Happy Tuesday everyone. I’ve already gotten 1 lesson under my belt this morning, and in the down time, I thought I’d share some language learning wisdom.

Find an interesting article online that has an audio version of the written text. For example, this article “A Lesson in How to Overcome Implicit Bias” from NPR‘s Code Switch.  

LISTEN to the audio first without reading anything. See how much you can understand. Then read the article, looking up any new words or phrases.

Now that you’ve listened to the audio and read the article, you should have a better understanding of the content.

Finally, listen to the audio portion again, but this time, read the transcript as you listen. Reading is a great way to improve your vocabulary, but it is difficult to know how to pronounce new words you come across. That’s why it’s a great exercise to do both.

Many of NPR’s articles have this audio and transcript feature, which is why I often use this site with my students. Also, Code Switch is one of the many podcasts I recommend to my students.

Hopefully this quick tip will help you in your language learning goal. Stay tuned for more tips, or follow me on Instagram for daily updates.