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 Level-Appropriate Language Immersion |
| Chigusa: You’ll Learn... |
| Peter: ...One, Does Language Immersion Work? |
| Chigusa: Two, How Peter Hit His Goal with Dialog Tracks |
| Peter: ... And Three, How You Can Immerse Yourself in the Language |
| Chigusa: 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 the power of textbooks and digital detox. |
| Chigusa: And now, we’re at the end of November. One month left. |
| Peter: Chigusa, time flies. Okay, My yearly goal was 30 minutes. I scaled that down to 20. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, you’re almost there! You promised us 17 minutes last time? |
| Peter: I did. And I hit it. |
| Chigusa: So, since time is running out... are you feeling any pressure at all? |
| Peter: Actually, I am. It’s easy to hit 5 or 7 minutes of conversation, if you prepare. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, 2 or 3 minutes go to greetings, pleasantries and catching up. That’s the easy stuff. |
| Peter: But once you’re up there, it’s tough. I don’t have much time left. |
| Chigusa: So, you have to get as much French in... |
| Peter: ...before time runs out. |
| Chigusa: I think most learners can relate here. Learning as much as possible... |
| Peter: ...and without overwhelming yourself. |
| Chigusa; So, what’d you do this past month to reach your goal? |
| Peter: Well, this past month I tried to make the most of my time, with immersion. |
| Chigusa: You mean like language immersion? |
| Peter: More specifically, Level-appropriate immersion. |
| Chigusa: Level... appropriate... immersion. You’ll need to explain that. |
| Peter: Okay. Let’s jump into the first part |
| Chigusa: Part 1 - Does Language Immersion Work? |
| Peter: First, let’s define the term for the listeners. |
| Chigusa: Yes, what is immersion? |
| Peter: For most people, it means surrounding yourself with the language, or living the language. |
| Chigusa: Living as in...? |
| Peter: As in, going about your day, doing everything you normally do.... |
| Chigusa: ...but in your target language. |
| Peter: But, the problem is, you can’t just fly to new country and start living life there, usually. |
| Chigusa: Right. How would you do that at home? For example... |
| Peter: Wel, you could watch Netflix shows in your target language, listen to music or podcasts. I use Alexa to listen to French lessons on occasion. There are many ways. |
| Chigusa: Okay, we know what immersion is... what are the benefits? |
| Peter: First, it’s smart use of your time. |
| Chigusa: You can’t study all 24 hours of the day. |
| Peter: And you can’t actively learn all time. |
| Chigusa: So, if you want to keep your mind on the language... |
| Peter: ...in your down time... |
| Chigusa: ....Immersing yourself with something lighter, like music, is the way to go. |
| Peter: Next, you increase language input. |
| Chigusa: Language input means... |
| Peter: It’s what you take in. Listening and reading |
| Chigusa: So, by increasing the amount of input... |
| Peter: ...you improve your listening skills and develop a sharper ear for the language. |
| Chigusa: And, if you’re listening to lessons and dialogs you’ve already done... |
| Peter: ...you’re indirectly reviewing and strengthening your memory. That’s what I do. |
| Chigusa: Now, Peter, does it work? If I’m a beginner watching a TV show or listening to a podcast... |
| Peter: Chigusa, you wouldn’t understand a thing. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, so aside from getting exposed to it, what’s the point? |
| Peter: Great question. The secret to making immersion effective is - you should do “Level-appropriate” immersion. |
| Chigusa: Right, because if you’re listening to something advanced, you can’t enjoy that. |
| Peter: But, if you’re listening to conversations appropriate for your level... |
| Chigusa: ...You pick up on all the words... or most. |
| Peter: And, the language sticks with you. It won’t be “in one ear and out the other.” |
| Chigusa: Is that what you did? |
| Peter: Let’s jump into the 2nd part. |
| Chigusa: Part 2: How Peter Hit His Goal with Dialog Tracks |
| Peter: So, what I do is super simple. Listeners you already have access to this. |
| Chigusa: Let’s hear it. |
| Peter: Every one of our audio lessons comes with a dialog track. |
| Chigusa: You just get the lesson conversation in the target language. No translations. |
| Peter: Visit the lesson page, it’s there in the downloads section. And with every FrenchPod101 lesson I’ve done, I’d download the dialog track. |
| Chigusa: How many dialog tracks do you have now? |
| Peter: So, I’ve been keeping up with French for... almost all of 2018. Around 100? |
| Chigusa: Wow. |
| Peter: Definitely over 100. Each track is 10 to 30 seconds, so it’s not overwhelming. |
| Chigusa: Okay, good to know. Reviewing 100 10-minute lessons would be hard work. |
| Peter: So, yea, this is pretty easy. In my downtime, if I can’t focus or am not in the mood to learn, I play these dialogs. I have a playlist for them on my iPhone. |
