This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 967, our five-step system for taking notes.
The right way.
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Should you take notes when you learn English?
What should you write down?
How often should you do it?
Get all of the answers in our five tips today.
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you?
Hey, Michelle, doing really good.
How are you?
I'm good, thanks.
I'm good.
I have a question for you.
Okay, I'm ready.
Okay, so when you've learned languages, do you take a lot of notes?
Like, what's your typical, your style for note-taking?
Yeah, I think when I was learning Spanish, for example, I was living in Guatemala and I used to go into jail.
I was living with a family in Totonicapan and I would go down into jail and take lessons once a week, and I would definitely like break out my notebook.
I would write things down and then I would bring them home to study because I remember.
When I learn a language, I think about the way it's written.
What do you mean by that?
I don't know if you do this too.
When I speak, I envision the word being written in the sky, like in my mind.
Yeah.
Really?
Oh, I don't do that.
No, it doesn't.
I mean, it sounds kind of cool, actually.
Yeah, this is a weird quirk of my own mind.
So when I learn a new language, I immediately want to know what it looks like written down.
It's kind of a visual learning tactic, I guess.
So it's important for me to take notes so I can grab onto that new word or phrase and then come back and look at it again.
Yeah, that's definitely a good way to do it.
Yeah, I feel like I also I like to take a lot of notes.
Sometimes, like like cleaning through my room and stuff, I can find like old notes of when I tried to learn a language and I'm like, Oh no, I forgot everything.
Yeah.
Oh, no, that's frustrating.
I know.
I know.
You're gonna stick to it, right?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Okay, so well, today, we actually have a really cool question about note taking.
So we're going to talk about that today.
So I'm really excited about a great question from a listener.
But first, guys Lindsay, I think we wanted to remind our listeners about something exciting coming up.
Yeah, guys, if you're taking IELTS this year, we are doing a webinar.
It's coming up very soon.
And these webinars are fun.
You're gonna get to know us.
It's gonna be myself and Jessica on the webinar this time.
And Michelle, you'll be on some webinars this summer too.
I'm super excited to do webinars with you.
Yeah, it's going to be fun.
But guys, this webinar is going to give you some very key tips and tricks to take away, especially for the writing part of the IELTS exam, which we know is the hardest part.
So go over and sign up because it's coming up on June 20th.
Go to allearsenglishcom forward slash examiner and get your name on the list and make sure you show up live guys.
All right?
Cool.
All right.
Awesome.
All right.
So, sounds exciting.
Very good.
Yeah.
Good.
So, yeah.
So, Lindsay, let's get into the question.
Do you want me to read the question this time?
I mean, if you want to, sure, we'll mix it up.
Why not?
A little variety is always good.
All right.
Let's mix it up.
You've been reading a lot of questions.
All right.
Hi, Lindsay.
I hope you're doing well.
I have a question about notes.
Indeed, very often it's recommended to take notes about what we've read, what we've seen or what we've listened to.
However, as far as I'm concerned, even though I'm very motivated to take notes, I always get lost when it comes to reviewing them.
Maybe this is because I tend to write too much and I don't know how to organize these notes.
Should I have a specific notebook for each topic?
At the end.
The problem is that it's difficult to classify all these notes in order to be I don't know if you will get my point
It might be an evidence for you.
I'm not sure.
Maybe she means like it might be obvious because that's a Spanish.
I wonder where this listener is from.
We might have a false friend translation going on.
For you, but not for me.
Yeah, obvious sounds right.
I ask this because I'm taking notes, vocabularies and expressions mainly, about different subjects.
But at a certain point, it's becoming a mess.
And this listener uses some very cute emojis here.
So we got a little monkey covering its eyes.
Oh, okay.
If it's possible for you to give me a piece of advice in terms of strategy, it'd be awesome.
Thanks again and best wishes to all the team.
Warmly, Priska.
Oh, Priska.
Okay.
So Priska has asked questions on the show before.
I believe Priska is from Germany, if I'm not mistaken.
So shout out.
Hello.
Good question here.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
I love I love this question.
I think, you know, it's important to talk about like, what is the best way?
Like you know, because many of you I mean yeah, of course we like to learn in the most natural way possible.
But that doesn't mean that you can't take notes, right?
And it doesn't mean that you aren't in a class or like even you know studying for IELTS or things like that.
Like this, note taking is very important, right.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I agree with you 100%, Michelle.
So, let's dive into it.
Okay.
Awesome.
So, guys, today we are going to give you the all ears English five top tips for taking notes.
Okay?
Awesome.
Awesome.
All right.
So, Lindsay, what's the first one?
Okay.
So, the first tip to keep in mind is don't overdo it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
I think this one is really important.
So what do you think about this one, Lindsay?
What do we mean by that?
Yeah, it's true.
It's like this idea, like if you're in a college lecture, if you literally take notes on everything, you haven't taken notes on anything.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, resist the temptation to want to write down everything. right?
