Intro
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| Kyejin: Welcome to the inner circle. |
| Peter: This is the monthly No holds barred newsletter giving you tried and tested learning methods to help you reach your language goals this year, |
| Kyejin: I'm Kyejin, and I'm joined by my co-host, the founder of innovative language, Peter Galante. |
| Peter: Hi, everyone, Peter here. |
| Body |
| Peter: So last time we talked about receptive learning versus productive learning, which is Kyejin? |
| Kyejin: Receptive is when you are just passively listening or reading, right? |
| Peter: Exactly. And productive. Meaning you produce the language, |
| Kyejin: Meaning speaking and writing. |
| Peter: You can also call this passive versus active learning or input versus output. |
| Kyejin: And last month, most of my learning was receptive because I've been doing over 30 hours of French a month |
| Peter: Which is a lot. |
| Kyejin: Yeah, maybe it's not the best way, but it's the easiest way to hit that number. |
| Peter: And for this May, you promised to do more productive learning, right? |
| Kyejin: Yes. |
| Peter: And my goal was to go up to six hours of French a week, which would be six times 4, 24 hours per month. |
| Kyejin: So, let's talk about our goals |
| Peter: And listeners today. You'll also learn about our, well, summer tactics, like what we have planned for the upcoming months because, for me, I have three kids. So the summer routine is very, very different than the school-is-in routine. So we're gonna talk a little bit about that, and Kyejin has a very interesting environment in which she is studying. So we're gonna talk about that a bit. |
| Kyejin: I'm not sure if it's an interesting tactic, but I definitely worked hard because my DELF exam is coming very soon, in a few weeks. |
| Peter: But before that, let's, let's talk about this. So Kyejin, did you hit your goals? |
| Kyejin: Of course. Yes, I did. I practiced a lot with my teachers, especially for speaking and writing, DELF speaking and writing. And also, yeah, I spent a lot of time for the active learning by sitting down on the desk and actually, practice the DELF exams. So, yeah, I did. |
| Peter: Yeah, I think test-taking is one of the most powerful ways to learn. |
| Kyejin: Yeah, I agree. I couldn't agree more. So, the test day is coming soon, and that motivated me a lot. So, yeah, I'll be studying a lot today, too, after work. |
| Peter: And on my side, I also hit my goals, 24 hours. However, I was supposed to do a lot more of the receptive side of things because I often focus on the productive side. However, I wasn't able to get as far as I wanted. I'm still very centered on that productive side of speaking and writing. However, there was one tool we'll talk about in a little bit that actually helped me get closer than I've ever been to hitting that percent. And it's a new tool on our website, which I find extremely, extremely useful. So, we'll talk about that in a minute. But the thing is, we both hit our goals, which is very, very good. And, however, there is, for me, as I mentioned, a storm on the horizon with the summer and the three boys. Going to be changing the routine and flipping it upside down. So, let's talk about May a bit. And Kyejin, why don't we start with you? Do you want to start with the DELF, or do you want to start with this new technique or this new study environment that you're using? |
| Kyejin: So last time I told you that I find it difficult to focus on active learning because, at home, I want to take a rest. So at home, I didn't want to study so much, and I tried to find a place to study hard. I was looking for some good cafes or some libraries, but they close early or often it's too crowded. So I couldn't really find the best place. And I came up with a great idea, which is the office because usually, I'm the last OK. |
| Peter: Kyejin, our office? |
| Kyejin: My office, our office. |
| Peter: Wow. |
| Kyejin: Usually, I'm the last person who leaves the office. So, it's very easy to stay just 30 minutes more in the office for studying at home. It's very difficult to make 30 minutes for studying. But in the office, I was just working, so I just stayed 30 minutes more and studied. It's so easy. |
| Peter: So Kyejin, let's, let's talk about a few things here. So, first, I think the environment, and there's many components, the environment is one of the most powerful ways to really make progress. So let's start with the time. What time are you usually studying at? So what time does your work day end? |
| Kyejin: So I clock out around 8 or 8:30. My goal is to study 30 minutes. But usually not usually until now, always, I study for more than 30 minutes, one hour and a half, two hours because once I start studying, it's easy to study longer, but it's very difficult to start studying. |
| Peter: Yeah, that, that could be a topic for a different day. It's so right. It's like that first step of the journey is always the hardest, right? I think there's a quote like this. The first step of the 25,000-step journey is the toughest. So, you're overachieving because once you start, then it's, you can see that progress. And how many days a week do you do this? |
| Kyejin: For now, I've been doing it twice a week. |
| Peter: Ok. So we have the time, usually around 8, usually around an hour to 90 minutes, 60 to 90 minutes. Location’s the office and the frequencies two times a week, and do those days always stay the same? |
| Kyejin: It depends. Yeah. Sometimes I study longer on Mondays or Fridays, Thursdays. It depends. |
| Peter: And, right now, we work some days from home and some days in the office, but most days in the office, but each time it's one on a day you're in the office already. |
| Kyejin: Right. Exactly. |
