rely on. In this case we’re talking about people, so to rely
on someone. If you are dependent on someone then you rely on them or you need them
for something. Then this word ‘inter’ means between, between. So this means between
dependence, between needing others. That’s kind of the general idea and I’ll talk about
really how we use it in a minute, this idea of needing or being connected to or
depending on others.
So the basic meaning of this word ‘interdependence’ in a more practical way is that all
people are connected. It really gives this idea that all people are connected, that
everyone depends on everyone else. So we typically have in our minds kind of a
hierarchical idea usually in society or between people, so this hierarchical idea.
‘Hierarchical’ is the adjective and it means something that is organized into a hierarchy.
Hierarchy is the noun.
A ‘hierarchy’ is a ranking. In this case we’re talking about people or an organization. So
a hierarchy is a ranking of levels from like top to bottom. So it’s not equal, in other
words. It’s this idea, for example, in a typical company, a large company you would have
let’s say the CEO. He’d be at the top of the hierarchy, the top of the organization and
then you might have presidents and vice presidents would be the next level. Then under
that, I don’t know, whatever comes under that in major companies and then you would
have maybe middle managers and then you would have the frontline workers.
It’s kind of a pyramid shape usually, right? So there’s a few at the top and then a lot of
people at the bottom. The guys at the top get paid lots and lots of money and the guys
at the bottom not so much usually. This is a hierarchy. It’s uneven. You’ve got a bottom
and then it stacks up to the top. The people at the top get the most benefits, the most
money, the most people and the people at the bottom the least.
So that’s a hierarchy or a hierarchical structure. It’s a little hard to say that. Hierarchical
is just the adjective that describes that kind of structure where things are uneven and
the people at the bottom depend on the person at the top. The person at the top has
most of the power and influence and money and kind of controls through the
organization all the way down to the bottom.
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So what we’re talking about -- this idea of interdependence -- is a little bit different. It’s
more of the idea of like a web. If you can imagine a spider’s web where everybody is
kind of connected to each other in this big web and there’s no point that you can say is
the top or the beginning. It’s just this huge web where each point is connected directly
or indirectly to all the other points. This is the idea of interdependence or
interconnection, ‘inter’ meaning between.
So ‘interdependence’ means that everyone in that web depends on everyone else. So at
the same time everyone else is depending on you and you are depending on everyone
else. To say this in another way, everyone else needs you, you need everyone else.
This is the idea of interdependence.
I’ll get even more philosophical and out there for a moment and then we’ll talk about
more practical, but let’s first talk about kind of the deeper idea of this. If you read about
physics, the kind of cutting-edge physics, ‘cutting edge’ means new or innovative. It’s
kind of the newest idea, the most innovative ideas. I like to just read kind of popular
science stuff, especially about physics. I don’t know why, it just seems interesting to me.
In physics a lot what you’ll find is this idea of interconnection, that all things are, in fact,
connected and that if you really read a lot of this stuff there’s the idea that all things are
really one, that all things are made of energy in the Universe and that there’s not a
separation. There’s not really, in fact, a clear separation between me and you or a chair
and a table. In one way when we see these things they’re structured, they’re separate,
but at a deeper level they’re all kind of interconnected energy. Which is quite interesting,
so what does that mean to us? What does that mean to your life?
Well, what it means at the first level is just to think about this idea of connection and that
all things are connected and that there’s really nothing that is totally separate and
there’s no one that is totally separate. So I give you a lot of kind of American ideas and
philosophy and culture because I am American or as our South American friends would
say I am North American.
Anyway, it’s kind of a world view which is very individualistic. So in the United States we
value individualism. We value this idea that we’re self reliant, that each individual takes
care of themselves and that has some very positive things, but I want to kind of give the
flipside, which means the other side of this idea to balance it out and that’s what we’re
talking about today.
To balance that idea out of being self reliant and a strong individual, which is great, we
also have to remember that on the other side of that something else is also true, which
is that we’re not separate, that we are all connected, that we need other people and that
they need us. In fact, if you go really beyond that, if you really want to go deep into it,
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that you are the rest of the world and the rest of world is you. You are made up of
everything out there.
