You might know that journalists take notes using something called “shorthand”.

Teeline Shorthand - Wikipedia

It looks funny, but don’t worry, you don’t need to learn an entirely new way of writing.

This exercise is about noting down key points of information, so that you can come back to it later.

Instructions

1. Listen to a podcast episode with a pen and paper handy
2. Imagine that you will have to tell someone about it when you are done
3. Note down key points, dates, numbers AND words/phrases
4. Importantly, DO NOT PRESS PAUSE!
5. Your job is to imagine that you were in a room, listening to a native speaker speaking (like in a business meeting), and to take down as many notes as possible.
6. You can listen to the episode again with your notes and see if you missed anything important

[BONUS]: If you want to do this activity with a friend, sit down with them, listen to the same episode and then compare what you had both written.

Related activities: The Summariser