Before You Read this Newsletter
I want to let you know that early bird registration for private lessons is now open for the fall! I’m offering a 5% discount in addition to two free lessons for anyone who pays by August 1st.
Private lessons are a great way to build confidence, improve spoken fluency, and learn at your own pace. My team of tutors at the Calgary Language Nerds is friendly and approachable so you don’t need to feel shy asking about asking questions. We also provide self-study exercises for you to progress efficiently between lessons.
We have the ability to teach almost any language. If we do not have a tutor on hand for the language you are learning, we will either hire one or give you a referral to another tutor.
Book a free consultation below or click here to learn more.
My Favourite Listening and Reading Comprehension Resource
What is LingQ?
LingQ is an app to improve listening and reading comprehension for twenty-four different languages with additional languages currently in the beta phase. There are thousands of audios with accompanying transcripts for you to listen to and/or read covering a wide array of topics such as business, culture, sports, science, and current events. Best of all, LingQ offers content for everyone regardless of your level.
There is a free version of the app as well as a premium subscription. In my perspective, the subscription is worth the money particularly because it gives you the ability to look up and save an unlimited number of new words and phrases you encounter in-app while reading/listening. Learn more about LingQ here.
Why Listening/Reading Matters
Simply put, it’s because listening and reading helps you to speak and write better. This is, of course, provided you are also practicing speaking and writing. In other words, one of the fastest ways to improve your speaking and writing ability is to do both of the following:
Read and listen a lot
Speak and write a lot
I know that this sounds like simple, perhaps even obvious advice. However, I encounter plenty of language learners who make comments such as, "why isn’t my speaking getting better?” only for me to find out they spend 99% of their study time on listening and reading. Obviously your speaking will not improve if all you do is listen and read!
On the other hand, I frequently meet with other individuals who only practice speaking by taking private lessons and interacting with friends who are native or advanced speakers. Depending on your learning needs and desired outcomes, this is also a potential mistake. Only practicing speaking eventually causes a stagnation in your level and you will lack the vocabulary (and sometimes grammatical accuracy - I’ll cover this topic another day) required to move from an intermediate to advanced level. The solution to increasing vocabulary is to read and listen more to content that is at or slightly above your level. Reading in particular is a useful way to increase vocabulary. In fact, there may be no better strategy.
Final Thoughts
There should be a balance between input (i.e., reading and listening) and output (i.e., writing and speaking). A general rule to follow if you feel unsure about how to best spend your time is to dedicate 60-70% of your time to input and 30-40% to output. Naturally, this is not a hard and fast rule, but it is nevertheless a good guideline.