If there was no sun, if there was no earth, if there was no sky, if there was no water, if
there were no other people you couldn’t exist. You can ponder that at a deeper level
hopefully and really think about it deeply because what it really means is that this sort of
modern idea of doing everything yourself and going it alone is really not natural. So the
practical way to think of all this, if you really want to think about how this idea can be
useful to you in your life, is to understand this sort of, again, paradox or seeming
contradiction. That’s what ‘paradox’ means. It means something that seems to be
contradictory, ‘contradictory’ meaning going against its self.
So on one hand we have this idea of self reliance and independence being important,
that it’s not good to be overly dependent on others because that puts you in a position
of being weak and not equal. So, for example, to be dependent on people at the top of a
hierarchy, oh, I’ll depend on the company. I’ll depend on the boss. I’ll depend on these
others to take care of me. That’s no so good because it makes you weak, puts you in a
position of weakness and it’s also not so good because you’re trusting these people at
the top and maybe they’re not so trustworthy, in fact. It kind of puts you into like a victim
position where you’re not really the master of your own life.
So we can see for all of these reasons that being dependent is not such a great thing.
On the other hand the opposite extreme or the other side of that would be to be totally
individual, totally alone, totally separate and that can lead to a lot of isolation where,
eventually, if you don’t rely on anyone else and you don’t really trust other people and
you have this idea of always being separate that you can become quite lonely. It can be
very, very stressful and, in fact, it’s impossible to achieve anything totally by yourself. I
mean there’s just no way to totally achieve something or to have a decent life absolutely
completely by yourself. You’re always connected. Even if you’re not in a room with other
people you’re still connected to them.
The idea of interdependence is really finding the way these two things go together, so
you’re not totally independent and you’re not dependent. Interdependent is this idea that
sometimes maybe in your life you’re very self reliant and strong and that in some
aspects of your life that is a great attitude to have, but then in other aspects of your life
you recognize that you are dependent and that you need others and that you
emphasize that connection. So a lot of the challenge or the art is to find when to maybe
emphasize self reliance and that independence and strength and when to emphasize
the dependence and to focus on connecting and getting help or helping others.
I’ve given you all these different pieces in past lessons, so I really want to talk about this
topic because I want to give you a more general idea or philosophy or frame of
reference, point of view to sort of take all these ideas and think of them all as one, as a
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big whole. So on one hand what I would like you to do is to think about giving freely to
other people. This is the practical use of this idea of interdependence. One is the idea of
just to give freely to other people without coercion. ‘Coercion’ means to be forced to do
something, to be pressured to do something.
So I mean without coercion to just focus on how can I help other people? How can I
give to other people? In what way can you contribute to other people? You can certainly
do that in our group in the VIP Club. You can focus on just giving little bits of
encouragement to people who need encouragement. You can give a little bit of advice.
You can share your own success stories.
These are ways to give to other people, to give to other members and in that way you’re
kind of sharing this interdependence. You’re helping them. You recognize that if they’re
happier, if they’re stronger, if they’re more successful then they in turn will help you. At a
future time or maybe even right now they may give you encouragement when you need
it. They may give you inspiration when you need it. So by giving you’re also receiving.
The second half of this is I want you to focus on accepting help from others with no guilt
and, in fact, asking for it when you need it. This is something else that sometimes is
kind of hard for us. We’re struggling. We need some help. We need encouragement.
Maybe we’re just feeling tired, whatever, and we really could benefit from others help,
even of just a kind word, but we don’t tell people that we need help. We don’t let people
know.
This is the other half of it. So, on one hand focus on giving and helping others. On the
other hand, accepting that help with no feeling of guilt, no feeling of shame. So if you’re
having a struggle, if you’re having a difficulty in your life, I encourage you again on our
site to share this and to just openly receive whatever you may need, encouragement,
inspiration, help from others.
We’ll talk more about this in the commentary, all right? So for now just think about this
idea. It’s kind of a very big general idea, but it can actually have some quite deep affects
on your life if you really think about it deeply. Anyway, I will see you in the commentary.
Have a great day and a great month.
