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Stolaroid Stories

Latest episodes

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9 snips
Mar 13, 2023 • 34min

One of the Most Motivated Learners I've Ever Met, Antonello Zanini, Shares How He Improved His Writing

In this episode, I talk with Antonello Zanini, an English language learner, software engineer, blogger, and technical writer from Italy. Antonello fell in love with learning languages and transformed his freelance business as a software engineer into Writech, a company that provides technical writing content in multiple languages. He has clients from all 6 continents and says achieving this goal would have been impossible without his language learner mindset. Antonello is one of the most motivated language learners I've met in my life.  You'll hear him talk about: How he learned English and why. The system he developed to improve his English How he improved his writing by publishing articles on Medium, a free blogging platform. His language learning publication on Medium and why you too should publish articles there. Episode Links Medium - https://medium.com/  Antonello on Medium - https://medium.com/@antozanini Antonello's publication on Medium: Language Hub - https://medium.com/language-hub My Medium Publication: Read to Learn - https://medium.com/non-fiction-book-reviews Fabio on Medium - https://medium.com/@fabiocerpelloni Join my private email list - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/private/
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Mar 9, 2023 • 11min

Book club announcement and invitation

Watch this on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXZGix5Dxfo All my book clubs are here - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/book-discussions/ Thanks for listening 🙏🏻
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Mar 8, 2023 • 14min

What is fluency? Know what it is, so you can improve it.

Watch me talk about this on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VnhZNk64-M What's fluency? Do you need to learn more words to be fluent? How about grammar? Know what fluency is, so you can improve it. This is the blog post I mention in the episode - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/fluency/ I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to ask me any questions - I love talking about these things.  All my contact info is on my website - www.fabiocerpelloni.com
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Mar 6, 2023 • 14min

Further progress = specific problem + focused practice

You can watch this episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/GwggZEjTHIY *** Do you feel the way you use English is good but not as good as you’d like it to be? Does it feel like you’re not making as much progress as you used to?  The same happened to me.  When I got to a high level of English, everything slowed down and it felt like I was not advancing anymore.   I wish I’d known this little formula:  further progress = specific problem + focused practice   I hope this is helpful ✨   Check out the blog post - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/keep-improving/    And yes, the plural of the noun "medium" is "media" 😅
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Mar 1, 2023 • 12min

Consume learning advice responsibly 🙂

Watch this on YouTube - http://youtu.be/SYP6EeQIX3Q?hd=1 My private email list - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/private/ Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/fabiofacebookpage *** Some say, “Want to know the best way to get fluent in a language? Don’t study grammar! Speak instead!” Great advice. I agree. You can get fluent in a language without studying its grammar and you do have to speak to improve. My Italian partner Aloha, for example, has never opened a grammar book but she can communicate well in English because she learned it while working in Australia and New Zealand. She still makes some grammar mistakes though, so studying grammar is what might help her notice these imperfections to refine her English and communicate even better. So “Don’t study grammar! Speak instead!” would be the best advice for you if you tend to bury yourself in grammar books and never get out in the real world to use the language. But if you're like Aloha, then no, I don’t think that would be helpful. It's so easy to find general advice about anything these days. But what may work for one person in one specific situation may not work for another. I believe this is especially true in language learning as learning a language is a highly personal activity that doesn’t just involve learning rules and words, but also self-esteem, identity and self-confidence. Please consume advice responsibly :)
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Feb 28, 2023 • 11min

Start a podcast and speak English every day

Start a podcast in English. It'll help you develop your language skills in so many ways. You'll develop fluency by speaking at length using the English that you already have. You'll listen to yourself and discover what you can do well, which will help you become more confident. You might have to prepare your episodes and search for words you don't yet have in your brain. This will expand your vocabulary. You might use words you've recently learned, which will help you review and reinforce vocabulary you've already acquired. You'll be listening to yourself and notice what errors you tend to make so you can get rid of them. If you decide to write the show notes, you'll get writing practice. If you decide to have guests, you will have conversations with others, share stories and learn from other people. This list could go on forever. Podcasting can help you solve language problems without spending money on courses, classes, and programs. And I’m saying this against my own interest as I sell courses, classes and programs, so I hope you believe me when I say that podcasting can take your English not to the next level, but to the top level. It's free, doesn't require any expensive audio equipment and it can make learning English fun and motivating. Anyone can do it.  You may say, "I don't have enough English!" No worries. You don't need to have mastered English to start a podcast in English. But you'll master English as a result of having a podcast. Daniel Goodson, a learner of English who started a podcast to get more fluent, said to me, "It's 100% sure that you'll improve drastically if you start your own podcast. Guaranteed. If you do it on a regular basis, of course. 100% guaranteed." Start a podcast. I really hope you’ll do it. Episode Links Watch this episode on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pziB6O8Mt1Y My private email list - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/private/ Find me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/fabiofacebookpage
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Feb 27, 2023 • 41min

A Learner of English Who Started His Own Podcast in English: With Daniel Goodson

In this episode, I have a conversation with Daniel Goodson. Daniel is a learner of English from Switzerland who started podcasting back in 2016 as a way to improve his fluency.  On his show, My Fluent Podcast, he chats with language learners, teachers, friends and polyglots. He's interviewed dozens of people, including Luke from Luke’s English Podcast. I used to be shy", Daniel said, "but having lots of conversations on my show made me more confident with handling personal relationships in real life too." My Fluent Podcast is not the only show he has. He's also the host of The Vocab Man, a podcast where he teaches new English expressions he learns.  Have you ever heard of a more interesting way to learn vocabulary than this? I haven't. You'll hear us talk about: How and why Daniel started a podcast. How he invited Luke Thompson from Luke's English Podcast. How Daniel's English improved as a result of podcasting. Some of the guests Daniel had in the past. I hope you'll be inspired to start your own show too. Episode Links Daniel's show: My Fluent Podcast - https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/  The Vocab Man - https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/short-stories/  Daniel and I on My Fluent Podcast (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwBgDOBS4u4&t=1426s Daniel and I on My Fluent Podcast - https://www.myfluentpodcast.com/personal-storytelling-to-improve-in-your-target-language-a-podcast-interview/ A blog article I wrote about starting a podcast as a way to improve - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/start-podcasting/  My New Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/fabiofacebookpage/  My private email list - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/private/
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Feb 23, 2023 • 14min

Why reading books can help you in life

Most people I know don't read enough. I never read enough either. But I think that if you're not reading you're missing out on something that can really help you improve yourself and your life. I hope this is helpful. You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube. Here's the link - http://youtu.be/QuEQguRO_Zk?hd=1 Any comments or questions? Email me - all my contact info is on my website - www.fabiocerpelloni.com
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Feb 22, 2023 • 13min

Should you worry about language mistakes? Yes and no

My thoughts on making language mistakes.  I hope this is helpful.   There's a video version of this on YouTube. Here's the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kDOvcF01u8    My website - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/    The podcast episode I mentioned in the video - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/chris/
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Feb 21, 2023 • 9min

Your English level is enough to read books

A few thoughts on reading books in English.  Here's the blog post I talk about in the episode - https://fabiocerpelloni.com/english-books/ I hope this is helpful. Please email me any questions or comments. All my contact info is on my website - fabiocerpelloni.com

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