Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Shadowing, vocabulary & listening Journey

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
fairyfountain
Senior Member
Zimbabwe
Joined 6120 days ago

254 posts - 248 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 1 of 7
12 June 2008 at 7:52am | IP Logged 
I thought about my problems with shadowing and decided to give it a go again.
So, I cut the beginning of the audiobook I want to shadow in several parts of 20 sec-1 min 30 and put them on my Ipod. I've got loudspeakers for my mp3 player so I just started playing the little file in "replay" mode.
I read some advice on this website and decided I'd shadow twice a day for 15 minutes, everyday. I find that a good thumb rule for shadowing is to repeat every extract 20-30 times. Sometimes, I'm still not fluent even after 30 repetitions, but I'm so tired of the recording that it isn't effective any more anyway.
I shadowed for 30 minutes yesterday, and I already shadowed for 15 minutes today.
I really don't know when such a method starts to prove useful, but I'll start to worry about that when I've put around 20 hours into it.

As for the vocabulary, I've only learnt a word so far today, but once I'm finished with shadowing, I'll look for new vocabulary. I'd like to be able to learn 20 words a day but this is most likely a pipe dream, since I'm not even able to learn a word a day.

Goals:

  • 1H18 of shadowing a day
  • learn 5-20+ words a day
  • listening to material in English for 5 hours minimum, that includes my hour of shadowing and passive listening


Edited by fairyfountain on 14 June 2008 at 5:43am

1 person has voted this message useful



Gil
Diglot
Newbie
Afghanistan
Joined 6385 days ago

13 posts - 13 votes
3 sounds
Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, Esperanto

 
 Message 2 of 7
12 June 2008 at 8:05am | IP Logged 
Have you tried an SRS for learning vocabulary? I can learn more than twenty words a day. I read a passage and underline unknown words, then I enter those words into Mnemosyne, after some days I reread the passage. This is my main method for learning vocabulary, but complementary to this I’m “scanning” through a pocket dictionary for unknown words, I usually find from one to three per page, these I also enter into Mnemosyne.

As to shadowing, it is funny that I began to do the same as you last week.
1 person has voted this message useful



fairyfountain
Senior Member
Zimbabwe
Joined 6120 days ago

254 posts - 248 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 3 of 7
12 June 2008 at 8:16am | IP Logged 
I've always been cross with SRS programs. I find them unfriendly and complicated, and I always end up throwing the baby out with the bath water. I tried to make lists on Word but including the phonetics took me ages and I was not up for the job.
I'm quite obsessed with adding phonetics for obvious reasons and this impedes me when it comes to learning vocabulary. I still have to find the best method.

1 person has voted this message useful



Gil
Diglot
Newbie
Afghanistan
Joined 6385 days ago

13 posts - 13 votes
3 sounds
Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, Esperanto

 
 Message 4 of 7
12 June 2008 at 8:19am | IP Logged 
I also include the phonetic transcription of the word in my Mnemosyne items.
1 person has voted this message useful



fairyfountain
Senior Member
Zimbabwe
Joined 6120 days ago

254 posts - 248 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 5 of 7
12 June 2008 at 8:20am | IP Logged 
Well, you are really brave. I'm way too lazy to do that! I'm going to shadow for 15 minutes.
1 person has voted this message useful



Gil
Diglot
Newbie
Afghanistan
Joined 6385 days ago

13 posts - 13 votes
3 sounds
Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: French, Esperanto

 
 Message 6 of 7
12 June 2008 at 8:27am | IP Logged 
Well, I wouldn't need the phonetics for every word, just for those preposterous examples of English orthography, like colonel, for instance.
1 person has voted this message useful



fairyfountain
Senior Member
Zimbabwe
Joined 6120 days ago

254 posts - 248 votes 
5 sounds

 
 Message 7 of 7
12 June 2008 at 8:48am | IP Logged 
The thing is, I do need the phonetics for every word.
I have just finished my second shadowing session and surprisingly enough, even if the extract was longer than the ones I have worked on since I started using this method again, I found it way easier than the previous ones.
In fact, I only had to go through it for 17 minutes, which makes around 15 repetitions.
I'm still sceptic but something tells me that if I notice some improvement after only 1 hour of shadowing, it's worth the trip.


Edited by fairyfountain on 12 June 2008 at 8:49am



1 person has voted this message useful



If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3438 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.