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Interdependence - VIP Mini Story
Hello, this is AJ and welcome to the mini story for this month’s lesson. Let’s get started.
Back to our heroes Chim-chim and Heva. What are they doing this month? Well, this
month they’re returning to school, so let’s begin.
*****
Heva and Chim-chim decide to return to school, to go back to school, back to
college. You see, Heva and Chim-chim are both rich, but they don’t have college
degrees so they decide to enroll in a community college.
So ‘to enroll’, ‘to enroll in’, we usually use that preposition ‘in’, ‘to enroll in’, to enroll in
college. It means really just to register. Now, when we say register, we say ‘to register
for’. I don’t know why. There’s no logic to it, okay? So we enroll in a class, we enroll in a
college, but we register for a class, register for, enroll in.
This is why you need to learn phrases not just single words because certain words go
together naturally. It’s probably just habit. I don’t really think there’s a logical reason why
we might use ‘in’ and ‘for’ in different situations like this. Of course, all you grammar
people you know that there’s another name for that, but we’re not going to talk about it.
So, anyway, they went to enroll in. It means they went to register for college, register for
classes. So ‘to enroll in’ means you go, you register, you pay your money and you’re
signed up. There’s another one ‘signed up’. This time we use ‘up’, signed up for a class.
All of these basically mean the same thing. So you can sign up for a class. This is the
idea of you’re signing your name. You’re registering. I signed up for a class yesterday,
would be a common sentence. You could enroll in. I enrolled in a course.
We usually use the word ‘enroll’. It has more of the idea of something that’s going to
maybe continue for a longer time. You enroll in college, so you might take multiple
courses in college. It’s a small difference in meaning, but again we use the phrase
‘enroll in’ and then ‘register for’. I registered for this class. Register for, sign up for, enroll
in.
Okay, so Heva and Chim-chim, what did they enroll in?
They enrolled in community college.
Did Chim-chim enroll in community college?
Yes, he did. He enrolled in community college.
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Did Heva enroll in a community college?
Yes, he did. He also enrolled in a community college.
And what type of college did they enroll in?
They enrolled in a community college.
What is a community college? Well, in the United States a community college is a
smaller college usually. The idea of community is that it’s smaller and that it’s typically,
not always, but typically in a smaller community. So it serves a specific community
usually. Sometimes, not always, sometimes community colleges are only two-year
colleges. So people will go to the community college for the first two years then they will
transfer to a larger college or university to finish. Some community colleges are four
years long, so it really depends.
If you are interested in studying in the United States, community colleges are a great
place to start. Anyway, give it a try if you really want to come to the United States. If you
have trouble getting into a large university or a large university is scary, you might try a
community college.
So, what kind of college did Heva and Chim-chim enroll in?
They enrolled in a community college.
Why did they enroll in a community college?
They enrolled in a community college because neither of them had a college degree.
*****
Okay, back to the present. We’re going to mix a little bit. I’m going to tell you the story in
the present, but I might ask you some questions in the past tense as if we’re looking
back. So this is possible too. We can switch back and forth.
*****
So, they go and they enroll in a community college. Next, they have to take a
standardized test. The college requires them to take a standardized test to enter
classes.
So what kind of test did Chim-chim and Heva have to take?
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They had to take a standardized test.
Did they both have to take the standardized test?
Yes, they did. They both had to take a standardized test.
So what is a standardized test? What does standardized mean? ‘Standardized’ means
the same. It’s this idea of the same, so it’s a test that’s the same for everyone. It’s
standard. It comes from the word standard. ‘Standard’ has this idea of sameness. Now,
it’s not exactly the same. A standardized test is not exactly the same.
The TOEFL exam, for example, that is a standardized test. It doesn’t mean every single
question is the same for every person, but the idea is that the level of the test is
basically the same. That for every different person they’re getting basically the same
kind of test. It also has the idea that if you take this same test five times that your score
will basically be the same, unless you improve your skills, but if you take it today and
then tomorrow and then the next day and the next day then your score on that test
should basically be the same. That’s a standardized test.
So why did Heva and Chim-chim have to take a standardized test?
Well, they had to take a standardized test in order to enroll in community college and so
they took a standardized test.
