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S T E P – B Y – S T E P

Th e T r u e S t o r i e s C h e c k l i s t

Many students ask us how long they should practice with each lesson.

Everyone has different needs, so the answer will be different for everyone.

These are some goals you should meet before you move on to the next

lesson.

There are 12 units in the True Stories Fluency Course. Each unit has 11 audio

lessons. We recommend that you spend at least 1-2 weeks on each unit. This

means that you don’t just listen 1, 2 or 3 times. You should listen many times.

Repetition is necessary to build your listening and speaking skills.

Use this step-by-step checklist as you work through the "rst 11 lessons in

True Stories #1 Life or Death. The most important thing to remember is to

not get sidetracked by trying to be perfect. Your goal is to listen a lot and

speak a lot, and have fun. That means answering the questions quickly, not

perfectly. Follow this guide step by step and you will see success.

-Hosein

A c t i v e L i s t e n i n g S l o w , N o r m a l a n d F a s t S p e e d C h e c k l i s t ( T r a c k s 1 , 2 a n d 3 )

q Listen to the slow speed lesson "rst. Don’t read along with the PDF text "le.

q Don’t worry about understanding everything. Relax and focus on what you do understand.

q Listen again and close your eyes. Imagine what you’re hearing. Really see it. Create a movie in your mind. Stop the audio if you need to.

q After listening 4 or 5 times, listen again and read along with the PDF text "le.

q Use a dictionary as necessary, but remember that your main goal is to listen a lot.

q Imagine how things look, sound and smell. How do the characters feel? The stronger you imagine, the more you will subconsciously process the language.

q Listen again and then stop the recording. How much can you remember?

q Do you understand the main points. If the answer is no, listen again. If the answer is yes, start listening to the fast speed recording . Listen many times until it becomes easy.

q Go back to the slow speed recording and practice shadowing.

q Now try shadowing with the normal speed recording.

q After you've built your con"dence with the normal speed, challenge yourself with the fast speed.

A c t i v e S p e a k i n g C h e c k l i s t ( T r a c k 4 )

q Answer the questions with complete sentences.

q Pause the recording if you don’t have enough time to answer.

q Speak in a loud voice. If you want to become $uent, you can’t be shy with this step. Be bold! Be con"dent! If you don’t feel con"dent, don’t worry. Con"dence is a feeling that takes practice. Imagine con"dence at "rst, and real con"dence will grow.

q Don’t worry about the mistakes. The goal is not to be perfect or to match the recording. The goal is to increase your speaking time to become $uent.

q Speak along with these lessons many times, until you can answer easily and quickly, without pausing the recording.

F u t u r e , P r e s e n t C o n t i n u o u s , P a s t C o n t i n u o u s , P r e s e n t P e r f e c t C h e c k l i s t

( T r a c k s 5 , 6 , 7 a n d 8 )  

q Start with the Future tense. This one is the easiest. q Try to give your answers in the correct tense, but don’t worry about mistakes. Relaxing while you listen and speak is very important.

q Listen many times.   q You are ready to move on to the Present Continuous, when you can:

q  (1) Answer the Future questions without thinking.

q  (2) Speak without worrying about mistakes.

q  (3) Speak in a loud con"dent voice.   q Focus on opening up, relaxing and not trying to be perfect. Fluency is smooth speaking, not perfect speaking.

q Follow the same steps for the Present Continuous, Past Continuous and Present Perfect.

F l u e n c y B o o s t e r L e s s o n s C h e c k l i s t ( T r a c k s 9 , 1 0 a n d 1 1 )

q Follow the same steps as the Active Speaking. Don’t think about what you are going to say, just speak. If you are thinking too much, go back to the Active Speaking lesson and practice that lesson more. When you are con"dent, come back to the $uency booster lessons.

B e f o r e y o u f i n i s h T r u e S t o r i e s U n i t 1 a n d s t a r t U n i t 2

q There are 12 stories with 11 lessons each in the True Stories Fluency Course totalling 132 lessons. Don’t hurry. This isn’t a race. Your number one goal is to increase the amount you listen and speak everyday. The speed that you "nish these "rst 11 lessons is not important. In fact, it is better if you go slow and relax. This is the best way to build real $uency and con"dent speaking and listening.

q Retell these stories to your friends. Of course, retelling these stories in English is best, but even retelling them in your own language will help you process the story more deeply.

q Now, you’re ready to move on to True Stories Unit 2. Follow the same steps and remember, you don’t need to force anything. Just keep listening and keep speaking everyday, and you will improve.