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PMs TAC 2015 crazy? French course mission | ||
Tags: TellMeMore | Fluenz | Linguaphone | Flash cards | Michel Thomas | Self-Study | Spaced Repetition (SRS) | Diploma/Certificate | Study Plan | Fluency | Dutch | Pimsleur | FSI | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Assimil | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 89 of 451 11 May 2014 at 2:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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I copied the above into my log as I feel it's entirely relevant to my journey in
learning languages and relevant to the reason I've come up with my following (once again revised) study plan. I'm always ready to revise my methods so that I can improve. I feel this plan covers all bases (except conversation which can take place and interrupt this rotational study plan at any given time). I've opted for a 'rotational study plan'. Thus I do not begin with the same thing every day. I rotate through these one hour blocks of study. I get to do my courses, i get to read- slowly/thoroughly and faster for decent exposure, i watch things fast and slow, I do my SRS and Dutch remains in the plan. ----------------------------------- FIRST HOUR (in this list, not necessarily first hour in the day) French Course (at the moment FSI) SECOND HOUR (always 2nd, not part of the 'rotation) Dutch (this will always be my 2nd hour of study regardless of what's happening in my first hour of French because it's important that I do some French every day- hence 1st hour, but Dutch must come 2nd, as you never know I might never get to study any further on some days depending on my schedule). SECOND HOUR of FRENCH watching (Yabla, dvd-play and pause, the French news, etc) THIRD HOUR OF FRENCH Reading- quickly (ie limiting the amount of words I look up so that I progress quicker) FOURTH HOUR OF FRENCH Reading - slowly (ie looking up as many words as I can to learn new vocab in context. Here I will most often use my French learning magazines Think French and Bien-dire, but could also use a book) --------------------------------------- Every hour at the beginning I will do around 10 to 20 minutes of SRS study with my flashcards so that I'm actually reinforcing newly acquired vocab at random. Thus each hour of study listed above I do 40-50 min of the activity and then 10-20 min SRS. Aside from Dutch always being my 2nd hour of study the rest rotates. For example if I finish off the day doing French watching as my last hour/activity of study, then next day begins with French slow reading followed by Dutch as the 2nd hour and then continuing the rotation French slow reading would come next and then a French course after that. Always rotating, but always with Dutch being the 2nd hour (so I don't miss it). Why 2nd? Well if i can ONLY do one hour for some odd reason then French being my main focus I want that to get done, hence it comes first, then Dutch second. This may not interest anyone at all but I just want it to be in my log. Feel free to comment. Oh and as for the SC I will still take part but i'm likely to slide back down the leaderboard and perhaps even miss the mark in terms of finishing the challenge. However my thinking is it's much more important for me to progress in the language and for that I don't want to ignore my courses, nor do I want to ignore reading and watching. Oh and in the evening if i happen to put my feet up with my wife to watch i movie i will request for it to be French. If she doesn't want to watch sth in French, that's fine, if yes, bonus! She wants to learn French one day and really enjoys French cinema but for now it's on the backburner as she learns Dutch... yes yes i'm waffling on again 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5212 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 90 of 451 11 May 2014 at 2:49am | IP Logged | |||||
What exciting news; Very best wishes and congratulations to you and your wife! - And may your daughter grow up to share to your love of languages! <smile> Edited to add: Thanks also for the quotes from the SC Challenge Thread - very interesting. Edited by songlines on 12 May 2014 at 1:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4912 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 91 of 451 11 May 2014 at 6:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Tout d'abord, félicitations pour la gamin!
