05 Thought Mastery MINI STORY

Hello, this is AJ. Welcome to the mini‑story for “Thought Mastery.” Are you feeling good? Are you moving your body? Breathing deeply. Smiling big! Good posture? I hope so. Let’s get started.

* * * * *

There was an incredible woman named Sri. Sri was a linguist and she wanted to study Swahili.

What was Sri?

Well, she was a linguist.

What is a linguist?

A linguist is a person who studies languages. Aha.

So what did Sri study?

Languages, Sri studied languages. She was a linguist.

Was Sri a truck driver?

No, she wasn’t a truck driver. Sri was a linguist.

Who was a linguist?

Sri, Sri was a linguist.

How many languages did Sri speak? Three?

No, not three.

Six?

No, not six.

She spoke 247 languages.

How many languages did she speak?

247, Sri was an amazing linguist. She spoke 247 languages.

In fact, she had total mastery in 247 languages.

Wow. Did she have total mastery or was she pretty good?

Total mastery, she had total mastery in 247 languages.

What kind of linguist was Sri?

An incredible linguist, a super linguist, an amazing linguist.

But, she needed another language. She wanted to study Swahili.

Where do people speak Swahili?

Africa, in Africa.

People speak Swahili in Africa, of course.

Did Sri want to speak Swahili or did she want to speak Japanese?

Well, she already spoke Japanese perfectly, so she wanted a new language. She was bored, time for a new language. She wanted to speak Swahili.

She wanted to speak 248 languages perfectly.

What was Sri?

A linguist, she was a linguist. Not just a normal linguist, she was a super duper incredible linguist.

So she wanted to learn Swahili. First she tried a visual method.

Did she try to learn with her eyes or her ears?

With her eyes, a visual method. Visual means with the eyes, connected to the eyes, related to seeing, visual. Visual. She tried a visual method first.

What kind of method did she try to learn Swahili with?

A visual method, she tried a visual method for learning Swahili.

She read textbooks and grammar rules.

Did she listen to them or did she read them?

Well, she read them, right? It was a visual method, she used her eyes. She read textbooks. She read grammar rules.

What language was she studying?

Swahili, she was studying Swahili with a visual method.

She studied Swahili with a visual method for two years. Every day she read textbooks. Every day she read grammar books. After two years what happened? Nothing. After two years Sri was frustrated. She still could not speak Swahili.

Was the visual method successful for Sri?

No, no, no, no, no, it was not successful for Sri. Sri failed with the visual method.

For how long did she study with the visual method?

For two years, right? She studied with a visual method for two years.

Which language did she study for two years?

Swahili, right? She studied Swahili with a visual method for two years.

Who studied Swahili with a visual method for two years? Sri, Sri studied Swahili with a visual method for two years. Was she successful after two years?

No, she failed. She was not successful after two years. She still could not speak Swahili.

So, she modified her approach.

Did she change her approach or did she keep the same approach?

Well, she changed it. She modified her approach.

What did she modify?

Her approach, her method, her technique. She changed her technique. She changed her way of learning. She modified her approach.

She modified her approach to what?

To learning Swahili, she modified her approach to learning Swahili. She changed her technique for learning Swahili.

What kind of approach did she try next? Was it a visual approach again?

No, it wasn’t. She modified her approach. She changed that.

It was a kinesthetic approach, a kinesthetic method.

Ooh, a new word, kinesthetic. Kinesthetic means related movement and the body. So related to movement, feeling, physical feeling, and the body.

She learned Swahili with her body, with movement and feelings in her body.

Sounds interesting. What kind of method did she try next?

Kinesthetic, she tried a kinesthetic method.

Who tried a kinesthetic method? Sri, Sri tried a kinesthetic method. For what?

For learning Swahili, she tried a kinesthetic method for learning Swahili.

Did she try to learn with her body or with her ears?

With her body, she tried to learn Swahili with her body. She tried a kinesthetic method.

What was the kinesthetic method?

