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Spanish -B1 by November 2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| slikew Groupie United States Joined 4074 days ago 79 posts - 95 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 9 of 58 06 November 2013 at 4:05pm | IP Logged |
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Midweek Update (Toggl summary will be more complete moving forward as I just downloaded the app and the below summary is only tracking one day)
Monday - Tuesday Summary: FSI - Completed Unit 9, moving on to Unit 10 Destinos - Completed episode 18 Duolingo - 24 minutes (Level 10 - 1236 words) Brain Scape Spanish Flashcards - 13 minutes I just finished up FSI unit 9 and will be beginning Unit 10 today. The first time around I didn't understand a lot of the audio, as I had not read the text first. After I muddle through the unit, I read through the text and things made more sense. I learned a few more constructions. My biggest difficulty was the este, estos, ese, esos part. I've got this down pat now. I know that there is no such thing as estes and eses. The correct words for "these" masculine and "those" masculine are "estos" and "esos." Once I could this down, I had it pretty well down. I still get a bit tongue tied, and I hope that will go away with time. I just haven't had the opportunity to speak to anyone in Spanish lately for any extended period of time. My Panamanian friend just returned to town, so hopefully I will be able to get some practice in with him this Friday. Also, I've downloaded Toggl in order to track my progress. This is especially useful to make sure I get my minutes in with DuoLingo and Brainscape's Spanish App. The Brainscape Spanish bundle was $20 and contains about 2,500 normal vocab and a few thousand other words of specialty topics like business, medical, technical, food. I found that my reading vocabulary wasn't enough to really read through the NVI Bible, so I'm working on expanding my vocabulary. I hope to master the majority of the 2500 words in the Brainscape App by the end of 2014. On my current track for FSI, it looks like I will finish sometime around May 2014. I'm not sure what I will do at that point except read, speak, write and listen as much as possible using books/audiobooks, movies, TV, Spanish meetups. That's a long time from now, and the focus needs to be on my present task. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4109 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 58 07 November 2013 at 12:12am | IP Logged |
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Hello!
I see you mentioned me earlier in the thread as we are aiming for the same thing, :) I'll keep an eye on this thread and how you're doing. Oh yes and when learning I try to focus on Castilian Spanish so when I take the DELE I will be more prepared for the regional differences. So I use the Assimil "with ease" course and Notes in Spanish as part of my study regime, although I have moved on to native pod-casts recently. Buena suerte :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| slikew Groupie United States Joined 4074 days ago 79 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 11 of 58 11 November 2013 at 6:34pm | IP Logged |
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End of the Week Round Up
FSI-Unit 10 (1:50) Reading Spanish - 50 minutes Listening/Reading - 20 minutes Total hours studied this week, including the midweek round up is around 6.5 hours. FSI - The clitc pronouns were troublesome at the start. I was able to read the text, and then listen to the difficult exercises again. I did very well after this extra practice. Reading: I was able to find a good article online about reading maps (all in Spanish) I like maps and geography, so this was fun. I just googled "Como leer un mapa." I know this doesn't seem like a lot, but I've been finding new vocabulary in my readings. FSI can be quite taxing, and I have a full time job and am newly married, so I don't spend loads of time on Spanish. I do sneak in little readings here and there, which is helpful. Instead of reviewing the two FSI units each Friday, I have decided to use this day (normally about an hour) for free reading. This was a needed break this last Friday and it was quite motivating to be able to read what I wanted to read. Also, I ran across Spanish News Bites, which has graded reading. I'm definitely a Nivel Inicial learner, but that's fine with me! I'm just glad to be able to read the basics in all Spanish and understand the main points of the articles. Edit: Spelling Edited by slikew on 11 November 2013 at 6:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| slikew Groupie United States Joined 4074 days ago 79 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 12 of 58 13 November 2013 at 5:30am | IP Logged |
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Mon-Tue Recap
FSI - Unit 11 Complete (1:50) Reading - 1 hour Vocabulix (free vocabulary website) 10 minutes Well, I am really tired. I've gotten in 3 hours of Spanish learning over the past two days along with my job and home duties. I'm surprised that the FSI lesson seemed a bit easier today for me. Units 9 and 10 were quite challenging to me. I think they were more challenging, because I practiced when I was tired. Now to move on to FSI Unit 12. My in laws will be coming into town during the week of Christmas and there are going to be a lot of changes coming up with my job after the new year, so I really hope that I can at least make it to FSI 21 and improve my reading/vocabulary a bit more by Christmas. I took a peak at the B1 DELE practice test reading comprehension portion. The last time I took a look at this was in September and I must say that I am surprised to see that it's much more comprehensible. My original goal was to be able to pass the A2 by December 2013, B1 equivalent by June 2014 and then B2 by December 2014. While I will not actually take the B2 exam at that time, I will be testing myself against the practice DELE online. It should be quite evident if I am at that level or not. Also, there is a website I ran across called Vocabulix. It's a free vocabulary website that seems to be pretty good. I was able to pass a few modules today and write down the words that I need to work on. Also, through my reading, I've compiled a small list of about 40-50 words that I can study during small breaks this week. I hope to read a lot and gather small lists like this to study from week to week. If I can just learn half each week, that's still an improvement over time. Line upon line, precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little. Entonces, hasta mas tarde. Slikew Edited by slikew on 13 November 2013 at 5:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| yaboycon Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4736 days ago 40 posts - 50 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Russian | Message 13 of 58 14 November 2013 at 7:05pm | IP Logged |
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I have similar goals to you I think although I am studying Russian.
