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Marco’s Odyssey | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| marco.of.europa Groupie Ireland Joined 5049 days ago 46 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 56 20 January 2011 at 4:50pm | IP Logged |
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Log Day: One. Hello, This is my first time keeping a public online diary/log. I have tried keeping a private log before (in a text file on my computer) but normally my interest fizzles out after a little while and I fail to maintain it. I'm hoping that a public log will keep me accountable to myself and bolster my resolve. Language goal: I want to learn French. I want to be able to understand French radio and television programs. I want to be able converse with people. Ultimately, I want to obtain the DALF C2 certification. Language Background: I studied it in school for 6 years, culminating with a B1 grade in my Leaving Cert. I was strong at reading and writing (I got an A1 on that part of the exam). However I was very weak at the oral and aural aspects. In my oral exam I have a distinct memory of the examiner/interviewer drumming her long finger nails on the desk during our 'conversation. Admittedly, it was at end of a long week of such exams but I think my stilted and poorly pronounced French was the main contributing factors to her boredom/ frustration. I'm sure it didn't help that I'm not great at conversing with strangers even in English! Anyway, that was ten years ago and in the intervening time I have forgotten a lot of my French. Reason for my renewed interest in French: Recently I went on holiday to Italy. On impulse, I borrowed a Michel Thomas Italian course from the library and began to listen to it for the first time on the plane. By the time I was flying over the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean I had begun to really 'get' his method. I also really liked his voice and manner... hell, does anyone else think that he's kind of like a long lost grandfather/uncle? Just me, oh well. :) Anyhow, on the holiday I found myself actually trying out some of the Italian I was learning, and also found that I could pick up snippets of conversation. The MT Italian went a long way to restoring my confidence in my language learning abilities, and so I have now decided to renew my French studies. In December I completed the MT French Foundation and Advanced Courses. I enjoyed them, finding them very beneficial. I also found that I can follow the French news on TV and radio a little easier after the MT courses. However I still have a long way to go. After those two MT French courses I was a little at a loss to know what to do next. Since then I've spent more time reading 'about' learning French than in actually reading/learning French. Concerns: I am concerned that my renewed interest in French may not be genuine. I know (some of) my weaknesses. In the past I have flirted with different 'projects' dropping them after a short while. Generally I do this when I want a diversion from some important project. I currently have two such important projects ('IP1' and 'IP2') to attend to and I am concerned that my renewed interest in studying French may be just a diversion from these. Indeed while I was following the MT French course I completely neglected IP1 and IP2. :( My challenge to myself: I'm going to set myself an initial challenge, the 'Initial Twenty Day Challenge' if I complete that to my satisfaction then I will create new rolling challenges until I reach my ultimate goal. If I fail, then I guess I will have learned something important about myself. Challenge No: 1 The Initial Twenty Day Challenge: I challenge myself for the next twenty days to record on this log my progress at learning French. However since I cannot sustain my French studies if I neglect IP1 and IP2 I am also committing to record my work on IP1 and IP2 (albeit not in detail because, after all, this is a forum for language learning). Marco's Odyssey and his Initial Twenty Day Challenge Log Day: Initial Twenty Day Challenge, Day: Initial Twenty Day Challenge. IP1: IP2: French: Outline of what covered today: Thoughts: Plans / To do: Marco. Edited by marco.of.europa on 20 January 2011 at 7:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| marco.of.europa Groupie Ireland Joined 5049 days ago 46 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 56 20 January 2011 at 4:52pm | IP Logged |
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and his Initial Twenty Day Challenge Log Day: One. Initial Twenty Day Challenge, Day: Zero. Initial Twenty Day Challenge: IP1: (Record whether worked on, and if so, for how long and the quality of work): Very little, talked to some people. IP2: (Record whether worked on, and if so, for how long and the quality of work): Nothing substantive. French: Outline of what covered today: Set up this log. Purchased blank A4 copy books for writing French in and recording vocabulary. Thoughts: Observation: Today I was waiting at a bus stop. I saw a mother and her young daughter (about 4 years old) walking along the footpath. Beyond the footpath was a football pitch covered with frost. On the pitch blackbirds hopped about. The girl exclaimed in an excited high pitched squeal "Look at the birds doing ten-niece!" and then happily skipped on. The incident reminded me of my own efforts to learn a language; of attempting to learn correct pronunciation (tennis), vocabulary (football rather than tennis) and verb choice ('playing' rather than 'doing'). It also reminded me that mistakes and imperfection are a natural part of language learning. I tend to become frustrated and disheartened when I make little mistakes. Perhaps I could learn a lot from that little girl's relaxed carefree attitude and just allow myself to freely communicate in the language without worrying about little mistakes which can and will be remedied in time. Study Plan: I need to develop a study plan. I think I'm going to