This is an All Ears English podcast episode 1013.
Why dictation is a golden oldie if you do it right.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 50 million times.
We believe in connection, not perfection.
With your American hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
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Today we answer a listener question.
Should you be using dictation when you listen to a podcast to learn English or?
Answer might surprise you.
Listen in today.
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Hey, Jessica, how you doing today?
I am fantastic.
I'm moving tomorrow.
Oh, that's awesome.
So kind of crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's so fun.
Moving is refreshing, but it's very stressful in the moment, you know?
You know, it's all right.
I've been packing little by little every day and a couple of friends and my brother are going to come help.
It's really going to be easier than I'm thinking.
Yeah.
That's good.
I'm glad to hear that.
That's awesome.
Well, I'm so happy to be here on the microphone.
You know we just passed episode 1000 at All Ears English and just feeling really good, really excited about our listeners and what we're doing here on this show Jessica.
It's It's amazing.
Over a thousand episodes.
I mean, congratulations.
That's incredible.
Well, thanks to our listeners.
Really, it's all about them.
You know they're amazing questions and just the enthusiasm, all the reviews that we read from you guys.
It really keeps us going.
It keeps us podcasting for you guys.
So fantastic.
We love this job.
We love interacting with you guys.
Definitely.
The questions we get are fascinating and they're great for developing our episodes and what we know that you guys want to hear about.
It's fantastic.
Yeah.
And speaking of questions, actually we got a really good question about how to learn English, right?
Because this show is about vocabulary.
It's about culture.
It's about connection.
And it's also about what to do to improve faster to get there.
Right?
Learning a language, there are so many ways into a language, right?
Listeners, you know from just listening to this show there are so many options for getting into English.
And what I like about today's question is like...
There are some traditional methods that I think get a bad rap because we're like oh, that's the way people learn languages in the 1940s or whatever.
But you know what?
Just because it's been around for a while doesn't mean it's like a bad activity, you know?
Yeah, that's so true.
I think dictation is one of those.
Exactly, exactly.
I remember when I did my master's and we're talking about.
You know the different methodologies of learning English, and dictation is just like it's OG.
It's one of the original English languages. learning or any language learning methods.
Like I was saying, on the face of it, it sounds boring.
On the face of it, it sounds like this really dry activity you do in a classroom, but it doesn't have to be that.
I think context around this activity and what you're dictating Right.
Like that makes a huge difference.
Absolutely.
You should be inspired by what you're listening to.
So why don't we start by reading the question?
I'll go ahead and read the question from Abdullah and then we will answer the question.
How does that sound?
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay, so he says, But also, I like the way of having the topic delivered to your listeners.
Hey, that's great.
That's good to hear.
Thank you, Abdullah.
That's fantastic.
It's so good to hear.
Okay, so here's the question.
As your podcast mostly improves listening skills, I have one question regarding writing down what we're listening to at the time we're hearing it.
In fact, while hearing the podcast, I keep writing down all of what I hear, by playing a few seconds and then pause it to write down what I've heard so far.
It is not bad for me to find this useful, but I would call this way a bit time consuming.
As a result, I'd like to ask you.
Yes, I think it is right.
As a result, I'd like to ask you if you really think that way is a good way to go with, or should I follow a different style of learning?
Please let me know if you find this way good or bad.
If you think it's not good, kindly suggest an alternative that improves my English but saves time.
I love it.
That is a great question.
Lindsay, when you were a classroom teacher, did you include dictation activities?
No, to be honest.
When I started teaching in classrooms specifically in Japan, our method that we use did not include dictation activities.
I think our method was trying to get people.
It was the more communicative method at that time, right.
Trying to get people up out of their seats, speaking with each other in pairs, role plays, dialogues, that kind of thing.
So it was a think that was a moment in teaching where they were trying to move away from dictation.
Right, it's it's an oldie, but goodie.
Right, it's an oldie, but goodie.
That's the thing i mean.
We have to pull from so many different methodologies when we're trying to learn a new language.
Like abdullah says, it's hard man, it is hard, And there's nothing wrong with focusing on a specific skill to improve that.
I mean we have to be honest with ourselves as students that we're not in a native speaker environment.
We cannot learn the language as native speakers do.
It's literally impossible.
You're not growing up in the language, right?
So you have to find ways to pull this into your life.
And I actually, I always love dictation activities.
I would include dictation activities before the communicative ones, where I would give, like Student A and student B, they would each have half of a conversation and then they would have to read their half and the other student listens and writes it down, because that not only works on listening skills but also pronunciation skills, because you have to say it clearly for your partner, right.
Yeah.
And then from that they could do the conversation out loud and then move on to a freer conversation after that.
So I was always a fan of dictation, because there's a lot of classrooms that do not include listening skills, right?
We really have moved away in language schools and – teaching methodology from these quote unquote like classic methods.
But yeah, There's nothing wrong with them as long as they're that's not the only thing you're doing.
Exactly.
So if we're going to recommend like, leaving dictation in for Abdullah as part of his schedule, how would we?
What are some of our kind of parameters of what kind of material to choose, for example, how much of it to dictate?
What should he be doing? on a daily basis when it comes to dictation?
Yeah, so I think Abdullah doing the whole podcast, I think that's overkill, right?
So you have to look at the maximum time for learning, right?
