I’m not sure how well this will work while driving, but I assume it’ll probably be just as effective. I had a lot of issues zoning out early on when learning, and I was constantly looking for a way to keep me engaged and I eventually came across this method that did me wonders. I’m just going to copy and paste the notes I wrote for it here. I do say “tally” but you don’t have to actually tally. When I used this, I would mostly just tap my thumb instead, which is something that can easily be done while driving. I would think tapping your foot might be helpful as well, etc but here it is:
Here’s some of the notes I noted right after the “discovery” of this method:
“First time trying this (6 minutes straight) - I’ve never been more focused on what I was listening to when I first tried this. So many words I knew popped out at me. Did I understand sentences any better? Most of the time no, but I overall understood a little bit better at what was going on because I was hearing way more words, and I understood a sentence I know for sure I wouldn’t have heard in the first place if I wasn’t doing this.”
"If you’re struggling trying to figure out what to tally, literally just tally every single word that you recognize. Even if you don’t necessarily remember what it means, tally it! Even if it’s a word that’s similar to a different word (雨, 飴) mark it. It’s all about staying engaged and reacting to sounds you recognize. "
“Following the “Steps for Listening V3” (specifically step 2) I’ve never been more focused on listening to the language. For comparison, I’d say I’m focused 90%-100% of the time, while before I was focused about 10%-20% of the time (specifically on listening to the language). I’m able to hear words I don’t normally hear, and I hear quite a few words I don’t even know (because I’m able to notice it when it comes after a word I know, or it’s between two words I know). Out of all my other methods, I’ve never come close to this level of focus listening to the language. I’m focused the whole time, and if I do start losing some focus it’s super easy to refocus - by either pausing for a couple of seconds, or changing out I’m tallying + remembering it is what I’m doing.”
At the time of doing this method, I wrote down I knew maybe 2500-3000 words. I did notice this became harder the more words I knew though because I was constantly tapping which made it less of a “unique” process. In that case, I think it becomes more effective to start focusing on sentences where you know all the words and noting that instead.
