Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

[Bex]

Can't seem to be able to open the forum on my laptop for some reason? Computer says no!

I'm having to write this on my mobile phone! So I shall keep it short

Reached my target of 1000 known words on LWT. I have randomly been adding any text I feel like reading and working through them, a thoroughly enjoyable process so far.

I started with a few chapters of a graded reader but it was so dull I soon dropped it. I seem to have stuck with a podcast which I am enjoying.

I have been reading the podcast transcripts on LWT and then listening to the podcasts either before or after I have read them (kinda randomly really).

It's funny i have been listening to Spanish for years and working through various transcripts by hand but LWT has made the whole process so much more simple and enjoyable. Should've done it years ago.

I will update progress bar to 2000 known on LWT once I figure out what's going on with my laptop.

[Bex]

Ahh fixed it, not entirely sure what happened but it seems to be working on my laptop for now.

[DaveBee]

Ahh fixed it, not entirely sure what happened but it seems to be working on my laptop for now.

The forum changed servers, so your laptop's problem was probably just a temporary thing, due to the change.

[Bex]

Words known this week = 1705!

Been a funny old week...not managed to get much done but have been reading on LWT as much as I can, I probably managed to read about 3 or 4 podcasts and an hour or so of watching TV each evening. I am not sure what's going on with this brain of mine but I am starting to be able to understand full sections of TV.

I did note on this log a few months ago that when watching TV I could understand a lot of words individually but I lacked the listening skills to process them fast enough to hear full sentences, well that seems to be changing, very slowly but it is a noticeable improvement and is making watching TV a lot more enjoyable.

Pondering this week...
Should I go back to a fixed schedule or just continue with this "study, watch TV, read, when I feel like it" system?
Should I go back to Glossika, I am kinda missing it and I did find it really helped with my verb tenses, accent and listening comprehension?
How do I gauge how much reading I'm doing each week? The LWT words known is a useful statistic but it doesn't tell me how much actual reading I'm doing each week and I do love my progress bars.
How do I get more listening into my day? I don't drive for more than 5 mins anywhere and so the car is no good and I find it distracting when I'm actually doing something else, apart from ironing, which I refuse to do for an hour each day just so I can listen to Spanish!

[blaurebell]

How do I gauge how much reading I'm doing each week? The LWT words known is a useful statistic but it doesn't tell me how much actual reading I'm doing each week and I do love my progress bars.

I tend to read books in LWT so I normally take the page numbers of some paperback version as an estimate. If long text import splits the book into 20 texts and I finished 10 of them, then with the paper book I'd be at 125 pages for a 250 page book. I don't actually do the maths every time, I have an Excel Sheet for that. If you're mostly reading transcripts or articles you can take the number of words of each article as a measure. If you read both books and articles, then it helps to know that pages tend to have somewhere between 150-250 words depending on the type-setting. I tend to go with 200 words to make the maths easier.

And yeah, I'm a big fan of progress bars myself

[AndyMeg]

I did note on this log a few months ago that when watching TV I could understand a lot of words individually but I lacked the listening skills to process them fast enough to hear full sentences, well that seems to be changing, very slowly but it is a noticeable improvement and is making watching TV a lot more enjoyable.

That's great!

Pondering this week...
Should I go back to a fixed schedule or just continue with this "study, watch TV, read, when I feel like it" system?

Do whatever works best for you at this moment. And if things change, then do whatever works best for you at that moment.

Should I go back to Glossika, I am kinda missing it and I did find it really helped with my verb tenses, accent and listening comprehension?

I've left Glossika for now. I think the method is great but the content was too boring for me. I'm trying to do similar activities but with native material I actually enjoy.

How do I get more listening into my day? I don't drive for more than 5 mins anywhere and so the car is no good and I find it distracting when I'm actually doing something else, apart from ironing, which I refuse to do for an hour each day just so I can listen to Spanish!

What about listening to songs in spanish?

[Bex]

I have an Excel Sheet for that. If you're mostly reading transcripts or articles you can take the number of words of each article as a measure. If you read both books and articles, then it helps to know that pages tend to have somewhere between 150-250 words depending on the type-setting. I tend to go with 200 words to make the maths easier.

Now that you have kindly given me some figures to work with, I too now have an Excel sheet for that! Thanks for the idea.

It appears that since I started using LWT a couple of months ago my reading stats according to my new Excel sheet are:
Total words read = 9040
Total pages read = 45.2 (200 words per page)
Total books read = 0.9 (50 pages per book)

It's nice to have some figures and be able to keep progress, so many thanks to blaurebell for the suggestion.

[Bex]

Do whatever works best for you at this moment. And if things change, then do whatever works best for you at that moment.

Today I tried to listen to one new podcast at each mealtime, so one at breakfast and one at lunch. Don't know why I didn't think of it before but I can def eat and listen at the same time. I also listened to any podcasts I have already read on LWT whilst houseworking, I figure that if I miss a bit then it doesn't matter too much as I will have read and listened to them properly at least once previously.

So today I listened to 2 new podcasts and 10 old - whilst sorting washing and pairing up the hugest pile of socks ever

I've left Glossika for now. I think the method is great but the content was too boring for me. I'm trying to do similar activities but with native material I actually enjoy.

The thing I find really strange about Glossika is once I'm actually doing it, I quite enjoy it but the thought of it and actually bringing myself to do it, is another thing altogether!

[AndyMeg]

I've left Glossika for now. I think the method is great but the content was too boring for me. I'm trying to do similar activities but with native material I actually enjoy.

The thing I find really strange about Glossika is once I'm actually doing it, I quite enjoy it but the thought of it and actually bringing myself to do it, is another thing altogether!

I've felt the same many times, and that's why I swithed to native material. Even if I enjoyed Glossika when I actually worked on it, I usually kept posponing it for too long that I was not being consistent enough. I felt perplexed at first because I was sure I really like the method, and then it came to my mind that maybe the method was not the problem but the content (I felt bored with the sentences). And another important factor for me was that I tried to use it as an absolute beginner, so some excercises were too hard for me. So, besides swtiching to native material, I'm also trying to adapt the activities according to my current level. For now what I'm doing is listening to my favorite korean songs while trying to follow along reading the lyrics (mostly in my mind, but sometimes I also try to sing).

[Bex]

Quick Friday update...

LWT words known = 1881
Total words read = 10058
Total pages read = 50.29 (200 words per page)
Total books read = 1.01 (50 pages per book)

Yay first book read!
Mainly consisting of podcast transcripts but I shall take it as 1 book anyway

Also went back to Glossika - right back to the start. Will see how that goes.