march language learning goals (+ february review) 🤎
coucou,
for a short month, a lot has happened.
i’m still in germany; in terms of my main living location. moving to 9ja is postponed till further notice. and i don’t have a holiday booked till august. i’m hoping to change that. i need at least one holiday before that; ideally two. but let’s see how that will work out.
in terms of language learning, the french course i signed up for got cancelled because not enough people signed up which is a bummer. also, the dutch course i also signed up for (or at least tried to) was full so i got put on the waitlist. i didn’t get in which is not surprising.
i decided to go for purely preply now. so i subscribed to one french tutor (i’m still actively looking for a second one), two dutch tutors but i alternate them each week so i have one tutor every two weeks, and two yoruba tutors but i have one lesson with each one, once a week. this month will be a trial month just to see how much i can keep up with the lessons and if i’m still satisfied with the tutor and their teaching methodologies. i might drop one, or increase/decrease the amount of lessons i have per week.
my hausa lessons start in april because my tutor (who is not on preply btw) is not teaching during ramadan. speaking on ramadan/lent, i’m fasting too and currently doing the 75 sofr/medium challenge which is low key a double homi but i will speak more about it in my next blog post.
since, me moving to 9ja is postponed, i was thinking about the languages i wanted to start learning this year. because the decision on learning what language, when, is also influenced on where i planned to live for the majority of the time. but i decided against changing the languages i planned on learning.
my current languages:
french (A2)
dutch (A1)
yoruba
here are my february language goals ♡:
maintain a 30 days duolingo streak (completed)
completed the february challenge on duolingo (completed)
watch at least 3 episodes of miraculous in french (netflix) (not completed)
complete lessons 10 - 14 in ‘The Complete French Self-Study Guide’ with notes taking (eBook) (not completed)
watch ‘Learn French in 5 Days # Day 1’ up until ‘Le verbe ‘Attendre’ (3:01:45)’ (youtube) (not fully completed)
finish the 'getting started with french' course (the open university website) (not completed)
watch at least 1 dutch movies (not completed)
re-watch all the alphabet related videos saved in the watch later playlist (youtube) in yoruba and take notes (not completed)
get familiar with all the yoruba language learning apps & delete if not useful (not completed)
watch at least 3 episodes of jenifa’s diary (youtube) (not completed)
watch at least 3 episodes of arole (youtube) (not completed)
watch at least 2 episodes of splendid cartoon (youtube) (not completed)
watch at least 1 yoruba movie (not completed)
create a language learning plan for hausa (completed)
i didn’t get much done which i'm not surprised about. i’m not going to carry most of the uncomplished goals over because of me fasting and hiring tutor(s) for each langauge. as mentioned, as this is a “trial month” with my tutors i will go along with their learning objectives. and see how i can combine it with my own resources as the months go by. and me fasting is messing with my energy levels but i know this will only last for a couple of days till my body gets used to it.
so here are my march language learning goals ♡:
maintain a 30 days duolingo streak
completed the march challenge on duolingo
watch 2 easyfrench & easydutch YouTube videos
watch at least 2 episodes of miraculous in french (netflix)
finish the 'getting started with french' course (the open university website)
watch at least 1 dutch movies
get familiar with all the yoruba language learning apps & delete if not useful
watch at least 2 episodes of jenifa’s diary (youtube)
watch at least 2 episodes of arole (youtube)
watch at least 2 episodes of splendid cartoon (youtube)
In two previous posts (1, 2), I briefly mentioned that it was important to assess whether learning goals (Lernziele) have been achieved. But what are these goals? How do you make them?
Motivation
This is your BIG GOAL, your main goal, what you are striving forward, and why you are learning. Kevin Morehouse (2020) puts it this way: “If I were fluent in [my target language] today, what would I do with it?”
One key word here is “today.” This puts things into perspective, because you aren’t listing your wishes for the distant, abstract future. You’re talking about today. What are some things you could do with your target language?
Watch a movie / TV series.
Read a novel.
Read a comic book.
Listen to music.
Play a video game.
Study in university.
