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: Ever take a break from language learning, lose your progress, |
| Peter: ...and then, find it hard to get back into your learning routine? |
| Becky: Today, we’re talking two steps forward, one step back, when it comes to language. |
| Peter: In other words, making progress, taking a break from language, then losing your progress or some of it... |
| Becky: ...and how you can make a comeback. |
| Body |
| Becky: Welcome back to the Inner Circle listeners... |
| Peter: We are now in September... |
| Becky: ...And last month, Peter, you came back from your trip to Italy. |
| Peter: That’s right. |
| Becky: And you set a goal of 30 minutes of Italian. Did you reach it? |
| Peter: I knew you were going to ask that first. The answer is no. I actually dropped to 20 minutes. |
| Becky: Really. You lost progress?! |
| Peter: I’m sorry, Becky. The Italy vacation ended up being a “two steps forward, one step back” type of thing. |
| Becky: I thought it was “one step forward, two steps back.” What do you mean? |
| Peter: Yeah I actually changed the idiom just a bit. I made a lot of progress hence the “two steps forward” but I lost a little bit, so thats why the “one step back”. |
| Becky: Oh ok, well you’re a pretty positive guy then! |
| Peter: Of course you have to stay positive! But, remember how I prepared and prepared for the trip? |
| Becky: Yeah, and you learned you could never be prepared. |
| Peter: Right. So up until the vacation, I was up to 25 minutes of Italian conversation. |
| Becky: And you dropped to 20. I would expect that being in Italy would make your Italian progress faster. |
| Peter: You would think so right Becky? But that break from my lessons actually set me back quite a bit! |
| Becky: So listeners, in this Inner Circle Lesson, we’re talking about “two steps forward, one step back” |
| Peter: And we’re going to cover these 3 points: |
| Becky: 1) Why you lose progress when you take a break from language |
| Peter: 2) Why it’s hard to get back into routine after the break |
| Becky: and 3) How you can make a comeback... |
| Peter: ...despite these setbacks that even top language learners face. |
| Becky: I’m still finding it strange that your Italian took a step back while you were actually IN Italy. |
| Peter: I know it sounds a bit crazy, you’re not wrong in thinking that. I thought that being in Italy would be enough too. |
| Becky: So, what went wrong? |
| Peter: Well, remember, with my Italian tutors, I’m constantly learning new grammar and words and putting them to use. |
| Becky: And maximizing your conversation time. |
| Peter: Exactly. Italy was completely different. I wasn’t thinking about maximizing my speaking time. |
| Becky: Right, like you said, you couldn’t be prepared. |
| Peter: So I was learning on the spot, making mistakes, and adjusting. |
| Becky: You were learning how to order food properly from local shops and... soliciting honest pizza workers. |
| Peter: You’re not going to let that go are you? That pizza one was an honest mistake, Becky! |
| Becky: I’m sorry, I couldn’t forget that one. |
| Peter: But, back to your point, while I did learn new phrases for ordering food and such... |
| Becky: ...you weren’t expanding your grammar and overall vocabulary as you would with your tutors. |
| Peter: You nailed it, Becky. I took a break from my old learning routines. |
| Becky: But how exactly did you lose progress? You’re still learning regardless, no? |
| Peter: Great question. So, because learning with tutors and being in Italy are different situations... |
| Becky: ...you’re learning in different ways? |
| Peter: You got it! They’re different and one routine really doesn’t translate well into the other. |
| Becky: Ah, I know what you mean. I jog so I think I’m pretty fit. But then I tagged along with my friend to the gym... |
| Peter: ...and it didn’t work out as well as you hoped? |
| Becky: Right! I can run, but I can’t lift heavy weights with my legs. Running isn’t the same as building muscle. |
| Peter: That’s a great example Becky. In fact, listeners, think of your learning routines as building muscle. |
| Becky: So, this brings us to our first point. |
| Peter: Why you lose progress you’ve made when you take a break from language. |
