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Effective time management | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 6 09 February 2014 at 12:19pm | IP Logged |
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I was reading Phlippe's thread on learning Spanish with great interest as I realise
there's a lot of general advice given that's common to all beginning learners. However, I'm unsure of how to best use the various resources in a sensible daily/ weekly schedule that will challenge me without burning me out after 2 weeks. About me: I'm a beginner in German having had approx. 15 out of 20 (2 hr long) weekly evening classes available to me this year which should take me to a solid A1 standard. But I'm going to have around 5 months before the next level of class begins so I've set myself the challenge of getting to A2 standard myself and effectively skipping a year or more's evening classes to go into a 3rd year evening class in September. Until now, I've been studying the class textbook at the same pace as the class with extra listening/watching videos online and reading kids books before bed. Started trying to make the odd post in German here as well as talking to the dog...I'm also going to sign up for at least one pen pal as well until my speaking improves enough to get Skype buddies. My offline resources are: Assimil German with Ease (just ordered-v. excited), Hugo Complete German CD pack (3 months plus Advanced), TY Beginner's German pack, Willkomen! German Beginner's Course Coursebook (without cd's), Lekie Standard Grade German Success Guide (with CD) plus the Collins Compact Dictionary, Easy Learning Verbs and Grammar books. Aside from say 30 mins daily of Assimil, how on Earth do I organise all the other parts so I'm coherently moving forward rather than going round and round? How should I structure my other, say, 45 mins of study? I'd expect to do recreational reading/listening/writing most days in addition to this time permitting. Any guidance is much appreciated. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7196 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 2 of 6 09 February 2014 at 3:22pm | IP Logged |
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A lot depends on you, what you like, and you're lifestyle. If I was turning my head towards German and I had
your resources, I would consider... One lesson per day of Assimil. Enough review so that you can read and/or listen and understand the previous lessons. If you have time to sit with a book, I'd try the FSI German Programmed Introduction course. With only an hour per day of study, this would be plenty. One good thing about this two-track method is both courses use different approaches, which will help you figure out if more of one or the other appeals to you down the road. If you love Assimil, there are other Assimil German courses. If you enjoy the FSI Programmed course, it can be followed by FSI Basic German. If you already know for instance that you don't care for drills and you love grammar, I'd substitute the Hugo 3 month course for the FSI track. (I personally don't love grammar, but with the programmed approach of an FSI course, I do learn the rules for speaking, which is what matters in the end). Good luck with your German studies! Edited by luke on 09 February 2014 at 3:25pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5000 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 3 of 6 10 February 2014 at 1:08am | IP Logged |
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I think this is one of the questions where suggesting another source on the top of everything isn't the best thing to start with (otherwise, I'd suggest the Deutsche Welle website ;-)
The key is to choose one or two main sources and go primarily through those. In your case, or bookcase :-), I'd suggest Assimil and Hugo/Wilkommen. (I don't know Wilkommen but if you are already used to it, there is no reason not to finish it unless you hate it for any reason). The rest should be treated as supplements. For example, I use grammar books at first as relevant additional source to what the main source started. At times, it will be a new chapter per page of main source, sometimes there are periods of time with nothing new to practice on. Don't forget to include things you enjoy in the routine, don't let them get postponed without end in order to keep up on everything. Making songs or podcasts part of your day thanks to an mp3 player, that can help immensely. And you can do part of your Assimil work the same way on the go. Listening to lessons several more times during the day is different than just spending the regular session over the book. But if you prefer music or anything, just keep to it. You can find a few additional minutes in every day, when you try, so it is less hard to fit everything in the time slot at your desk at home. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4435 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 4 of 6 10 February 2014 at 3:55am | IP Logged |
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Recently came across a video posting on YouTube from Felix Wang the polyglot living in Belgium:
My daily routine when I learn foreign languages Basically there are 24h in a day. A lot of time each day is spend on commuting to class / work. During the commute we can have a phrase book and study so that we wouldn't waste time. The past 8 months I've been brushing up on my Chinese. It got rusty over the years. Besides using phrase books, I cut my English TV programs down to less than half and my radio programs the same so that I can focus on watching videos in Chinese. I like to tune to radio programs that discuss specific topics. A lot of people would listen to music in the car. When driving you switch to foreign language programs. Since you are focused on the road you won't be able to listen as intensely but you can get use to the sounds of a language. Edited by shk00design on 10 February 2014 at 3:58am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| yantai_scot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4793 days ago 157 posts - 214 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 5 of 6 10 February 2014 at 5:03pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks to all three of you for your very helpful comments and advice!
Thinking about my routine, I could be reading Der Spiegel on my mobile on the bus, listening to podcasts in the gym, reading my kids' books in the evening, watching a soap online during the day, listening to the radio when I'm painting. I can see now that I've actually got a lot of immersion options around me that I hadn't thought to piece together coherently. Evenings aren't great for video or music in a foreign language- my mother is a happy monoglot who thinks German is an 'awful' sounding language but I can sit and read in German regardless of what else we're doing. I'm glad that just focussing on the 2 programmes for now is better. I'd started with the Hugo for a few chapters before I'd signed up for my evening class and liked it. The Willkommen! is our class textbook. It's not bad and it would be nice to be able to say I've finished it but I can probably achieve this primarily through the Assimil/Hugo just using it as extra exercises. I'm off to watch Felix's video. I'm feeling like I'm standing on the edge of a precipice. The German class has been holding my hand but I need to let go. I've got the materials. I've had excellent advice and encouragement on here. I know now what I have to do and how to go about it and a deadline. The Assimil order is still being processed so I'll get back to the Hugo while I wait and bring my Hugo level up to the Willkommen! level...Should have the Assimil by Monday so that's the start of my new language learning life...:o or should it be :D? Edited by yantai_scot on 10 February 2014 at 5:04pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5000 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 6 of 6 11 February 2014 at 9:05pm | IP Logged |
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Well, your mother probably doesn't mind your German classes so she might be bendable by all the info on how is German a useful and profitable language to know. Even if not, I found out long ago a good quality set of headphones made life with parents much more bearable (no matter which side uses the headphones for content the rest of the family dislikes) ;-) Fortunately, I live alone now. Which means I can listen to whatever I want and I don't need to keep some of my language books hidden behind the visible rows in the bookcase :-D
Music, audiobooks, podcasts, course lesson audio etc., that is all perfect for the times out of home, from my experience. The spare minutes get used, you don't need to "waste" home time (so you can spend it with learning tools requiring your sight), and noone knows whether you're listening to just "regular music" or anything else. And noone cares. Just be careful when crossing the road, I wouldn't like to read a new post in YKYAALN thread like "I was so dived in lesson 40 of my German Assimil while going to work that I had myself hit by a car." Edited by Cavesa on 11 February 2014 at 9:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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