Intro
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| Becky: Welcome to a special Inner Circle Audio Lesson! I'm Becky and I'll be your host. My co-host today is the founder of Innovative Language... Peter Galante! |
| Peter: Hi everyone! Peter here. |
| Becky: Listeners, there is one month left in the year. That’s not a lot of time! |
| Peter: So, how can you reach your language goal in a short time? |
| Becky: In this Inner Circle, we’re talking about the Power of Reminders.. |
| Peter: ...And the Power of Reading.... |
| Becky: Two really effective tactics for ramping up your language learning progress. |
| Body |
| Becky: Welcome back to the Inner Circle, Listeners. |
| Peter: There’s one month left in the year and the clock is ticking. |
| Becky: Peter, last month you started ramping up your learning, right? |
| Peter: I did. My goal for the year is 30 minutes, so you know that the pressure is on. |
| Becky: And last time you promised... 28 minutes of Italian conversation? Did you hit your goal? |
| Peter: Becky, I can finally give you some good news. Yes, I did! |
| Becky: Great! So that leaves you with 1 month and 2 more minutes to go. |
| Peter: Listeners, can you see how useful it is to know how much you have left to go? |
| Becky: That’s the power of those small, measurable goals with a deadline.... |
| Peter: ...that we keep reminding you about! |
| Becky: Just think, by December 31st, you can honestly say, “I can hold a 30 minute conversation in Italian”... or another language you’re studying. |
| Peter: Okay Becky, enough fantasizing. I’m still not quite there yet. |
| Becky: Right, right. So, the pressure is still on and December will fly by. |
| Peter: Which is why we’re continuing with tactics that ramp up your progress.... |
| Becky: ...and simply put, get your goals DONE. |
| Peter: And in this Inner Circle, we’re talking about two tactics... |
| Becky: The Power of Reading ...and the Power of Reminders. |
| Peter: Alright. Let’s get into the first tactic... |
| Becky: The Power of Reading, why it works... |
| Peter: ...and how I’ve used it successfully to reach my monthly goal. |
| Becky: I can’t help but wonder - how does reading help with speaking? |
| Peter: Great question, Becky. Most learners treat it as a separate skill. |
| Becky: Right. It sounds like it is. You’re all alone with a book, and you’ve got nobody to speak to. |
| Peter: Actually there’s a bit of overlap. I’ll give you the 2 major benefits that reading has over speaking. |
| Becky: Alright. |
| Peter: The first benefit is Speaking Speed... or how quickly and comfortably you’re able to speak. |
| Becky: I think that’s pretty important. If a native speaker notices you respond quickly, without thinking... |
| Peter: ...they’ll know that you understood them completely. And they’ll assume you’re an advanced speaker. |
| Becky: Which is how real conversations go. So, how does reading help? |
| Peter: Well Becky, with reading, you can read out loud and re-read to increase your reading speed every time. |
| Becky: I see. |
| Peter: For example, if you were reading “My name is Peter” in Italian for the first time, it would go something like... |
| (slow speed) Mi chiamo Peter. |
| and then (normal speed) : Mi chiamo Peter. |
| and when you’re comfortable (faster) Mi chiamo Peter. |
| Becky: Ah, right. And when someone asks you “What’s your name”... |
| Peter: ...You instantly reply without thinking. And you can apply this to anything you’ll ever need to say. |
| Becky: That makes sense. |
| Peter: Remember, when you’re reading out loud, you’re actually speaking. And you have the ability to read it again and again ‘til your speed improves. |
| Becky: Okay, what’s the next benefit of reading? |
| Peter: The second benefit is: reading increases your overall range of expression. |
| Becky: Which means you pick up more words and phrases. |
| Peter: That’s right. Reading is the most effective way to boost vocabulary... |
| Becky: ...and if you want to speak and understand more in your target language... |
| Peter: ...you need more words. |
| Becky: Ah, I remember reading studies online about how reading boosts your vocabulary. |
| Peter: Exactly. It’s a well-known fact, and it’s easily applicable to your speaking skills. |
| Becky: So, in short, listeners, reading helps you talk faster... |
| Peter: ...and increases your range of expression. |
| Becky: Okay Peter, how have you been applying reading this past month? |
| Peter: Well, I’ve been doing it with the Premium PLUS My Teacher tool. |
| Becky: On ItalianPod101.com, right? |
| Peter: That’s right. Every day, my ItalianPod101 Premium PLUS teacher sends me an article through My Teacher. |
| Becky: Is it any random article? |
| Peter: Oh no. ItalianPod101 lessons come with a cultural insight, so it’s always related to the lessons I’m doing. The last one was about public transportation in Italy, from Intermediate Lesson 1. |
