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StoryLearning review: lazy, but you’ll learn to read

October 6, 2023 by Jamie 18 Comments

StoryLearning is a well-known language learning course developed by polyglot Olly Richards, and its approach is pretty self-explanatory: learn a language through story. The internet is chock full of five-star reviews, but is the heavy price tag worth it for you? In this StoryLearning review, that’s exactly what you’ll find out.

Keep reading this StoryLearning review to find out what these courses do, what they don’t do, and how to decide if you should give them a try.

Languages you can learn with StoryLearning

While not all languages are created equal (as in, some offer more content than others), you can use StoryLearning to learn:

Arabic
Chinese (Mandarin)
Danish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean

Latin
Norwegian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish

Now let’s dive into the course itself.

StoryLearning review: course structure

As you log in to your StoryLearning course for the first time, you’ll have several pages introducing you to the course, including an introduction to your language teacher (Olly does not teach the languages himself, he just hosts a platform for others to teach using his methodology) and the basic gist of what makes StoryLearning special.

Here’s a clip.

You’ll also learn more details about how you will be learning a language through story. Specifically, each chapter corresponds with a chapter of a story created just for StoryLearning. They’re all broken up into the following lessons:

Read and listen to the chapter of the story
Learn the cognates (words that sound similar and mean the same in English [not to be confused with false friends, which sound similar but mean very different things]) present in the chapter
Break down vocabulary words deemed important
Learn the basic grammar used
Simple pronunciation lesson
Cultural tidbit
A speaking lesson meant for you to share with a language teacher and/or language exchange partner

Then you’ll move on to the next chapter and do it all over again until you finish the story.

The idea is that if you’re consistent, you’ll understand more and more of the language until you finish the story and have successfully reached a certain level within said language.

All that said, let’s check out a StoryLearning lesson.

Chapter

The basis of every chapter of the StoryLearning courses is the chapters of the book. Here’s what that looks like.

As you can see, there’s even more explanation about how the course works before the first actual lesson.

Listen to the audio recording a few times
Read the foreign language translation a few times while listening to the audio recording
Read the English translation to see how much you understood correctly

It goes on to explain (again) how to use the course; basically, be ready to repeat the same section over and over and over again, and understand little to none of it. It’s all part of the process, and it’ll work if you can stick to it.

Repetition, repetition, repetition – it’s like Pimsleur in this way, except you understand what’s going on in Pimsleur’s lessons. Here, you’re specifically meant to understand very little.

Cognates

Now that we have the sounds of the chapter in our brains, and maybe we’ve even made some connections between words ourselves, it’s time to acknowledge cognates.

This is a fairly common practice across some language learning resources, like Language Transfer. Anything to make it easier to connect to languages that are very different from your native language!

At this point, you should be starting to make sense of the language. It’s kind of like the first lesson is trying to get your brain to understand it by purely brute force, and then the following lessons give you a little step up solidifying the meaning behind these new sounds.

So now that we’re understanding a bit more of the general meaning behind the chapter, let’s learn some vocab.

Vocabulary

Even for such a short chapter, a total beginner of the language is not going to know any of the vocab presented. You might be curious as to which vocab words the teacher things are the most important to be explicitly taught. Most strategies go:

words > sentences > story

but this one seems to go:

story > words

Here’s what I mean.

Out of all the words I don’t understand in the chapter (which is all of them, for the record), these are the ones chosen to study specifically. It’s so weird to be learning “yes” and “no” after drilling the chapter of a story!

Then we have the practice. It’s a simple Quizlet plugin, where the words have been uploaded to the Quizlet platform and the link is copied and pasted into the course.

You’ll drill some chosen vocabulary by:

matching (as shown in the video above)
test (try to get the right answer)
spelling
flashcards

Can I be honest here?

This is lazy.

For such a well-known, expensive language course, I would expect more from the vocabulary section. I can’t even get it to work! Given that it is a Quizlet plugin, I would literally rather be given the vocab words in a list and put them into my own Quizlet account, or another flashcard system.