Well, it was called TPR and she had to jump and move while learning.  The teacher said “Jump” in Swahili, of course, and Sri would jump. The teacher said “Sit” in Swahili. And Sri would sit. She did this every day. Every day she jumped and sat and moved and walked and wrote and read, as the teacher told her to in Swahili. It was a kinesthetic method, right? She had to move her body. She was learning with movement. Kinesthetic.

Did this boost her learning?

Oh yes, it did.

It boosted her learning. It raised her learning. It increased her learning. She began to learn Swahili. She began to understand Swahili. She began to speak Swahili.

Did the kinesthetic method lessen or boost her learning?

It boosted her learning. It increased her learning.

What boosted Sri’s learning of Swahili?

The kinesthetic method, the kinesthetic method boosted her learning of Swahili.

Did it boost her learning a little or a lot?

Of course, a lot, it boosted her learning a lot.

She began to learn much, much faster.

Which was faster, the visual method or the kinesthetic method?

Well, the kinesthetic method obviously. The kinesthetic method was much faster. It boosted her learning a lot more.

What did it boost?

It boosted her learning. It boosted her learning speed.

Of what?

Of Swahili, it boosted her learning speed of Swahili.

What boosted her learning speed of Swahili?

The kinesthetic method.

So she used the kinesthetic method for one year. It boosted her learning. She learned faster and faster and better and better. But, but she did not achieve mastery. She did not become a master of Swahili. She was good, but not a master.

Did Sri become a master of Swahili by using the kinesthetic method?

No, she did not. She did not become a master. She became good but she did not become a master by using the kinesthetic method.

And so she modified her approach again.

Did she change her approach again, a little bit?

Yes, she did. She changed it again. She modified it again.

What did she modify?

She modified her approach. She modified her way of doing something. She modified her way of learning Swahili.

What did she do next?

Well, she added something this time. She continued to learn with the kinesthetic method but she added something more.

What did she add? What kind of method did she add next?

Well, she added an auditory method.

Auditory, another new word, auditory. Auditory means related to hearing or listening, related to the ears. It shares the same root as audio, right? Audio meaning sound. Auditory means related to sound, related to listening, related to hearing, auditory. So a listening method is what she changed to or added. She added a listening method.

What kind of method did she add? Auditory, she added an auditory method. Who added an auditory method?

Sri, of course. Sri added an auditory method.

Why?

Because she wanted total mastery of Swahili. Which language did she want to totally master? She wanted to totally master Swahili, of course. So what did she add to her learning method?

She added an auditory method, an auditory approach.

What did she add an auditory approach to? What did she add it to?

She added it to the kinesthetic method. She was already using the kinesthetic method, then she added the auditory method to it. She added them together, doing both.

Did she subtract an auditory method?

No, she didn’t subtract it, she added it. She added an auditory method, right?

And she added a visual method?

No, no, no, no, no, she did not add the visual method. She subtracted the visual method. She eliminated the visual method.

So what did she add?

An auditory method, she added an auditory method.

She began to listen to Swahili every day, listening more and more and more. Every day listening to Swahili, tons of listening, 3 hours, then 4 hours, then 10 hours, then 23.5 hours of listening every day.

How many hours did she listen to Swahili every day?

23.5.

So how many hours did she sleep every day?

.5, only 30 minutes. She decided to only sleep 30 minutes each day and she listened to Swahili 23.5 hours every day.

Was she successful?

Yes she was.

Sri became a total master of Swahili in only one year. After one year of listening to Swahili 23.5 hours a day she became a total master of Swahili. Now she speaks 248 languages perfectly. Sri is the best linguist in the world.

* * * * * 

Okay, that is the end of the mini‑story for “Thought Mastery.” As always, listen to it again and again and again. In fact, listen to this mini‑story 23.5 hours every day. If you listen to my lessons 23.5 hours every day you will too become a master of English. But if you want to, 1 or 2 hours is probably enough.