Language journals are often used by language learners to keep track of their progress, and as a way to constantly practice! They’re super helpful so you can know what words you need to learn and what words you already know.
As for the journal itself, a small regular notebook will do fine. Honestly, it’s what you prefer to write in. A fancier book might motivate you more, so you may want to buy a moleskin or something a little pricier. You can also buy an inexpensive notebook and decorate it how you like! Also, a big thing now is to have a journal online. Create a giant Word document, or create a separate folder on your computer’s hard drive. Apps like Bear and Notebook work great as journals. Because I’m learning French, I may put French quotes on the cover, if I was learning Greek I may put my favorite Greek God, and so on.
The cover is also a great place to put your language learning goals! For instance, your cover could say “100 Days of French”, if your goal is to to consistently practice French for 100 days.
As for what to put inside the journal, here’s a huge list of ideas!
☀ your study schedule and calendar
☀ daily/weekly/monthly goals
☀ resources! this can work great if you have an online journal, with links straight to the resource. if you prefer paper and pen, make a list of things to search, great websites, and books you want to read in your target language
☀ your motivation and inspiration for studying that langauge - whether it be for school, for fun, or to be just like your favorite bilingual movie star, put the thing that moves you to learn!
☀ language statistics! how long it usually takes someone to learn your target language, how many words you need to know to be a C1, etc.
☀ languages you want to learn in the future
☀ books that you want to read in your target language - mine were The Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling and Emma by Jane Austen
☀ quotes in different langauges
☀ song lyrics (may be in a different language, but also can be your favorite bop that you want to sing in the middle of journaling)
☀ tips on that language
☀ deconstruct what you want to learn - for example, if you want to learn medical vocab in a language, you would need to know medical tools, names of aches and sicknesses, medical personnel, care-giving offices, etc. these outlines simplify how much you need to know and makes learning an entire language much less scary
☀ reviews - quiz yourself! challenge yourself to just write about your day, or a fun story you know. see how many words you (don’t) know, but that you use daily. this is also a good measure for how much you’ve learned! if you’ve just taught yourself the past tense, challenge yourself to write a paragraph all in past tense!
If you have any more post ideas or suggestion, feel free to message me. Have a great day!
☕️ go to your study space! this can be your room, the library, anywhere you feel comfortable studying. my one suggestion for this is to not study on your bed - this can lead to sleep and focusing problems!
☕️ grab your favorite study snack/ drink - mine is a big glass of coffee and some cucumber slices
☕️ gather all your materials before you sit down to study
☕️ color code your to do list in terms of when everything is due- something due tomorrow may be color coded in red, things due in a couple of weeks you can color code to be blue, etc.
☕️ for every task, fill out a specific to do list for everything you have to do
☕️ set goals for yourself! for example, if you finish one project, let yourself scroll through tumblr for a strict 5 minutes - make sure not to get distracted and sucked down a whirlpool of cute animal photos!
That’s all you need to do! If you have any questions, feel free to message me. Have a great day!
Do you have an empty notebook that just lies on your desk, intimidating you? Do you have the impulse to buy every aesthetically pleasing notebook you come across? Do you want a new hobby?
I myself am not ashamed to say I said yes to all of these. So, I’ve compiled a list of ideas for your empty notebooks!
➼ Recipe collection - Are your grandma’s family recipes deliciously akin to Gordon Ramsey’s? Be anything but an idiot sandwich by putting them all in a notebook! Also good for afood experiment journal, i.e. how many eggs can you put in a souffle before it comes out sous - bon? Record your findings!
➼ Vacation planner - Pretty self explanatory. You don’t need to actually be going on a trip to start one of these! I have several of trips to France, Egypt, and Greece, full of things I can’t afford right now. Mostly, they’re a motivation for me to get my studies done so one day I can go to these beautiful places.
➼ Bucket lists - Currently, my bucket lists includes learning how to wayfind (who doesn’t want to be Moana?), traveling (see vacation planner above), and getting a PhD! Yours can be separated by goal type such as adventure, travel, scholarly, etc.
➼ Budget lists - As a broke student, I don’t have much money. When I do have some, I like to keep track of it. Of course, there are cool apps for this, but sometimes having it handwritten makes the money feel more like yours.
➼ Book list - I always seem to buy brand new books, when I haven’t read the ones I have at home. In my defense... well, I have no defense, but they had pretty covers! Moving on, you can keep track of all the books you have to read, the books you want to buy, and the books you’ve stolen from your school library. I won’t judge!
➼ Social media planner - I have a notebook to plan all my tumblr posts. I’m not improvisationally eloquent, so to speak, so I have to write everything down including when I plan to make the posts.
➼ Quote collection - I love this idea so much! It’s one of my favorite things to keep a pretentious quote on hand from The Secret History so I can show all my friends how much I love Henry Winter.
