English with Thiago

Thiago Alencar

This is a podcast designed to help intermediate and advanced English learners communicate with more confidence, accuracy, clarity and awareness. Hosted by Thiago Alencar, a Brazilian English Teacher with over 20 years of experience, this podcast deals with topics such as English pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, exam preparation, writing, listening, mindset and everything else related to English learning. If you feel forever stuck at the intermediate level, this podcast is for you! Download the B2 Edge app: https://studio.com/thiago

  1. 2 days ago

    Why Comprehensible Input Is Not Enough, Analyzing Different Learning Hypotheses and How To Stop Feeling Stuck At English

    ⭐Download The B2 Edge App: https://studio.com/thiago📣Join The Fluency Hub Community:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/community💻Book a 1.1 Call With Me:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/fluency-discovery-call📓Get This FREE GUIDE:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/pl/2148770947Comprehensible Input Is NOT Enough. Here's Why Your English Is Stuck.You've heard it everywhere on YouTube lately: just listen, just watch, don't study, don't force anything — and one day English will "click." I need to be honest with you: that promise is incomplete.Comprehensible input is real. It's backed by real research, and for beginner to intermediate learners (A1 to B1), it genuinely works. But if you're stuck at B1 or B2 and wondering why hours of listening and watching haven't gotten you speaking confidently, this video is for you.In this episode, I break down:✅ What comprehensible input actually is — and who first proposed it✅ Exactly where it stops working, and why (with the research to back it up)✅ What "comprehensible output" is, and why input without it just isn't enough✅ Why deliberate practice is the piece almost nobody talks about✅ My own English learning story — which didn't go the way you'd expectIf you're serious about breaking past B1/B2 and building real speaking ability — not just understanding English, but using it — this is the most important video I've made in a while.Sources referenced in this episode:1. Krashen, S. D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. Beverly Hills, CA: Laredo Publishing.2. Swain, M. (1985). "Communicative Competence: Some Roles of Comprehensible Input and Comprehensible Output in Its Development." In S. Gass & C. Madden (Eds.), Input in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 235–253). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.3. Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2000). "Effectiveness of L2 Instruction: A Research Synthesis and Quantitative Meta-Analysis." Language Learning, 50(3), 417–528.

  2. 23 Jul

    40 Habits That Silently Move Your English From B2 To C1

    ⭐Stop Feeling Lost! Try The B2 Edge App: https://studio.com/thiago📣Practice Speaking With Real People:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/community💻Speak with me on Zoom for 60 minutes:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/fluency-discovery-call📓Get This FREE GUIDE:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/pl/2148770947I just turned forty years old. And to mark the occasion, I decided to make a different kind of video.In this video, I share forty habits that in my experience — twenty five years as a learner and teacher of English — every successful advanced English learner has in common. Some of these habits are about English specifically. Some are about learning in general. And some are pure life lessons that took me forty years to fully understand.This is not a list of quick tips. This is a blueprint. A complete picture of what it actually takes to move from B2 to C1 — and eventually to C2 — in English. And unlike most content you will find on this topic, this goes far beyond study techniques. We talk about mindset, philosophy, the technical side of the language, communication as a human skill, and the life lessons that make all of it possible.Here is what we cover:▶ The mindset habits that make advanced English possible in the first place▶ The learning philosophy that separates B2 learners from C1 learners▶ The daily habits that advanced learners build over years of intentional practice▶ The technical side of English — what advanced communication actually looks and sounds like▶ Communication as a human skill — going beyond language into delivery, connotation and effect▶ Life lessons from forty years of living and twenty years of teachingWhether you are trying to go from B1 to B2, from B2 to C1, or finally understand what advanced English fluency actually requires — this is the video I wish someone had made for me when I was starting out.

