a) Do you drive, or do you jog? As you listen to your music through your earphones, or from the radio form the outlines in your head. Music too fast? Just write the chorus or the repetitious stuff. Listening to the news? Write virtual shorthand as you listen.
b) Do you relax by watching your favourite soap? Take down the dialogue of one actor.
c) Do you walk? In your head, write direction signs, street names etc. that you see on the way.
a) Take one paragraph of today’s news from whichever platform you get it from and write the longest word in Teeline. That will test your Teeline theory. If you need revision help, start with Beginner's Revision for Lessons One through Five and go from there. Any doubts? There is a book online called Teeline Word List. There is no dictionary for Teeline, as there is usually more than one way to write a word, unlike other systems of shorthand such as Pitman. But you don’t have to buy the book, you can go over the theory instead.
And/or
b) From the same paragraph spot two, three or four simple common words that regularly come together, such as “such as,” “it is a,” “we have been,” “there has been.” Use the common word groupings list attached to see if you have written the grouping correctly. There are so many of these simple word groupings– we cannot write them all, but you can always check with us or your tutor if you have one. Remember, these simple word groupings are the key to the speed. They will form a large proportion of every written passage.
And/or
c) From the special outlines list take 5. Drill them, writing them over and over again, saying them to yourself as you do so.
In Video 19 and Video 20 of the Beginners Series, we give examples of how you can write simple short sentences using all of the above, and using Voice Memo or any other recording device you can dictate them to yourself and transcribe. If you start with 60wpm that is one word per second so it is important to count the words and make markers in your passage. Then transcribe, remembering in an exam you have to transcribe 10 words in a minute or less.
You can also revise with individual sentence practice. This is particularly good for working at speeds that you're not quite at but want some experience with.
Repeat one of the lessons from the Beginners Series. This is really good for building confidence, even if you just skip to the dictation section. Don't forget we have many Teeline audio dictations for you to practise with.
You can have a combination of all of the above. We recommend a focus on the word groupings. Take down one of the examination passages at 60wpm. That will take 5 minutes. Transcribe it. That will take an additional 26 minutes, making 31 minutes in total. Check your transcription, another 10 minutes at least. We are up to 41 minutes. Check your shorthand to see if you have used all the word groupings you could have done. Another 10 minutes. (51 minutes) Drill the ones you did not use. Another 5 minutes. (56 minutes) Re-take the dictation. Another 5 minutes. (61 minutes). Have you done better this time? It doesn’t matter if you take the same passage down several times. (70 minutes). Repetition builds confidence, which in turn builds speed.
Go on to the Let's Love Teeline Together- Speed Development Series. Here we build from that 60 wpm to 120 wpm.
We want you to hold that certificate for 100 wpm as much as you do.
Good luck and thank you for travelling with us. You are on the first rung of the ladder now. It has been a lot of hard work, but the climb to the top is much faster. And even more exciting!!!!!
All you need is daily practice from all the Teeline resources you have at your disposal.
Most importantly: Enjoy it.
Let’s Love Teeline Together