They took their standardized test, next they go back to the office and the person
at the office says “Well, your test scores were not so good. Unfortunately, we
need to put you in remedial English classes.”
So what kind of classes did they put Heva and Chim-chim in?
They put Heva and Chim-chim into remedial English classes.
Did they put Heva and Chim-chim into an advanced English class?
No, they didn’t. They didn’t put them into an advanced English class. They put them into
a remedial English class.
Did they put Chim-chim into a remedial class?
Yes.
Did they put Heva into a remedial class?
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Yes.
And what kind of remedial class did they put them in?
Well, a remedial English class. They put them both into a remedial English class.
You’re probably wondering what does remedial mean? So ‘remedial’ is the idea of basic
or like a review class. So, remedial classes are for people who don’t have the necessary
skills for the normal class, in this case English. So Heva and Chim-chim their English
ability, their writing ability, was not good enough for the normal class so they had to go
to the review class, the basic class.
Sometimes this has a little bit of a negative idea or feeling. That it’s kind of a class for
people who are not very good at something. You know oh, I had to take the remedial
English class. It can have a little bit of a negative feeling in some situations, not always,
but in some situations.
So they had to go to a remedial English class. So the next day they go to their
English class and they sit and they listen to the professor teach about English
grammar. During the class, Chim-chim gets very antsy. He gets very, very antsy,
sitting, sitting, sitting, listening to the teacher talk about English grammar.
So who gets antsy or who got antsy?
Chim-chim. Chim-chim got very antsy in class.
Did Heva get antsy in class?
No, Heva did not get antsy in class. Heva was very calm in class. In fact, Heva got quite
sleepy during the class.
So who got antsy during the class?
Chim-chim. Chim-chim got very, very antsy during the class.
‘Antsy’ is a slang kind of word and it means fidgety. That’s another way to say it, but it
means kind of nervous, nervous energy. It’s this idea of moving around a lot. We get
antsy when we need to sit somewhere and we need to be calm and be still, but we’re
bored maybe or we have a lot of energy. We just can’t sit still, so we might kind of start
moving our hands and our attention starts to look around. We can’t stay still and calm.
Antsy is the opposite of still and calm.
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So Chim-chim got antsy during the class. He got kind of bored and he’s kind of moving
around. He’s tapping his pencil. He’s moving his hands. He’s looking all around. He’s
looking at the clock. He’s talking to Heva, right? He does not have a focused calm
attention. It’s the opposite of that, antsy.
So was Heva antsy?
Heva was not antsy.
Who was antsy during the class?
Chim-chim. Chim-chim was antsy during the class. Heva was very calm. In fact, Heva
was too calm. Heva feel asleep during the English class.
And what kind of English class was it?
It was a remedial English class.
So did Chim-chim enjoy the remedial English class?
No, he didn’t enjoy it. He was very antsy, very bored, very distracted.
Did Heva enjoy the English class?
No, Heva didn’t enjoy it either. Heva got very bored and sleepy during the class.
*****
Back to the present…
Well, this continues day after day after day until finally at the end of the class
Heva and Chim-chim take the final exam and, unfortunately, they both fail the final
exam and at the end Heva and Chim-chim decide to leave their English class and
go back to running their successful company.
*****
And that is the end of our mini story this time. As usual, listen to the story again and
again each day. You can pause and shout your answers to the questions or you could
just try to say them quickly. A one word answer is fine. A couple of words are fine. You
do not need to answer in full sentences. You can if you want to, but it’s not required.
All right, so I will see you again. Have a great day, bye-bye.
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Interdependence - VIP POV
Okay, welcome to the point-of-view stories this month. This month we’re gonna be very
simple. We’re gonna use the past, the present and the future. I mixed it in the mini story
a little bit. In fact, I didn’t show you on the camera, but I actually made several mistakes
during that mini story because I was switching back and forth to present and past.
You know I make mistakes too, you just relax. Just relax and speak and don’t worry
about being perfect. That is a very important part of the Effortless English System. If
you’re thinking too much about the grammar, you actually will cause yourself to speak
more slowly, to make more mistakes, to hesitate, so you don’t want to do that. So let’s
tell this whole story in the past as if the whole story we’re just looking back, okay?
