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: Today, we’re going to talk about a tool that’ll maximize your learning time |
| Peter: ...and boost your progress. Listeners, you already have access to this app. |
| Becky: So, stay tuned to find out how you can use it to reach your goals faster. |
| Body |
| Peter: Listeners, usually, we talk about tested methods and strategies to reach your language goals |
| Becky: ...so its only fair that we also cover specific tools that’ll help you reach your goals. |
| Peter: In the last Inner Circle, we talked about the Custom Lists App... |
| Becky: ...which is your one-stop source for learning words by creating your own lists, using others’ lists... |
| Peter: ...discovering new words, and reviewing them on any device, anywhere you are. |
| Becky: Today, we’ll cover another exclusive tool that maximizes your learning time, boosts your progress... |
| Peter: And listeners, the best part is that you already have access to this app as a member. It’s the Innovative Language 101 App. |
| Peter: It brings our personalized learning system and all of the lessons to your iPhone, iPad, Android or Kindle Fire. |
| Becky: Peter, have you been using it with your Italian lessons? |
| Peter: I’ve been using it since it was created, Becky! |
| Becky: Really? And you didn’t mention it in our previous Inner Circle lessons? |
| Peter: Well, Becky, I had to keep it a secret until the app was ready.. but listeners, if you haven’t used the app yet, you’re going to love it. In fact, it’s one of the most useful tools that’s been helping me reach my goals these past few months. In fact, I reached my 25 minute conversation goal just a few days ago. |
| Becky: So, how did it maximize your learning time and help you reach your goals? |
| Peter: Let’s get into it Becky. There are three crucial tips. |
| Becky: First, listeners, take advantage of the app’s exclusive features |
| Peter: This tip is perfect for listeners that have never used the app before |
| Becky: ...And for experienced listeners that aren’t taking full advantage of the app. |
| Peter: Second: Schedule routines to maximize learning time with the app |
| Becky: And Third: Challenge yourself with harder lessons on the app for extra progress. |
| Peter: You’ll be surprised about just how well the third tip works! |
| Becky: Okay, number one: take advantage of the Innovative Language 101’s exclusive features . |
| Peter: The most important advantages that you need to know are... |
| Becky: You have access to all of our lessons at your finger tips so you can learn anywhere, anytime... |
| Peter: ...meaning you can multi-task or do something else... like learn on the train, or while cleaning. |
| Becky: We’ll come back to this point because this is related to maximizing your learning time. |
| Peter: You can read along with the lessons with the line by line breakdown or PDF lesson notes... |
| Becky: ...That way, you don’t miss a word. You’ll be able to fully understand each and every lesson. |
| Becky: You can mark lessons as completed to track your progress and know where to go next. |
| Peter: ...and your progress is saved so if you switch from your smartphone to your computer.... |
| Becky: ...You’ll be able to easily continue where you left off. |
| Peter: Finally, want to access the lessons even when you’re offline? No problem. Download the lessons to your device for offline study. |
| Becky: Now, Peter, how does the app maximize your learning time? What is your process? |
| Peter: Ok, Becky, let’s get into the second tip... |
| Becky: Scheduling routines to maximize learning time with the app |
| Peter: Remember how we covered creating and adjusting learning routines to reach language goals? |
| Becky: Yeah, I think you talked about doing that earlier this year. You added more preparation time for your Skype tutor because you flunked her assessment test. |
| Peter: And the same thing happened with my in-person tutor. |
| Becky: You keep flunking, Peter. |
| Peter: Only the first lesson, Becky. The first lesson was so awful so I had adjusted my learning routine. I added more hours, started using custom lists... |
| Becky: ...and you actually did reach your monthly goals. So, adjusting routines sounds like a common theme in the Inner Circle. |
| Peter: That’s right. So, because I have all of my ItalianPod101 lessons on my iPhone, I created new routines based on time and location. |
| Becky: Why time and location? |
| Peter: Remember, the app lets me learn anywhere, at any time. And depending on where I am... and what time it is, I adjust my learning style. |
| Becky: Can you be a little more specific? |
| Peter: So, I take the train to work every morning at 8:30AM. My ride is about 30 minutes. So, because there’s not much else to do on the train. I can sit down, take out my iPhone, open the app and do one or two Italian lessons. |
| Becky: Ah, that’s a good idea. I waste my train time by focusing on Facebook. How exactly do you use these lessons on the train? |
| Peter: Well, I actually get to focus pretty well on the train because my hands are free and I’m sitting. What I do is, I open the app, tap on “Browse Lessons” and... I’m currently on the Intermediate Season.... |
| Becky: ...So you tap on that season, right? Can you see your progress so far? |
| Peter: I can. I’ve completed 80% of the series. I tap on the Intermediate series and choose the next lesson in line. |
| Becky: Ah, I see. |
| Peter: Sometimes, I play just the lesson dialog by tapping on “Dialog Track” of the lesson on the app. |
| Becky: And this gives you just the Italian conversation. |
| Peter: Right. I listen to the Italian conversation. No English. While listening, I tap on Line by Line Audio for the lesson script and read along in Italian. There’s also a tab for the English translations. |
| Becky: This very useful if there are words that you don’t understand. |
| Peter: There are also lesson notes that I review after the Italian dialog. These notes include the transcript, the grammar explanations, sample sentences and cultural insights from that lesson. |
| Becky: Is there anything else? |
| Peter: Finally, I review the lesson vocabulary. The words come with audio pronunciation, so I can listen again if I need to. Once I’m done, I tap on “Mark Complete” to mark the lesson as complete.... |
| Becky: ...and your progress gets tracked and you move on to the next lesson? |
| Peter: Well, if I have enough time. Usually I’ll do one or two lessons before I reach my stop. |