| Becky: So, with the tutors, you’re exercising conversation, and learning new grammar and vocabulary. |
| Peter: And that muscle was not being used at the time while I was in Italy. So, what happens when you stop exercising it? |
| Becky: It gets weaker. |
| Peter: Exactly. In Italy, I was in pick-up mode. Picking up what I needed for real life situations and using it. |
| Becky: Ah, I see. |
| Peter: For example, instead of continuing to grow my grammar and vocabulary, I’d review the phrases I’d need for the bakery shop or the pizza parlor. |
| Becky: And that’s a whole different muscle or learning routine. |
| Peter: Exactly,now, the learning routines I had with my tutors... |
| Becky: ...They were pretty much unused, huh? |
| Peter: ...yep, and like a muscle, they got weaker. |
| Becky: As did most everything you learned before you went on vacation. |
| Peter: And that’s why, it’s “two steps forward, one step back” after taking a break. I forgot quite a bit of grammar and vocabulary I learned a few months ago and used every week with my tutor. |
| Becky: Your tutors are probably pretty disappointed in you. |
| Peter: To be honest it was shocking, my tutor thought that we’d have a better conversation but, it was actually worse. |
| Becky: Uh no... |
| Peter: In addition when I got back I was quite busy and I actually missed the first 2 lessons. |
| Becky: You know, maybe you should’ve been maintaining your old routines. |
| Peter: I should have. Maintaining a routine is in fact the best solution. |
| Becky: I can understand Italy, but you’ve been back for a whole month. Why weren’t you maintaining your learning routines this month? |
| Peter: Well mum, let’s get into the second point: |
| Becky: Why it’s hard to get back into routine after the break. |
| Peter: Listeners, have you ever taken a break from language learning |
| Becky:... and found it hard to bounce back? Why does this happen? |
| Peter: Three reasons. The first one is something we just talked about. |
| Becky: Comparing your language learning routine to muscles? |
| Peter: Right. If you stop exercising a muscle... |
| Becky: ...it becomes weaker over time. |
| Peter: And you know, staying in a routine, is also, essentially working on consistency or routine muscle. |
| Becky: When you stop doing it, it becomes harder to come back and stick with it. |
| Peter: Your routine muscle gets weak. Which is why I couldn’t really get back into this month. |
| Becky: And the second reason? |
| Peter: The second reason is a personal one but I bet every listener can relate. |
| Becky: Oh, what is it? |
| Peter: I simply had no time. Life happened. |
| Becky: Listeners, every language learner comes across this issue. |
| Peter: Have you ever had to take a break simply because you had no time? Let us know in the comments. |
| Becky: Time is always an issue when it comes to long term goals like language learning. |
| Peter: Especially right after vacation. I came back. kids start school. Work has been piling up.There’s just not enough time. |
| Becky: All at once hey? It’s like a perfect storm that sank your Italian learning ship. |
| Peter: That’s a great way of putting it Becky, my battleship was sunk and because there was work piled up and new challenges. |
| Becky: So what do you mean? |
| Peter: Well remember when I first set my routine? I said location is a very important part of routine. Becky we moved, as in we moved our house. |
| Becky: Really? And then? |
| Peter: Well I used to study in my living room from 9pm in the old house. |
| Becky: Ah, yes, I remember you created that routine earlier this year. |
| Peter: So, now we live in a new place, the rooms are different, the environment is different. My computer is different.Everything is different. |
| Becky: And you’re not used to it? |
| Peter: This also broke my old routine. |
| Becky: Listeners, while it may sound minor, set routines are often based on time and location. |
| Peter: Like, if it’s 10PM and you’re home, you automatically go and brush your teeth. |
| Becky: Simply because it’s 10PM and it’s just one of those things you do at that time. |
| Peter: And when one of these changes, the whole routine can fall apart. |
| Becky: And the third reason? |
| Peter: Now the third one is that new routines get in the way of old routines. |
| Becky: Wait, what do you mean? |
