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TAC 2011- organizing myself for TAC’12 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 121 of 161 23 June 2011 at 4:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yesterday I got my summer schedule to teach "Active English". I'll be working next week and the first week of August. I just got a good look at my roster. I've had some of the students before. They're mostly from the Hauptschule and -not- extremely motivated to learn English. I've spent most of the day trying to plan one of the classes (each class lasts 90 min) and my preparation time for one class was 3 hours (!) Am I an idiot? the problem is, I know they'll be a tough bunch. One of the students excels at trying to prevent any learning from taking place at all (his teacher says that the whole class is like that). I'm trying to format a game to get them to speak. I have cards and a Drehscheibe (spinner from one of our board games) which give the players cues to speak in sentences. AH well. Now all I have to do is make a plan for Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri as well...
I have so much I want to do (and can do) for French and yet I feel so paralysed. Is it because I'm about to pay my taxes and feel completely and utterly "spent"? Maybe. I've been doing a lot of posting around in the forum and that's always an indication that something is adrift.... I have to learn to curtail my wanderings. It brings nothing. (Except maybe the two votes I gained through the extra posting). I'm -trying- to focus but I still have to prepare for these classes next week. Then I'm free for a few weeks. All my other students are on vacation. It will be a lean but peaceful July! Edited by Sunja on 23 June 2011 at 4:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 122 of 161 25 June 2011 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've discovered why I was feeling so spent a few days ago. I'm nursing a cold, thanks to the cool, rainy weather that's helping us to usher in our summer break.
When it comes to buying books and not finishing them, I'm the biggest offender in the forum! Along with Assimil, I have yet to finish the following, Qui joue avec le feu A2/B1 Stirb, mon amour ab B1 tödliches rendez vous A2 schüsse in versailles B2 Hugh Laurie "The Gun Seller" / Tout est sous contrôle plus four or five grammar books of varying levels. I just added a new book because it was just so cheap (3€ + 3€ shipping) and I just couldn't help myself. It promises to give me a well-rounded knowledge of all French grammar up to intermediate level. I need more practice from this book to help me get through my 1000 Grammatik Übungen before the end of the summer. Now I have to go brew a pot of tea and stick my head in it. I have to be fit for next week. EDIT: I'm going to try to stay out of here next week. I'll be busy with family matters and work and if I don't stay out of here I won't get any studying done. I just come in and write about not studying and not doing anything. 'don't want that... Edited by Sunja on 25 June 2011 at 7:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 123 of 161 27 June 2011 at 9:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
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We'll I was pretty good today so I'll venture in here for a moment to log my numbers. (If I don't I won't remember what I did. This log is the only place that I can keep track of my studies; my desk looks as if a bomb went off..)
I don't usually like Anki but I'm into it for some reason. Next week will be something else so I stick with what's inspiring for the moment and not give it any thought. I've been doing vocab. one thing that's great about the intermediate level is the ability to amass huge amounts of vocabulary without getting too overwhelmed with it being new. I just finished reviewing 112 words and I made 172 new entries today. Yesterday I also created a deck of an old Michel Thomas review of French which I found floating around in the internet. I just copied those sentences and their translations right into Anki. I'm trying to go from Eng. to French, hoping that will get me more accustomed to speaking. This should work better than Assimil's activation phase which I've failed because I've lost all interest in Assimil's dialogs. so I'd better hurry and get out of here... I haven't reviewed my new Michel Thomas deck yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 124 of 161 29 June 2011 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
"the halfway point" -- I'd better go study!!! I have so much to do! I just got home from work (it's already 5:00) Where'd the day go??? The rest of the day (what's left) is MINE -- I'll be back in a few hours with a full report.. Edited by Sunja on 29 June 2011 at 5:09pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 125 of 161 29 June 2011 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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hmm, 166 cards in 45 minutes isn't that spectacular, but I've also spent a lot of time adding in (and double checking the translations German-Eng-French to get the FULL spectrum) some new vocab to Anki. All the words are from my new July issue of Revue de la Presse, which I hope to finish this week.
Unfortunately 45 min is all 've had time for today. The day just flew by. I have to go get my kids in bed and maybe I'll have time for some reading later on tonight if I'm not too tired. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 126 of 161 30 June 2011 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Another busy day. I've got a serious lack of concentration going on because I didn't get home again until 5.00 and now I'm sitting at the computer, ready to work and I'm just staring into space.