| Chigusa: And for how long? Are you listening to it all day long? |
| Peter: Well, Chigusa for this past month, I’ve doing listening on my way to and from work. So about an hour a day. The moment I leave my house, I press the play button and listen. At night, when I get some time to myself, I wind down by listening to the dialogs. About 2 or 3 hours a day. |
| Chigusa: Wow, do you understand everything? |
| Peter: At this point, yes. The nice thing is... I’ve done the lessons already, so I know what it’s all about. If there’s a word I don’t remember, I can figure it out through context and clues. |
| Chigusa: But if these were not level appropriate dialogs... |
| Peter: ...If they were too hard, I’d probably zone out or turn it off. |
| Chigusa: Okay, let’s go back to your goal. How does this help with speaking French? |
| Peter: My goal with immersion is two-fold. First, I want to maximize my learning time and input. |
| Chigusa: But, since you can’t actively learn all day long... |
| Peter: ...this kind of immersion is a great way to keep at it. |
| Chigusa: Yeah, you add an extra 2 hours of French a day. |
| Peter: With speaking, since I’m reviewing conversations, I have more to talk about. Chigusa, imagine having 20 extra dialogs in your head that you can use. |
| Chigusa: That sounds good to me. Actually, that’s what I like about our lessons. |
| Peter: The conversations? |
| Chigusa: Yes, you get ready-made scripts and conversations to use in real life. |
| Peter: By the way, by reviewing these conversations, I get to review all of the words and grammar rules. And I no longer struggle with verb conjugations... |
| Chigusa: ...because you’ve heard it so many times. |
| Peter: Exactly. Repetition really helps here. |
| Chigusa: Okay, you’re maximizing your learning time, you’re immersing yourself... |
| Peter: ...with level appropriate content. |
| Chigusa: Now, how can our listeners do this? |
| Peter: Let’s jump into part 3. |
| Chigusa: Part 3: How You Can Immerse Yourself in the Language |
| Peter: Listeners, now that you’re in your 11th month of learning... |
| Chigusa: ...you should understand enough of the language. |
| Peter: So, you are ready for “level appropriate” language immersion. |
| Chigusa: At this point, this tactic becomes very powerful. |
| Peter: Language is no longer in one ear and out the other. |
| Chigusa: You’ll understand most of it. |
| Peter: ...the words will register in your brain... |
| Chigusa: ...and the new ones, you can figure out through context. |
| Peter: And in the process, you master words, phrases and grammar rules simply through exposure. You’ve heard them before.... |
| Chigusa: ...and hearing them again cements them into your brain. |
| Peter: Now, immersion, for the most part, is passive. |
| Chigusa: It can be active, but you have to be in a country that speaks it. |
| Peter: So, we focus on passive. How do you immerse yourself with level-appropriate content? |
| Chigusa: For listening... |
| Peter: Download the dialog tracks from our audio lessons, save them on your device... |
| Chigusa: ...and make a playlist. And, then, just play them on repeat. |
| Peter: Be sure to only use dialogs from lessons you’ve done, or that are close to your level. |
| Chigusa: If you go too high up where you don’t understand anything... |
| Peter: ...it might be too soon and it might be in one ear and out the other. |
| Chigusa: You can also check out our Conversation Compilation lessons on the website. |
| Peter: These lessons are upwards of 20 minutes and will give you more than enough. |
| Peter: For reading, take advantage of our extensive reading books. |
| Chigusa: Extensive reading is a learning tactic, where the goal is to read a ton of books.. |
| Peter: ...that are appropriate for your level. So, you’re not stumbling over every word. |
| Chigusa: The goal is NOT to analyze every word, but to keep going and immerse yourself in the language. |
| Peter: So, visit the lesson library and look for Extensive Reading books... |
| Chigusa: ...that are appropriate for your level. |
| Peter: If you’re a Premium or Premium PLUS user... |
| Chigusa: ...You already have access to the dialog tracks and extensive reading books. |
| Peter: Listeners, you can also listen to music or podcasts... |
| Chigusa: ...or watch TV shows |
| Peter: But the secret to making immersion work is through content that you can understand. Level appropriate content. |
| Chigusa: Alright Peter. Let’s get back to your goals. You hit 17 minutes. |
| Peter: It’s time to go for 20, Chigusa. |
| Chigusa: Sounds great! Deadline? |
| Peter: December 31st. |
| Chigusa: Listeners, how about you? |
| Peter: What’s your small, measurable, monthly goal? And what’s the deadline? |
| Chigusa: Let us know. |
| Peter: Email us at inner dot circle at innovative language dot com. |
| Chigusa: 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, and we’ll see you next time. |
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