➼ Astronomy journal - Does the Libra moon throw off your Capricorn rising sign? Write about the moon phases and how they reflect your mood! Also, you can note the different constellations in the sky during a specific season to get a better understanding of our beautiful world.
➼ Handwriting journal - This one I take straight from personal experience. My handwriting was atrocious until 8th grade, when I started to want aesthetically pleasing notes. I used all types of pens, pencils, and brush pens in this book. Over time, my handwriting actually improved! Although it took a good 3 months to see a difference, slow progress is still progress. This can be accompanied by lots of calligraphy youtube videos and your teachers marking your test wrong because they can’t read your handwriting.
Say which, if any, that you want to use! If you want me to go into more detail about any of these I’m glad to do so. Message me anything else you want me to post. Have a great day!
✿ flash cards - write a question/ vocab word on one side of an index card, and the answer on the other side. then, go back and try to answer the cards without seeing the answer. you can go further to then divide the cards into 2 piles: ones you did know and ones you didn’t know - review until you know them all!
✿ margins - this is pretty similar to Cornell Notes! when writing notes in class, write down in the margins any questions or thoughts you have about a piece of information. go back later and make sure all your questions are answered!
✿ graphic organizers - take all your info and basically turn it into a pretty cheatsheet. this can be done with mind maps, venn diagrams , or many other types I don’t know the name of.
✿ teach - this is called the protege effect! basically, if you can fully explain a concept to someone else, it means you also understand it better! this helps for a lot of auditory learners who have to talk through concepts to understand them, but also for literally anyone.
✿ pomodoro technique - study for 25 minutes, rest for 5 minutes, and every 4th round take a 25 minute break, this really helps to improve focus!
✿ write - write down everything you know, without looking at your notes. then, fill in the blanks of what you don’t know! repeat this process until you have all the info memorized
✿ listen - listen to TED Talks, lectures, really anything you can find on your study topic! take notes while you’re listening, and maybe make a diagram or flashcards out of what you hear
✿ talk - talk it out with your friends, your parents, your stuffed animal, anything! just talk it out and work through all the kinks in your information
remember, use what study method works for you! even if your best friend can breeze by without studying, know that it doesn’t mean you’re dumb if you have to study. in fact, it creates a work ethic that will stick with you for the rest of your life! :)
like always, if you have any specific question, please feel free to ask me.
⫸ get a pen and some paper to write notes! you’re going to want to keep track of all the important information
⫸ first, read the abstract to get a better idea of what the article is about
⫸ find the context of the introduction, and write down some main ideas even if they seem obvious.
⫸ if you have no time, go straight to the conclusion. if you want to further understand the “why” and “how” of everything, though, leaf through the whole article, making sure to pick out specific steps in their process.
⫸ the conclusion - this should sum up everything in the article. this is a good place to test your understanding of the article - if you don’t understand something in the conclusion, most likely you mixed something up in the body. try to reread sections that you don’t fully understand!
⫸ speed reading is useful, just so long as you take care not to mix up information or skip the very important parts. you should still take notes if you speed read!
⫸ read the first few sentences from each main and sub heading - it’ll further your general understanding of the document
⫸ to go a bit further, take notes on the limitations of the data, as well as the implications - this goes along with thinking of the data in real world situations!
if you would life any specific posts, feel free to message me!
➼ Put your alarm clock on the other side of your room - Instead of being able to just roll over and hit that Snooze button, this makes you get out of bed to stop the blaring noise! Once you’re out of bed, stay out of your bed and see below for what to do next!
➼ Drink cold water or green tea - Or something else of an extreme temperature. While these two work best, anything that’s capable of burning your mouth tends to work to keep you awake.
➼ Create a morning routine - Create goals for yourself! Do you want to get that last bit of studying in, or go for a run? Or realistically, is there a nice piece of cake you want to eat before your family/ roommate/ cat can judge you? Set a plan to do that in the morning and will yourself to achieve these goals - i.e. create a reason for getting out of bed.
➼ Don’t drink caffeine before bed - This one seems obvious, but it’s hard to balance exhaustion and responsibilities. Yes, sometimes you need a pick-me-up cup of coffee to wake you up at 3pm, and that’s alright! Just don’t make a habit of it.
➼ Keep a sleep schedule log - Holding yourself accountable for your sleep may just do the trick! Whether it be an app, or in your bullet journal, log daily how much sleep you’re getting and compete with yourself to get more sleep.
➼ Keep your room temperature in between 54 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit (12 to 24 degrees Celcius). This helps regulate your natural body temperature and provides a comfier sleeping atmosphere. If you like things a bit cooler, make sure to have lots of blankets!
➼ Lastly, no electronics before bed - This one is a tough one, but maybe the most important. Because the blue light of an electronic screen is meant to mirror daylight, it sets off hormones in your brain to stay awake. You don’t have to quit using your phone after 12pm, but stay aware of when you want to sleep and try to put your phone down an hour to three hours before bedtine,
If you have an suggestions or requests, feel free to message me. Have a great day!
