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Comprehensive FSI Spanish Review | ||
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 1 of 18 30 October 2006 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the bonds which have connected him to one language course, and to assume the capabilities said course promises, a decent review is required before they are impelled to seperate.
In other words, it's time for the big review. FSI Basic is still the centerpiece of this next adventure in learning Spanish. There are about 9 weeks until the end of the year, and that seems like it may be about right for this first comprehensive review. Here are the study components on the docket: Part 1. Review FSI Basic Spanish units 1-55. The goal is to refresh all the material and make much better progress in the final 9 lessons than I did in the previous 7-10 weeks. Part 2. Continue reading daily meditation book. Learn 7 new words a week from the book. Part 3. Watch and exercise to 10 minute news program each day. http://voanoticias.com has a program that fills the bill. Perhaps as the weeks progress I'll find others. If I can follow the 1 hour weekly program while riding the exercycle with very good comprehension and little effort, this will be a smashing success. Part 4. Audiobooks. Finish reading along with the audiobook for Ángeles y Demonios and then go through El Código Da Vinci like I went through AyD. E.G. burn through it in English, then go through it at a more leisurely pace in Spanish. Also listen to the 2 books on tape that I've been working on the last 6 months or so. I should be able to do that at least once fast, just listening and repeating in the car, and once slowly, reading, reading aloud, repeating, trying to shadow, focusing on pronunciation and vocabulary. Part 5. Finish up Prado's Grammar. I have about 7 1/2 lessons left in the book, and two exams. That fits well in a 9 week plan. Edited by luke on 30 October 2006 at 8:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 2 of 18 05 November 2006 at 1:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 1.
Part 1. I've started the FSI Basic Spanish review. I'm approaching the end of unit 10. Even this first week of very early lessons has been helpful, as there have been a few drills that I wanted to do 2 or 3 times because they weren't automatic the first time or I made an error. One thing I noticed is that it's easier to go through these early lessons than the later ones. By that I mean, I switched to the radio or the tape player for a break from the lesson far less last week. Part 2. From the mediation book I've written down the meaning of 11 words I didn't know. A couple of days I read the passage more than once. Part 3. I also did the 10 minute video news program each day while riding the healthcycle. This morning I watched the weekly 60 minute program which I comprehend pretty well, but there was one speaker with a deep voice who was difficult to make out at times. Occasionally my mind wandered, but the goal of understanding the program with relative ease by the end of the year seems attainable. Part 4. On the audiobook front, I'm up to page 237 of 606 in Ángeles y Demonios. One day I read another book, Aprender con éxito, which is an original Spanish work that is pretty easy, well written, and useful. I'm on page 34 of 201 in it. I had Ángeles y Demonios on my mp3player for listening while walking around, and it is pretty comprehensible. I do notice it's easier to understand the earlier part of the book, which I've been reading along with the audio. Part 5. Got through lesson 8 in Practical Spanish Grammar. Have glanced ahead in the book. There is some semi-specialized vocabulary up ahead. Edited by luke on 05 November 2006 at 3:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 3 of 18 05 November 2006 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Extra credit. I also listened to and watched Destinos episode 26 (of 52). It was introduced as a review unit with no new vocabulary and it had a lot of flashbacks into the story. I haven't convinced myself to continue with Destinos episode 27. There is a fair bit of non-action. E.G. watching the star walk down the street, etc. The pronunciation is very clear, so at this point it is not challenging. However, I've started a new exercise program where my goal is to do about 30 minutes of aerobics most days, rather than only 10. For a bit I thought of doing French in Action, but since I feel my Spanish is about 1 year from where I want it to be, and also I thought I'd re-pick up Esperanto next, I watched Destinos. I also have some real DVD telanovellas that I could use. They do not have Spanish subtitles though, which is a disappointment. I would pick up vocabulary faster by seeing the dialogue in the form of subtitles. Maybe later, when the focus is once again on vocabulary, I'll start watching some DVDs again. Stay tuned. Edited by luke on 10 November 2006 at 4:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 18 12 November 2006 at 2:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 2.