| Becky: Alright, so you read the article on the same day your teacher sends them. |
| Peter: And as I said earlier, I’ll practice reading it out loud. I’ll learn new words. |
| Becky: Do you record yourself too? |
| Peter: Of course. You know, it’s funny. Most learners never hear what they sound like. I record my readings, send them to My Teacher... |
| Becky: And she corrects your accent and pronunciation, right? |
| Peter: That’s right. I get to hear her corrected version. |
| Becky: That’s a good point, actually. Most learners never know what they sound like. And they never really get their speaking corrected. |
| Peter: But with Premium PLUS My Teacher, I can record my Italian, hear myself and get my speaking corrected by my teacher. |
| Becky: So, you’ve read the article. What happens next? |
| Peter: I tell her I’m done. The next day, she’ll send me questions about the old article AND a new one to read. |
| Becky: Ah, so you get tested as well. |
| Peter: That’s right. The questions test me on how well I understood the previous article. |
| Becky: Coming back, re-reading and reviewing sounds like it would work really well. |
| Peter: I think that’s where the magic is - re-reading and reviewing. |
| Becky: And that’s what most learners don’t do. They usually just finish and move on. |
| Peter: But when you re-read and review, you can improve your reading and speaking speed... |
| Becky: ...as well as remember those new words and improve your comprehension skills. |
| Peter: We should do an Inner Circle on reviewing as well... But that’s for another time. |
| Becky: So adding reading to your routine helped you reach 28 minutes, right? |
| Peter: ...Well, yes, but let’s not forget the second tactic... |
| Becky: Which is the Power of Reminders. |
| Peter: You and the listeners already know how I map out my goals and deadlines. But with deadlines... |
| Becky: ...life can get in the way. And you can miss a deadline. |
| Peter: Right. Without reminders, I would be behind on my November goal. |
| Becky: What do you mean? |
| Peter: For starters, think about your own Japanese learning goal. Imagine I called you one day and asked “Hey, how’s that goal going?” |
| Becky: I’d probably respond with... “well... it’s uh, slowly getting there..” |
| Peter: And if I called you the following week and said “Becky, did you reach your monthly goal yet?” |
| Becky: Hmmm. I’d probably sit down and start putting effort into it. |
| Peter: And then, I’d call you the week after and say “Becky! I hope you’re working at it!” |
| Becky: Then, I think I’d stop picking up the phone, Peter! |
| Peter: That’s good. But the point stands. Reminders are powerful for getting things done. |
| Becky: That’s very true. If someone was with you making sure you didn’t give up... |
| Peter: You’d make progress that much FASTER! That’s exactly what I had My ItalianPod101 teacher do. |
| Becky: Oh, really? What happened? |
| Peter:Well, the first time we tried the reading tactic, she sent me an article and I didn’t read it. |
| Becky: And did she hunt you down? |
| Peter: Actually, yes! She didn’t wait until the second day to send the next article. She sent me a message saying “Why didn’t you read it?” And she sent the article to my email inbox as well. |
| Becky: Did you read it then? |
| Peter: I did! It was right there, staring at me in my inbox, so I stopped what I was doing and I read it. |
| Becky: That reminder really worked well, huh. |
| Peter: It did. On the third day, she sent me a new one. And again, I ended up being busy and couldn’t read it. |
| Becky: You must’ve gotten a nice reminder on the fourth day. |
| Peter: I did. And I made time to read. And because these reminders worked so well, I asked her to get tough on me. |
| Becky: You must really like reminders if you asked her to get tough! |
| Peter: Becky, that’s because reminders work REALLY well! We’ve made that part of my routine now. |
| Becky: And it did help you reach your 28 minute goal overall! |
| Peter: Listeners, imagine if you had someone making sure you didn’t give up... |
| Becky: ...you’d make so much progress! |
| Peter: Do you use this tactic in your learning as well? Let us know in the comments! |
| Becky: And let us know what your next monthly goal is. |
| Peter: I’ll be aiming for the goal I set back in January - 30 minutes of Italian conversation. |
| Becky: You have 1 month and 2 more minutes to go. |
| Peter: We’ll see how it works out, Becky! |
| Becky: Good luck! Time is running out, listeners! Next time, we’ll see if Peter hits his yearly goal. |
Outro
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| Becky: Well that’s going to do it for this special Inner Circle lesson! |
| Peter: Bye everyone! |
| Becky: Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
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