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Fine tuning my routine.

  Tags: Study Plan
 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center Post Reply
Zerzura
Groupie
Australia
Joined 4506 days ago

45 posts - 53 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 1 of 6
06 November 2013 at 12:23pm | IP Logged 
Alright so I've got a routine going so I can learn Russian, here it is:
2010 Colloquial Russian - 30 mintues
2011 Assimil Russian - 30 minutes
Michel Thomas Russian - 30 minutes

Currently I have a free 30 minutes to fill, so far I've tried flash cards, but find them very boring after 15 minutes or so, and to be honest I don't feel like using them every day. Since I usually have less energy to focus after dealing with the other tasks, I'd like to do something a little different. Note that this block of time should still be focused, maybe just split into two different useful interesting 15 minute sessions.

Maybe there's an element I feel I am missing from my routine, vocabulary? I'm reading everything I see in cyrillic out aloud from Colloquial and Assimil, and well am only speaking with Michel Thomas. So I don't seem to be falling short on speaking. My Russian handwriting is pretty fast and neat, although the actual content is just answering questions from the text, no improvised paragraphs.

So any suggestions would be appreciated!









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aspiringplyglot
Triglot
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United Kingdom
aspiringpolyglot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: English*, GermanB2, Spanish
Studies: Dutch, Esperanto, Polish, Scottish Gaelic, French

 
 Message 2 of 6
06 November 2013 at 1:51pm | IP Logged 
How long have you been doing this? If you are just beginning, I'd think that 3 x 30 min study sessions are plenty as you don't want to burn out, especially in the initial period. If you really want to study for an extra 30 mins, I'd suggest you use it to revise content from the day before, before you start the new lessons for that day. This way you'll be revising the vocabulary and any grammar points to reinforce and prepare you for what lies ahead in the next lesson.

I'd continue doing that until you're at least half-way through Assimil, at which point you may be able to start to introduce some basic level native materials.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Zerzura
Groupie
Australia
Joined 4506 days ago

45 posts - 53 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 3 of 6
06 November 2013 at 2:39pm | IP Logged 
aspiringplyglot wrote:
How long have you been doing this? If you are just beginning, I'd think that 3 x 30 min study sessions are plenty as you don't want to burn out, especially in the initial period. If you really want to study for an extra 30 mins, I'd suggest you use it to revise content from the day before, before you start the new lessons for that day. This way you'll be revising the vocabulary and any grammar points to reinforce and prepare you for what lies ahead in the next lesson.

I'd continue doing that until you're at least half-way through Assimil, at which point you may be able to start to introduce some basic level native materials.


I've been doing this for about two weeks so far, before was less focus time, for a month.

Just before I tried Scriptorium with reasonable sized Assimil sentences of the previous lessons, do you think this is a good combination? It's not such an intensive exercise and sort of anchors the expression of sentences.

I enjoy the routine so far except for the 30 minutes of which I'm not so sure what to do (I'd like it to be more quantifiable so I leave no chance for me to waste it). I like the idea of reviewing, using other techniques - exposing it to me in a different way. Thanks for the idea though, I know it's simple but I didn't even think of it!

So far 2 hours a day seems fine, I find Assimil and Michel Thomas pleasurable and easy to work with. Colloquial is a bit difficult to get through, but I'm already halfway through it and I'd like to go through it once before my Russian major (it is the required book).


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sctroyenne
Diglot
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United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Irish

 
 Message 4 of 6
06 November 2013 at 7:08pm | IP Logged 
What about 30 minutes of not so active learning? I'm not sure what's out there for
Russian learners, but what about podcasts, songs, movies, listen-reading, etc? After 90
minutes of courses you've earned a little "fun" plus it's nice to hear what you've been
learning pop out of native materials (or at least learning materials that are a bit more
casual).
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
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Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 5 of 6
07 November 2013 at 12:10pm | IP Logged 
I agree with Sctroyenne. You got a nice learning plan but it may be beneficial in the
long run to supplement or exchange one part of it for a less formal activity (by
exchange, I mean one day it can be exchange for colloquial, another for MT).

All the learning materials tend to get a steeper learning curve once you are in for
several weeks. What seemed as an easy pace and dose at the beginning may become a
hurdle. So, it is great to have alternatives for the weaker moments.

Listening to music is awesome. I don't know many russian artists but Fleur is one of
the musicians I quite like. But you will surely find much more and exactly suiting your
taste. After all, Russian is one of the large languages.

There are as well graded readers, which is a luxury small languages don't often offer.
You might enjoy some of those. And some come with audio.

There are surely things like podcasts, easy news etc. I am sure others here will tell
you more about what can you find. I just wanted to say that having some more practice
and variety never hurts in my opinion.
3 persons have voted this message useful



Zerzura
Groupie
Australia
Joined 4506 days ago

45 posts - 53 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 6 of 6
09 November 2013 at 6:35am | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
I agree with Sctroyenne. You got a nice learning plan but it may be beneficial in the
long run to supplement or exchange one part of it for a less formal activity (by
exchange, I mean one day it can be exchange for colloquial, another for MT).

All the learning materials tend to get a steeper learning curve once you are in for
several weeks. What seemed as an easy pace and dose at the beginning may become a
hurdle. So, it is great to have alternatives for the weaker moments.

Listening to music is awesome. I don't know many russian artists but Fleur is one of
the musicians I quite like. But you will surely find much more and exactly suiting your
taste. After all, Russian is one of the large languages.

There are as well graded readers, which is a luxury small languages don't often offer.
You might enjoy some of those. And some come with audio.

There are surely things like podcasts, easy news etc. I am sure others here will tell
you more about what can you find. I just wanted to say that having some more practice
and variety never hurts in my opinion.


I forgot to also mention that I halve my Russian time for the weekends, for a bit of a breather. 2 hours on weekdays and 1 hour for Saturday and Sunday. For the past two days I used my undecided half an hour just watching some old cartoons, and focus on the dialogue. I'm surprised that I understand quite a few words (even though it's only simple dialogue).

I want to make sure that I'm still focusing and absorbing the language in this half hour. So far I'm thinking that less formal activities is a good idea, and if I feel that I really need to spend extra time going back over something with whichever method, I can do that instead. Definitely exposing myself to native materials is something I'd like to do!

Cheers for the input so far guys.


2 persons have voted this message useful



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