follow a hybrid approach to learning French. I'll follow some specific course of study from a book or audio course(yet to be determined), but in addition I'll set myself the task of writing a piece each day on a subject of my own choice (either something that interests me or randomly from one of the day's news stories). I can review and correct these written pieces as I learn more and more rules of grammar. I'll also need to work on my listening (French radio/TV) and speaking skills (audio course and conversations with native speakers). Idea: Grammatical check list: I think that as I revise and learn grammar I'll record the important points in the form of a checklist. I can then run through this checklist when I go to review and correct the written pieces I've set myself. Such a course of action should hopefully re-enforce my grammar learning whilst also allowing me to be more relaxed when composing the written piece initially; in effect, killing two (tennis playing) birds with one stone! Initial Twenty Day Challenge starts tomorrow with: 1. I will start by picking a news story from Le Monde's website. I will also read how the other newspapers report on it. I will record new vocabulary from those stories in my vocab book. Then I will attempt to write in French my own account of the story (I can correct it myself over time as I study grammar). 2. I will watch 10 mins of French TV news stories. 3. I will research French audio courses. Plans / To do: Day 2: Research French study books, Day 3: Research French grammar books, vocabulary books. Day 4: Research internet resources for French learning. Day 5: Have chosen an audio course Day 6: Develop Study Plan Day 10: Research services which can put me into contact with native speakers (Tandem???) and set a deadline for when you will sign up for such a service. Marco. Edited by marco.of.europa on 20 January 2011 at 6:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| marco.of.europa Groupie Ireland Joined 5049 days ago 46 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 56 22 January 2011 at 1:25am | IP Logged |
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Initial Twenty Day Challenge Day: Friday, 21/01/2011 Odyssey Log Day: Two Challenge: Initial Twenty Day Challenge, Day: One Initial Twenty Day Challenge. IP1: Yes, some progress made. IP2: Yes, some progress made French: Outline of what covered today: 1. I was a little ambitious setting myself this task yesterday. I picked a news story from Le Monde and read it but I didn't look to see how other newspapers reported it. I'll save that additional step for a few weeks. I found I was quite rusty, but I was still able to understand much of the story. My attempt to summarize the story in my own words was very rudimentary and far from comprehensive. In fact I just chose a few of the main points. I'll correct my summaries over time. I have a copy book which I'm going to use just for writing these summaries in. I think I'll return to the same news-stores and attempt to improve on my summaries. I also have a copy book I'm going to use just for vocabulary. I started using it today. I'm not quite sure how to go about learning that vocabulary; maybe a flashcard programme. I might experiment. 2. 10 mins of French TV news stories: - This worked out quite well. I picked the same news story that I had read in Le Monde, (5 mins long) and watched it twice. Quite satisfied. 3. I didn't do much research on audio courses apart from looking at some posts on this forum. Pimsleur seems to be quite popular so I have opted to go with that. I want it for pronunciation so I don't mind if the first volume covers material I'm already familiar with. I'll do further research once I've worked my way through the first volume of Pimsleur. Thoughts: Technology is great! It's been ten years since I last studied French (in school) and today I really noticed how much easier it is with technology. For example, I was able to read the news story on Le Monde's website and use a dictionary addon in firefox to translate any new vocabulary. Then I was able to use zotero (another firefox addon/plugin) to file the story for ease of future reference. Then I just hopped along to the TF1 website and picked the same news story. Fantastic! Tomorrow I will: 1. Reread the same news-story again and write a better summary. 2. Watch the news-story again. 3. Pick a different story, etc. 4. Investigate other French newspaper websites and tidy up my bookmarks. 5. Day 2: Research French study books, Plans / Aims / To do: Day 3: Research French grammar books, vocabulary books. Day 4: Research internet resources for French learning. Day 6: Develop Study Plan Day 10: Research services which can put me into contact with native speakers (Tandem???) and set a deadline for when you will sign up for such a service. Day (end of Pim 1): Investigate other audio courses (such as Assimil(?)) Day ??: Begin to write this log in French. Day ??: Revise MT Adv. Course. Marco. Edited by marco.of.europa on 22 January 2011 at 1:29am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| marco.of.europa Groupie Ireland Joined 5049 days ago 46 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 56 22 January 2011 at 11:42pm | IP Logged |