*****
So there was a dog named Heva and there was a monkey named Chim-chim and they
were rich and they were successful business guys, business dogs and monkeys, and
they decided one day to return to school. They decided they wanted to go back to
school because though they were successful they did not have college degrees. So
Heva and Chim-chim enrolled in a community college. They enrolled in a community
college.
The first step of the enrollment was that they had to take a standardized test to
determine their level. So they took a standardized test. They each took a standardized
test and, unfortunately, they both got low scores in English. Because of this, the school
officials said that they had to take a remedial English course and so they registered for
a remedial English course and they went to the English class.
Now, during the English class Chim-chim got very antsy during the class. He was very
bored sitting still for one hour listening to a lecture about English grammar. Heva also
was bored, but he got kind of sleepy and he fell asleep. Well, unfortunately, this
happened day after day after day so, of course, at the end of the course they both
failed. They both failed. They both got Fs, but luckily for them they were both still rich
and successful. They both still had a company, so they just returned to their company
and they were still happy. So it’s still a happy story.
*****
That’s our first version told in the past as if we’re looking back. Our next point of view
would be the present as if it’s happening right now, as if we’re there with them.
*****
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So Chim-chim and Heva want to return to school. They decide that even though they’re
rich they both also want to get college degrees. So they go to a community college and
they enroll in the college. As part of the enrollment process they take a standardized
test. They both take a standardized test. Unfortunately, they both get very low scores in
English so they both must register for remedial English classes or a remedial English
class. They both register for the remedial English class and they both go to class.
Now, on the first day of class Chim-chim gets very, very antsy. He starts moving. He’s
fidgeting. He’s very distracted. He can’t sit still for one hour just listening to someone
lecture. Heva does not get antsy, but Heva also gets bored and he gets kind of sleepy
and he falls asleep. Now, this continues every class. Day after day they go to class, the
same pattern. Chim-chim gets very antsy and distracted. Heva gets bored and sleepy.
This continues, this continues, until finally, of course, on the final day of class they take
the final exam and they both fail it and, of course, they both fail the course. Now, luckily
they’re still successful and rich, so they both return to their company and they’re fine.
*****
And that’s our version told as if it’s happening now, as if we’re there with them. Now let’s
imagine that it’s happening in the future. That somehow we can see into the future or
we’re predicting what will happen. Either way we’re telling this from the point of view of
the event happening in the future or these events happening in the future.
*****
So there will be a dog named Heva, there will be a monkey named Chim-chim and in
the future they’ll decide to return to school. They’ll decide that even though they’re rich
and famous and successful that they want to go back to school and get college degrees
so they will enroll at a community college. They’re both gonna enroll at the same
community college.
Of course, ‘gonna’ means going to. We use it casually in the future. Don’t use it in
writing, but when you speak it’s fine and very common.
So they’re gonna both enroll in the same community college. They’re going to both
enroll in the same community college or at the same community college. Now, as part of
the enrollment process they’ll have to take a standardized test. They’re both gonna take
the same standardized test, of course, and they’re both going to do badly on the English
section. Because of this, the school will require them to take a remedial English class.
So they’ll both enroll in a remedial English class and they’ll both take the same remedial
English class.
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So Heva and Chim-chim they’ll go to their remedial English class. Well, unfortunately,
Chim-chim is gonna get very antsy during the class. He’s gonna be very fidgety.
‘Fidgety’ means lots of little movements with your hands, kind of repetitive movements.
Chim-chim is gonna get distracted, in general very antsy, very distracted. Heva is not
gonna be antsy, but Heva is gonna get quite sleepy and tried and this is gonna happen
again and again and again every single class that they go to.
Until, finally, they’ll get to the last class, they’ll take the final exam and, unfortunately
and of course, they’ll both fail the final exam, but happily they’ll still be rich. They’ll still
have their company and they’ll both return to their company and they’ll be okay.
*****
And that is the end of our final version. All you need to do is just listen to these versions
each day. Ten days during the month is ideal, if you can do more that that, that’s great.
All you need to do is listen. Don’t think too much about the grammar. It will start to
become natural for you the more you listen each month.