Right.
And I think any more than five minutes of a show, I think any more than five minutes.
You're not going to be learning a lot after that.
Right.
So and your brain will get so tired that would just all that activity.
It's so long.
So, yeah, I would say.
Like five minutes of listening, pausing, and writing down.
And definitely, this show is fantastic for doing that.
Choose any podcast that is motivating for you.
And I think...
For Abdullah and for the rest of our listeners as you progress in your English level.
I think moving on to native speaker podcasts with transcripts would be the logical next step.
Right,
Because it will get more challenging.
You'll learn more natural English that way.
Inside your podcast player so that you don't miss a single episode.
Thanks, guys.
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Yeah, I think the main problem that people have with dictation is they think of boring material.
But that doesn't have to be the case, guys.
So if you are designing this as part of your own learning plan, as our listeners do, that they're independent learners, right Jessica?
Guys, make sure you're choosing interesting material.
You decide what to dictate, not your teacher anymore.
So choose something that's interesting and don't overdo it.
Don't do more than five minutes.
I think that's a really good rule of thumb there.
Yeah.
And I want to tell you guys as well about one of our IELTS students in Three Keys because she had an interesting activity that she does with our podcast.
And she ended up getting a seven in speaking.
Now, if you're not an IELTS person, let me tell you, a seven in speaking is amazing.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
So guys, you can actually listen to her talk about her experience of learning English with us.
And using our podcast, that is episode 602 on the IELTS energy side of things.
But what she did, you guys, she would take one episode every week and she would use it to mimic.
She would listen and pause and then repeat what she heard us say.
So I love like – taking one of our shows or a native speaker podcast and including these two activities for listening and speaking skills.
Like this is so useful.
So maybe you could use the dictation thing for the first five minutes.
And then after that, for the next five minutes, do the listen, pause, repeat, right?
For pronunciation and speaking.
There are so many ways to learn English, you guys.
And these two activities with a podcast, so fun.
Yeah, I think that's part of the key is mixing it up, using different activities, right?
It's not just dictation.
It's not just one thing or the other.
It's moving between activities, maybe at different times of the day too, right?
So that we can really stay engaged and make sure our energy is high.
Because I know if I try to do anything for more than half an hour, I get bored.
Yeah, totally.
You know?
Yeah.
We have to know ourselves.
Yeah.
And you know there's a lot to be said also for like throwing in different activities at different times every week, because that shakes up your brain in a way that wakes it up and helps you to learn even more right.
If you're in a routine where it's like –
Every morning I dictate this thing for an hour.
That's going to lose the effectiveness after a while, right?
Absolutely.
You're not going to be learning more.
You're just going to be like maintaining this level or this skill.
Excuse me.
Yeah, that's so true.
But if you're like, you know what?
It's a Wednesday night.
I'm going to do this mimicking activity.
Right.
Like your brain's not expecting it.
It's going to be woken up in a different way.
It's so good for you.
It reminds me of how I used to read that they said that the taxi drivers in London this is all before.
They had maps and stuff.
They had like, the most sophisticated neuro scans of their brains because they had to navigate the city of London entirely on their own.
And they would never go the same way.
They would get lost.
And that's part of like keeping ourselves alive and keeping ourselves sharp.
Totally.
You know, like never trying to avoid.
I always walk the same way, but I tried.
Now I'm thinking like I should avoid that.
I should try to find a new way home because that's how we keep ourselves alive.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Like in our course, The Connected Communicator there's.
There's an interview with an artist in San Francisco in there.
And he talks about this, right?
He talks about keeping yourself alive, like you're saying, like keep your life lively.
And that is exactly one of the things he recommends.
He's like, do not take the same way home today.
Like you need to walk in a different direction, choose a different path, right?
So every week you're throwing in something unexpected and And you have to, or else this routine controls you and you don't control your life, right?
Yeah, I love that.
I think that's the takeaway for today, Jessica, is just, you know, finding a new way to study.
But you are the leader.
You're the pilot here in terms of how you guys use podcasts, how you learn podcasts.
But make sure you break it up.
Do something different every time.
You're not doing 30 minutes of dictation every day because you'll get bored.
Right.
You'll get bored fast.
Yeah.
And choosing different podcasts, right?
I mean you could keep the same activity but just choose some random podcast every week that you would never normally listen to and then apply the dictation and the mimicking to that.
Yeah, love it.
Love it.
All right, guys.
So if you want to learn more about that Connected Communicator course that we mentioned, I remember that interview.
We did that in San Francisco with that artist.
That was so cool.
And that is inside the course in one of the modules.
If you guys want to check that course out, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash connection.
And if you are taking the IELTS exam, guys, in the fall, now we're into September, right?
So that's big.
Go and subscribe right now to the IELTS Energy Podcast to get more tips on how to get that seven.
Love it.
Awesome.
And we will see you in there.
How fun.
Yeah, sounds great to me.
All right, Jessica, good luck with your move.
Let us know how it goes back on the show next week, okay?
Oh my gosh.
Oh, I can't wait to be done with that.
This time next week, I will let you know.
Update coming.
Just buy lots of packing tape.
Lots of packing tape.
All right, Lindsay, have a good day.
All right.
Take care.
Bye.
Thanks so much for listening to All Ears English.
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