Give yourself a limit.
Maybe you're going to write down main ideas or key words.
What do you want to take out of that of that session of that study session and write those down?
Right, right.
Keep it focused.
Maybe just like five to 10 words or five to 10 ideas.
Like, you know, I mean, what do you think of this, Lindsay?
I like this idea.
I think this is important.
I also.
I don't like the idea of well, your hand's going to get tired, first of all, if you're trying to write down everything and you're not being present.
Right.
No, there's an aspect to learning that's about being present with the language.
And I think sometimes taking notes can be a way to escape being present.
Hmm, that's, that's true.
Yeah, like I mean, I know as a teacher, you know, of course I want my students to take notes on the main things.
But if somebody's totally buried in their notebook the entire time and they don't look up, it's kind of like well, that's great, you have the notes, but you haven't really been taking them in in the same way, you know.
Yeah, that's completely true.
It reminds me of when I go to, this is a little bit different, but it's similar.
When I go to my meditation center and I go to the talks, they actually don't allow you to take notes.
Some people come in and they try to stay in a very academic mindset and take notes on what they're hearing, but they actually tell you to put that away because they want you to absorb what you're hearing like on a deeper, like physical level, kind of.
So I think there's something to this about being in.
Let's say, you're in a class like an English class or talking with a language partner.
There's something to just letting yourself be there, you know not, and maybe that means we take a few notes five to 10 key words but there's a bit of vulnerability there right Michelle, if we just let ourselves be with the language and not grab on to every single word and write it down.
Right, because your brain can't – it just can't take everything in.
Or maybe you think you can.
Like I tried to learn Spanish a little while ago and I – maybe I talked about this, but – and I figured –
You know, I know from my teaching experience, I know that this advice is true, not to overdo it.
And you know, to focus on a little bit at a time.
And so but I figure, oh, no, well, I language is like a thing of mine.
I'm a teacher, I can just go past it.
But I and I wrote down everything.
And of course, it was too much and nothing ever happened.
So like, yeah.
I just think you know I have a lot of time students saying like oh, I want to learn more more, more.
And that's great.
Like, of course, but you know, you have to, it's like, oh, don't overdo it.
And also pace yourself, you know?
Yeah, it's so true.
Especially for our listeners at their level.
Guys, you're going to face a point where you've got to let go of the notes, right?
I know today is about how to take notes, but when you're out in the world like you can't take the notes with you into a conversation, right?
And I think a lot of you guys are at that point where it's time to put the notes down And you're out in the world.
I mean, that's what we ask you to do in the urban adventures, right?
The immersion programs in New York and Boston, right, Michelle?
Yeah, absolutely.
And getting out into the world may just be one of our tips later on.
Okay, cool.
I'm excited for that.
I'm glad you mentioned that.
Okay, tip number two is focus on a few main categories.
Right.
So maybe make a goal for every month or every week of just a few categories.
And this, you know, relates to the first idea as well.
But here we're talking more about categories.
So like, maybe you want to focus on food this week or you want to focus on reading or conversational pieces the next week.
Right.
So choose a few.
I just have a few pages devoted to each.
So maybe you have like a section for food and you can section them off with paperclips or some sort of bookmark, so that you can really keep organized right.
So it's going to keep you organized, but it's not going to take you away from the tip that we talked about just a second ago about overdoing it right.
Yeah.
Yeah, I love that.
And also kind of knowing, just to extend this tip, kind of knowing how do you choose that category?
It's like, what do you want to do with your language?
Like, what's your goal?
You know, what do you want to be able to do next?
And then taking notes just on that category of language function, right?
Yeah.
Exactly, exactly.
You know, really know your goals, know yourself, what you want to do.
And then, yeah, just keep focused, really, I think.
Yeah.
And then we're setting up something.
We're going to talk about getting into the real world, but setting up a bit of a quiz for yourself where, at a certain point, you're going out there and you're taking what you've learned.
But let's get to that after, Michelle.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
So what's the third tip?
All right.
So keep the notebook around in your everyday life.
Right.
So this doesn't mean you have to carry around a huge notebook everywhere.
You can get a small separate notebook that's not for like when you're studying.
Right.
And you know, have a special spot or a special separate notebook for just things that you hear out and about and like.
This is what I feel is so good for what our listeners do when they send us these questions.
Sometimes it's about a word that they heard or a phrase that they heard on a TV show or something.
And it wasn't necessarily from a class or when they were trying to actively study, but it was a random thing that they heard.
Right?
Yeah.
So, you know, this could be anything.
And then you can look them up later or you can write to us and ask a question.
Right, Lindsay?
We love those questions.
And this is almost a better way to learn than sitting in a classroom and taking notes around a category of words.
Right, guys?
Because when you hear it in context, like Keishu last week asked us about oh boy, because he was watching a cartoon right,
A children's cartoon.
So he remembers that that was used in that context.
So you're going to remember these words so much better.