Using the StoryLearning approach, you’re not supposed to be memorizing lists of words, which is fine. If that’s the case, why include a vocab section at all?

Next is grammar, which is also not meant to be studied like a textbook, but instead picked up naturally.

Grammar

Olly is very clear that the StoryLearning approach is not your boring, basic textbook approach to a language, which is generally very focused on grammar. So, let’s see how they do it.

In this section, the specific concepts seem a lot less random.

While the strategy is the exact same one used in the previous lesson on vocabulary, the key difference here is that grammar is basically the patterns of the language. I like how the words can be pulled out of the chapter as examples of the beginner grammar pattern, which creates context and makes it much easier to learn.

It didn’t work this well for vocab, which felt like random words that were *chosen*.

However, the Quizlet activity is exactly the same. This is frustrating to me because I know there are much better options for practicing grammar! Again, I would rather be directed to high-quality grammar activities than this.

Next up: pronunciation.

Pronunciation

I’m curious about this section because most language learners don’t worry about pronunciation. Perfect pronunciation doesn’t tend to be a priority.

I approve!

Most language learners don’t realize that improving your pronunciation also improves your ability to understand a foreign language because you’re tuning your ear to understand the sounds that are used by native speakers.

StoryLearning is largely about input (understanding the language, not as much producing it yourself), and simple pronunciation lessons like this one are really helpful for listening comprehension.

The next lesson, culture, is another topic that isn’t always considered to be important.

Culture

Personally, I love culture. It tends to be one of my favorite parts of learning languages! Not always because of how it helps me to understand and use a language correctly, but just because I find it interesting.

Here’s how StoryLearning connects culture to language learning.

I’m going to be brutally honest again.

This StoryLearning review has proven this course to be dynamic, with videos, audio lessons, and activities to practice the concepts. So why is the lesson on culture…not?

Especially with the specific phrases used to explain the concept, they would be 10x more interesting and engaging with simple audio clips of the teacher saying the words and phrases. It would also really help with listening comprehension and being able to contextualize the lesson.

Time for the last section of each chapter.

Speaking

Speaking is not a big priority in the StoryLearning courses. The priority is reading, maybe listening to, stories meant for language learners. So I was surprised to find a speaking section in every chapter. Here’s what that looks like.

Once again…I’d rather they stick to what they’re good at.

This isn’t speaking practice as much as it is a free lesson to give to a language teacher or language exchange partner if you’re working with one. It is a good way to connect other language learning to what you’re learning with StoryLearning, but it’s not particularly effective by itself.

So once again, I would be more impressed if they stuck with what they’re good at – stories, reading, and listening comprehension – and leave all the other stuff to other resources that are much better at them.

I’d bet good money that at least 50% of all their students are just skipping right past the speaking section, finishing their StoryLearning courses, and then being frustrated that they can’t hold a conversation.

StoryLearning review: community

As you work through the StoryLearning courses, it’s suggested you join the private student community. Like, on every page. Each language has its own community. Here’s what it’s like inside.

As you can see, each language is broken up into the following categories:

Say hello
The level(s) you’ve purchased
Live coaching
Fun & motivational stuff

But, really, it just appears to be a timeline of unanswered tech issues.

One more time: stick to what you’re good at!

Judging by the rest of the StoryLearning course, the team is perfectly good at recording lessons and putting them where they belong, but not so much at keeping things updated and engaging in conversation.

That said, is the private student community a bonus to the StoryLearning courses? I’m honestly not sure.

StoryLearning review: price

For lifetime access to any one of the StoryLearning “Uncovered” courses, you’ll pay $297. This makes these courses one of the more expensive options on the market.

That’s really all there is to say about that. They’re commonly on special sales, or at least said to be on sale, but they’re pricey regardless.

Fortunately, you can get a 7-day free trial before you commit.

StoryLearning review: is it for you?

In this StoryLearning review, I’ve been more critical than most. A big reason for this is that those who are most excited about these courses are Olly’s personal friends, which makes their reviews far from objective.

