Lesson Transcript

Intro

Peter: Listeners, do you get to practice the language that you’re learning?
Chigusa: If not… If you’re just taking the language in… and not using what you’ve learned…
Peter: Then you’re missing a crucial part of the learning process — the practice — which helps you remember and use the language with confidence.
Chigusa: But, the good news is… there is a super-easy way to practice…
Peter: And in today’s Sunday News… you’ll discover… how we get you practicing… automatically with our learning system…
Chigusa: …plus extra tips on how to practice speaking, reading, listening, and writing.
Chigusa: Welcome to this episode of Innovative Language Learning Sunday News! I'm Chigusa and I'll be your host. My co-host today is the founder of InnovativeLanguage.com, Peter Galante!
Peter: Hi everyone! Peter here.
Body
Peter: So, what's the easiest way to start practicing?
Chigusa: Alright, Peter, let’s talk about practice. It seems to me that most learners spend a lot of time on learning and not enough time practicing what they've learned. What do you think?
Peter: I have noticed that too… and not just with learners, myself! If you think about it, it’s very easy to sit back and read or listen through a vocabulary video or audio lesson or watch a youtube video, no?
Chigusa: Exactly, you’re right. And it’s hard to actually practice. Because you have to put in extra effort on top of the learning.…
Peter: Not only that, it’s the complete opposite of sitting there and consuming the language passively. You have to stop, shift gears and start practicing speaking or writing things out. So I can understand why most learners spend more time on consuming a language.
Chigusa: But it kind of sets you on the wrong path… because you’re missing the practice, right?
Peter: Exactly, If you don’t practice, you won’t learn as well. Listeners, if you listened to our last Sunday News about learning advice… we talked about 50% input and 50% output. Looking at it another way, think about it as spending 50% of your time taking in new information and 50% of your time producing something or practicing. Using it.
Chigusa: But if you’re just taking in new information…
Peter: …You’re only doing 50% of the work... the language is not going to stick as well.
The best example I can give of this is… not really apples to oranges but think about studying while you sleep. You’re putting on the… listening to something while you sleep, but is it really sticking? So if we use that as the base, kind of the worst explanation about passively just absorbing something, the next thing is multi-tasking. Putting video or some audio lesson on in the background while working. You kind of get the first line, but by the time the audio lesson ends, do you really remember it all? Now, if you’re listening intently, that’s really good. And you’re taking notes - that’s excellent - actually producing something as you go. So there are different degrees, different levels of focus to which you listen. Again, if you’re focusing intently because you have to practice to do afterward and you want to do the practice right, that makes your listening, the absorbing component, much more focused and powerful. Then, actually recalling what you’ve learned and producing it - taking it out of your mind to produce something in the form of words from your mouth by speaking or writing something out using your hand and a pencil - producing that language — that’s the most powerful way to learn. By having half of the time putting something in and half of the time putting something out, it’s incomparable on how fast you can learn this way. But it is challenging.
Chigusa: But if someone’s learning on their own… it’s probably harder for them. So how can they practice on their own?
Peter: That’s a great question. But, if you’re using our system… There are tons of ways to practice, which we’ll reveal in a bit… BUT the number one easiest way….is with our… assessments.
Chigusa: And assessments are exercises that test you on the words and grammar that you learned in your last few lessons.
Peter: And I say this is the easiest way because… you don’t have to go out of your way. If you’re learning with our system, we automatically feed you lessons and assessments to test you on what you’ve learned in the lessons. So you can practice, and by just listening intently and focusing, you can then absorb the information and then recall the information.
Chigusa: And there are also hand-graded assessments for Premium PLUS users, right?
Peter: Yes, now these are a little higher up in that producing category. These tests will measure your speaking and writing skills… and you’re graded by hand by one of our teachers. And the teacher will give you feedback. So the lowest level is assessment, where you’re taking multiple choice, and you can still kind of get it right by using some of the clues in the question, but this is a higher level of - more challenging component of testing yourself - testing and practicing yourself.
Chigusa: Alright, so that was the first way. So, number two: How to Practice speaking.
Peter: With speaking, the first thing you can do is… use the Voice Recording Tool. So, after you finish a lesson, you can practice speaking the lesson dialog… by recording and comparing yourself with the native speakers.
Chigusa: You can also send recordings of yourself to your Premium PLUS teacher…
Peter: …and they’ll give you feedback on how to improve.
Chigusa: Or even easier, listeners, you can just shadow the lesson conversations or… read the dialogue out loud.
Peter: Exactly. Both of these tips work with our lessons… or any other resource you’re using.
Chigusa: Okay, Number three: How to practice your listening skills
Peter: Listeners, as long as you’re taking the lessons… you are already actively practicing listening.
Chigusa: But you can also listen to the dialogue tracks.
Peter: The dialogue tracks are quick 10 to 30-second tracks with just the conversation that lesson… no translations… So you can re-listen to the conversations until you know them in and out.
Chigusa: Number four: How to practice reading
Peter: With reading, if you’re taking the lessons… just read along with the lesson notes or the line-by-line dialogue. If you’re a beginner and want something easy, check out our Extensive reading books in the Lesson Library.
Chigusa: Number 5: How to practice Writing.
Peter: With writing, you can do a few things here. You can practice writing to your Premium PLUS teacher…
Chigusa: You can leave a comment on the lessons and get feedback from our teachers…
Peter: …or write out the dialogue in a notebook.
Chigusa: …or if you’re on our mailing list, you'll occasionally get our FREE writing workbooks. So, make sure you’re subscribed and look out for those.
Peter: But listeners, if you want an easy… practically automatic way to practice your language… without having to remind yourself to do it… just learn with our system…
Chigusa: …and you’ll automatically get assessments after every few lessons.

Outro

Chigusa: Okay, well that’s going to do it for this edition of Innovative Language Learning Sunday news!
Peter: Bye everyone!
Chigusa: Thank you for listening, and we’ll see you all next time.

Comments

Hide