Moving to a new country can be intimidating, scary, exciting, and uncomfortable, so in this episode of the More Than English Podcast, Jesse will share how he was able to see the advantages and benefits of living abroad, and how you can learn and grow from them. 

If you've been living in another country for a length of time, the new-car smell can wear off and you can lose that enchantment that you once had when you first moved there.  That's normal and how it should be because the reason it's so powerful is because that feeling won't last forever. 

Today, Jesse will give you a quick reminder and a way to appreciate the newness of living abroad, and then he will share a personal story about his own personal separation from the past and the growth that followed as a result of living in a new place. 

Do you have any questions or concerns about moving to a new country? Ask them here or contact Jesse on social media.

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

Are you planning to live abroad? Have you recently moved abroad to live in another country? Jesse wants to share some of his experiences and observations of living abroad. This experience is different for everybody, but there are some common mental stages that we go through as ex-pats living in another country. 

First, we have the honeymoon stage. This is where we love everything and think that this country does everything better than our home country. 

Then, as the honeymoon stage wears off, we start seeing all of the faults in the new country and we can get annoyed by these and miss our own country.

After a while, we start finding that balance and see the beauty, the pros and cons of each place. This balance just becomes more and more clear over time. Of course not everybody finds this balance, but this is a goal, and the sooner we can find this balance, the better our traveling and living abroad experience can be.

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

Moving to another country or a new place in your country can be a little scary. New people, new shops, new ways of doing things, and even a new language! Jesse wants to share some tips from his experiences of moving to two different countries. Learn some advice on what you can do to make your move to a new country as smooth and beneficial as possible.

You will first hear some reminders of all of the logistics to take care of. Visa, bank account, etc. After that, you will get some practical day-to-day advice to help you fit in and appreciate the new culture that you are going to be a part of. Some things to remember in your move: become familiar with transportation, learn some basic expressions from the language, observe people and how they interact with each other, and meet and talk with as many people as you can. Don't forget to appreciate the new place you're in. 

Follow these steps, and your move to a new culture or new area can be a great opportunity for you to re-invent yourself or improve yourself.

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

What are challenges? Jesse says that challenges are difficult things that when you overcome them, you will be a bigger and better person. Challenges can be scary because many people think that challenges are just difficult things. If there's no change, this is true. The thing that makes challenges so great is that they lead to change and growth.

This is why challenging yourself is so important. We can challenge ourselves in learning new things, improving personal weaknesses, as a family, in our jobs or careers, anywhere we want to see growth.

In this episode of the More Than English Podcast, Jesse gives some suggestions and steps you can take to start challenging yourself today even if you're not used to doing difficult things. Start small. To begin challenging yourself:

1. Find something you want to improve at or an area you want to strengthen.

2. Have clear objectives in what you want to see as the result.

3. Recognize and acknowledge when you've met and overcome a challenge. Even if it's small, and even if it's unexpected. 

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

What's the main point of learning a foreign language?

If you've listened to the More Than English podcast before or have seen Jesse's video lessons on YouTube, you know the answer to this. The most important thing to remember about learning a foreign language is it's all about communication. Our ability to communicate is literally what separates us from animals. 

In today's episode of the More Than English Podcast, Jesse shares two main types of motivation to learn new things (intrinsic and extrinsic). We will discuss both of these types of motivation, what they mean, and which one is more effective to learn something new. PLUS Jesse will share a story where his one-year-old son communicated the exact thing that he wanted and how we can apply this to our language learning.

As learners, knowing what kind of motivation drives us to truly learn will help us know a little better how to study.

As teachers, if we understand these concepts in the classroom, we will be more professional and effective teachers who will have more of an impact on our students.

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

Did you realize that learning a new language is an opportunity? Maybe you did. But did you realize that it is an opportunity to find a new you? It's true! When you learn a new language, you're tapping into a new part of your brain and learning to communicate and think in a whole new way. By learning a new language, you will be able to see the world in a whole new way... well, you can if you allow yourself to do this.

Jesse wants to share his experiences and tell you why and how you can and should become a new person by learning a new language. You are opening the door to a whole new world full of new ways to communicate, think, and a whole new perspective. In this episode, Jesse shares three tips to maximize this experience:

1. Learn the new language for COMMUNICATION

2. OBSERVE who you are in the other language

3. Shape that person and learn from that person

Realize that in language, as in life, the journey is the destination.

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

Do you ever THINK in a foreign language? Learning a foreign language is more than just saying words that have the same meaning as your language. Learning a foreign language is COMMUNICATION. If you're learning a foreign language, most of you are learning English, a GIGANTIC help for you is to think in that language. 

However, there are more benefits of thinking in a foreign language. In this episode of the More Than English Podcast, Jesse talks about THREE big benefits of thinking in a foreign language, as well as shares some of his experiences of his journey of learning a foreign language.

Thinking in a foreign language has been shown to help you:

WARNING: There is some explicit language in this episode in English, Spanish, and Korean.  

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

Sometimes we know what certain words mean, but we don't know how to do it when we're asked to define the words. This is an activity that is great to do with 1-on-1 students. In this episode of the More Than English Podcast, Jesse asks you to play along. He will give you three words, and you are to write a brief description or definition of the words. The three words are:

- RESPECT

- HERO

- CONFIDENCE

Jesse asks you to get a piece of paper and a pen and write down, "XX is..." and define these words. It may not be as easy as you think.

If you are a teacher, this is an excellent activity for your 1-on-1 students or adult classes because it forces them to think about defining these words. Remind them that they can't use the word in the definition. 

Share your answer below or on social media and see if you agree with Jesse's definitions. There is one that Jesse couldn't define; which one is it?

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

Are you a teacher? 

Yes, you are. Whether it is your job or not. We all have people who look to us to learn something. So do you.

We've all had teachers that have impacted our lives significantly in one way or another, and we've all had teachers that we've forgotten. Probably more of the second one. 

What is a teacher?

To quote Bruce Lee, "A teacher is never a giver of truth. He is a guide, a pointer to the truth that each student must find for himself." This is the philosophy I teach by. This is the philosophy I try to run my classes with. 

What does this mean, and how can I apply it to my life? This is what Jesse talks about in this episode of the More Than English Podcast. He shares some of his teaching philosophy and how that helps him in the classroom and in preparation. 

Jesse also breaks down some useful English expressions during his talk. 

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.

In 1995, a middle-aged man named McArthur Wheeler decided to rob a bank. He wasn't wearing a mask as he smiled at the security cameras because he thought they would not be able to see him since he had covered his face in lemon juice. Yes, regular lemon juice. 

McArthur had read somewhere that lemon juice can act as invisible ink. He then came to the logical conclusion that he would appear invisible to the security cameras as well.

This led, eventually a psychological study called the Dunning-Kruger study. They concluded that the less you know about something, the higher your confidence is. 

After we learn a little bit, our confidence drops because we begin to see how little we know. I see this all the time as a teacher. Many of my students have studied English for years, and they can speak well. However, their confidence is low. They can speak and understand much more than they think they can. Does this sound like you? 

The trick is to find that sweet spot. Jesse will share a few ways to overcome this confidence barrier and teach you a few useful English expressions to help your English ability grow.

If you still feel stuck in your English progress, apply for a FREE Level and Goals Assessment Call.