So how do you know if StoryLearning is the right approach for you to learn a language?

First: reading has to be a priority. Listening too, but mostly reading. The point is to learn a language by reading stories, so if your goal isn’t to be able to read books in your target language, you’re better off using another method.

Second: either speaking the language isn’t important to you, or you’re getting your speaking practice elsewhere, whether that be with a language teacher or a language exchange. While there is technically a section for speaking practice, it does not suffice for those who really want to be conversational.

And third: you’re patient. While StoryLearning will teach you the language, you basically have to be willing and able to trust that it’s going to happen without being able to see a lot of the progress for yourself. Now this is normal for intermediate and advanced language learners, but true beginners are likely to give up before it really pays off.

In fact, you should probably meet all 3 conditions to benefit from any of Olly Richards’ resources, even his line of Short Stories books.

If you don’t, I would recommend another language learning resource that’s more geared toward teaching the skills that matter most to you, and that’s why I created my language app search.

But if you do, give StoryLearning a shot with a 7-day free trial here!

Ella Verbs review: your best bet for Spanish conjugation practice

May 31, 2023 by Jamie Leave a Comment

Ella (not pronounced like “she” in Spanish, but like “elephant”) Verbs is a language app that specializes in helping users to understand and conquer their Spanish verb conjugations – if you have any experience learning Spanish, you know that this is a sorely needed resource. In this Ella Verbs review, let’s take an honest look at the app, including what it does well, where it can be improved, and if it’s the Spanish language app for you.

Ella Verbs review: their “Learn, Quiz, Repeat” ethos

Before we look at what it’s like to use Ella Verbs, it’s important to understand the bare-bones strategy of Jane and Brian (the Irish couple behind the app)’s approach: learn, quiz, repeat. This is how these words are executed in your learning of Spanish verb conjugations:

Journey: Ella Verbs guides you through the major Spanish tenses, in the order that they are most used in conversation, allowing you to put them into practice as soon as possible and get speaking faster – AKA, worry about the fancy “correct” tenses later, after you can have a basic conversation
Levels: each level is made up of bite-sized lessons introducing a concept, followed by interactive quizzes to test your knowledge*
Vocabulary: Ella Verbs gradually introduces new popular verbs at every level, so by the time you are finished, you will know the top 300 verbs used in most conversations
Progress: a detailed progress map, showing you each corresponding CEFR level (A1 – C2), and highlighting the areas you need to focus on to get to the next level
Personalized: quizzes tailored to you, help you focus on your weak points – be it a certain tense, pronoun, or verb. These quizzes change daily based on your practice
Custom: learn the way you want and completely customize your quizzes, whether that be typing, multiple choice, or in sentences. You can also add boosts to increase the difficulty

*Consistently quizzing your conjugations is proven to facilitate long-term retention better than reading, so this is one of Ella Verbs’ most important and core ideas.

Let’s take this ethos and see how each point is executed!

Journey

First, let’s look at the Ella Verbs journey. Here you can see that users are guided through verb conjugations in the order that they’re actually useful (and as compared to the CEFR levels):

Ella Verbs does this really well! It’s simple, easy, and gets the job done. Plus, I love that it waits for you to spell the words correctly – when you get it right, it automatically continues to the next question (this can be changed in settings if you prefer); if it’s wrong, it’ll wait til you figure it out for yourself (and it won’t ding you for wrong answers!).

This is excellent for Spanish language learners who can be sensitive to negative reinforcement (I will get so anxious about consistently getting these wrong that it’ll ruin my day).

As you prove your understanding of more beginner levels, you’ll slowly be pushed to the more advanced ones. And if you’re already more intermediate/advanced? Just click over at any time, you don’t even have to “prove” your understanding of the conjugations.

Speaking of levels…

Levels

Each level is made up of short, easy-to-consume lessons to explain the concepts. When you’re ready, it’s time to quiz!

In the video below, watch as I complete Level 6: Learn, Test, and Vocabulary.

As you can see, while the lessons themselves are insanely bite-sized, they also quickly build up to enough of a lesson that I had to quit early because my brain got tired!