I was out of town for a few days this week. The hotel I happened to stay at had 4 Spanish speaking TV channels which was cool. I'm tempted to sign up for a package to get more variety at home. Right now I just get Univision, which isn't bad, but having more choices would let me watch Spanish shows more frequently than I do now. I was pleasantly surprised at my TV comprehension. Part 1. On the study side I reviewed FSI Basic Spanish units 11-17. I still imagine reviewing these early units a couple of times more in the coming year. It's nice to be able to blow through them pretty fast, but I'd like to have the drills, dialogues, etc down even better. My benchmark for drills is to be able to give the response without hesitation, and to be able to shadow the response on the tape when it comes for focus on pronunciation and form. Although I can do this with a lot of drills, I haven't been able to do it with all of them yet. I don't think there is any down side to squeezing as much out of the course as possible. The way I have edited the CDs, there are some groups of songs from Cantemos that I want to understand better. I'm at the point now where I believe I can glean some vocabulary from music. I.E. I have sufficient grounding in grammar to start to broaden my experience. The first level of Platiquemos has 9 songs, and I have the 4 volumes of Cantemos. It's also good cultural background. More focus on the songs will come in later reviews. I'm just noting it now. Part 2. In the meditation book I wrote definitions for 10 words. I started writing some of the definitions in Spanish. This works particularly well for verbs, as some of the synonyms are often cognates. I use the Spanish Dictionary at Yahoo! most of the time, although I also picked up a very good and very cheap Webster's New Spanish English Dictionary from Walmart. What I like about the online dictionary is it's fast and the results are helpful. Apparently that Yahoo! dictionary is from American Heritage. Part 3. I missed a few days of the online news videos because of my business trip, however I made up for it with Galavision, etc. I'm very pleased with my 60 minute workout to Foro Interamericano. It's well produced, and I can follow most of it. It's also helpful to have an hour straight of interesting comprehensible input. As mentioned in the extra credit post last week, I've upped my aerobics goal to about 30 minutes per day, and I've been using Destinos in that slot. Although it's easier than voanews.com's Desde Washington, it ends up being a 25 minute program which goes well with my duration goal for exercise. Although I can understand just about everything they say, it has crossed my mind to do the course again in a more active way. By that I mean I'll speak aloud describing what is happening in the show. I do this a bit now, as there are plenty of non-action gaps where this activity fits. I listened to episodes 27-32 this week. Part 4. I'm on page 352 in Ángeles y Demonios. This is another book that could be repeated more than once to squeeze more vocabulary out, but I think I'll do some different audiobooks before a second wave through AyD. I did no "slowly, carefully" work in my old standby audiobook this week. I did go through about 1 tape of "listen and sometimes follow" though. Part 5. I did about 1/2 of lesson 9 in Practical Spanish Grammar. This is usually done while half watching TV, which isn't the best study habit. Extra Credit: Yesterday I read about 12 pages from a book on Chinese massage and the Tao in Spanish. It's an interesting book and I can comprehend most of what I read and I didn't use a dictionary. That wraps up this weeks study log. It is helpful to track my activity like this, and occasionally it motivates me to stay on track. Edited by luke on 12 November 2006 at 2:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 5 of 18 19 November 2006 at 5:29pm | IP Logged | ||
For posterity:
That shows me where I need some work down the road. I was planning to hit the readings in FSI during this review, and the result above suggests that would help. Part 1. This week I went through units 18-23 in FSI Basic Spanish. Some of the CDs this week also has some Learn Spanish In Your Car (LSIYC) drills. I have the FSI drills down better than the LSIYC drills, as I've done them more. Overall, I think the FSI drills are better, but there seems to be some useful vocabulary in LSIYC. Based on the test results at the top of the page, I can see I should pay more attention to the FSI readings this time through. During this review, I've only done them for 16-17, but I plan to do more of them. The readings should help with vocabulary as well. Part 2. Wrote down 8 definitions in the daily meditation book. Trying to write those definitions in Spanish where convenient. Part 3. Didn't do any Destinos, but have watched several Spanish videos from Taiwan. These are a little more challenging than Destinos. I also watched some voa videos. This week I was a little preoccupied watching the hour long foro interamericano, but it is a good component in my study plan. Part 4. I'm on page 445 in Ángeles y Demonios. At some point this week I came up with the idea to read the odd chapters in English, and the even ones in Spanish while listening to the audiobook. This seems like a good tactic for right now. Part 5. Finally finished lesson 9 in Prado's Spanish Grammar. Looking to do lesson 10 and the quiz on 6-10 next week. Extra credit. Started reading a bit of a book on the history of technology in Mexico today. So far it's a bit easier than Ángeles y Demonios. I believe that is because the vocabulary is a bit less descriptive. I've noticed that non-fiction is easier for me than fiction, and similarly, news is easier to follow than a comedy or telenovella. Part of that is that the time investment is less in non-fiction. With non-fiction, one can read a chapter and pick up a few facts. I also read a couple dozen pages in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book this week. Edited by luke on 20 November 2006 at 8:35pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 6 of 18 26 November 2006 at 5:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 4.
Part 1. I had a road trip this week and reviewed units 24-31 in FSI Basic Spanish. I went through the readings in units 18-32 too. I've decided that if I can review a Platiquemos level in a week - there are 6-9 units per Platiquemos level - I've got the material down pretty well. This is a helpful notion because I don't think I'll be able to review the whole course in 8-9 weeks this time through. The last 2 levels will give more resistance. The 1 week per level idea gives me a benchmark for which levels/lessons to review in isolation before I do another comprehensive review of the entire course. 1 week per level fits in reasonably well with my typical commute schedule. Part 2. Read from the daily mediations book most days. Didn't write the usual number of translations because of my road trip. Part 3. Wasn't watching videos every day either. Hopefully I'll watch foro interamericano tonight and write something about my comprehension level. Part 4. On page 519 of 606 in Ángeles y Demonios (AyD). I briefly thought of abandoning AyD and picking up Don Quijote de La Mancha (DQ). I actually read along and listened to the first 5 chapters of Cervantes today. DQ is more challenging than AyD, but I think DQ will have more lasting power. I'm still not certain on what approach I'll use to DQ. At the moment, I'm leaning in the direction of using the Real Academy of Español version, which has a lot of helpful footnotes in conjunction with a non-annotated version that has a few illustrations, bigger type, and was cheaper. There is a podcast site that puts out a new chapter of DQ each week. They are currently on chapter 15. That will take a while to get the whole book out, but seems like a gently way to get started in the book. I also thought of using a Spanish only dictionary with DQ. I did some elementry word frequency analysis of DQ. Results for that are in the Don Quijote de La Mancha thread. I've sharpened the word frequency program a bit and updated the post. Part 5. I didn't do anything in Prado's Grammar this week, as I didn't bring it with me on the road trip. Current thinking is to finish the grammar in around the time I'm able to complete this first comprehensive review, which may extend past the end of the year. Extra credit was DQ. Based on the online quiz results I posted last week, I'm thinking about sneaking in some vocabulary work. I've got two frequency dictionaries for the top 5000 words, and there are many words that aren't under my power yet. My thoughts there have included flash cards, perhaps in a Leitner system. I also have been thinking about searching electronic books for contextual usage. Edited by luke on 27 November 2006 at 9:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 7 of 18 03 December 2006 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 5.
