Intro
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| Chigusa: Welcome to a special Inner Circle Audio Lesson! 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. |
| Chigusa: In this Inner Circle, we’re talking about... |
| Peter: The Power of Learning a Language with Others |
| Chigusa: And today, you will learn... |
| Peter: 1) How I Reached My July Goal |
| Chigusa: 2) Peter’s Process for Learning with His Son |
| Peter: and 3) How to Learn a Language with Someone Else |
| Chigusa: All so you can master your target language and reach your goals! |
| Body |
| Chigusa: Listeners, welcome back to the Inner Circle. |
| Peter: Last time, you learned how to adjust your routine to learn at home... |
| Chigusa: …and last time, you also finally hit your 3 minute goal. |
| Peter: That’s right. And then for July. I set a 5-minute goal… |
| Chigusa: So, let’s hear it. |
| Peter: I hit it. I reached 6 minutes. By the way, listeners, so you know, we’re recording this much later than July. We weren’t able to use the recording studio due to the pandemic, and are catching up now. |
| Chigusa: Yes, so Peter, you went past 5 minutes. That’s incredible. Did you do anything differently? |
| Peter: Well no, I followed the same exact routine for the most part… |
| Chigusa: Doing the HebrewPod101 lessons? |
| Peter: In the morning, afternoon, and evening. But Chigusa, there was a key difference between July and June. |
| Chigusa: Oh, what was it? |
| Peter: Well, that's the topic of today’s Inner Circle. |
| Chigusa: The Power of Learning a Language with Others |
| Peter: And Let’s jump into part 1. |
| Chigusa: Part 1: How Peter Reached his July Goal |
| Peter: So, Chigusa, I actually started studying Hebrew with my son. |
| Chigusa: Really? I just want to ask did he join in willingly? I know it’s hard to get kids to sit down and learn. |
| Peter: You know, it’s so interesting. When someone’s doing something and someone’s growing - like self-growth - other people are kind of interested. If you are doing something and you’re focused, when people finish what they’re doing, they kind of gravitate to “what’s going on over there.” Has that ever happened to you? |
| Chigusa: Yeah. |
| Peter: So, that’s kind of what happened. My son just gravitated, “what are you doing?” “how do you read this?” He didn’t start by saying, “hey I want to do this.” He didn’t have a… Very different than an adult learner. “I want to learn and I want to reach this goal.” He just kind of gravitated towards what daddy was doing. |
| Chigusa: Hmm, so how did you think of involving him? |
| Peter: Actually, at the house, this isn’t the first language we’ve studied so.. My wife is actually Chinese and we live in Tokyo. So, we have Japanese, I speak English, my wife speaks Chinese, there’s a lot of Japanese when we go outside. My older son studied French. I’m studying. There’s always languages. We were studying a little Swedish together and he just gravitated towards this. Also, one big factor is that one of our best friends...they’re from Israel, so he.. That curiosity came from there. |
| Chigusa: Right... and since you’re all at home all the time… it made sense to do it again, right? |
| Peter: That’s again - the opportunity. Things always start with an opportunity. People get interested in many different things, but how do you continue that? And that’s the interesting part because… because it became something to do together. It’s bonding and it’s quality time. You know, to be honest, it’s 10x more fun. And I know people learn at different points and different speeds but it’s really fun to be doing something together. |
| Chigusa: Right. Does it really make learning a language easier? |
| Peter: I don’t know if it’s easier but it’s more motivational. It makes it more fun and engaging. You get to practice with someone. It’s fun. I don’t know if it’s… It’s more motivational. |
| Chigusa: So, the Hebrew phrases and grammar stick better actually? |
| Peter: If you’re learning alone, you’re in your own head most of the time, and i also really subscribe to this… I think teaching is the best way of learning, or really reinforcing something you’ve learned. So, again, when teaching my son something that I’ve learned, it reinforces it for myself. So, I think it definitely helps, yes. It makes it stick better. By teaching, I think it makes it stick better. |
| Chigusa: And they may share a phrase you don’t know. |