It really only takes a few minutes of truly targeted, active use of these Spanish verb conjugations to get your brain working pretty hard and get this information truly internalized. This is how you know you’re using your time effectively, as opposed to passively pushing buttons because you’re supposed to, not because you’re learning anything (*cough cough* Duolingo).

And that’s how you know this Ella Verbs review is legit! Next up: vocab.

Friendly reminder that Ella Verbs is exclusively a verb app!

Vocabulary

As aforementioned, new vocabulary is introduced in the order that is most useful for Spanish language learners. Not only that, though – the verbs you see in your quizzes are insanely customizable!

Like many language apps, Ella Verbs gets better and better at knowing what you need when you need it the longer you use it. One of the (many) features that I love in this vocabulary section is the use of My Verbs.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Tap over to the “Verbs” section of the app to easily personalize which verbs you’re using and learning.

You can easily search for, and practice, verbs based on:

alphabetical order
top 100 most commonly-used verbs
the verbs you’ve saved for later
top 300 most commonly-used verbs
regular verbs
irregular verbs
most popular irregular verbs
AR verbs
ER verbs
IR verbs
reflexives
highly irregular verbs
stem-changers
irregular gerunds
irregular past participles

…and if all those options STILL don’t work for you at the moment, you can always search for the verb you’re looking for using the search bar at the top of the screen.

Of course, you’ll still have to find your nouns elsewhere, but that’s just something to be aware of when using a language app that focuses exclusively on Spanish verb conjugations.

Progress

Next on the list of Ella Verbs’ list of priorities is Progress. Despite the fact that the straightforward nature of their Journey makes it easy enough to see your progress, I honestly think this section of the app is pretty excellent!

I say this because there’s less (not zero, but less) focus on daily streaks and other fun-but-useless statistics, and more on how you’ve performed and, most importantly, what you can learn from your performance.

I love how this section is focused mostly on how you’ve done on your quizzes and how long it’s been since you’ve practiced – you can see exactly what you’ve done well and what you can work on.

I find it interesting that they mention “Tense Fluency” – the idea being that the tenses you’ve practiced relate to a specific CEFR level, but at the same time, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. You’re not expected to take an official exam and succeed just based on the conjugations you know, but it is a familiar marker.

My favorite part is the Smart Quizzes. It’s one thing to tell you which conjugations and tenses you should be reviewing, a whole other thing to easily practice those exact concepts with one little button tap.

These are great examples of Progress and Personalized, so our last bullet point is Custom.

Custom

One of the biggest problems with most language apps is the one-size-fits-all approach. Every app comes with a different approach, and that approach will work just fine for some people. Unless you know how, though, there’s no way to know if that approach will work for you until you try.

This is the beauty of Ella Verbs’ simplicity – because it’s so simple, it’s just as simple to customize your study sessions in a variety of different ways.

Really want to focus on conjugating one verb tense? Okay.

Want to double down on one word and master all of its conjugations? No problemo.

Only in the mood for 5 questions? Or have the space for 80 questions? Cool.

You can quiz any concept at any time as many times as you like, however you like. Excellent!

Ella Verbs review: who it’s for

Point-blank, I think Ella Verbs is an excellent resource for Spanish language learners of any level who want to improve their ability to conjugate any Spanish verb in any tense. There are little mini-lessons that explain the conjugations, but the vast majority of your time will be spent quizzing, which teaches your brain to use the information and figure it out naturally.

And Ella Verbs is reasonably priced, too. You can use the app for free and get limited access:

99 out of 1,800 verbs
9 out of 39 levels
1 out of 16 tenses
no access to Smart Quizzes
no access to custom quizzes
no access to My Verbs

But if you do give Ella Verbs a shot, and you enjoy it, it only costs around $5/month, which directly supports a small family in their side hobby.