  3. 8 Jul

    Your English Will Always Be Stuck At Intermediate (Until You Fix These Mistakes)

    ⭐Stop Feeling Lost! Try The B2 Edge App: https://studio.com/thiago💻Work with me 1.1: https://forms.gle/Wn98WnZ3PajswWoKA📓Get This FREE GUIDE to start upgrading your vocabulary:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/pl/2148770947If you have been learning English for years and still make the same mistakes — this video is for you.Most B1 and B2 English learners assume that with enough time and practice, their mistakes will naturally correct themselves. The science says otherwise. Some errors do not fade with time. They get stronger. They get faster. And eventually, they become permanent — unless you do something very specific to stop them.This phenomenon has a name. Linguist Larry Selinker first identified it in 1972 and called it fossilization. And in this video, we go deep into what it is, why it happens, and — most importantly — exactly how to fix it. Whether you are trying to go from B1 to B2, from B2 to C1, or finally break through the ceiling that has been holding your English back for years — this video is the one to watch.Here is what we cover:▶ What fossilization is and why it affects grammar and vocabulary — not just accent▶ The neuroscience behind why fossilized mistakes are so hard to unlearn (MIT research)▶ Why the correction method most teachers use is also the least effective — and what actually works▶ The single biggest cause of fossilization in B2 English learners▶ A step-by-step method for breaking a fossilized mistake — including the exact approach I used myself as a working English teacherThis is not about studying more. It is about studying differently. Deliberately. Intentionally. One mistake at a time.

  4. 17 Jun

    Are You Accidentally Sounding RUDE in English? (5 Mistakes To Avoid!)

    ⭐Stop Feeling Lost! Try The B2 Edge App: https://studio.com/thiago💻Work with me 1.1: https://forms.gle/Wn98WnZ3PajswWoKA📓Get This FREE GUIDE to start upgrading your vocabulary:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/pl/2148770947Your grammar is correct. Your vocabulary is fine. And you might still be coming across as rude — without knowing it.This is one of the most overlooked problems in English learning at intermediate level and above. Not making grammar mistakes. Making register mistakes. Saying the right words in the wrong way for the situation.In this video, I'll explain what register is, why it becomes critical as you move from B1 toward B2 and C1, and walk you through the most common grammar patterns that non-native speakers use every day that accidentally come across as blunt, demanding, or rude in English.You'll learn:1) What register is and why it's the hallmark of truly advanced English — not just vocabulary or grammar2) Why language that sounds perfectly normal in your native language creates friction in English3) The modal softener mistake — why "Send me that file" lands very differently from "Could you send me that file?"4) Why "I want" almost always needs to become "I'd like" in adult professional contexts5) How to soften negatives so disagreement sounds collaborative, not confrontational6) The abrupt question problem — and the indirect forms that fix it7) The tense register mismatch that exposes non-native writers in professional emails8) The "you should" trap — and how to give advice without sounding preachyThe gap between B2 and C1 is very often not a vocabulary gap or a grammar gap. It's a register gap. And this video will show you exactly where it shows up — and how to close it.

  5. 3 Jun

    B2 Shadowing English Speaking Practice | Consistency

    🔥 Want daily structured practice at B2 level?The B2 Edge app gives you AI-powered practice built around lessons exactly like this one — every single day, structured for B2 learners:👉 https://studio.com/thiago💻Work with me 1.1: https://forms.gle/Wn98WnZ3PajswWoKA📓Get This FREE GUIDE to start upgrading your vocabulary:https://www.englishwiththiago.com/pl/2148770947Fluency isn't built by watching videos. It's built by opening your mouth and practicing — consistently, every day, at the right level. That's exactly what this session is designed for.In this B2 English shadowing practice, we work with a paragraph built around the theme of consistency — one of the most powerful ideas in language learning and in life. The language is dense, natural, and packed with B2 level vocabulary so you can practice English speaking the way it actually sounds in the real world. You might even enconter a bit of C1 language as well! =)Here's how the session works. First you listen to me read the full paragraph at natural speed to get a feel for the meaning and rhythm. Then we shadow sentence by sentence — you repeat out loud, as close to my voice as possible. Finally, I read it one last time and you go through the whole thing on your own.This shadowing practice also doubles as a word formation workout. The paragraph is loaded with prefixes and suffixes — un-, re-, -ly, -tion, -ment, -en — all working naturally inside real B2 English sentences. If you want to go deeper on how those affixes work, check out the full word formation deep dive lesson linked below.👉 Word Formation Deep Dive — watch this next: https://youtu.be/YJL90pkf7ko

About

This is a podcast designed to help intermediate and advanced English learners communicate with more confidence, accuracy, clarity and awareness. Hosted by Thiago Alencar, a Brazilian English Teacher with over 20 years of experience, this podcast deals with topics such as English pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, exam preparation, writing, listening, mindset and everything else related to English learning. If you feel forever stuck at the intermediate level, this podcast is for you! Download the B2 Edge app: https://studio.com/thiago

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