| Peter: Exactly. And they’re learning by reinforcing and I’m learning something new. With another person, they also may ask questions... |
| Chigusa Or want to practice something 3 or 4 times…. |
| Peter: ….which is also good for me because that’s more practice for me too. |
| Chigusa: And you might not have done it alone. |
| Peter: You know, I’m also. I’m pretty competitive. Actually, schools foster this competitive environment so it’s fun to see which one of us remembers all the words from a lesson. Or my son will quiz me. And if there’s a grammar rule he doesn’t understand, I’ll explain it. So, again, it’s a very different dynamic. I think there are challenges with levels. It’s a great trade off that learning faster versus doing something together. |
| Chigusa: And here’s another potential benefit if you’re learning with someone. They keep you accountable. |
| Peter: That’s a very good point, Chigusa. Normally, when we talk about anchor points - which are things that keep you anchored to your goal - for example… looking for movies and shows in that target language, having a teacher, making travel plans, enrolling in a program, or a class… but you’d be right. My son also acts as an anchor point too. Now he wants to learn more and sometimes is the one who reminds me. |
| Chigusa: So, what was your learning process like this time around? |
| Peter: Let’s jump into part 2. |
| Chigusa: Part 2. |
| Peter: So, the routine is still the same. I do HebrewPod101 lessons in the morning. The lessons are Absolute Beginner so it’s not too hard for my son to catch on. Of course, he doesn’t catch on right away. Then I come back for practice and review in the afternoon and evening. |
| Chigusa: Does he do all three sessions - morning, afternoon, and evening? |
| Peter: No. If he’s playing with his friends or if his schedule gets in the way… again, he’s a child, so not so dedicated. But if he has nothing to do, he does them and we kind of review the lessons in the morning. So again, the pace is different. Kids learn very different than adults, but when he does practice, we do the same things together. So again, I do have to sacrifice a little bit of speed - maybe I could learn faster - for more of a rewarding experience because it’s just so fun, because he knows the times too. He’s become used to the times. He knows after lunch, daddy’s gonna practice. If he’s not playing on his game or something like this, or sometimes, he’ll even push back his start time to join. So, he begins to understand the routine too. He hasn't changed to make the routine the highest priority like I have, but he definitely is aware and will join accordingly. |
| Chigusa: So, in the morning, you just listen. |
| Peter: Morning, there are no other devices on. That’s our time. No device. Devices don’t go on until the afternoon, depending if friends call. So, that one, he always shows up to. We listen and get acquainted with the conversation...and my son does pretty well. |
| Chigusa: Wow! Then it’s true that kids learn languages faster. |
| Peter: In my case, yes, in my case yes. |
| Chigusa: And you do just passive learning in the morning? |
| Peter: That’s correct. Just listen along. You know, my son, he’s enthusiastic. Kids … brain wired...maybe, I don’t know, I’m not a neurolinguistic… but I think they’re wired a little different so he’s more willing to speak out right away. If he hears a word, he’ll repeat it right back so he starts repeating immediately… which then gets me repeating. So, if he’s not there, I just listen. But if he’s there, I adapt to his learning style and I’ll speak out loud. |
| Chigusa: That’s really nice. In a way, he’s pushing you to do more like a trainer at a gym. |
| Peter: I guess you can say that. |
| Chigusa: So then at lunch…? |
| Peter: This is when we’ll practice the dialog. Again, time permitting. It’s actually fun because we can roleplay. If I’m one person, I guess I can change my voice and talk to myself, which I’ve done in the past… but actually having someone else there is really fun. We’ll do the conversation 3 or 4 times, we’ll switch roles. If there are any words we don’t remember, we’ll review them together. So, again, I’m studying longer so I’m more advanced. The grammar, he doesn’t quite get but again, I just adapt to learning with someone else. |
| Chigusa: Right. And in the evening…? |