Ella Verbs review: alternatives

And if you don’t enjoy Ella Verbs? I’d suggest these alternatives for your Spanish verb conjugation practice:

Kwiziq: the best option for die-hard grammar fans, also teaches Spanish grammar with quizzes (or “Kwizzes”)

Conjuguemos: definitely offers much more variety of things to practice (and ways to practice them), but not nearly as attractive

Clozemaster: for intermediate & advanced learners only; you practice grammar with fill-in-the-blank sentences

Each of these alternatives is primarily desktop-based, which may be better Ella Verbs alternatives if you prefer a different device. They all also touch upon a little bit more Spanish language content than Ella Verbs does, as Ella Verbs does only one thing (really well).

Regardless, I highly recommend giving Ella Verbs a try if verb tenses are something you’re really struggling with. It’s easy to use and incredibly affordable, so you’ve got nothing to lose!

Click here to try Ella Verbs for yourself.

German with Laura review – THE course to guide beginners

November 25, 2022 by Jamie Leave a Comment

German can be a scary language for beginners because of its seemingly complicated grammar that has no rhyme or reason. With 3 genders, a billion ways to make a singular noun plural, and even more declensions, it’s not hard to see why beginner German learners give up so quickly. That’s where this German with Laura review comes in.

Laura takes her decades of experience working with German language learners to simplify German grammar in a way that’s intuitive, using grammar rules that just require practice, not endless memorization.

Let’s take a deep dive into German with Laura’s German Foundations course and see why every independent German learner truly needs this course.

Learn to use German grammar like native speakers

If you’re learning a new language, chances are grammar rules seem complicated, overwhelming, and downright impossible – this is especially true for German language learners who are pretty much told upfront that German is hard and confusing.

3 different ways to say ‘the’, the appropriate one is actually important, and there are no rules about which one is which? Yikes. That’s enough to keep most language learners from even giving German a shot.

This is why Laura puts your mind at ease about her course right from the course introduction.

Laura understands the importance of shifting our mindsets about language learning so that we have the right expectations about what it’s like to truly learn German. This means busting myths about language learning in general, like:

Why children don’t learn faster than adults
Adults can truly get fluent in another language
Your German does not have to be better than your English

This is the exact approach that my clients take with The Method, so I can already say that this is a high-quality approach!

The other important part of Laura’s introduction is the Resource Guide, Workbook, and Answer Key. These 3 files are the base of the entire course! Next to the actual video lessons, of course.

The Resource Guide includes all the strategies and tips Laura has created exclusively for her students to learn German grammar in a logical, intuitive way; the Workbook is dozens and dozens of practice words and sentences to practice applying those strategies; and the Answer Key is, well, an answer key for you to check your work independently.

Everything is laid out cleanly and clearly; Laura doesn’t ramble on and on in the worksheets, that’s what the videos are for! The Resource Guide has the tables and strategies you need to review as you practice, and that is it.

German with Laura review – course contents

Once we have our mindset right, download all our course materials, and (optionally) join the private Facebook group, it’s time to learn German!

Note: you’ll notice in these sneak peeks that there’s a “Discussions” button in the upper right-hand corner. If you have questions about any particular lesson, this is the place to ask them, and/or get the answer from a thread someone else started first. It is not necessary to join the Facebook group, it’s just a perk.

German Foundations is broken up into 7 modules:

Noun gender
Noun plurals
The case system
Intro to declension patterns

5. Declension patterns part 2
6. Verbs & pronouns
7. Prepositions & pronouns

If you’d like more details on each individual lesson within all of these modules, you can click here for more details.

Browsing through the lessons, you’ll notice a few symbols:

🎥 a video emoji signals a video lesson – some combination of Laura teaching you her strategies, and walking through practice words/sentences with you for understanding.

✏️ a pencil emoji denotes a simple Google form for you to test your understanding. These are graded, but just for you to see if you’re doing well, or could benefit from reviewing the lesson again.

These Google forms are either checking that you understood general concepts, or testing you: select if these words are masculine, feminine, or neuter, for example. They’re 100% multiple-choice questions to assess your comprehension of the lesson.