| Becky: Wow, so within those 30 minutes, you get to listen to the lessons, read along, and learn. |
| Peter: Exactly. Or you can waste your time on Facebook! |
| Becky: Ouch, Peter. |
| Peter: Now, so far we’ve covered weekday mornings at 8:30AM when I’m on the train and can focus on one thing. |
| Becky: So that’s one new routine that you’ve scheduled and added 30 minutes of Italian practice. |
| Peter: Right. Another routine I’ve added is for when I’m driving, which is mostly on the weekends when I’m running errands. These errands will usually take up one hour of my time on Sundays. |
| Becky: Really? You shouldn’t really have your iPhone in hand while you drive. |
| Peter: You’re right! In this case, I go hands-free and instead of focusing on the dialogue, I tap on the “lesson Audio” and play the entire lesson. That’s usually 10 to 15 minutes. |
| Becky: That’s more of a passive learning style, isn’t it? |
| Peter: It is! Remember, that’s what I meant about time, location and method of study. When I drive, I play the entire lesson because it’s much slower paced and longer than the dialogue alone. |
| Becky: And you get to hear the lesson hosts explain all the words, grammar and conversations used, right? |
| Peter: You got it. Normally, I’d be reading along... but since I’m driving, just listening is a better way to maximize my learning time. Once a lesson is done, I’ll mark it as complete and move on to the next one at a red light. |
| Becky: Ah. Now you’ve added 30 minutes of study time on the train on weekday mornings... where you can focus on the app. |
| Peter: And one hour on Sunday, where I just listen along. One more thing I do is download lessons for offline study... but that’s usually when I’m traveling and don’t have internet access. |
| Becky: I see. That’s an extra... three hours a week to your Italian studies! |
| Peter: Think about it. This would be wasted time if I weren’t using the app. |
| Becky: That’s true. An extra three hours would be tough to squeeze out of a busy week... |
| Peter: ...but you have all of your lessons at the flick of a screen, listeners.... |
| Becky: ...you can easily transform wasted periods of time, like travel time.... |
| Peter: ...into learning routines, double your progress, and reach your goals faster. |
| Becky: Speaking of progress. Let’s get into the third tip. |
| Peter: Challenge yourself with harder lessons on the app for extra progress. |
| Becky: And this is one learning tactic you usually won’t hear. |
| Peter: Since you have all of your lessons at the flick of the screen... |
| Becky: ...try out a harder level. |
| Peter: For example, back in January, I tried some upper intermediate and advanced ItalianPod101 lessons... |
| Becky: Did you understand anything back then? |
| Peter: Almost nothing, Becky. There was a “mi chiamo” which means “my name”...and that was it. |
| Becky: Why’s this tactic important for learning progress? |
| Peter: There are two reasons. Number One, It’s a good way to assess your skills. I didn’t understand those lessons in January. Now, I can pretty much understand the entire dialogue. |
| Becky: So in a sense, you’re putting your language learning to the test... |
| Peter: And this is passive learning. You’re just listening to see if you can understand. |
| Beck: That’s something you can easily do on the go, with your smartphone. |
| Peter: Reason Number Two: The best way to massively boost your progress is to listen to a lesson dialogue above your level. |
| Becky: Really? But if you don’t understand anything.... |
| Peter: ...You will. See, hearing it for the first time trains your ear, even if you don’t understand. |
| Becky: I see. |
| Peter: Then, our hosts translate and explain the conversations you’ve just heard... |
| Becky: Or you can get the translations and meanings with the line-by-line or PDF lesson notes, right? |
| Peter: Right! And when you hear the lesson dialogue again, you’ll completely understand it. There’s actually a science study that proves this tactic. If you feed someone a message they don’t understand... |
| Becky: They won’t understand it.... |
| Peter: Right. But then, you feed them the meaning, and then, replay that message again. And what happens is, your brain is using prior information to make sense of new information. |
| Becky: So, the first time, they had nothing to rely on. Kind of like hearing Italian that you’ve never learned before. |
| Peter: That’s right. But after you’re given the meaning, and you hear it again, you start understanding it. Your brain is now using the provided meaning as information to make sense of what you’ve heard. |
| Becky: That makes a lot of sense actually. Do you listen to more advanced lessons often? |
| Peter: I usually check out the more advanced lessons when I drive, just to assess my level. |
| Becky: And following along with a lesson dialogue above your level would require more attention... |
| Peter: That, I’ll do on the train after I’m done with my current level lessons. |
| Becky: Sounds good. So listeners, to recap, these are the three tips you can use to maximize your learning time and boost your progress. |
| Peter: One: Take advantage of the app. As a Premium user, you already have Premium access. |
| Becky: Look for the download link on this Inner Circle’s blog entry. Download it for free. |
| Peter: Two: Schedule routines to maximize learning time with the app, |
| Becky: In other words, learn on the go and put wasted time to use. You can use it for passive listening while multitasking... |
| Peter: ...or for serious study, if you’re commuting and have your hands free. |
| Becky: And Three: Challenge yourself with harder lessons on the app to boost your progress. |
| Peter: I’d like to boost my progress toward my August goal. |
| Becky: Oh, what is your August goal for Italian? |
| Peter: I’m going to aim for a solid 30 minutes of non-stop Italian conversation. And I’ll definitely put the Innovative Language 101 App to use. |
| Becky: Sounds good! Listeners, let us know your goal... |
| Peter: ...Tell us how you study language on the go.... |
| Becky: ...And be sure to download Innovative Language 101 App for the Android, iPhone, iPad or Kindle FIRE for Free. |
| Peter: Just click on the link in this Inner Circle’s blog entry. |
Outro
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| Becky: Okay, 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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