英語学習の新しいアプローチ
Zatsudan Room with Taiki
Welcome back to my podcast, Zatsudan Room with Taiki. I'm your host, Taiki Arai. Thanks for tuning in again.
So today, I'd like to continue our discussion on how adults can relearn English.
Up until the last episode, I mainly talked about input-focused learning, things like pronunciation, grammar, and how to memorize vocabulary.
This time, I want to shift the perspective a little and focus more on output.
Let me start with a conclusion.
When you study English, it's incredibly effective to imagine how you'll actually use English in the future.
For example, where are you, when is it, who are you talking to, and what are you talking about.
Once you imagine those situations, even if it's just based on imagination, you can start thinking about which phrases and words you would actually use.
Then you memorize English from that point of view.
Why do I think this approach works so well?
This might sound a bit philosophical, but I personally believe that time flows from the future to the present and then to the past, not the other way around.
So if you're feeling stuck or struggling right now, it might be because your past self wasn't functioning well or you haven't clearly set an image of where you want to be in the future.
On the other hand, if you clearly decide something like, I'll lose 5kg in 2 months, your actions, awareness, and daily choices naturally begin to change.
The same idea applies to learning English.
If you imagine specific future situations where you'll use English and then thinking about what you'll say in those moments,
it becomes much easier to decide what to study right now.
For example, if you're using English for the first time with someone you've just met, you'll definitely introduce yourself.
Or you'll probably ask something like, could you tell me a little about yourself?
Or imagine traveling.
Let's say one year from now, you go on one or two-week language study trip with your daughter.
For example, Cebu in the Philippines, a very popular destination for language study.
During the day, you will take one-on-one English lessons with Filipino teachers.
状況の具体的想像
Outside of class, you order drinks and food at restaurants.
Or you ask shop staff for recommendations when buying souvenirs.
Or think about business situations.
Imagine that 3 months from now, you have to give a presentation to an American company.
There are several competing companies, but only one will win an exclusive contract.
That's a pretty intense situation, right?
When you clearly define situations like these, even just in your imagination and other sense of realism, it becomes much easier to picture.
Who you're talking to, what kind of phrases you'll need, how you'll structure the conversation.
The more vivid the image, the better.
For example, I'd probably have sweaty palms during that presentation.
Or my face would be pretty tense when ordering food from a foreign staff member.
There's no right or wrong here.
The point is to make the image real.
ポッドキャストの目標
Let me share how I personally do this.
As I told you, one of my goals this year is to host a one-hour podcast conversation in English with a foreign guest.
The idea came from watching Japanese announcers or facilitators interviewing foreigners in English on YouTube.
I simply thought, oh, that looks really cool.
But I didn't think it was a good idea.
I simply thought, oh, that looks really cool.
These shows are content I genuinely enjoy, and I often discover new perspectives while watching them.
So I thought, I want to do something like this myself within this year.
When I imagine doing it, I picture sitting in my room, connected via Zoom, or going to a studio, sitting side by side with a guest.
Good microphones in front of us and talking naturally face to face.
In that situation, I imagine saying something like,
Thanks for joining today.
My name is Taiki, and I'm the host in this channel or in the content.
So this is the guest, Onyarara-san.
At first, could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us about your background?
From there, the conversation naturally develops.
I still want to expand this image even more, but this experience made me realize something.
英語学習の目的
Up until now, I've talked a lot about how to study English.
And yes, understanding methods and steadily practicing is very important.
But in the end, what really matters is why you are studying English, what you want to gain from it, what kind of future you want through English.
Once your purpose becomes clear, your awareness changes, your actions change,
and eventually, your results change too.
That's why today, I intentionally talked about English learning from an output-based perspective.
If you've just started learning English and feel like you should set a goal, that's great.
It could be a qualification, TOEIC, or imagine a situation three months, six months, or one year from now where you'll use English.
From there, you can decide.
Okay, I need these phrases for that situation.
And if you're not sure what kind of goal feels right, just like last time, feel free to ask ChatJPT, then it will answer and set the goal.
Okay, now, since today is January 3rd, I'd like to switch to some free talk and touch on two additional topics.
First, continuing from earlier, I mentioned that one of my goals is to do a one-hour English podcast conversation with a foreign guest.
I also said I plan to take the 8th grade 1 exam in June.
But honestly, when I thought about it more carefully, six months feels a bit far away as a concrete goal.
So I decided it might be better to set a shorter-term goal.
Maybe in one and a half to three months.
That's why I'm thinking of taking the TOEIC again for the first time in five years.
Not just listening and reading, but also speaking and writing.
I think it's a good milestone on the way to my bigger goals.
And apparently, if I score above a certain level across all four skills, I even get officially recognized.
In 2024, around 560 people achieved that, so I thought it'd be interesting to test myself.
I recently tried solving some TOEIC questions on my phone, and honestly, grammar questions are annoying for me.
TOEIC is basically a game of how fast you can process information.
After five years, I found myself thinking, wow, this is actually pretty hard.
箱根駅伝の進展
The second topic is the Hakone Ekiden.
It was held over the past two days, and honestly, Aoyama Gakuin University was incredible.
Before the race, many people predicted a close finish.
But once the race started, Aoyama Gakuin's Kuroda in the fifth section ran an unbelievable time, around one hour and seven minutes, breaking the previous record by nearly two minutes.
He erased a gap of over three minutes by himself.
Looking at the winning times over the past five years.
In 2021, 10 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds.
The first winning university was Komazawa University.
In 2022, 10 hours, 43 minutes, 42 seconds.
The first winning university was Aoyama Gakuin University.
In 2023, 10 hours, 47 minutes, 11 seconds.
The first winning university was Komazawa University.
In 2024, 10 hours, 41 minutes, 25 seconds.
The first winning university was Aoyama Gakuin University.
The first winning university was Aoyama Gakuin University.
2025, 10 hours, 41 minutes, 19 seconds.
The first winning university was Aoyama Gakuin University.
On this year, 2026, 10 hours, 37 minutes, 34 seconds.
The first winning university was Aoyama Gakuin University.
The level just keeps rising.
Coach Hara has led the team for about 20 years.
I think the reason for their success is that they know what to change and what to keep while trusting their athletes.
This was his ninth Hakone Ekiden victory, the most by any coach.
One memorable story for me is from 2008.
When he coached the mixed university selection team and finished fourth.
He asked the athletes, what do you want to do here?
Is this just a memory, a festival? What do you want to compete?
By letting them define their own purpose and goals, even a mixed team became unified and strong.
Finally, I'll briefly touch on running shoots.
5 years ago, almost everyone wore Nike's pink carbon shoes.
ランニングシューズの変化
This year, Adidas sky blue shoes, ASICS, the yellow color-based shoes, and Nike purple and black-based design all stood out with different designs.
I personally love Adidas, so the Fuji blue color really caught my eye.
I actually bought another pair of Adizero Evo SL for my full marathon in Fukui this March.
Thanks to a very persuasive staff member at Alpine.
That makes two pairs now, both in Fuji blue. They just look great.
So yes, I'll be running the marathon in those shoes.
The second half was a bit of free talk, but that's it for today.
Thank you so much for listening all the way through.
This was your host, Taiki Arai. Thank you.