All right, I will see you again. Have a great day, bye-bye.
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Interdependence - VIP Commentary
Hi, this is AJ. Welcome to the commentary for this month’s lesson. Let’s talk more about
this idea of interdependence. This topic was inspired by a few different books that I’ve
read and just really by this idea which has been something I’ve thought about for many
years. It’s kind of a common idea. You may have already thought about it somewhat, but
I encourage you to think about it more deeply especially this month. If you like the idea
of homework, then think of this as your homework this month or think of this as some
thing to focus on this month.
Each month in the commentary I usually encourage you to focus on some specific idea
or some activities or something related to the topic and in this way you can take the
topic and make it more a part of your life. By doing this each month you may not realize
in one month or two months or three months a big change. You may not think anything
is happening, but over a period of five months, six months, eight months, 10 months, a
year, if you actually do these things each month, if you actually do the activities I
encourage you to do, if you actually think about the idea more deeply as I encourage
you to do you may, in fact, start to notice some fairly large changes in your life and with
your confidence as you speak English. So we want to do both.
Let’s go back to this idea of interdependence. A few books that I recommend that might
help you think more about this topic, one book is called The Tao of Physics. I think I
mentioned it in my Power English lessons in the past, so I’ll recommend it again. Tao is
spelled t-a-o, but we pronounce it ‘dow’ because it comes from a Chinese word. I don’t
know why we pronounce it that way. Anyway, that’s how it’s supposed to be
pronounced. I used to say ‘taw’ and then I got correct all the time, it’s Tao. So anyway,
Tao of Physics.
That’s a great book and it’s kind of a book that explains some of the more modern ideas
of physics, especially related to this topic, but it explains it in a way that a non-physicist
can understand. Now, it’s certainly going to be a more advanced level of English and it’s
going to have a lot of scientific terms and scientific vocabulary, but that could be helpful
to you.
In fact, people all the time ask me, how can I improve my score on the TOEFL exam?
The TOEFL exam is the exam probably most popular in North America. People in other
countries they want to come to the United States or Canada to study at a university they
have to take the TOEFL exam for their English. For British English it’s the IELTS.
They’re both similar, but what they’re both measuring or at least they claim to measure,
what they’re both claiming to measure is academic English, the kind of English that is
used in universities and colleges.
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What you’re going to find on those tests are a lot of topics that are related to the kind of
core academics; in other words, science, some math, history, politics, that kind of topic.
So people ask me all the time, how can I prepare for this? How can I prepare for this?
The most common way to prepare is to study these big study books, you know test
preparation books. So a lot of people go out and they study the TOEFL exam books.
If you really need the TOEFL exam, that’s fine. Go ahead and do that, but don’t make
that the main focus of your study. I encourage you to get a TOEFL exam book and
maybe do a few of the practice tests. It will give you an idea of how the test works and
you’ll be more comfortable with it, but to really improve what you need to do is listen to
academic-style English and read academic-style English. To do that I recommend
reading real books instead of test preparation books.
In other words, what I’m saying is if you’re preparing for the TOEFL exam and you want
to improve your knowledge of vocabulary related to science, I highly recommend
reading a book like The Tao of Physics. That will help you much more than just reading
some test preparation book. If you can get through even half of The Tao of Physics
you’re going to get a lot of great English vocabulary related to science and, of course,
specifically to physics. It’s also going to be much more interesting because it’s real.
This is a book that is written for native English speakers. It is a book that is focused on
teaching you some very interesting ideas and that’s much better to study than
something that’s just helping you for a test, that’s just giving you a bunch of test-taking
strategies. Those test-taking strategies will help you a little bit, but they are not going to
raise your English level a lot. So if you want to improve on an exam, you want to
improve your academic-style of English then read real books.
So to focus on science, read things like The Tao of Physics. So, anyway, that’s my little
tangent, my little side recommendation for those of you who really are focused on that
kind of English. Even if you’re not taking a test, if you just want to talk about these kinds
of topics, if you want to raise the level of your English to a more academic level, I highly
recommend reading books like this. You know popular science books, popular books
about business and economics and history, things like that. It’s a great way to improve
your vocabulary at an academic level.
