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: How to Learn a Language in Pairs. And today, you’ll learn... |
| Chigusa: One – How Learning in Pairs Gets You Mastering More of the Language |
| Peter: Two - How I Reached My Monthly Goal |
| Chigusa: And Three: How You Can Apply This Tactic To Your Language Learning |
| Peter: 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 about pronunciation, if perfect pronunciation is important or not... |
| Chigusa: …and how you, Peter, approach learning pronunciation. |
| Peter: In my case, Chigusa, I like to get a base level understanding, and then move on. I don’t spend much time perfecting my pronunciation. |
| Chigusa: And why is that? |
| Peter: Well, language learning requires an investment of time, right? |
| Chigusa: Right. Both speaking and pronunciation require time. |
| Peter: So… I’d rather spend time on speaking and be able to say more imperfectly, instead of having perfect pronunciation and not saying much. But, Chigusa, that’s only at the beginner level. I do come back to pronunciation later if I need to improve some things. |
| Chigusa: I see. And also, Peter, you set a goal of 12 minutes…? |
| Peter: I did. And I reached 12 minutes of Hebrew conversation for October. |
| Chigusa: That’s great! Did you do anything differently? Are you using the same routines? |
| Peter: Well, Chigusa, I have been doing something called Learning in Pairs… which helped me progress a bit faster this time. |
| Chigusa: Learning in pairs… |
| Peter: And that’s the topic of today’s Inner CIrcle |
| Chigusa: How to Learn a Language in Pairs. |
| Peter: And let’s get into part 1. |
| Chigusa: Part 1: How Learning in Pairs Gets You Mastering More of the Language |
| Chigusa: But first, Peter, what’s learning in pairs? |
| Peter: Let me give you some background first. So, when we study a language, a lot of the time, we focus on one skill at a time, right? For example, you’ll say, “today I’ll focus on vocabulary. “ |
| Chigusa: Yeah. Or, “today, I’ll do a bit of grammar.” |
| Peter: Exactly. So, for the most part, we only focus on 1 thing at a time. Now, learning in pairs...is combining 2 skills. |
| Chigusa: Ah, you’re pairing them up. For example, reading and writing... |
| Peter. ...Grammar and writing. Listening and speaking. Grammar and vocabulary. Just like that. |
| Chigusa: But is there anything wrong with focusing on one thing at a time? |
| Peter: That’s a great question, Chigusa. Any time you spend learning is time well spent so … I don't think there's anything wrong with it but I do think that learning in pairs has some advantages. Number one: it’s a better use of your time. So, instead of spending 10 minutes on a word list, you can spend 5 minutes reviewing, and the other 5 minutes… speaking out loud. So that would involve vocabulary and then speaking and reading and speaking. |
| Chigusa: So, you improve two skills at the same time. |
| Peter: Exactly. Second: You're forced to do input and output. |
| Chigusa: And input is where you take the language in, like reading or listening... |
| Peter: ...And another way to say it is receptive...and output, where you’re productive is where you produce the language. So, for example, speaking or writing. |
| Chigusa: Yeah it’s easy to just read or listen but this forces you to do output too. |
| Peter: Exactly. You get to practice what you learn… instead of just passively taking it in. Reviewing words for 5 minutes more will never be as effective as saying the words out loud for the next 5 minutes. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, using it is super important for retention. |
| Peter: And fourth: it breaks up the monotony of doing one thing at a time. |
| Chigusa: Got it. The point is to… pair up two skills in every study session. Now, Peter, do the skills have to be related? |
| Peter: They can be. Like… listening and speaking. Or reading and writing. But it’s really up to you. Listeners, in the 3rd part, we’ll show you some examples of pairs or pairing, and how to practice them with our program. |
| Chigusa: So, what about you, Peter? How did you learn in pairs this past October? |
| Peter: Let’s jump into part 2. |
| Chigusa: Part 2: How Peter Reached His Monthly Goal |
| Peter: Chigusa, here’s a question for you. When you study a language, do you focus on only one thing at a time? |
| Chigusa: I do. When I listen to podcasts, I just end up listening to the whole thing. |
| Peter: Exactly. We have podcast lessons and we prompt you to speak but sometimes if you’re on a train, to be honest, even when I’m walking, I rarely do the productive side of repeating out loud. I get in the habit of just listening and that receptive side dominates and I don’t produce anything. So, it’s a common thing to do. And I used to do that. I’d say… "Okay, today I’m going to listen to a podcast,” or “I’m going to study grammar” or “today, I’m going to do vocabulary,” and you tend to focus on one skill at a time. |
| Chigusa: Peter, then what made you focus on pairs? |
| Peter: Well… a few things. First, I realized that even though I say I’ll focus on one thing… I end up practicing multiple skills anyway. I’d listen and then shadow along, meaning while i’m listening I’m speaking along and trying to mimic what is said. And second, you always want to have that input and output. |
| Chigusa: Because communication is a mix of both: input and output. |
| Peter: Exactly. But there were also times when I’d say, “today I will learn grammar,” and I’d sit down and do only one thing… I’d read grammar rules. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, but just reading grammar rules isn’t the best way to learn. |
| Peter: Exactly. But because I was approaching learning from “today I will only do 1 skill,”... I just did 1 thing. I wouldn’t think of practicing it. |
| Chigusa: Ah that’s clever. Learning in pairs forces you to practice that grammar rule in another way. |