So grab them, take advantage of that moment.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So I think that that's really important, you know, a real natural way to learn, right?
Yeah.
So cool.
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Okay, a tip.
We got two more tips for you guys.
What's the fourth one, Lindsay?
Well, have a rest or a review day.
Right.
Yeah, so...
If you take notes seven days a week, every week, there's no point.
If you don't take the time to review them or to at least just take a rest day, it's just going to become overwhelming.
So I would say take at least a day off a week.
And just during this day or even a little bit every day, just look over the notes, right?
You can't just put them down and then never look at them again, right?
Right.
For sure.
Or even better, get yourself a language exchange where you're using those.
And there's, I mean, there's no excuse now, guys.
We can set up these language exchanges online.
So if you have a computer at your house and an internet connection I know not everyone does, but many of us who are listening to this show do have an internet connection then go to italki and set up a language exchange, guys.
Right, right, right.
Exactly.
Yeah, I think that that's a really good idea.
Right?
So like, you, you, you know, it depends.
How do you like to review things?
Do you?
Maybe you have like a little, maybe you are a studious person, maybe you like to go over and study, maybe you use flashcards, or maybe you make little quizzes for yourself, or whatever you like.
But maybe or maybe you're just the type of person who likes to read over things and then talk about them, like with a language exchange.
However, it works for you.
You got to make sure that you don't just put down the notes and then, you know, think that they're there forever.
I mean, they're there in the notebook, but you got to put them to your brain.
So I say, take a little bit of time, like So every day, to just kind of review what did you write that day.
You can just look over them.
Oh, yeah, this is what I wrote down today.
But make sure also that you take the time to just, you know one, take a step back, sometimes not to maybe take the notes, but to take that time, instead of taking the notes, to review them more thoroughly.
Okay.
Yeah, totally.
I love that.
Okay, good.
And we have one more tip, which is something that we were talking about a little bit already, and I think that this is the most important one.
What do you think, Lindsay?
Yeah, I mean, this is take them out into the world.
I mean, at your level, guys, there's just no we've talked about this on the show.
There's no substitute for real face to face practice or computer to computer, right?
You know, you need to be producing the language and receiving the language, right?
We take it in, we put it back out.
We need to practice both skills to actually become like a fluent and to connect, right?
To be at that level.
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
So, you know, apply, you know, make it real, right?
So you can even like kind of take if you want to write like a little tally, like how often you use the words or you know, or you can even say oh, like I want to use this word today.
Or maybe you want to Say, oh, which words did I end up using and write them down.
But, you know, you just you have to practice in real life.
Otherwise, what is the point?
Really?
Like, that's what we're all doing this for.
I mean, that's why we organize our summer intensive programs, guys.
So if you want to find out more about that, go to allearsenglishcom.
Forward slash immersion, because we actually see real, real dramatic shifts.
Even after just a weekend of three or four days of being with us, it actually does change your level of confidence.
And that kind of program is what you need to get set in the right direction.
But it doesn't have to be that, but find a way, right?
Find a way to practice.
Right, right, right.
Amazing.
Amazing.
I love it.
So just to review real quick, just to remind our listeners the five steps.
So the first one was don't overdo it.
Lindsay, do you have the second one?
Yeah, the second one.
Let me just go back up there.
All right.
So the second one is focus on a few categories or things that you want to learn.
Don't write down everything.
Right.
The third one is keep a notebook around, maybe a smaller one or just this one, if you want to carry it, even in your everyday life, or just pay attention to what you hear outside of the class or outside of you know.
Just natural things, right.
Yeah, exactly.
And then the fourth one was have a day to rest and review.
Right.
And the fifth one was take it out into the world.
Take the notes out into the world or what you've been learning, right?
Yeah, I love that.
Okay, great.
Anything else you can think of, Lindsay, or any other comments?
No, I mean, this is a great question from Prescott.
Thank you for asking this question.
So important at this level, guys.
It's not about writing everything down.
It's about writing down the right things and then doing the right things with that notebook right, michelle?
Yeah right right right, it's you gotta.
You know the takeaway.
I think it's like you know, it's about you taking the information, you let it resonate, and then you, you put it back out into the world right, and i think that that's a great way to learn, right?
Yeah, awesome.
Well, thanks for putting together these tips, michelle.
This is great.
Oh, you're welcome.
I really like this question.
It's important to, you know, think about things like this as we continue on our learning.
So yeah, let us know how it goes.
And if you have any other strategies that have worked for you that you want to share with the All Ears English community, that would be great.
Yeah guys, come back to our blog allearsenglishcom, and type 967 in the search bar to find this episode and then leave a comment or a question or a follow up idea.
And we'll do an extension of this episode next time.
All right.
Cool.
Hey, great.
All right.
This has been fun, Lindsay.
Yeah.
Thanks for hanging out, Michelle.
Have a good one.
Thanks.
Bye, guys.
Bye.
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