The Informed English Student #5 - Don't worry, be happy!

[Warren]

Have you ever heard of Bobby McFerrin and his famous song, "Don't
Worry, Be Happy"? McFerrin is a jazz singer who became famous for his
a cappella (without instruments) music. Here's a link to the song on
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjnvSQuv-H4

I really enjoy the song! In fact, I'm listening to it while I'm
writing this.

I can imagine that you're wondering what this has to do with acquiring
English! The answer is: a lot!

Dr. Stephen Krashen describes a part of language acquisition that many
students - and many teachers! - never think about. Here it is: even if
you do everything else right, you can stop the language acquisition
process. How? By being anxious (worried or nervous). By having low
self esteem (thinking "I can't do this!"). By not thinking of your
self as someone who can become a member of the "English-users Club" (a
club is a group of people who are interested in or do the same thing).

How can you use this new information? First, when you are looking for
something to read or listen to, look for things that you're interested
in. Find books or podcasts that are so interesting that you get
absorbed in them (they take all of your attention).

Second, don't study the things you read or listen to. Relax. Read or
listen to them for fun. Enjoy them.

Finally, believe - really believe! - that you are becoming an English-
user! Ignore those things you call mistakes (I don't call them that!).
Imagine yourself using English comfortably and confidently.

In short, don't worry, be happy with your English acquisition process!
Welcome to the club!

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Warren

[Eduardo Gonçalves]

I know that song.. It´s very funny..

In my opinion stay happy and not worry when you are using english is a kind of
paradigm break.

You need to break this paradigm and allow yourself make any mistake
without worry about it (like Warren said. This isn´t a mistake).

Personally, I still feel a little afraid when I´m speaking in English but
I keep my open mind and I´m working out for break more this paradigm.

So, speaking on break paradigms...
Did you already listen about Thirty dimension? (3D) right.. and Tenth Dimension... !?!
Cool...See it: http://www.tenthdimension.com/


Regards..

Ed.

[Loe]

Hey,

I know this song very well, but sang (or sung?) by Bob Marley, it
sounds exactly the same... Do you know who covered the song and who's
the original writer?

Bye, Loe

[Eduardo Gonçalves]

Hello Loe...

The complete history for this song you can see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Worry,_Be_Happy

Take care!

[Fabio Sacco]

It's sung by some slugs in that movie "Flushed away", hahaha ...

By the way, I found that a great movie to practice listening ...

See you

2008/2/14, Eduardo Gonçalves <edg...@gmail.com>:

--
Fabio Sacco - Production Programmer and future Computer Engineer
Messenger: fgs...@hotmail.com
Valinhos, SP - Brazil

"Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer."

[Loe]

Hello everybody,

lol, I used to listen to this song so many times and I've always
thought it was sung by Bob Marley but it wasn't. I don't know why but
somehow there are some people who sell CDs by Bob Marley with this
version of Don't worry be happy. I got it for my birthday from a
friend, I talked to him about it and he was surprised to!
Anyhow, I'm going to watch some other articles and then I'm going to
sleep because it's already 11:17 pm here

greets, Loe