Im going for A2 in March 2014 and then B2 in March 2015. So I have a year to go from A2 to B2, which seems to be what your aim is as well. Best of luck 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| slikew Groupie United States Joined 4074 days ago 79 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 58 19 November 2013 at 2:40am | IP Logged |
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Wed- Saturday Recap
FSI - Unit 12 Spanish Reading- 5 minutes Vocabulary Study- 10 minutes Spanish Flash Card Making - 45minutes Spanish Listening - 20 minutes Free Writing- 5 minutes I also preached at my church's Spanish service and had a friend translate for me. While this didn't really equate to Spanish study, I hope that some of the Spanish translation seeped into my brain. (LOL) So, I'm just moving along, like the little train that could. I was tired of FSI, so on Wednesday I filled in my time with things I wanted to do. That's when I did the Vocabulary study, making flash cards, listening and reading. It's nice to mix it up sometimes. Onward to FSI 13! Also, my grandma gave me a Spanish lesson from 1940 called "Spanish in 40 Hours - The De Martino Step-By-Step Conversational Method." It's old school, so that means it's really thorough. A lot of good grammar lessons, and lots of good vocabulary and reading. I try to read through the little pamphlets (20 - although I'm missing one) each night before bed, trying to get in a bit more vocabulary. I checked online for the publishing company and the author, but I haven't been able to turn up anything. If I find out that this program isn't copyrighted, I may just see about getting the pages printed into a book for myself, so I have a more durable copy. The book is fragile. The author was F.L de Martino LL. B. He was the founder and director of the Royal Institute, The Spanish-American School of Languages. The published is Maxwell Droke, based in Indianapolis, Indiana. If anyone reading this knows more information about this person, institute or the publisher, please let me know via personal message. Edited by slikew on 19 November 2013 at 2:47am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| slikew Groupie United States Joined 4074 days ago 79 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 58 25 November 2013 at 5:43pm | IP Logged |
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Weekly Summary
FSI- Unit 13 Reading - El Progeso Del Peregrino 79 Pages Well, last week was busy so I wasn't able to spend a lot of time studying. I did finish FSI Unit 13 and began working on Unit 14. I also started reading El Progreso del Peregrino (Pilgrim's Progress). This is the modern language version, as the original was written in the 1600's. It's very good and I'm able to understand about 60-70% of it. I know the story pretty well, so that helps greatly. I've picked up on a few words and am enjoying seeing and taking in how sentences are constructed/the natural flow of writing in Spanish. I hope to finish FSI 14 and 15 this week, so that I can close out the entire first book. To me, this is a big accomplishment. My next short term goal is to finish Unit 30 (book 2) by the end of January. My job will be hiring 9 new employees in January, so things may be hectic. I'd like to smash these first 30 lessons out and I think I would feel more established at that point. Also, I have a few Spanish books I would like to read, in addition to my Spanish Bible during filler time, while studying FSI. After FSI (plan to complete by the end of April) I want to begin to read about 3,000 pages of Spanish to improve my vocabulary and reading ability. I also need to watch some movies and listen to native podcasts to improve listening. Perhaps at that point I will want to find a language partner as well. Anyway, onward to finish Unit 14 and 15 this week! Edit - Spelling Edited by slikew on 25 November 2013 at 5:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| slikew Groupie United States Joined 4074 days ago 79 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 16 of 58 26 November 2013 at 9:07pm | IP Logged |
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FSI 14 - Complete!
Thank the Lord. I was ready to move on. One more lesson and book 1 is knocked out! That's about 700 pages of material. That's 27% done. Gotta keep it up! One more lesson before Thanksgiving! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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