| Peter: Ok. How do you adjust the rest of your day? So before you started to do this, did your day look the same, or did you change your lunchtime, or did you change your commute time or you change? What else did you change? Because a lot of time, someone, in my case, I'm listening, and it's like, oh, yeah, I want to do that too. But how did the rest of your day? Did you sacrifice anything, or this is just extra sheer willpower on your part? |
| Kyejin: I sacrifice my dinner time. |
| Peter: Oh, that's not good. |
| Kyejin: No, no, no, I'm having dinner in the office first. So it's ok. But usually, yeah, at home. Yeah, I have very slow dinner time, but here I have a really quick dinner, and it's ok because it's just for a month. I mean, before the exam, I always cram. I'm the person who crams right before the exam. So, yeah, one month is fine, and I'm very motivated, and it's really fun. |
| Peter: And what is a 60-minute session that you do look like? How, how, what parts do you study? Tell us about that. |
| Kyejin: There are basically four parts in the exam: reading, listening, writing, speaking. So I choose two of them. It depends on the day. So I practice one, for example, like reading, and I check the answers, and I read again and check out the words that I didn't know. And for, if it's listening, then I listen many times again. So, yeah, I choose two skills and practice in the day. |
| Peter: And are they both receptive or both productive one of each or it's, you don't think that much? |
| Kyejin: Usually, I'm focusing on writing, listening, or writing/speaking, and with teacher, I've practiced a lot on DELF-style speaking. |
| Peter: OK. That makes a lot of sense. Speaking is the hardest to practice, kind of by yourself. And are you doing tests out of a textbook? What are you? How are you approaching this? |
| Kyejin: Yes, I have a textbook. I bought it online. And also, you can find lots of free DELF exams on the DELF website. Those are examples on the website. So I'm using those tests plus some homework from my teachers. |
| Peter: It's, yeah, the ability to create a routine for four weeks in preparation for something big, stick to it, Execute. This is, you know, very, very, very powerful things. Wow, Kyejin, that's, that's incredible. |
| Kyejin: Thank you. I think having a goal is a great thing that really motivates me. |
| Peter: Yeah. And one that that goal that you, we, we've shared with other people, which is motivating because you, you don't want to, you know, it's just not an internal goal, but other people are gonna kind of see the results. So that's, that's very, very powerful too. And one that you'll see the result, right? Judged by someone else, and you get to see the result. So, Kyejin, so this got me thinking, and I love this strategy. However, in my case, I always try to make it like home for dinner, right? So I'm always there, and it's 6 to 7. So I guess it would be fun to try to study with you. So maybe I can come back to the office option A or B. Is there a way to? Is there a tool that allows people to study together online? Have you ever studied with someone on Zoom or something like this or? |
| Kyejin: Interesting. I've studied with teachers, but I haven't studied with other students without a teacher. Of course, I am taking a group class with my teachers and other students, but there is always a teacher. Interesting idea. |
| Peter: Yeah, let me think about this because, you know, this year I've been a lot more motivated because, you know, it's interesting when you watch someone who's better than you and has better techniques and tactics than you, you learn a lot and it can be motivational. It also could be demotivational if someone's too far ahead or they're too good. But you've been sharing so well. So maybe there's a way we could study together. |
| Kyejin: Mhm. Sure. Yeah, it can be Zoom, Or if you have any other idea, please let us know. |
| Peter: So, yeah, I think maybe what I'll do is, which days will you be studying in the office this week, |
| Kyejin: This week today, And probably, yeah, I'm, I'm not 100% sure yet, but Thursday and Friday. |
| Peter: Ok. Yeah, maybe Thursday would be possible. Ok. This is interesting. I'll come back to the office and start there. The easiest way it's very, you know, one of the hard things is to find someone to study with. So, but this study group idea could be quite interesting. So, let's talk about my progress and, yeah, let's first talk about the new feature on the site and this one, it's been in development for a long, long, long, long time, and it's finally rolled out. So, have you had a chance to see it? |
| Kyejin: Of course. Are you talking about the journey and the tracking system on our website? |
| Peter: Correct. |
| Kyejin: Yes. |
| Peter: So, previously, the way you could keep track of your progress was... you just ticked off a box, and then it showed that you had progressed on a lesson on the dashboard. But now you can actually watch your progress inside of a pathway. So, for example, if you start, you finish the lesson one, you check it off. But what I like is when you get to the quizzes, and you take the quizzes to see how you're doing, it shows your result. So in the past, if you did five lessons, you just, you could click them any time, click, click, click, click, click, and they'd all show green that you've, you've completed them. But now, the same thing you click, click, you go through them. But then there's that quiz, right? And the quiz shows how well you did. So if you've checked everything off and you get zero out of five on all the little quizzes in there, you'll, you'll see your journey, look green, green, green, orange, or the color will be different, notifying that maybe you haven't mastered everything inside of that. So there's been accountability added to this journey and this visual tool for you to use. And I really, for me, it's been very good in pushing me to OK. I want to make sure this is all green by this day, or I wanna make sure that all these things are checked off by this day. |