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Initial Twenty Day Challenge Day: Saturday, 22/01/2011 Odyssey Log Day: Three Challenge: Initial Twenty Day Challenge, Day: Two Initial Twenty Day Challenge. IP1: Yes, a little. IP2: No. French: Outline of what covered today: 1. Re-read the story. I didn't attempt the summary or vocab. It's been a tough day... 2. I watched the 30 mins of French news with varying degrees of comprehension. 3. No. 4. No. 5. No. 6. I listened to the first two lessons of Pimsleur. Thoughts: It has been a tough couple of days in my personal life. I haven't felt like doing much French study. If it wasn't for this log I probably wouldn't have done anything at all. It's funny how a little bit of stress can totally sap my energy and make me feel disillusioned. Still, I must remember that this is an 'odyssey' and odysseys do have their low points. It can't always be plane sailing. I'll just have to keep chipping away at it. (Sorry for all the mixed metaphors! :) ) Tomorrow I will: As more storms are forecast for tomorrow, I'll reduce my aims to: 1. Listen to a unit of Pimsleur 2. Watch at least 10 mins news-story again. 3. Review vocab copy. Plans / Aims / To do: Investigate other French newspaper websites and tidy up my bookmarks. Day 4: Research internet resources for French learning. Day [?5]: Research French study books, Day [?5]: Research French grammar books, vocabulary books. Day 6: Develop Study Plan Day 10: Research services which can put me into contact with native speakers (Tandem???) and set a deadline for when you will sign up for such a service. Day (end of Pim 1): Investigate other audio courses (such as Assimil(?)) Day ??: Begin to write this log in French. Day ??: Revise MT Adv. Course. Edited by marco.of.europa on 22 January 2011 at 11:43pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| marco.of.europa Groupie Ireland Joined 5049 days ago 46 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 5 of 56 24 January 2011 at 7:55pm | IP Logged |
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Odyssey Log Day: Four Day: Sunday, 23/01/2011 Current Challenge: Initial Twenty Day Challenge, Day: Three Initial Twenty Day Challenge Initial Twenty Day Challenge. IP1: No IP2: Yes. SP-Mem: Yes French: Outline of what covered today: Nothing done Thoughts: The first half of the day went well. I worked on IP2 and a supporting project SP-Mem. I also started to use a stop watch to time how long I am working on projects. I'm using this information with a slightly amended version of Sprachprofi's spreadsheet ( http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=24527&PN=1 ) In the evening I planned to do some French study. Unfortunately... the best laid plans of mice and men. Tomorrow I will: N/A - As I'm posting this a day late. Plans / Aims / To do: Edited by marco.of.europa on 26 January 2011 at 12:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| marco.of.europa Groupie Ireland Joined 5049 days ago 46 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 56 24 January 2011 at 7:57pm | IP Logged |
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Odyssey Log Day: Five Day: Monday, 24/01/2011 Current Challenge: Initial Twenty Day Challenge, Day: Four IP1: - IP2: - SP-Mem: - French: Outline of what covered today: 1. I did 2 more units of Pimsleur French 1: (Pimsleur 1: 04/30) 2. 30 mins French news. Thoughts: I'm still a little distracted after yesterday's events. I just did a little French. Tomorrow I will: I think I'll be a little distracted again tomorrow but I'll aim for: 1. Listen to a unit of Pimsleur 2. Watch at least 10 mins news-story again. 3. Review vocab copy. Pick a different story, etc. Plans / Aims / To do: Investigate other French newspaper websites and tidy up my bookmarks. Day [?5]: Research French study books, Day [?5]: Research French grammar books, vocabulary books. Day ?: Research internet resources for French learning. Day 6: Develop Study Plan Day 10: Research services which can put me into contact with native speakers (Tandem???) and set a deadline for when you will sign up for such a service. Day (end of Pim 1): Investigate other audio courses (such as Assimil(?)) Day ??: Begin to write this log in French. Day ??: Revise MT Adv. Course. Marco. Edited by marco.of.europa on 26 January 2011 at 12:18am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| marco.of.europa Groupie Ireland Joined 5049 days ago 46 posts - 47 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 7 of 56 26 January 2011 at 12:14am | IP Logged |
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Odyssey Log Day: Six Day: Tuesday, 25/01/2011 Current Challenge: Initial Twenty Day Challenge, Day: Five Initial Twenty Day Challenge.: IP1: No IP2: No SP-Mem: No French: Yes I listened to two units of Pimsleur - (Pimsleur 1: 06/30). I watched TF1 - 'Le 13 Heures' for 40 mins. Thoughts * I need to develop a study routine, currently I'm too haphazard about it. * I'm not doing enough work on IP1 and IP2 - at this rate, I'll end up having to forsake French for them. * I have mixed feelings about Pimsleur, on the one hand it's easy to do a little each day, but on the other hand the pace is very slow. Still it's good for my pronunciation - really beating it in. But I'll have to see if I can't supplement it with another course. * I think I need to introduce some 'Milestones' and 'Goals'( ie to achieve milestone x by date y, where date y is calculated according to data gathered from the time spreadsheet). Currently it feels like I'm staring into an abyss. I'll need some sort of calendar. * I'm going to tidy up this log a bit. I'll remove the 'Plans / Aims To do:' section from the daily log. I'll put in a weekly review log (on Sunday) instead, along with my milestones and goals. * My first milestone will be to finish Pimsleur 1. (goal: 5-12 February) * I went for a long walk today. I could do with the exercise every day. It might be an idea to take Pimsleur with me on the walk. Tomorrow: Pimx2, TFI again, and experiment with a routine Edited by marco.of.europa on 26 January 2011 at 12:18am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mr_chinnery Senior Member England Joined 5748 days ago 202 posts - 297 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 8 of 56 26 January 2011 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
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Hey dude, just to let you know I like the thoroughness of your log and enjoy reading it.
I know what you mean about Pimsleur being slow, I use a Teach Yourself book with it. I do my half hour lesson then read some of the book, it works quite well. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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