I wanted to say a bit more about the advantages of films, but the discussion thread has moved far beyond that (and anyway, the comments are for you). To quote from the forward to French in Action, "Speech is the most notable achievement of human beings, but it is usually not our most important form of communications... As Mireille walks from her home to her class, she constantly meets exchanges words with them, but the only function of these words is to give her and her acquaintances an opportunity to commuinicate in many other ways with each other." The book goes on to discuss the unspoken aspects of communication in different circumstances for several pages. The point in sum is that we should pay attention not only to what people say, but how they say it. Look at body-language and especially facial expression. Besides those aspects discussed in FIA, I think the video element is important for getting pronunciation right. When I used to see French speakers, I used to wonder why they make all those funny faces and do odd things with their lips (particularly a lot of pursing of the lips). Now, I realize that they were simply making the expressions and lip motions necessary to make French sounds correctly. Besides films, you can use audio to fill up your film side of the challenge. I have around 15 easy readers with audio. They range in difficulty from A1 to B2 (according to the covers), and from 25 to 130 pages. I guess they would be similar to Il fait beau, which you've read. But I normally listen to the audio first (usually 2 or 3 times), to practice listening. Later I alternate between reading and listening (and sometimes doing both together). So I put in a lot of time listening to audiobooks. Last super challenge I didn't count listening, but this time I've decided to count it, and I plan to get a double on the film side (100 watching credits + 100 audio credits). Another point is that French films are important in the history of film, and a great form of art. Many people learn French simply to access these films. But also, film and TV are an important part of pop culture. By watching native French films (as opposed to dubbed), you are introducing yourself to French ways of thinking, and getting an inside track on some of the material which forms French pop culture. Between the visual element and the cultural introduction, there are things necessary for having a good conversation which just can't be taught without films. (It's worth noting that FIA uses a lot of excerpts from film and TV adverts for just this reason). My final point, is it allows you to take a break without taking a break. You mentioned watching the Manon films with your wife. If you can manage to convince her to watch more French films, you can get time on your challenge while spending time with your wife. And when your brain is too tired for other forms of learning, you can take the easy way out and re-watch a favourite film. Edited by Jeffers on 11 May 2014 at 6:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 92 of 451 11 May 2014 at 10:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks songlines. Hope all is well with you too :) As for the quotes from the SC thread, that story carried on a little more, which I won't provide. If you were to go to page 14 onwards you'd be able to follow it in the Super Challenge discussion thread. In short there were a few more ppl that stated watching films definitely helped them improve in their respective languages, and also that without watching films one might not be able to expose themselves to enough native spoken material at normal pace- ie it's great to grow accustomed to the sound of a language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 93 of 451 11 May 2014 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
Hi Jeffers, Thanks very much for you congratulations, and thanks too for the detailed explanations on the importance of film. It's very relevant information indeed. I shall continue to use films/series. I have a sprinkling of audio books too that I will hopefully get to use in ways you have discussed. I will study as planned (i detailed my plan somewhere above this post and back a few :) ), which allows for all areas being covered, except officially actually having conversations- but i now open up skype every time I start my pc, and i'm trying to collect language exchange partners. I had my first typed conversation with a French person last night. She wasn't quite ready to skype, but we at least typed in skype and she has intentions to video at some point. So having skype on in the background allows for me to have conversations that 'interrupt' my other activities. I know i'm getting off track somewhat but I guess i'm just talking about my study methods and new developments. Thanks again Jeffers, much appreciated. Watch out! I'm going to watch 37 films today in the first ten minutes of study ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4912 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 94 of 451 11 May 2014 at 11:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
Which clearly counts as 37 3/4. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 95 of 451 11 May 2014 at 11:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes indeed... hang on you clearly mean 37 3/4 for each minute... naturally right, i don't know why I'd even ask. All in all when i'm done for the day i'd have basically completed the SC 4 times over and i'll be getting a big fat cheque in the mail for 2 dollars fifty cents. Not really sure what i'm going to do with the money, prob invest in real estate on the French riviera, you know the part that borders Peru. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4912 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 96 of 451 13 May 2014 at 11:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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So how are you enjoying Engrenages? At first I was unimpressed, especially as it was so
critically acclaimed. And yet I felt compelled to keep watching. What bothered me was that there were too many coincidences driving the story. This wasn't the case with the next 3 series, however. I'm looking forward to re-watching all 4 again for the SC, but I'll save it for later since I already watched it in January. I'm hoping series 5 will come out before the SC ends. I've read that it's coming out this summer; since it's on the internet it must be true. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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