| Kyejin: Yeah, that's such a cool system. |
| Peter: Yeah. So, accountability is quite powerful, and we're actually working on ways to further integrate this with some of the some of the things that you could do with your teacher to make sure that your portfolio is complete. So you're actually recording your voice and doing that productive things, productive stuff like speaking and writing. So this has been a great clear map for me to progress faster on the site. However, I still, you know, sometimes taking that first step to open things up is that hard part. So I'm still working on some tools to kind of help me take that first step. |
| Kyejin: Wow. So did you make all the circles green? |
| Peter: Well, but when it came on, some of the scores were two out of five, and I was like, oh boy, I got to go back and retake that quiz to make it green. So, yes, right now, everything is green. However, I haven't finished. I have a lot more of the road to pass through. So right now, you can find this feature by going to the website and going to a pathway, and inside this PDF, you can see what it looks like. But yeah, it's really, really nice to have that accountability integrated into the path you're along, right? |
| Kyejin: So you can clearly see where you are. I mean, in your learning journey and also the orange marks make you study again. That's great. |
| Peter: Ok. The second thing is I have a bit of news. I'm so sorry; I'm gonna have to cheat a bit on our competition. |
| Kyejin: Mhm. Ok. In what way? |
| Peter: Well, remember I mentioned that my summer routine gets very disrupted. So from the end of June to the end of August, the kids are off. So, this year we'll be going to Switzerland also. |
| Kyejin: and they speak French, no? |
| Peter: They study French a bit. And when we go there, we'll be in Geneva, which is the French area. So the kids have their daily camp. So I will take that time to enroll in a French school. |
| Kyejin: How long… you're cheating! |
| Peter: This is cheating. This is what we call cheating. So, I'm hoping to do mornings at the school to turbocharge… to give me some chance of passing this test because right now, my score, when I took the score, it was interesting totake the score. You're taking the DELF, I took this test to get placement, and it was about an A2 which is still a full mark away from where we need to be, correct? |
| Kyejin: Right. |
| Peter: So, there's a lot of work cut out for me, and the class will be about two weeks. So, but still, it should be very, very intense. And, you, you studied last year, at a yes. |
| Kyejin: Yeah, I did. |
| Peter: How much did it help? |
| Kyejin: It helped a lot because I only spoke French. My level was pretty low, but I tried to speak French only. So when someone spoke English to me, I answered in French with bad French, like just words or like broken grammar. But people understood. |
| Peter: Yeah. So, you know, that's gonna be, I think, very, very big. However, if we go back to routines, in my case, with the three kids, normally, there's 2 times of the year that's very disruptive to routines. And that's from the last week of November right around Thanksgiving through the first week of January, normal routines are thrown off course very violently, and in the summertime, so even with the two weeks at that school, there's still six more weeks of summer where I think it might be very, very challenging…. so all the gains I get in the beginning of the summer. I have to figure out a way to keep them because the rest of the year is going to be very, very, the rest of the summer will be very, very unpredictable. Lots of kids here, the kid off here, let's do this, oh, we only have, and the summer starts to go fast. So I haven't figured out a strategy, but I do think these two weeks will go a long way, and, oh, boy, soon we have to register for the test, which will come fast. |
| Kyejin: True. And I really look forward to your French skills after the school in Switzerland. |
| Peter: Same here. Although it's kind of interesting, people often tell me, how come you're going to Geneva to study French? You should go over the border and study there. |
| Kyejin: So, it's great news. I mean, interesting news, interesting news. |
| Peter: So, but first, we have June, so before we get to July, we have June. But, yeah, all the tickets were closed, and all the school was set up. So I just wanted to announce that... but we still have June. So right now, I'm at six hours a week. So my goal for June will be seven hours, and that's almost at the 30 mark. |
| Kyejin: And on my end, I want to take the DELF test well, without any problems, and also practice speaking because I noticed speaking is my weakness among all the skills while studying DELF. Yeah, I speak very slowly. So, yeah, I need to work on that. So after the test, yeah, I'll focus on speaking. |
| Peter: And in my case, it’s seven hours, the speaking will be three, and then I'll continue to increase the study of reading and listening, using our site and the pathway, and maybe, you can share which books you got, and I'll use those books to take those tests to. |
| Kyejin: Sure. Yeah, I share the books with you. |
| Peter: Ok, listeners. What about you? Let us know your small measurable monthly goal. Email us at inner dot circle at innovative language dot com, and stay tuned for the next inner circle. |
Outro
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| Kyejin: Bye everyone. |
| Peter: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time. |
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