🗒 a paper emoji generally means it’s time to visit the practice workbook to really get these new concepts into your brain. Just like the ✏️ Google forms, these are totally optional and incredibly helpful study aids.

And I can tell you from personal experience that this practice works. Going into this practice may feel overwhelming and defeating, but just hang in there for a little bit, and it all starts to make sense; Laura consistently reminds you that it’s okay to review the tables at first, that’s what they’re there for!

How German Foundations teaches language skills

Now that we’ve addressed an overview of the structure of German Foundations, let’s look closer at Laura’s approach. To get a great example of this, we’ll look at Module 4: Declensions (it’s not as scary as it sounds, don’t worry).

To start, Laura explains why the traditional methods of learning German grammar, specifically declensions, don’t work, and why you’re learning with her unique approach. I’ll let Laura speak for herself below.

After understanding the reasoning behind this methodology, it’s time to learn it!

With her video lessons, Laura talks you through all the visual aids slowly and clearly (or quickly – if you’re the type to speed up videos, you can do that too) with plenty of repetition.

First, watch Laura do the exercises herself. Not just once, but several times. You can always skip the video forward if you’re ready to practice yourself.
Then you get time to go through all the steps yourself, pausing and unpausing the video to check your answers with Laura before you move on to the next step. Or do all the steps at once if that’s more your speed.
And then the training wheels come off for independent practice, courtesy of the practice workbook.

Because German Foundations is pre-recorded (and recently updated!), you’re able to take the lessons as slowly or as quickly as you like, as many times as you like. You get lifetime access as well, so you’re free to go back and brush up on these lessons whenever you need.

I, for one, definitely took Module 4 twice to really cement these rules into my brain until Laura’s formula just *clicked*. This included rewatching the videos, going through the ✏️ Google forms, and reprinting the appropriate worksheet pages. I did much better the second time around!

This is notable because some resources will definitely “punish” you for going back to review – or won’t even let you review. No issues here! Review as much as you need to, or don’t. You have the freedom to rewind, skip forward, and do whatever you gotta do.

German words are not part of this language process

Because German with Laura is laser-focused on teaching German grammar quickly, clearly, and efficiently, it’s important that language learners understand what you will not learn using this method.

For the sake of not getting distracted from the grammar, Laura is very intentional about the vocabulary she chooses for her exercises. This means lots of repeated words, plenty of cognates (i.e. words that are similar or the same in both German and English), and consistent reminders to not worry about the vocab or meaning.

You may pick up a few words naturally because you’re working with them, but do not expect to grow your vocabulary using German Foundations. You’re here to get an intuitive understanding of German grammar and get comfortable with the patterns used.

While you cannot expect to learn vocab, practice your speaking skills, or pick up idioms, Laura is very clear from the start about what you CAN expect from German Foundations:

Instead of making German grammar painful and painstaking, Laura has picked up on patterns that make German grammar make sense…without a textbook worth of redundant tables! She’s taken her years of experience to create a shortcut that, quite frankly, all German language learners should use.

German with Laura review: what to do next

For years, I have been told how difficult it is to learn German – there are extra letters, declensions, and a whole other gender, and none of it is logical whatsoever – you just have to memorize it all.

If you’ve also heard this rumor and have avoided learning German for fear of this overwhelm (or even gotten so far as attempting German, just to feel defeated and give up), I highly recommend German with Laura’s courses; you can start with her free course here to try out her approach for yourself.

As you get to know Laura’s approach to teaching German grammar and learn to trust the process, you’ll be just as blown away as I was to see how easy it can be to reach an intuitive understanding of grammar rules, even those as weird and confusing as German!

I am no longer worried about complicated German grammar, because I know that I can trust German with Laura to teach it to me in a simple, logical way so that I can just use it without spending hours memorizing.

German with Laura’s courses are the best way to get a confident understanding of German patterns, without memorizing countless rules or getting frustrated with even more difficult tables and strategies. As long as you’re clear about what you’re there to learn (i.e. nothin’ but grammar), you can’t go wrong!

Click here to get German Foundations for $50 off!