| Peter: Exactly. Instead of saying, “today, I will learn grammar,” now, I approach every study session with 2 skills, at least 2 skills in mind. So for example. “Today, I’ll do grammar and speaking.” And, I’d spend 5 minutes on a grammar rule. But then, I’d spend 5 more minutes saying the sentence using that rule out loud. Or I'll spend 5 minutes writing out sentences. |
| Chigusa: I see! So, how did you do it this past October? |
| Peter: Well Chigusa, remember how you mentioned about the podcasts and you tend to listen, and before you know it, they’re kind of over? Well, nowadays, I like to take walks in the evenings. And normally, I would just listen to the lessons on the walks… even if I start out with good intentions, “I’m going to talk” or “i'm going to do something productive,” I kind of wound up just listening along. |
| Chigusa: Oh, that’s a nice routine. So, listening - that’s just one skill at a time. |
| Peter: Well, yeah the walking and the listening is a good routine. Just not doing anything productive was not so good. So recently, I started actively listening and then speaking out loud. With these walks, no one's really around...or listening to me, so I shadow what I hear and then I will actually talk back to the podcast. |
| Chigusa: Do you remember the lesson conversations better when you do this? |
| Peter: I believe so. I usually relisten to the lesson conversations 2 or 3 times on a walk. I’d shadow 2 or 3 times. So I notice when doing 2 skills, it tends to stick better. |
| Chigusa: So that’s where it came from. Did you try this in other study sessions? |
| Peter: I did. Now, whenever I read, I add writing in too. So, if I’m reading about a grammar point like how to say…. “I like” or “I don’t like..” I’ll write out example sentences too. “I like raspberries, I like apples,” and I’ll try the negative, “ I don't like...” and so on. Now, I’m going to be very honest. The writing is the hardest to do. It’s even hard just to speak but to actually get out the pen and paper and write, that’s really tough. But by doing something receptive, listening or reading, and then producing it, it really seems to stick better. I can recall it better. |
| Chigusa: It sounds like you can get really creative with this. |
| Peter: You can definitely, definitely... you can mix a lot of the skills. And with Premium PLUS, you have your own teacher so you can listen, shadow along - meaning when you hear the conversation, you’re mimicking/parroting the conversation, and when the lesson is over, you can take out your Premium Plus tool and send your teacher a message. So, when I finish a lesson, I usually send my teacher a message and I’ll say something along the lines like, “hi, how are you,” something about the weather - reinforcing what I’ve learned in the past - and then I’ll say something new focusing on what I just learned. By doing this, I have the input and the output and this has helped me speak more Hebrew and reach my goal. |
| Chigusa: Now, how can our listeners apply this? |
| Peter: Let’s jump into part 3. |
| Chigusa: How You Can Apply This Tactic To Your Language Learning |
| Peter: To recap, learning in pairs means… |
| Chigusa: ...pairing up two skills - like reading and writing, speaking and listening…. |
| Peter: ...grammar and writing, grammar and speaking… |
| Chigusa: ...as well as other variations that you can come up with. |
| Peter: Listeners, the goal here is to practice two skills at once, instead of focusing on one session, instead of focusing on just one. |
| Chigusa: ...so you can learn more in less time. |
| Peter: And so you can get an equal amount of input and output. |
| Chigusa: So, if you read for 5 minutes… |
| Peter: ...you should also write for 5 minutes … or speak for 5 minutes…. |
| Chigusa: Instead of reading for 10 minutes. |
| Peter: Plus, words and grammar rules tend to stick better when you practice them in different ways... |
| Chigusa: So, here’s how you can learn in pairs with our lessons and program... |
| Peter: First, for listening and speaking… |
| Chigusa: Take our audio and video lessons, listen to the conversations… |
| Peter: ...and shadow along. |
| Chigusa: To make it easier, download the dialogue tracks, which give you just the conversations... |
| Peter: ...and listen and shadow along with them. |
| Chigusa: Next, for reading and writing, you can read the lesson dialog… |
| Peter: ...and then write it out. |
| Chigusa: So, reading and writing, listening, and speaking. These are the most obvious pairs to do. |
| Peter: You can also try… grammar and speaking. |
| Chigusa: For every grammar rule you learn in our lessons… |
| Peter: ...spend an equal amount of time creating and saying example sentences out loud. |
| Chigusa: For example, if you learned the potential form... “I am able to...” Or “I can” |
| Peter: ...then come up with and say lines like, “I am able to… run fast, I am not able to run fast, I can jump, I cannot jump”...and so on, then say them out loud. |
| Chigusa: You can also do this while pairing grammar and writing. |
| Peter: Exactly. For every rule, you learn in our lessons, write out the example sentences. |
| Chigusa: Next, you can also try… vocabulary and speaking... |
| Peter: Use our vocabulary lists, review them first...for 5 minutes |
| Chigusa: ...and then spend the next 5 minutes saying them out loud. |
| Peter: You can also try listening and writing. |
| Chigusa: If you're an intermediate or an advanced learner… listen to a lesson conversation… |
| Peter: ...and write it out as you hear it. |
| Chigusa: Or, if you want something easier, play our Vocabulary Builder lessons where you hear just the words... |
| Peter: ...and write them out. |
| Chigusa: Listeners, feel free to create other pairs that we haven’t mentioned. |
| Peter: Let us know which ones you came up with...and how they worked for you. |
| Chigusa: Alright, let’s get back to goals. You hit 12 minutes. What’s next? Remember, we have 2 months left in the year. Can you hit 20 minutes by the end of the year? |
| Peter: We’re going to find out. But for now, let’s set the next goal at 15 minutes. |
| Chigusa: Sounds good. Deadline? |
| Peter: November 30th. |
| 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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