Work.
Make new friends.
Write a song.
etc.
There is a multitude of goals one could have. You could have more than one goal, but you should have a main goal. What is it that drives you to learn a new language?
Skill Assessment
After you’ve figured out what you’re working toward, you need to figure out what you can do and what you need (or want) to be able to do. This helps you figure out what you need to work on to achieve your big goal.
If you’ve decided you would spend all your time watching movies in your target language, then you need to build up your listening skills. Reading subtitles in the target language could also help you toward this.
If you’ve decided you would spend your time reading novels, then you’d need to build your reading comprehension. To do this, you may have to relearn the reading skills you do automatically / unknowingly in your native language. You would also need to build vocabulary in the specific genre you favor.
If you’re a complete beginner (no background in the language at all) and all that sounds complicated, don’t worry. There are easy to understand TV series and books (graded readers) made especially for beginners. Extr@ is one series for language beginners, and it is has German, French and Spanish versions! And there are inexpensive graded readers one could purchase on Amazon Kindle.
Learning Goals
So far we’ve answered two key questions:
What am I striving toward? (The Big Goal)
What can I do and what should I be able to do?
Now we can formulate our learning goals. These are the small goals that bring you closer to your big goal.
For complete beginners, this could be as simple as:
being able to greet another person “Good morning!”
being able to talk about one’s own family.
For more advanced learners, they could be:
the ability to read and understand a news article.
the ability to summarize said news article.
In short, break down your BIG GOAL into small goals. Make them as small as possible (so you won’t be overwhelmed). And work on them consistently.
Reference:
Morehouse, K. (2020, May 08). This One Question Will Help You Set Better Language Learning Goals. Retrieved May 24, 2020, from https://www.lucalampariello.com/language-learning-goals/
This blog recently celebrated its 1 year anniversary and I'm proud of how far I've come in terms of my language skills and how I've managed studying. Things fell apart a little when school closed but now that it's technically summer I can't wait to do what I want. However, since I have my GCSEs next May I want to spend some time this summer preparing, such as completing missing notes from this year, organising my folders and creating a revision file.
Short term goals
By the end of the summer (23/08/2020):
Complete remaining notes and exercises across subjects
Learn my set works so far for music and create revision sheets for each
Organise all my folders (especially French, it's a disaster)
Create a revision file with mind maps organised by subject (in most cases this is taking test and exam revision, but some topics need mind maps created)
Bonus - complete 34 hour language challenge for German on Duolingo. I'll make a longer post when I've completed the challenge but I've really realised that Duo alone can't teach you a language.
Longer term goals
In terms of GCSEs:
Achieve all A's. I'm currently on target for all A's but I can't slack now.
Bonus rambly reason - my school has quite high requirements in terms of the grades you need to do 4 AS Levels, which I really want to do and possibly continue them all for A2, so while it wouldn't be the end of the world to get a B in something it would hinder my points requirements. Hopefully I get an A* in maths in August and that'll put me off to a good start for the point requirements.
In terms of other things:
Achieve A1 in German and B1 in French. While I'm slightly disappointed to say I'm still A2 I'm much closer to B1 than I was last year. I've learned so much vocab this year and through extra podcasts and stuff I've done in my own time I understand a lot more about grammar too.
Be able to communicate with my French penpals with limited looking up vocab and grammar rules. This is a whole post of its own but I'm writing to French penpals and it's helped me improve my writing a lot.
I'm rubbish at sticking to long term goals but we'll see. I've given up on my new year's smart goals at this point but that's OK.
새해 복 많이 받으세요, 여러분!!!! Happy New Year, y’all!!! I know I’m late, but I hope 2019 has been treating everyone well so far! Since we’re still kinda at the start of the new year, I wanted to list my goals here so that I can hold myself a little more accountable with what I want to accomplish this year. So, without further ado, goals!
By the end of 2019 I want to...