| Peter: We relisten again. Evening, I’ll be honest, his attendance is horrible. By the evening, he’s done for the day. His friends are calling but on the off chance that no one's around, we’ll relisten to the lesson. So basically, I do this one by myself. If he’s there, we’ll relisten together. Then, I go over the previous day’s work and relisten to the conversation, |
| Chigusa: And you say you remember more by learning alongside your son. |
| Peter: I do. I think that’s how I was able to go past 5 minutes to 6 minutes, but again, I'm adapting to learn with someone who’s not at the same level. So, it requires a bit of patience. I just find satisfaction in doing something together, which makes it more motivational. In fact, I always want to be prepared in case he joins so I actually do spend a little more time learning. |
| Chigusa: Now, what can our listeners take away from this? |
| Peter: Let’s get into part 3. |
| Chigusa: Part 3: The Power of Learning With Someone Else |
| Peter: The hardest part is to convince someone to learn a language with you... |
| Chigusa: ...learning with another person can make learning enjoyable, and speed up the process. |
| Peter: First, it’s more engaging. When you’re learning alone, it’s just you inside your head... |
| Chigusa: ...and while you can talk out loud to yourself… |
| Peter: ...with another person, you have no choice but to engage with someone. |
| Chigusa: Second, you tend to learn more. |
| Peter: Because both of you are interacting with each other, you end up practicing and quizzing each other more than you’d might do if it was just you… |
| Chigusa: Which means you end up retaining more. |
| Peter: Third, the process is simply more enjoyable, and this is the best part about it. |
| Chigusa: You could have the driest textbook in the world, but by having someone learning alongside you makes it easier. |
| Peter: You’re not focusing on the content, or if it’s not engaging for you. You’re using what you’re learning with another person…. |
| Chigusa: And the whole thing just is a lot more fun. |
| Peter: Fourth, the other person can hold you accountable. |
| Chigusa: If you have a language learning routine going with someone… |
| Peter: Then both of you will expect results from one another |
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CHIGUSA:
So, how can you learn with someone… |
| Peter: ...and with our language program? |
| Chigusa: One: Take the audio and video lessons. |
| Peter: Just press play on a lesson and listen to the audio...or watch the video lesson together. You know, it’s kind of how I got started. If you have your headphones on, no one's going to come. But I was listening one day without the headphones and on the Alexa device and the family could hear and one of the boys came over, “what’s going on? What is this?” |
| Chigusa: Two: Roleplay the lesson dialog. |
| Peter: Most lessons start with a quick conversation. |
| Chigusa: So you both can take the roles of the speakers in the conversation…. |
| Peter: ...and switch roles… |
| Chigusa: ...and practice speaking the language. |
| Peter: Three: Quiz each other. |
| Chigusa: Use the lesson vocab section to quiz each other on the lesson vocabulary to see how much the other remembers |
| Peter: You can even say a line from the conversation and see if the other knows what it means. |
| Chigusa: Or, you can even quiz the other on the grammar rule of that lesson. Ask them to explain it. |
| Peter: And as a bonus, you get to reinforce your understanding of the grammar. And, the power of learning with someone is that it becomes a lot more engaging… |
| Chigusa: ...you end practicing more than you would on your own… |
| Peter: ...you end up retaining more than you would on your own… |
| Chigusa: And if you do want to learn with someone in your family or a friend, and if you want them to have an account |
| Peter: ...send us an email at inner dot circle at innovativelanguage dot com, and we’ll give you 50% off on the extra account. |
| Chigusa: Alright, Peter, so you promised 5 minutes, you hit 6 minutes. What’s next? |
| Peter: The next goal is 8 minutes. |
| Chigusa: Sounds good. Deadline? |
| Peter: August 31st. |
| Chigusa: And listeners, let us know what your small, measurable monthly goal is. |
| Peter: Email us at inner dot circle at innovative language dot com, and stay tuned for the next Inner Circle. |
Outro
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| Chigusa: Well, that’s going to do it for this special Inner Circle lesson! |
| Peter: Bye. Everyone! |
| Chigusa: Thanks for listening! |
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