Now, other books you could read, you might read philosophical books. There’s a
Buddhist monk named Thich Nhat Hanh who’s a great writer. His English is very simple
and direct, but he manages to communicate some deeper ideas in a direct and simple
way. So that’s another great writer. Just do a search on Amazon or online Thich Nhat
Hanh -- it’s a Vietnamese name -- and you’ll find a bunch of books that will discuss this
idea of interdependence. It’s another way to deepen your understanding of this idea and
at the same time to increase your vocabulary and improve your English.
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Now, at a more practical level what I’d like you to do is to focus on this idea in your own
life and especially on our social website. The reason the social website exists is to give
you a place to put these ideas into action. We have a very special community. It’s a very
supportive community, very positive, very helpful. It’s a place that you can get outside
your comfort zone. You can try new things. Communicate new ideas. Share more about
yourself and you’ll know that nobody is going to criticize you. No one is going to attack
you.
We don’t all that kind of thing on our site. We have even gotten rid of people if they’ve
been a little bit too negative or if their attitude hasn’t been good. You don’t have to worry
about that, so this is a good place to practice this idea of interdependence in a very
practical direct way and, as I mention in the main lesson, the simplest way to do this is
just to have a balance in your life between giving and being strong and independent and
being a leader and all of those things that I know that our VIP members are focused on,
but at the same time to balance that is to also be a receiver and to ask for and get help
and encouragement and to willingly look to other people who are leaders or who are
role models for you.
So the idea is that you’re both a leader and I don’t like the word follower, but you’re a
learner at the same time. You’re a teacher and a learner both. So you can teach to
people things that you’ve learned and that may help them, but then you can also learn
from other people or from those same people other things. So I’d like you to practice
that giving and taking. Sometimes we get stuck in one role. We become comfortable
just being one or the other. This is why I personally try to be careful about not being too
strong of a teacher or leader on our site.
You’ll notice on our social site that I often do not answer people’s questions myself. That
often times if I post something that it might be just maybe practical or just something a
little more light. The reason for this is that I want to encourage all of our members to be
leaders so that if you ask a question I know that we already have several very advanced
members who can answer those questions very well. So I want to just kind of stay quiet
and let those people come in and give their answers. Usually their answers are better
than mine anyway.
I’m teaching you as a native speaker, someone who grew up as a baby speaking
English so that gives me certain strengths and advantages as an English teacher, but at
the same time it also means I have certain weaknesses as an English teacher. I don’t
understand what it’s like to learn English as a foreign language because I never had to
do it.
Our other members, our advanced members have done that. They did start with no
English. Many of them started really improving and learning their English as adults, so
they understand the struggles and the difficulties of being a non-native speaker and
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reaching a high level. They know how to do it. So they can share some ideas and they
can help you in ways that I cannot and I can help you in ways that they cannot.
So this is the idea, again, of interdependence. Not looking too much to one person as
the leader and everyone else as a follower. That’s a hierarchy. We don’t want that in our
group. What we want is, again, this idea of a web where everyone is a teacher and
everyone is a learner. You’re both a teacher and a learner at the same time. In some
ways you’re a teacher and in other ways you’re a learner and it’s the same for me.
I’m usually not learning English from you all, but I do learn other things. I learn a lot of
kind of life lessons and I learn so much about different cultures, different societies,
different ways of thinking, different ways of solving problems, different ways of
overcoming challenges and difficulties, all of these things. So I’m constantly learning
from you and I hope you’re learning from me too.
So, overall, what I’d like you to do, think about this idea. This month is really a lot about
thinking deeply and I would like you to then get on to our social site and share your
feelings and thoughts on this topic. Specifically, I would like you to share ideas and your
thoughts about how in your life you typically act as a leader, as someone who’s giving
and helping, and then I’d like you to also discuss how you act in your life as a learner,
as someone who receives help.
So get on the site. Share your feelings and thoughts and ideas about this. Talk about
your experiences and comment on others as well. I look forward to hearing your topics,
hearing your thoughts and hearing about your life experiences.
I will see you again. Have a great day, bye-bye.
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