Finish TTMIK Level 4
Stretch goal: finish TTMIK Level 5
Consistently post once a month here on tumblr
Stretch goal: consistently post twice a month
Improve my writing skills by posting to italki at least twice a month
Stretch goal: post once every week
Be able to fully sing along to one k-pop song
Finish reading all of the stories in Easy Korean Reading for Beginners
Other stretch goals:
Keep a journal in Korean. No posting, so hopefully it’ll be less pressure and I’ll be more willing to try new grammar things and all that. Ideally, write once a week!
Find a language exchange partner, whether speaking or just messaging.
Also, numbers are fun, so I’m gonna put some TTMIK stats here so that I can compare them to where I am at the end of the year!
Completed Courses: 2
Completed Lessons: 72
Hours spent: 13
(^As of TTMIK’s new website launch)
And that’s about it! To kick things off, here’s a little vocab tidbit for y’all:
새해 다짐 or 새해 결심 = New Year’s resolution
So, with all that being said, 여러분의 새해 다짐은 뭐예요? What are y’all’s New Year’s resolutions? (Or learning goals for the year?)
Whatever they are (along with any other life goals for the year), I hope they go well!! You got this!! :)
Bonjour mes amies ! First original content post, how exciting 😁
This post is about the notebook itself, a tour of it if you will. My actual progress/study updates will come soon once I get some stuff down, and I have a separate why/how/what post planned.
The notebook itself isn't overly special. Plain cover, 200 thin A4 pages, bought from the supermarket stationary aisle.
You don't need fancy pens or stationary. I'm using regular black ballpoint, with Staedtler triplus fineliners. (They are quite expensive, my 36 pack cost me £20, almost all of my birthday money. Worth it though).
On the first page I set out my goals. I'm planning on fitting 5 languages into this notebook, each with their own set of goals.
Next I set out my motivation page. If you couldn't tell from this blog aesthetic already, I love space!
The next few pages I used for the 100 Day Language Challenge. I would write out the words and stuff in there first before making a Tumblr post.
I don't have particularly aesthetic handwriting. My normal writing is neat enough, and my script is OK. I never write in script normally, it's just used for decoration.
Here is my attempt at an aesthetic title page:
And finally, the contents of the notebook so far. I will probably add to the list at some point.
I didn't have good lighting at all for the photos. I tried to edit them, but they don't look as good as I wanted them to.
I used this website as an inspiration for the layout. I skipped a few sections (like basic vocabulary and alphabet) because I'm not a beginner to French, and I added a few of my own. I didn't follow this to a T, and you don't have to either.
Learn how to organize your notebook when studying a foreign language. I'll give you some tips and hacks to achieve your goals!
That's my notebook! Do you have a language notebook? What's in it? Any fellow French langblrs have any advice on what topics I should add to the contents?
I'll split this up into several categories for easier organisation and reading. Unless stated otherwise the timed element is 31st December 2020.
Personal
I want to bake at least one new recipe a month, learn 12 new knitting stitches and be able to make standing origami models.
I want to assign at least 30 minutes a day to either reading, cross-stitching, knitting, origami, journaling etc.
I want to use Remente (self improvement app) every day for mood tracking, life assessments and goal setting.
I want to take up a new hobby and practice it at least once a week.
I want to develop a home exercise routine and follow it at least twice a week.
Academic
I want to complete my homework on the night I get it, unless it is a big project or a test, where I will at least start it on the night I get it.
I want to achieve at least an A in my Maths GCSE in June.
I want to achieve an A* in a French writing before 30th June 2020.
Blog
I want to post original content on this blog at least once a month.
I want to reach 500 followers before 4th July 2020.
Languages
I want to use my language notebook at least once a week.
I want to reach a solid B1 in French.
I want to learn at least two vocab lists a month.
Habits
I want to listen to at least one GCSEPod per night to help with my learning.
I want to plan my days/weeks every morning and every Sunday evening respectively.
I want to talk in class at least once a day.
I want to drink 2L of water a day.
With dedication, I know I can do this. 2020 will be my year. Every year since 2015 has been terrible for me, but it's time to take control of my life back. I will mess up, that's guaranteed. But I need to get back up again, no matter how painful the fall was.