Part 1. I went through units 32 - 36 in FSI Basic Spanish. That's a little slower than than my target of being able to complete a Platiquemos level in a week. Level 5 of Platiqeumos is units 31-37. So when I finish this first comprehensive review, I'll probably do another review starting on unit 31. Part 2. Read the daily mediations. Didn't write any translations, but the days I thought I might, I didn't come up with any words for that day's reading. Part 3. Watched the VOA daily news show several times this week. Watched a couple of Spanish videos from Taiwan. Watching Foro InterAmericano now, so I should really be paying it more attention. Part 4. Finished Ángeles y Demonios for the first time. I had asked for help on which audiobook to study next, and got some good feedback. Today, which is a day off for me, I listened to and read along with the first chapter of Don Quijote 4 times, twice each with the translation and in Spanish. It would help if I read both the English and Spanish without the audio pushing me along. Then I'd want to use the audio and have it push me through the chapter. That would be reading the chapter 7 times, which seems like a bigger time commitment than I want to give right now. Although I'll continue reading Don Quijote, I'm not ready to call it an official component of my study, not that that means too much, since I can change my path at will. I also reread a bit of Ángeles y Demonios without the audio. Not using the audio was mainly a convenience so I could hit the book during commerical breaks on the tube. I read the first couple chapters and listened to the audiobook El Código Da Vinci. The approach I used was: 1) Read in English without the audio, because I can read faster than the Spanish audio. 2) Read out loud along with the Spanish audio. The narrator's voice is deep and that's a bit rough to do for too long. I didn't have my water bottle in the bath tub, which was my study location. I'm starting to think the audiobook route may be the best way for me to augment my vocabulary, mainly because I like the fact the audio constantly redraws my attention to the book. I also have a dual language book that I read a bit today and highlighted the words I want to learn. The idea there is I can re-read the passages a few times and that should help the words to sink in. I made some flash cards this week, and went through them a couple times, but that only seemed to highlight my need for some context to hang the vocabulary on. Part 5. I didn't do much in Prado's grammar this week. I'm beginning to think about substituting level 2 of Programmatic Spanish (PS) for Prado. Some things I like about PS are that it has audio, and the programmed nature of the book helps me focus. Actually, Prado's book is also programmed in nature, but there's something about sitting at the computer to study that helps me concentrate better than sitting on the couch while the TV is on. The Extra Credit was the extra diversions into audiobooks today. I also had a tutor session yesterday. The maestra was nice and talkative. I'll need to figure out how to butt into the conversation though. I've thought I should record the session, as that would be helpful for review. Edited by luke on 03 December 2006 at 2:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 8 of 18 10 December 2006 at 8:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Week 6.
Part 1. This week I went through units 37-41 in FSI Basic Spanish. These units are getting into the subjunctive, which is an aspect of the language I want to get down well. I read that those aspects of language which are most different from languages we know are the most challenging. That totally makes sense. Clitics and the subjunctive are aspects that I've had to focus on. Later in the course the past subjunctive is still a bit hazy, although I understand it in theory. Part 2. Read the daily meditations book. Noted six words for futher vocabulary study. Wrote the definitions in Spanish as there were handy cognates in the Yahoo! online Spanish dictionary. Part 3. Watched VOA news most days this week. Added in some Europocket TV news one day. Those are usually only 5 minute broadcasts, so I watch about 5 of them while doing aerobics. Part 4. I'm on page 90 of 456 in El Código Da Vinci. I'm continuing with the tactic of reading a chapter in English, then shadowing the chapter in Spanish with the audiobook. Reading the chapter in English first helps a lot with comprehension. Part 5. Didn't crack Prado's Grammar this week. I did crank up Programmatic Spanish again starting on unit 26. This week I did 26 and 27. I think I'll keep on with PS for a while, rather than Prado's grammar. Level 2 of PS has a lot focus on the subjunctive and other aspects of Spanish that are different than English, which is helpful. Extra credit this week was my second tutoring session. It went well. The maestra came up with the idea of covering some thematic vocabulary in the past, present and future. That seems like a really great plan. I also met with a gentleman from Columbia today for about an hour. He spoke English and I spoke Spanish. Basically, we're going to try to help each other out in our respective second languages. These sessions with native speakers this week were both fun and encouraging. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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