| Peter: Well, now that the kids are in school, I’ve started helping them with homework. |
| Becky: In the evening, right? |
| Peter: Do you have kids too? Because yep, right, around 8PM. And this is when I’d usually review for my 9PM lessons. |
| Becky: So, no time to review. Okay, so clearly it’s important to maintain your routines. |
| Peter: And this month has been an absolute disaster. But, I’ve made a plan... |
| Becky: ...about how to get back and maintain your learning routine? |
| Peter: You got it. So, let’s get into the 3rd point. |
| Becky: How you can make a comeback and maintain your learning routines. |
| Peter: Now, coming back isn’t very easy. I had a pretty heavy learning routine. |
| Becky: I remember. You studied with the Innovative Language 101 App on your morning commutes. |
| Peter: Then I had Skype lessons with my tutor on weekday nights. |
| Becky: And then you added in-person tutor sessions. So that was a heavy load already. |
| Peter: Becky, it was and that’s why it was so hard to come back after taking a break. |
| Becky: Right, It’s like taking a break from anything, you lose progress... |
| Peter: Same thing with gym. If you come back from a break, you literally won’t be able to lift as much as you did before... |
| Becky: ...so you have to start off light. |
| Peter: That’s my plan actually with Italian. |
| Becky: So what’s the plan? |
| Peter: I’ll keep my Italian tutors. My skype tutor sessions are on Friday and my in-person sessions are on Saturdays. |
| Becky: So both of those are for 1 hour? |
| Peter: The in-person one, yes. Remember, I doubled the Skype sessions to two hours. I’ll scale that down to 1 hour on Friday nights. |
| Becky: Excellent. |
| Peter: And I’ll keep my morning commute with the Innovative Language 101 App. |
| Becky: How about your weekday self-study sessions? You did 1 hour for 5 days a week. |
| Peters: That’s what I’m going easy on. Instead of 1 hour, I’ll do 30 minutes a night. |
| Becky: 30 minutes seem really manageable. |
| Peter: So Monday through Friday, I’ll have 30 minute self study sessions plus a 1 hour skype lesson on Fridays. |
| Becky: And a 1 hour in-person tutor session on Saturdays right. |
| Peter: And the morning commutes with the app. That’s 30 minutes and an easy routine to maintain. |
| Becky: Great! It sounds like you’re getting back on track. |
| Peter: Well... not exactly. |
| Becky: No? |
| Peter: I still have to maintain these new routines... which so far has been tough. You’ll have to find out next month if I manage to turn it around. |
| Becky: Okay. But listeners, remember, to bounce back from a break... |
| Peter: You need to do two things. One: realize that you have to start small. |
| Becky: You can’t just go heavy after a 2 week break of not learning language. |
| Peter: And two: Create new, lighter learning routines that you can actually maintain. Remember, small and easy is enough to get you back into the language. |
| Becky: Otherwise, if you jump from taking a break to studying 2 hours a day, you’ll probably give up. |
| Peter: Pretty quickly, so listeners, if you’re struggling with setting and maintaining routines... |
| Becky: Like Peter... |
| Peter: Like me. Inside the Inner Circle PDF, we’ve provided you with a weekly plan to help you arrange your routine. |
| Becky: Look for the PDF on the blog page of this lesson. |
| Peter: And finally, be sure to set your monthly goal. |
| Becky: So you’ve been promising us 30 minutes for a while now, Peter. |
| Peter: I’m not going to promise it this month Becky. Since there’s a lot to catch up on... lets try for 27 minutes a little above my old goal. |
| Becky: 27 minutes? Listeners, let us know what your monthly goal is... |
| Peter: Let us know, did you ever take a break from language? Why did it happen? |
| Becky: Did you find it hard to get back into a routine? Be sure to leave us a comment. |
| Peter: So over these past two months I’ve taken “two steps forward, and then one huge step back” in my Italian progress. |
| Becky: And you still need to get started on your new routine and maintain it. |
| Peter: I know. You’ll have to wait and see how that works out in the next Inner Circle. |
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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