I've been slowly going through the Michel Thomas-Anki deck. There are hits and there are misses. Just in case I end up making my TAC goal this year, I should note here and now that I can't speak a word of French without quickly consulting a dictionary. I guess I haven't spent enough time with Assimil! OOh, I shouldn't say that. I could probably spit out some memorized chunks from those dialogs like, "Elle a une assez belle voix" comes to mind this second. But that won't get me a cup of coffee. So I have to be able to speak MORE. I really considered joining the August 6WC, since they'll probably pick French, but August is when things get busy for me. Well...bus-ier. I should have more time to study tomorrow. I have to work but I don't have any extra appointments. Today, for example, I had to take my 8-yr-old to have an imprint/cast made so she can have her retainer refitted. She's growing again, as they are wont to do. That plus one of the wires on it broke. That was just one of three appointments that I've had this week. Now next week I only have one extra engagement other than work and then I should be freed-up for a while. The calendar page for July looks (so far) quite empty. On second thought my mother might come... So that means the 6WC will have to wait. I'll make my own challenge! I challenge myself to speak French by the end of July. Okay, let's say B1. So let it be written, so let it be done.. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 127 of 161 30 June 2011 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Let's make this official.
We're at the halfway point for Sunja's TAC. So what exactly did I say I was gonna do, anyway? I want to be able to communicate on a normal, everyday level and understand normal, everyday French. Sounds reasonable. I really felt like I could take it on and now that I'm at the halfway point I realize now what a huge untertaking this was/is. So where am I?? Update, reading comprehension: I can read newspaper articles with a lot of help from a dictionary. www.lefigaro.fr/, www.aujourdhui-en-france.fr/ etc. Listening: I have a really hard time understanding texts above B1. If I know what the subject is I can understand a lot of the ecoute podcasts but I can also get lost easily. Speaking: nope. nothing. Writing: nope. not even a tweet. Obviously no output yet. Here's an update on my materials when I started: Assimil: dropped. I got bored after lesson 81. smartfn: was Iknow! became smart.fn became Iknow! again with a nice subscription tacked onto it by cerego. It doesn't bother me that they decided to charge people. What bothered me was that I had to pay to have access to my own work! I also discovered I wasn't allowed to make any more new lists. dropped. Yabla: dropped. A really good thing but I couldn't get into it, for some reason. It wasn't a good deal (10/per mo.) once I stopped going there. I thought I would go back, but so far I've had other things going on.. coffeebreak, ecoute et al.: I still love écoute. I also listen to RFI, even though I can't catch more than 30%. I no longer listen to coffeebreak.french I'm tired of hearing Mark Pentleton's voice, even though he's very good. I just don't want to hear so much Eng. in one episode. I can't afford it! Time's a wastin! I have to have all-French podcasts -- even if I don't understand all of it. EDIT: Œ Teammates garyb and Renee, I know 30% looks pretty lame but things will start clickin' for me soon. I've collected all the puzzle pieces and I'm about to put it together....I think. Edited by Sunja on 30 June 2011 at 10:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6085 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 128 of 161 06 July 2011 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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So I've been trying to keep up with what I've been doing to get an idea of where I can improve. What I've been doing varies greatly -- I have so many different things because I quickly lose my motivation to study once I get distracted by life. That's my only rule: keep it varied. The only problem is I never finish anything but I guess no one will care if I don't finish something. The main thing is to keep going.
It's only been four days and I don't have much Anki, 3hrs 11 min Reading in front of the mirror: 10 min Star Trek: 2 hrs. B1 book: 50 min Tout est sous controle, Revue de la Presse haven't been touched in four days *shame* That's because I'm trying to activate what I know. I'm having a problem finding the right amount of study time. I keep thinking: tomorrow will be better, but then something comes up. Today I was so happy to finally get my Steuerbescheid, and all my Absetzungen worked. All those painter materials for my paintings and setting up my website. It's all pretty much a non-existent business but hey, I participated in 2 exhibitions in 2010 and I was ready to provide the tax people with all the information they could want. Didn't need to. And I almost sold something in 2010. What was I talking about? finding more time to study -- ah yes. Tomorrow looks good. I just have to inflate the pool and put water in it for the kids. Looks like I should be able to get something done. EDIT: I'm in the throes of Michel Thomas/ANKI and adding some stuff I've been finding on the Internet. So it's not quasi the "michel thomas deck" anymore. But I've found a great link that I want to put in here for reference. Let's call it CONJUGATE. I like the format. I also like having the audio button right there, per m. click. I'm still having trouble using pouvoir and devenir. I get confused between the different verb forms. That's okay. practice, practice... Edited by Sunja on 08 July 2011 at 9:32am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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